Invaders from Mars (Doctor Who audio)
Encyclopedia
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 later broadcast on BBC 7
in four weekly parts (starting on the 29th of October 2005) and was later rebroadcast on the same channel once more (beginning on the 19th of November 2006).
1938, the Eighth Doctor and Charley meet a crooked gangster
, a Russia
n spy, a sinister fifth column
ist and Orson Welles
. Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds
is just a story, but maybe there really are aliens at loose.
The first two "mistakes" in this list were deliberate, intended to be examples of anti-time contamination
. The third was also deliberate, but was explained in The Time of the Daleks
. The last was not deliberate but was later retconned to be another example of anti-time contamination
.
Another possible example of anti-time contamination is the date. "The War of the Worlds" aired on October 30, 1938, yet, when he asks what day it is, the Doctor is told that it is October 31, 1938.
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama based on the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. This audio drama was later broadcast on BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
in four weekly parts (starting on the 29th of October 2005) and was later rebroadcast on the same channel once more (beginning on the 19th of November 2006).
Summary
In ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
1938, the Eighth Doctor and Charley meet a crooked gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
, a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n spy, a sinister fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
ist and Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (radio)
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
is just a story, but maybe there really are aliens at loose.
Cast
- The DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
— Paul McGannPaul McGannPaul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role... - Charley PollardCharley PollardCharlotte Elspeth Pollard, or simply Charley, is a fictional character played by India Fisher in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, many of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 7, based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young woman...
— India FisherIndia FisherIndia Fisher is a British actress born in 1974. Her father is the ex-MP Mark Fisher. She is also the stepsister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play Other Lives.... - Mouse — Ian Hallard
- Ellis — Mark BentonMark BentonMark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
- John HousemanJohn HousemanJohn Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
— Jonathan RigbyJonathan RigbyJonathan Rigby is an English film critic and actor who has written the following books - English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema , Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History , Roxy Music: Both Ends Burning , American Gothic: Sixty Years of Horror Cinema and Studies in Terror: Landmarks of... - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
— David BensonDavid BensonDavid Benson is an English character actor, writer and comedian, most famous for his one-man show entitled 'Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams' about the life and career of the late comedian, for which he won the Scotsman's Fringe First award in 1996, and for his television role as... - Bix Biro — Paul PutnerPaul Putner-Life and career:He was born in East Grinstead. He studied at LAMDA where he won, amongst other prizes, the Kenneth More prize for comedy acting.His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in The Glam Metal Detectives shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up...
- Don Chaney — Simon PeggSimon PeggSimon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
- Glory Bee — Jessica StevensonJessica StevensonJessica Hynes is an English actress and writer. She was known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007.She is possibly best known as one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom Spaced....
- Cosmo Devine — John Arthur
- Winkler — Ian Hallard
Trivia
- Mark Benton played conspiracy theorist Clive in "RoseRose (Doctor Who)"Rose" is the first episode of Series One of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Russell T Davies and directed by Keith Boak, the episode was first broadcast on 26 March 2005....
". - The Invaders from Mars was the original title for the 1970 Third DoctorThird DoctorThe Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
story, The Ambassadors of DeathThe Ambassadors of DeathThe Ambassadors of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from March 21 to May 2, 1970.-Plot:...
. - In episode one, Houseman reads from the War of the Worlds radio play. Welles responds with: "Who wrote this crap? I certainly didn't write this crap." Houseman responds "You will, Orson, you will." This is a reference to a famous witticism by James McNeill WhistlerJames McNeill WhistlerJames Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...
, who said "You will, Oscar; you will" to Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
when Wilde said "I wish I'd said that". This incident was dramatised in the "Oscar Wilde Sketch" in an episode of Monty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
. - The radio ventriloquist mentioned several times during the play is Edgar BergenEdgar BergenEdgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
, who was performing that night on the competing NBC Red NetworkNBC Red NetworkThe NBC Red Network was one of the two original radio networks of the National Broadcasting Company. After NBC was required to divest itself of its Blue Network , the Red Network continued as the NBC Radio Network.It, along with the Blue Network, were the first two commercial radio networks in the...
along with his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. - Don Chaney's name is a reference to horror actor Lon ChaneyLon Chaney, Sr.Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
, his nickname is "Phantom" which is a reference to one of Lon Chaney's most famous film roles, The Phantom of the OperaThe Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force...
; Bix Biro's name is a reference to the BicSociété BicSociété Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, by Baron Marcel Bich known for making disposable products including lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, shaving razors and watersports products. It competes in most markets against Faber-Castell, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid...
and BiroBiroBíró is a Hungarian surname meaning "judge", and may refer to:* A brand of ballpoint pen. In British English the word "biro" is often used as a generic term for any ballpoint pen.* László Bíró, the inventor of the ballpoint pen....
. Cosmo Devine may be reference to determining what is in space. - Jessica Stevenson and Simon Pegg are the creators and stars of the television comedy SpacedSpacedSpaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...
. Stevenson also played Joan Redfern in two episodes of the 2007 series of Doctor Who (entitled "Human NatureHuman Nature (Doctor Who)Human Nature is an original novel written by Paul Cornell, from a plot by Cornell and Kate Orman, and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel was also serialised in e-book form on the BBC Doctor Who website, but was removed from the site in 2010...
" and "The Family of BloodThe Family of Blood"The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of Series 3 of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Preceded by "Human Nature", it is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature...
") as well as Verity Newman in "The End of TimeThe End of TimeThe End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
", while Pegg appeared in "The Long GameThe Long Game"The Long Game" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on May 7, 2005. Along with new companion Adam, the TARDIS deposits the Doctor and Rose on Satellite 5, a space station that broadcasts across the entire human empire...
". - This is the first audio story to credit India Fisher as Charley on the front cover.
- Hadley Cantril's book on The War of the Worlds hoax was entitled Invasion From Mars, which is similar to the title of this story.
Deliberate Errors
The second season of Eighth Doctor audios featured a number of deliberate errors:- There were 48 States in the United States in 1938, not 49 as Chaney claims.
- The CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
was not established until 1947, almost nine years after the events portrayed here. - Welles fails to recognise a Shakespearean quotation.
- Don Chaney claims to own a 1929 LamborghiniLamborghiniAutomobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...
previously owned by Al CaponeAl CaponeAlphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
, but Lamborghinis did not exist until 1963.
The first two "mistakes" in this list were deliberate, intended to be examples of anti-time contamination
Neverland (Doctor Who audio)
Neverland is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
. The third was also deliberate, but was explained in The Time of the Daleks
The Time of the Daleks
The Time of the Daleks is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. The last was not deliberate but was later retconned to be another example of anti-time contamination
Neverland (Doctor Who audio)
Neverland is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
.
Another possible example of anti-time contamination is the date. "The War of the Worlds" aired on October 30, 1938, yet, when he asks what day it is, the Doctor is told that it is October 31, 1938.