Vengeance of the Stones [AUDIO/2013.3.1]

★★★☆☆

  Andrew Smith's definitely on the more 'dependable' side when it comes to Dr. Who writers. You know the kind, those who are pretty alright at cooking up their stories, maybe on good days really good ones... but you rarely ever get an actual belter from them. It's a shame, really, because listening to the extras reveals that Smith has a great fondness for Jon Pertwee's era. In a perfect world, we would've gotten a Pertwee homage audio drama that would've perhaps been on the level of Full Circle... but hey, that's a fanciful notion.

  Fact of the matter is, Vengeance of the Stones is the definition of pretty alright. Nothing, I would say, is particularly notable here... save for the fact that this is apparently the first time Mike Yates meets UNIT. Richard Franklin does a good job portraying the rest of the cast, and does a fantastic job at doing Mike, and John Ainsworth impresses again with a completely different soundscape. It's all wide open Scottish plains and alien spaceships this time around, and I find his direction utterly charming. You ever get one of those Dr. Who adventures that you have a mild liking to, and find nothing offensive about, and yet have precious little to talk about? That would be Vengeance of the Stones, and I'm going to leave it at: it's very fine. For someone more passionate about the Third Doctor's UNIT era, this might fare better, I expect.