Verdict
Invaders from Mars was a fun, clever and enjoyable listen to kick off the second set of Eighth Doctor and Charley adventures in Big Finish's Main Range. I really love how the audio format has made sure that Paul McGann's fantastic incarnation has not gone unnoticed and will not be forgotten! And here, with Mark Gatiss writing intrinsically, the Doctor was a whole lot of fun. I think that's the beauty of the Eighth Doctor, he's still relatively new. We saw him debut in The Movie... and that was it. He jumped straight into the novels and despite them being marvellous, it's hard to depict just what the new man with the TARDIS keys is like. Performed Who, as here in the audios, gives us that knowledge. This Doctor can be more adventurous, flirtatious and even dangerous, and that's why he's slowly climbing up the ranks of my favourite Doctor, simply because we're getting more! Sadly, Charley didn't quite get all the limelight here which was a shame as I love her oh so much. She really is an outstanding companion already, this just her fifth adventure, and the moments she did appear were terrific. I loved the setting of 1938 New York on Halloween. Something spooky was bound to go down with the Doctor in town, and the frenzy that caused the city to go into panic was actually hilarious! And it was absolutely wonderful to see the Doctor amused by the happenings. He revelled in the harmless chaos because he knew what was going on. Don't let the audio title fool you, there aren't any Ice Warriors attempting to take over here, it's just the transmission of the adapted The War of the Worlds play! A brilliant concept! I loved the fact that this was actually based on true events, somehow the knowledge of this occurrence had eluded me in seventeen years of life but after some reading up between cliffhangers I was happy at what I was listening to. A clever slant on the event! Despite this being a great story, it was a bit slow to start with. The first cliffhanger didn't really offer much and not a great deal of significance actually took place in the first part. But then business picked up and the story improved by the minute. Glory Bee was a great character and I liked her cover up story and the revelations of her Russian nationality was a surprise I must say. The fact that Orson Welles, not quite infamous in 1938, appeared prominently was a splendid bonus! Simon Pegg's character of Don Chaney was fantastic and I liked the slight comedic element Pegg brought to him. The other guest cast were all mostly excellent too! The actual invasion that occurred, not of Martian origin as the radio broadcast inadvertently was advertising, was comical. Two little hairy aliens, now what were they going to do? They never seemed genuinely threatening which was a shame but I liked the humour they brought to the story. The Doctor's interaction with them was tremendous! The way they were sent packing was genius on the part of the Doctor with him, Charley and co reenacting Wells' play to fend off the Laiderplacker from continuing with their fiendish plans. They stood no chance against Martians and despite a possibly silly part of the climax, overall the story was fantastic after a slow start. Lots of humour, a good take on history and the Eighth Doctor shining!
Rating: 8/10
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