Manhatten 1938. The Doctor and Charley discover that Orson Welles’s broadcast of War of the Worlds might not have been fiction after all.
Manhatten 1938. The Doctor and Charley discover that Orson Welles’s broadcast of War of the Worlds might not have been fiction after all.
INVADERS FROM MARS
With the new Doctor Who series just over a week from its premiere at the time of this writing, it was fitting that the next play in line for a review, Invaders from Mars, was written by new series scribe Mark Gatiss. His first BF offering, Phantasmagoria, was very well written and helped the series recover from the serious misstep that was The Sirens of Time — but could he give Paul McGann a second-season introduction that would make up for the absolutely terrible Storm Warning? In a word, yes.
Historical pastiche is a longstanding Doctor Who tradition, and Gatiss provides another fine example of the style with Invaders from Mars. Rather than a straightforward look at New York of the 1930s, Gatiss writes the play as a radio serial of the time, complete with over-the-top characters, ludicrous plotting, and rapid-fire witty dialogue. Frankly, I’m surprised Big Finish hadn’t gone down this road before, as many of the flaws that would otherwise have doomed the production can simply be ignored here. Sure, the accents aren’t convincing, but so what? It’s a comedy story — the OTT bad accents add to the flavor of the piece rather than detracting from it.
Using a comedy story to start a new season of eighth Doctor plays could have been a mistake, but using Gatiss as writer guaranteed that this would be a success. The exchanges are constantly funny, some more subtle than others, and the actors clearly enjoy their parts. Of course, there are factual errors, but these are a result of the temporal paradox which will come into play over the course of the season. Indeed, the two main complaints about this play seem to be that 1) it has errors and 2) it’s frivolous, both of which seem meaningless to me. I have no major complaints about proceedings.
Paul McGann is excellent in his return to the role of the Doctor. He launches himself into his part, and the Doctor sounds like he’s having the time of his life playing the role of the gangster. We haven’t really heard this Doctor having fun since Storm Warning, and it’s refreshing. Gatiss also gives the character some endearing traits, such as nervousness before a microphone and adoration of the works of Orson Welles.
India Fisher, after a very uneven first season, is much stronger here. Her rapport with McGann is delightful, and Gatiss gives them exchanges perfectly in keeping with the tone of the rest of the play. As she’s allowed to be more subdued, Fisher doesn’t go nearly as OTT as she has in the past, and thus Charley is eminently likeable.
The guest cast of Invaders from Mars is excellent, a trend which is growing stronger as BF continues. Of course, headlining the cast is Simon Pegg, who will be appearing in the new series as well, and his turn as Don Chaney is very good. Pegg adopts a perfectly convincing accent and gives the character the mix of menace and politeness typical of fictionalized gangsters of the time. At first listen, one would suspect Jessica Stevenson of having a terrible American accent — but then it’s revealed that her character has adopted the accent as well. David Benson’s Welles impression is almost indistinguishable from the original, and would steal the show if not for John Arthur’s turn as Cosmo Devine, a columnist who is in turns flamboyant and dangerous, and whose portrayal is superlative. The aliens are brilliant as well, but I could gush all day about the performances…
In keeping with the tone of the play, Alistair Lock’s sound design is intended to recreate the feel of a period radio serial. This is done perfectly, with overdramatic, scratchy music cues and of-the-time sound effects. Amateurish? Not at all — professionally designed to sound that way. Gatiss does a fine job of directing his own script, both in securing his cast and then getting the performances on display. He even keeps things incredibly fast-paced; though I have absolutely no problem with the length of most Big Finish offerings, Invaders from Mars’ 96’01” running time is refreshing.
After the first Paul McGann season, I was very worried indeed about the prospects of another. Big Finish, however, proved me wrong, kicking things off with a bang, bringing together a fun, hilarious script from Mark Gatiss coupled with excellent performances and great sound design. Though perhaps not up to the level of, say, The Holy Terror, this is without question the best McGann release of the first five and stands near the top of the range at the time.
Very highly recommended.
9/10
Invaders from Mars
What is it? It has the feel of an old radio serial with a brilliant soundscape to match. It’s very much in the spirit of Dick Barton and Flash Gordon, all frenetic dialogue and rushing around with a constant sense of tension and urgency that carries you along with it. It achieves all of this without being just another runaround.
It’s a gangster romp set in 1938, with the broadcast of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles as the backdrop, the imminent threat of WW2 on the horizon and aliens selling advanced weapons.
In essence this play is all about scams, deceptions and rackets so the post Capone gangster setting is a perfect fit. The gangsters are scamming each other for the alien weapons on offer, either for themselves or for Uncle Sam. A female Russian agent also wants them and poses as an American damsel in distress to scam everybody, including the Doctor, although how he doesn’t notice this is a brainfade moment for him. Miss Glory Bee? Really?
Cosmo “Scum” Devine, dilettante and socialite, has an altogether more serious agenda while he scams high society and gangs alike for power and status. He wants to give the alien weapons to the Third Reich. The mob might be violent, venal and self destructive idiots but at least they are not traitors.
The War of the Worlds, due to be broadcast on the radio, is arguably a scam as well. It’s a commonly told tale, especially in the papers at the time who were not above exaggeration in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds, that when it was first broadcast it caused mass panic amongst people who thought it was real, but I have heard the original broadcast and it specifically says at the start that it is a dramatisation and it seems the urban myth created around it is just that. Even if you missed the start it’s actually quite dull to listen to. The potential alien threat is certainly scary but the matter of fact way it is played makes the rest of it a chore to get through. The thought of anyone really being fooled by it is a bit ludicrous in hindsight.
The weapon selling aliens are also running a scam. There are only two of them, masquerading as the spearhead of an invasion force, when actually they are criminals on the run from their own people.
So, a big theme of the play is that everybody is conning everybody else. Even the solution the Doctor comes up with is a con, fooling the aliens into thinking an even more powerful alien is about to invade by broadcasting War of the Worlds at them. A nice touch.
As well as telling its own story this is part of the arc that started when the Doctor rescued Charley from the R101, and so there are also hints throughout the play about how time has been changed, the main ones being (as noted by Wikipedia);
– Welles does not recognise a Shakespeare quote. This is explained in Time of the Daleks, which I did not pick up on until I had heard both a couple of times. Nicely subtle but not so obscure you couldn’t spot it.
– The CIA did not exist until after WW2. Then again, if you’re a conspiracy theorist, they would say that wouldn’t they? 🙂
– Chaney says he has a 1929 Lamborghini that used to belong to Capone. Lamborghini didn’t exist till the 60s.
– Chaney says there are 49 states but in 1938 there were 48. He can’t be including the fictional state of Malabolgia from Minuet in Hell either, since that seceded from the Union as part of its creation.
Apparently all but the Lamborghini one were deliberate mistakes which explains why, as a motor racing fan, the Lamborghini one stuck out like a sore thumb for me. History would certainly have been significantly changed had they been making high performance cars in 1929. The whole history of motor racing, for a start.
In any case, little bits like this serve to place Invaders from Mars firmly in the Charley arc without getting in the way of the story it is currently telling. A good choice because you don’t want anything else holding up this story. It’s too much fun.
There isn’t a weak performance anywhere. Charley gets the annoying precocious brat thing under control for a change, The Doctor is on top form, Cosmo Devine I could listen to all day and the rest of cast are great too. My favourite plays are always the ones where you can clearly tell those involved were having a ball, and all involved give it full commitment so I’m happy to give Invaders from Mars
10/10.
Invaders from Mars
The horrible American accents drove me away in 8 minutes (December 2016) and 11 minutes (March 2017). Learning nothing from The Gunfighters, this too is founded on caricatures from popular movies instead of actual history.
Given the quality of Mark’s other work, it seems like a good script got ruined by lazy supporting actors and tone-deaf direction. Simply removing the cultural insults would have made it better.
Big Finish not addressing this long standing problem is baffling. If Russell could find John Barrowman, then Nick Briggs should be able to find culturally appropriate actors.
Since I couldn’t get past 11 minutes of cultural insults, my ranking is 2/10.