The Fifth Volume of the Third Doctor Adventures concludes, and now I’m more used to the new Brig I feel I can comment on this story easier, though I am happy to say that Sgt. Benton joins the cast in this story as well, not recast or anything, but it’s a nice addition that makes it feel all the more authentic. The Scream of Ghosts also features the return of something else as well, but that would be for the spoilers section…
The Third Doctor Adventures returns, and has further evolved! Starting off as a mostly narrated affair, we eventually got Tim Trelor’s Third Doctor in a full cast environment, and now we have a perfectly recast Brigadier thanks to Jon Culshaw, and a good version of Liz Shaw from the original actresses own daughter. Adding in Jo Grant, who is thankfully still with us, and we’ve pretty much hit full cast Third Doctor stories! Primord, the first story of two, features both new recasts and is a really fun, if not rather basic, story that is also a direct sequel to TV classic Inferno… Let’s have a deeper look!
In a lot of ways Spearhead From Space is nearly as significant as An Unearthly Child as it’s the first time the show goes through what feels like a proper reboot, and does so successfully. Gone is everything we associate with the character, including its lead actor, replaced with a new Earth-based set up with a group of soldiers who battle alien threats… and it’s in colour no less! The fact that in four episodes they manage to establish the new status quo, introduce new characters and a new Doctor, and create a brand new alien species (the Autons!) is quite the feat. So let’s take a look in more detail, shall we?
Change of Mind is two things, firstly it’s a Third Doctor comic, which is great as I love the era and this story has some nice artwork to go along with a good story, and secondly it takes place in between seasons 7 and 8 and featuring a post-UNIT Liz Shaw, which is a unique setting. Let’s see if… well, I’ve already said it’s a good story with nice artwork, but let’s take a closer look anyway!
Fancied watching this last week, and if I don’t do the odd Who review outside of new releases and marathons I’ll never fill out the review pages! So, Claws of Axos comes to us straight from Season 8, a.k.a. the Master season, as Roger Delgado’s first (that we see) incarnation of the rogue Time Lord was in every story. Also featured are the regular UNIT crew, the titular Axos, an American UNIT agent and a comedic tramp! So let’s have a deeper look to see if this all works together or not…
I’m guessing the first thing that came into most people’s heads when they saw that the Third Doctor was getting full cast audios was “maybe now we can get a Third Doctor – Cybermen story!”, and it took a couple of boxsets, but here we are! Written by Marc “Spare Parts” Platt, Tyrants of Logic is a good story that while doesn’t touch his enduring classic, still provides us with a good full cast Third Doctor confrontation with the Cybermen, at last. So let’s take a bit more of a detailed look…
It’s time for another set of two four-part Third Doctor stories from Big Finish! Once again Tim Treloar does an excellent job filling on for the sadly departed Mr. Pertwee and in this first story we have Rufus Hound returning as his incarnation of the meddling Monk. What could go wrong? Not much, thankfully! Let’s take a look…
Day three / Regeneration three in the Regeneration Marathon, and as you’d expect, it’s the Third Doctor’s time to go! (That actually won’t be as predictable later, sadly…) Planet of the Spiders is an odd story, a six-parter that’s equal parts weird Bond chase scenes, equal parts alien spider creatures enslaving an alien race… and that’s not even mentioning Tibetan Time Lords or a remorseful Mike Yates! Let’s take a look at Jon Pertwee’s send off, then, shall we?
Titan Comics does the Third Doctor with Heralds of Destruction, and boy do they ever do it justice! Rare for Titan Comics, this story has consistently great artwork and a story that while it has some strong continuity nods, still tells a really good tale. So let’s take a look at what will, sadly, be a very rare Third Doctor comic story!
The second story of the Third Doctor Adventures Vol. 3, Storm of the Horofax is a fun story, filled with a good few Third Doctor tropes and, oddly, a few new series ideas thrown in. The Horofax aren’t memorable and I doubt we’ll see them again, but as a one off story, it’s good. Let’s take a closer look! (and quickly, so we don’t have to see the rush job I did on photoshop to try and get rid of the previous story elements from the artwork…)
Hogan Reviews 