Return of the Rocket Men by Matt Fitton (2012)

In which Steven meets a foe from his early years as a space pilot. And Matt Fitton does a very good John Dorney/Simon Guerrier impression!

To my mind, Big Finish have served fans of the 60’s era very well over the years, especially given the obvious issues of not having a Doctor from that era available. Instead they have focussed on the companions (at least until the arrival of David Bradley) and it has paid off handsomely. The early years of Big Finish concentrated on Davison/Colin Baker and McCoy – the Doctor’s that they had available, but with the introduction of the ‘Companion Chronicles’ and then the ‘Early Years’ ranges we’ve had stories for Susan, Ian, Vicki, Steven, Sara, Polly, Ben, Jamie, Victoria and Zoe. Many of the Companion Chronicles range in particular have really given the 60’s companions room to shine – both as characters and actors. We’ve had little additions to their history and backstories and explored their relationships with each other and the Doctor. Amongst these are some of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories in any format – the simply brilliant Sara Kingdom trilogy, ‘The Rocket Men’ which I have just reviewed, the Oliver Harper trilogy, the older Zoe trilogy, the concluding trilogy of Steven Taylor stories and well, this story.

Steven Taylor is a favourite of mine, despite most of his TV episodes being rather unhelpfully junked by the BBC. That is all despite the fact that in the TV series, we find out little about Steven. Instead things are carried by an often great performance from Peter Purves and an obviously strong relationship with both his Doctor and William Hartnell himself. The character has little backstory beyond that we know he was a space pilot (which is barely used again), knows the Daleks and was captured by the Mechanoids – oh and he owned a toy Panda. We know him as decent, but headstrong, determined, sometimes quite aggressive, but loyal to the Doctor. From the future, he is sometimes lost in history in the likes of ‘Time Meddler’, ‘Myth Makers’ and ‘The Massacre’, but maybe along with a number of companions of this time he has little depth beyond that. As with a number of other companions, these stories flesh out his character and offer an opportunity for Peter Purves to stretch his acting muscles.

He is absolutely terrific on both narrating and acting duties in these stories (as his is narration work for the BBC audios and Target audiobooks) – revealing himself as quite the consummate performer. Also, for someone who once really disliked talking about ‘Doctor Who’, he seems to have transformed over the years, to the point where he is becoming an elder statesman for the show – his enthusiasm showing in the extras on these CD’s. His version of Hartnell is rather good as well – not as an impression – it’s far from that, it captures the essence of Hartnell rather than his voice. And that is a real strength of the range – as they are part narrated ‘audiobook’, part full cast drama, the limited casts (2 or rarely 3 people) have dramatic licence to re-create the rest of the regulars without us worrying too much about impersonations. Via the narration, they also allow direct access into the thoughts of these characters – exactly what is needed to really get to know them better than we had the chance to in the 60’s.

This story is really two stories in one – the story of a young pilot on his first mission and another linked story when Steven, the Doctor and Dodo meet an enemy from Steven’s past. The two stories meet in a clever, modern (almost Steven Moffat-like) and very satisfying way and through this structure, we get to appreciate Steven more. The Rocket Men again prove to an effective catalyst to explore what makes the First Doctor’s companions tick. Steven barely survives their first attack on his cargo ship as a young man, rescued from certain death at the hands of Van Cleef, by another Rocket Man. Later he encounters an old colleague on a colony world when travelling with the Doctor and Dodo. Faced with the Rocket Men again, he has a choice to make – whether to make a stand or flee. The decision is one that will take his journey full circle to that first mission as a young man and the person who saved his life. Steven Taylor makes a stand and saves his friends and the colonists. In the end they even want to name their world after him ‘Taylor’s Stand’, although he rejects this and asks it to be named after his old colleague who did so much to save the colonists. Steven is a principled, moral figure and the events of this story neatly prefigure his eventual leaving in ‘The Savages’.

The Rocket Men as a foe seem to work every well in bringing out moral dilemmas to illuminate the characters of these 60’s companions. They are both very much recommended and work as a very satisfying pair. These stories have had such a great impact, that I actually forget that they weren’t on TV – and that people who don’t listen to BF haven’t experienced them. Recently in another thread in this section, someone stated how little we know about Steven – and I was about to argue that point – when I stopped and realised that the rich, rounded character that the likes of Simon Guerrier, John Dorney and Matt Fitton have given us, isn’t the one that was presented on TV and without these, that assertion is definitely true. I really feel like I do know him now and I wouldn’t be without these stories for the world. Both Peter Purves and Steven Taylor have very much benefitted from Big Finish – I would say that they have had some of the very best scripts that the range has had to offer and Purves has made the most of them, he is a much underrated actor. Overall, this is excellent stuff, rich and satisfying, emotional and clever and as with many of the range, I loved revisiting them.