Reviews

Doctor Who: Invaders from Mars by Mark Gatiss

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mrcoldstream's review

funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

🙏🏼69% = 107 points = Okay!

I'm continuing my marathon through the 8th Doctor BF Adventures with his next story, featuring Russian spies, comically speaking aliens, and Orson Welles.

This is INVADERS FROM MARS, aka AMERICANS AS MARTIANS!

This is the one set in late 1930s America, featuring plenty of wonky American accents, Orson Welles, and the legendary War of the Worlds radio play turned real.

The Doctor and Charley stumble upon a dead body in the opening scene, which is reminiscent of a bad 1940s crime thriller. The Doctor then poses as a private detective to conduct an investigation. Part 1 brings the setting to life pretty well and gets the story going.

After that, the story kind of floats around a bit and focuses a lot on the weird supporting characters (such as the looney bunch that are the villains) without clearly telling us how everything connects. It's obvious that Mark Gatiss is going for a sort of WWII-era crime thriller plot, but it doesn't fully work.

Part 3 brings the characters together a bit as the aliens start to learn about the Doctor's intentions, and the Doctor gets intimately involved in the mystery. Part 4 then finally explodes into a bit more action-packed finale, turning the War of the Worlds radio play into reality.

There are too many characters to keep track of, and these (intentionally?) comical voices are oftentimes distracting. Paul McGann is great as always (but is particularly great in Part 4, as he goes up against the aliens), and India Fisher is fine as well, but Charley, sadly, is given the traditional companion role here, which isn't very interesting.

Orson Welles is one of the more memorable early BF castings of a historical celebrity. David Bebons is great here. Too bad that Welles himself barely appears or has much of a role to play in the story. While the alien characters are a bit comical, they also make for pretty engaging villains.

ashs_doctorwho_library's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

"Every now and then I treat myself to a complete makeover" why was that line so funny
Didn't like this one and there was a lot going on and I couldn't tell a lot of the voices apart so I was a bit confused. I hope they stop separating Charley and the doctor for a lot of the story because it's always so much better when they're together

rebelbelle13's review

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4.0

This is the shortest 8th Doctor audioplay that I've listened to so far, yet still quite enjoyable. Invaders from Mars takes place on the same day Orsen Well's radio play War of the Worlds was broadcast in 1938. New York 1930's accents are on full display here, along with a Russian intelligence officer and a decent impression of Wells himself. The sound effects as always were top notch, and I found myself quickly immersed in the story. This was an easy narrative that never really felt like it had any major stakes; it was just a relaxing romp with 8 and Charley. The ending was also wrapped up rather quickly and tidily, but I won't hold that against it. The way the Doctor solved the problem was wildly clever and tied in with the play nicely. Not a highly memorable story among 8th Doctor audioplays, but an easy, quick, fun one all the same.

eleanorflovver's review

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

interesting concept but i think they could have done more with it, and the plot itself was kind of underwhelming. love eight and charley always though.