Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures, Volume 2

The second volume in this series once again presents two two-hour stories, with no particular connection between them other than the choice of companion. This time, that's only Jo, so that Katy Manning is the only member of the original cast to be reprising her role here. It's been a while since I listened to the previous volume, so it may just be me, but it did seem that Manning's age was showing more in her voice than it had previously, but that's an unavoidable consequence of doing a ‘remake' over 40 years on, and she does a good enough job that I found it easy to get used to and ignore.

Unlike the first volume, there is no narration here, just a straight-up, immersive, audio play.

The Transcendence of Ephros

This story moves further away from the standard tropes of the Third Doctor's era than the first volume did, feeling less like a slavish recreation of the tone. Having said which, there are plenty of clear links with TV episodes of the time, including direct references to The Frontier in Space. There are also major themes of corporate greed and ecological catastrophe, which featured regularly during Pertwee's run. On the other hand, Jo is a stronger character here than she was generally allowed to be on TV and carries a fair chunk of the plot.

The story sees the Doctor and Jo arriving on a desolated colony world now inhabited only by a religious doomsday cult in an uneasy relationship with an interstellar corporation (whose reasons for being here don't become clear until past the 30-minute mark). At first, the plot is fairly straightforward, but there are a number of twists towards the end, both utilising and subverting Pertwee-era tropes. On the downside, a number of the corporate employees have similar sounding voices that can make it difficult to tell them apart on audio, and their leader is very much a caricature. 4 stars.

The Hidden Realm

The second story is set during the UNIT era, although UNIT themselves are only mentioned in passing, and only Jo appears from the regular supporting cast. The story takes place in a fictionalised version of Milton Keynes, a new construction at the time. In large part, it's an homage to a certain classic science fiction film - although with a significant difference in the eventual explanation for events. Indeed, for much of the first half, it's a mystery story, with seemingly supernatural events surrounding the disappearance of somebody Jo knows.

As such, it's well-crafted, with a strong supporting cast and a decent human-level threat, contrasting with the pending planetary catastrophe of the first story. Despite the absence of UNIT, it feels very much like a story from that time, without being overly imitative of it, and it helps that Treolar is really getting the hang of Pertwee's voice in this one (or possibly I was getting more used to it). I found it to be the stronger and more compelling story of the two, with some nice touches of humanity in amongst the alien shenanigans. 5 stars.