The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

'Never sit on fences my friend, it makes your eyes water.'

After an eight month absence, the Eighth Doctor returns once more to the audio medium to battle bravely the evils that Big Finish choose to place him against, accompanied as ever by his ever faithful companion Charlotte 'Charley' Pollard. And as the David Arnold arrangement of the famous theme opens episode one in style, it seems like he's never been away...

Invaders From Mars is a great way for Big Finish's new 'season' of McGann audios to begin with a witty and entertaining script, good performances and some great sound design. In short it has got everything that Big Finish's past work have made the listener come to expect from their stories in terms of their quality.

The Doctor intends to take Charley to Singapore in 1930 to fulfil her New Year's rendezvous (subtly reminding the listener in the process of her introduction in Storm Warning as this was her purpose for being onboard the R101 in the first place), but, as it so often has done in the past when aiming for a specific place, the TARDIS overshoots and they find themselves ensnared in a world of gangsters and alien invaders in New York City circa 1938 instead.

Invaders From Mars sees Mark Gatiss scripting a Doctor Who play for the first time since 1999 when he penned the second Doctor Who release from Big Finish, Phantasmagoria. With 20 odd releases since then, the overall quality of the releases has improved greatly and Gatiss matches this by bringing a much more composed script to this tale, and with him serving as the director of Invaders as well, this story very much reflects Gatiss' vision of the series perfectly. As you'd expect from Gatiss the script itself has a strong blend of humour and drama, and while the balance might be tipped definitely in favour of the former, it does mean that Invaders From Mars has a lighter, more fun feel to it than the other McGann stories released previously, as the scale with them was more dramatically favoured.

One of the aspects which is immediately apparent about Invaders From Mars is how well the production is realised in terms of both the performances and the production itself. Gatiss says himself in the notes for the story that he was after 'a brassy, old-New York feel' with 'fast film-noir dialogue' and it's great credit to him that as the director he gets such excellent performances from his cast in just this sort of style and Alistair Lock's production adds to this feel superbly with some good sound design being used to create the hustle and bustle of the New York of the time and give the whole drama a real period feel. On the subject of the way that the various parts are performed, Invaders From Mars may come in line for the same kind of criticism that Minuet In Hell had levelled against in the manner of the accents used for the characters, and while some of them may err towards being a cliche at times, it really doesn't matter here at all because they are perfectly in line with the film-noir sense that Gatiss was aiming for with the story.

There are a lot of interesting performances in Invaders From Mars, and ultimately it's these that guarantee the success of the audio. Neither Paul McGann nor India Fisher get much to do in the first episode where the script is very much setting up the story overall, but the later episodes make up for this in style. This is McGann's fifth story for Big Finish and by now he seems totally comfortable in his role as the Doctor and the performances benefits from this. McGann's Eighth Doctor is infused with energy and activity and the combination of that combined with India Fisher and the wonderful enthusiasm she brings to the role of Charley mean that this team has developed into a very formidable one. Both actors demonstrate their comedic ability here well, putting just the right kind of tone into their performances to make Gatiss' script work so well.

An impressive guest cast compliments this story as well, with Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson being the first people to gain a credit on the front of the CD since Babylon 5's Peter Jurasik appeared in Winter For The Adept, and they demonstrate through the course of the play that they are worth that credit with the two standout performances of the story. Pegg plays Don Chaney, a somewhat notorious mobster, and he brings this character alive well. It would have been quite easy for this character to step over into becoming a stereotype, but thanks to the intricacies of Gatiss' script and Pegg's performance this is avoided easily. Jessica Stevenson is also excellent with her role as Glory Bee, being totally convincing as a sultry dame (helped no end by the sensuous tones she employs to play the part) and provides some of the stories genuine surprises when something about her character is revealed to startling effect.

David Benson's main role in the story is as Orson Welles, and the voice is spot on. The idea behind having an actual invasion of the Earth taking place at the same time that Welles' The War Of The Worlds is causing panic amongst the citizens is a brilliant one, and Benson's performance ensures that Welles is represented accurately here. Unfortunately the script chooses to keep Welles and the Doctor apart for the most part which means that these two parts only link up towards the stories conclusion. While this works quite well, it does give these aspects of the story's plot a strangely detached feeling. Mark Benton's performance as Ellis is good, although at times he starts to sound too much like some of the other characters and both Paul Putner and John Arthur have their moments too in what is overall a good performance from the cast as a whole. The only one that's slightly disappointing is that of Ian Hallard when he's playing Mouse in the opening episode where the accent he uses for his character does become very annoying very quickly. His performance in his other role is fine though.

Alistair Lock's score is slightly odd at times, but it is very appropriate for the style of the drama capturing the 1930's film like qualities of the script with repeated refrains being used at various moments during the play. The sound design for the story is excellent with the effects for the whole story being realised well and contributing a lot to the enjoyment of the story.

Invaders From Mars is a very enjoyable story. Its got a good balance between comedy and drama, and its excellent cast ensures that it's always entertaining. Mark Gatiss does very well on his directorial debut, and by directing his own script he makes sure that everything about Invaders From Mars works very well indeed. While it's has its flaws, it remains a very good piece of Doctor Who and an excellent way to begin a new 'season' of dramas featuring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. With a very good script, excellent performances and a great deal of atmosphere, Invaders From Mars is a clever story and terrific entertainment. If the rest of this years McGann stories are as good as this one, then there's a lot to look forward to.