Review by Daniel Mansfield

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After facing off against the Meddling Monk in September’s Knights of the Round TARDIS, the Unbound versions of the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan return in the second of three movie-length, Technicolour-inspired audio adventures.

As its title suggests, Return to Marinus is a sequel to the 1964 episode The Keys of Marinus, not only showing us what happened after the events of that story, but expanding upon the world in which it took place. The Voord are back, the Conscience Machine has been reactivated, and the Daleks are here too, for reasons that will become clear when you listen.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. A sequel? With Daleks?! How very… Big Finish.

Well, shame on you – and me- for judging a(n audio)book by its cover! Return to Marinus is not only a lot of fun, but a sequel well worth listening to. While, admittedly, we do return to many of the people and places from The Keys of Marinus, sometimes seemingly just for the hell of it, there are also plenty of new things to enjoy here.

One such delight is a subplot involving a theatre troupe performing a play version of The Keys of Marinus, which is not only deliciously meta, but leads to some thoughtful rumination from our core quartet about how they are remembered after they leave a planet they’ve saved. Modern Doctor Who has done this kind of thing to death, but it’s interesting to hear how the earliest TARDIS team might have thought about the legacies they leave behind.

There’s also a real sense of pace and adventure here. In its debut, Marinus came across as a truly fascinating world, full of different creatures, biomes and interesting people, but the minimal budget and slower style of storytelling meant that this wasn’t always reflected on screen in the most engaging way. With the infinite budget of audio, modern storytelling sensibilities, Jonathan Morris‘s imagination, and Rob Harvey‘s stellar sound design, however, Marinus is properly done justice, expanded into a world 60s Who only hinted at.

Even the Daleks get something new to do, with a plot twist so entertaining you won’t care how utterly ridiculous it is, or that you saw it coming a mile off. Kudos to Nicholas Briggs for rising to the occasion.

While I think Knights of the Round TARDIS is the better story of the two, Return to Marinus feels more like a movie version of 60s Doctor Who, taking what worked on television and blowing it up for the big screen. And, wonderfully, the adventure is far from being all over; judging by the cliffhanger, we’re in for more of Marinus when this series continues in 2027.

Return to Marinus is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com