Invaders Of Mars


Invaders of Mars by Mark Gatiss

First off, this is one of the most inspired ideas for a Doctor Who story ever. The War Of The World's with actual aliens is too good a setup for words. This is an excellent historical, with Wells showing up, and a bunch of foreign countries being represented in the plot. It’s not just about the radio broadcast, there was a war going on at the time, and it’s represented wonderfully. I love the call forward to Time of The Daleks more than I love that story. This is good fun.
Bring Me Knitting: The Eighth Doctor is on fine form this story, and he’s fantastically entertaining throughout. Mark Gatiss is much better here, he’s been given time to fill out the story, and he isn’t rushed like when writing for New Who. There are pros and cons for all of the different writers, and Gatiss is definitely more suited for writing Classic four-parters. He characterizes The Doctor very well, but then again, He understands Doctor Who in and out, and Paul Mcgann is definitely enjoying himself here. 
Charlie Pollard, Edwardian Adventuress: Was Charlie even alive in this story? Was she even here? She disappears for the first three parts, and in the fourth, has eight lines at most, most of which are “what are you going to do, Doctor?” Disappointing, but she gets a fantastic showing next episode. I just wish I got more out of one of my favorite companions. 
The Monsters: More stupid and funny than intimidating. I never believed in them for a second, but they show up pretty late in the game and are generally near irrelevant. The most functional Aliens to ever grace the show, but they have a few good lines. 
Overall: this story absolutely flew by, and for that I’m thankful. Most classic four parters drag themselves out, but this was the perfect length. Mark Gatiss is better with long length as I mentioned before, look at his Sherlock work for instance. 
And somehow, Simon Pegg is in this? And the musical sting- Nearly flawless, but I want to knock off a point for some vulgar language that I won’t be quoting that Doctor Who shouldn’t be using. Ever. I can ignore it for some fabulous writing though: 9/10

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