Invaders from Mars (Doctor Who audio)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Big Finish Productions audio play | |
 |
|
| Invaders from Mars | |
|---|---|
| Series | Doctor Who |
| Release number | 28 |
| Featuring | Eighth Doctor Charley Pollard |
| Writer | Mark Gatiss |
| Director | Mark Gatiss |
| Producer(s) | Gary Russell Jason Haigh-Ellery |
| Executive producer(s) | Jacqueline Rayner |
| Production code | 8F |
| Set between | Minuet in Hell and The Chimes of Midnight |
| Release date | January 2002 |
Invaders from Mars is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was broadcast on BBC 7 in four weekly parts starting on 29 October 2005, and was rebroadcast on the same channel beginning on 19 November 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In Manhattan 1938, the Eighth Doctor and Charley meet a crooked gangster, a Russian spy, a sinister fifth collumnist and Orson Welles. Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds is just a story, but maybe there really are aliens at loose.
[edit] Cast
- The Doctor — Paul McGann
- Charley Pollard — India Fisher
- Mouse — Ian Hallard
- Ellis — Mark Benton
- John Houseman — Jonathan Rigby
- Orson Welles — David Benson
- Bix Biro — Paul Putner
- Don Chaney — Simon Pegg
- Glory Bee — Jessica Stevenson
- Cosmo Devine — John Arthur
- Winkler — Ian Hallard
[edit] Notes
- Mark Benton and Simon Pegg both appeared in the 2005 series of Doctor Who on television. Benton played conspiracy theorist Clive in Rose, and Pegg appeared as the Editor in The Long Game.
- Coincidentally, The Invaders from Mars was working title for the 1970 Third Doctor story, The Ambassadors of Death.
- In episode 2, Welles reads the introductory narration from the War of the Worlds radio play and says "I wish I'd written that." Houseman responds "You will, Orson; you will." This is a reference to a famous witticism by James McNeill Whistler, who said "You will, Oscar; you will" to Oscar Wilde when Wilde said "I wish I'd said that". This incident was dramatized in the "Oscar Wilde Sketch" in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
- The radio ventriloquist mentioned several times during the play is Edgar Bergen, who was performing that night on the competing NBC radio network along with Don Ameche and Nelson Eddy.
- Don Chaney claims to own a 1929 Lamborghini previously owned by Al Capone, but Lamborghinis did not exist until 1963. This could be an example of anti-time contamination.
- Don Chaney's name may be a reference to horror actor Lon Chaney; Bix Biro's name is a reference to the Bic and Biro, as well as jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke.
- Jessica Stevenson (who plays Glory Bee) and Simon Pegg (who plays Don Chaney) are the creators and stars of the television comedy Spaced.
- This is the first audio story to credit India Fisher as Charley on the front cover.
[edit] External links
[edit] Reviews
- Invaders from Mars reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Invaders from Mars reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
| Eighth Doctor audio dramas | |
|---|---|
| Big Finish Season 27: | Storm Warning • Sword of Orion • The Stones of Venice • Minuet in Hell |
| Big Finish Season 28: | Invaders from Mars • The Chimes of Midnight • Living Legend • Seasons of Fear • Embrace the Darkness • The Time of the Daleks • Neverland |
| BBCi special: | Shada |
| Big Finish Season 29: | Zagreus • Scherzo • The Creed of the Kromon • The Natural History of Fear • The Twilight Kingdom |
| Big Finish Season 30: | Faith Stealer • The Last • Caerdroia • The Next Life |
| Continuing adventures: | Terror Firma • Scaredy Cat • Other Lives • Time Works • Something Inside • Memory Lane |
| BBC7 adventures: | Blood of the Daleks • Horror of Glam Rock • Immortal Beloved • Phobos • No More Lies • Human Resources |
