Invaders from Mars (audio story)

A month after a mysterious meteorite lit up the skies of New York State, Martian invaders laid waste to the nation. At least, according to soon-to-be infamous Orson Welles they did. But what if some of the panicked listeners to the legendary The War of the Worlds broadcast weren't just imagining things?

Attempting to deliver Charley to her rendezvous in Singapore 1930, the Eighth Doctor overshoots a little, arriving in Manhattan just in time to find a dead private detective. Indulging his gumshoe fantasies, the Doctor is soon embroiled in the hunt for a missing Russian scientist whilst Charley finds herself at the mercy of a very dubious Fifth Columnist.

With some genuinely out of this world "merchandise" at stake, the TARDIS crew are forced into an alliance with a sultry dame called Glory Bee, Orson Welles himself and a mobster with half a nose known as "the Phantom".

And slowly and surely, something is drawing plans against them. Just not very good ones...

Plot

Part 1

In 1938 America, both Ellis and Mouse break into a dime store to steal some “merchandise” from their boss. Detective Halliday later meets up with them and attempts to buy “merchandise”, but Ellis shoots him in retaliation with the “merchandise”.

Later, The Eighth Doctor and Charley land in the same alleyway where Halliday was shot. They notice his corpse and decide to loot it. They notice his body was badly burnt. They decide to go visit his office. Glory Bee meets up with them, mistaking the Doctor for Halliday, which the Doctor promptly impersonates. Bee informs them that her uncle has gone missing in New York City while attending a conference, and wants Halliday to investigate. The Doctor, upon hearing her uncle’s field of study decides to investigate.

Meanwhile in a recording studio, John Houseman and Orson Welles are rehearsing for the War of the Worlds broadcast. Bix Biro meets up with them when they’re about to leave and threatens to cancel Welles’s contract due the lack of people tuning in to his program.

Cosmo Devine makes a speech in a club and then goes to make a call to Bix Biro, wanting him to send a signal. He later meets Jimmy Winkler, whom he had kidnapped to coerce Bix into doing what he wants.

Mouse is captured by Don Chaney and is interrogated by him; Chaney knows Mouse is going behind his back and working for a mysterious third party. Mouse, afraid of Ellis, does not reveal that hey are working together. Chaney believes him, but notes that since he doesn't know anything there is no reason to keep him alive, and feeds him to a Laiderplacker they keep in a basement.

Part 2

to be added

Part 3

to be added

Part 4

to be added

Illustration preview by Martin Geraghty in DWM 313

Cast

The Doctor - Paul McGann
Charley Pollard - India Fisher
Mouse / Winkler / Luigi / Heavy - Ian Hallard
Ellis - Mark Benton
John Houseman / Thug / Streath - Jonathan Rigby
Orson Welles / Professor Stepashin / Halliday - David Benson
Bix Biro / Noriam / Man - Paul Putner
Don Chaney / Actor - Simon Pegg
Glory Bee / Carla / Women - Jessica Stevenson
Cosmo Devine / Hotel Clerk - John Arthur
Reception Guest - Katy Manning
Radio Announcer - Mark Gatiss
Thug 2 / Toastmaster - Alistair Lock

References

The Doctor tells Charley that, in the 11th century, an "amoral Time Lord" altered history by providing King Cnut with technology which allowed him to turn back the tide and gain greater influence over Saxon England than he would have done otherwise.
H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds is mentioned.
The Doctor is astonished that Orson Welles is ignorant of William Shakespeare's identity, more so considering Welles was known for his Shakespearean work, even in the 1930s.
Orson Welles' radio series is sponsored by Campbell Soup.
The Doctor says that sometimes he treats himself to a complete makeover.
The Doctor was trying to take Charley to Singapore.

Notes

This story introduces a new variation of David Arnold's theme arrangement, which doesn't open with the traditional sting and features a few more sound effects. The closing theme also opens with a newly revised sting, with the theme itself being slightly altered.
The first episode was specially released as a bonus on the original CD of The Ratings War.
The title references the 1953 science fiction film Invaders from Mars.
One of Houseman's lines — "George, what are you doing with those keys?" — is aimed at George Coulouris, who appeared in Welles' broadcast as well as Citizen Kane and later starred as Arbitan in The Keys of Marinus.
The headline on the Invaders from Mars cover is from a real newspaper reporting the War of the Worlds panic. The imitation poster on the CD booklet was drawn by Mark Gatiss.
This audio drama was recorded on 16 and 17 January 2001.

Continuity

The Sixth Doctor previously met H. G. Wells, the author of The War of the Worlds, in Scotland during the summer of 1885 and subsequently took him on a trip to the planet Karfel. (TV: Timelash) Many years later in his personal timeline, the Tenth Doctor would meet Wells once again in 1889. He intimated that they would have a third encounter later in Wells' personal timeline which occurred earlier in his own. (COMIC: The Time Machination)
The Doctor once again speed reads a book in a matter of seconds. (TV: City of Death, Rose, The Time of Angels)
The reason for Welles' ignorance of Shakespeare is revealed in AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks.
In AUDIO: Neverland, it is revealed why there are forty-nine states in the USA (instead of forty-eight in 1938) and how the CIA, which was actually founded in 1947, can exist in 1938.
The Celestial Toymaker would later refer to Orson Welles in a riddle while Charley was playing his games in the Celestial Toyroom. (AUDIO: Solitaire)
Later during his eighth incarnation, the Doctor and his companion Tamsin Drew would become embroiled in the events surrounding an actual Martian invasion in the 23rd century, though not of Earth but Mars itself. (AUDIO: Deimos / The Resurrection of Mars)

External links

Official Invaders from Mars page at bigfinish.com; note that it is out of print and is available as download only.
Invaders from Mars at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
DisContinuity for Invaders from Mars at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide