The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50

Once and Future #5

Released: 12 September 2023

Listened: 9/21/23

Things get even more confused here, if that were possible, because the Doctor in this story is the Tenth (or maybe, just maybe, the Fourteenth, but probably not). And the mash-up characters are the Paternoster Gang and Missy. Because David Tennant never got to play with Michelle Gomez, and isn’t that a shame? It starts out with Stephen Noonan’s First Doctor, finding himself in Victorian London in the middle of HG Wells’ Martian Invasion, which he knows full well is fictional. Once Missy sticks her hand in, though, we get the Tenth Doctor, which should be impossible. Tennant does a good job of portraying a Tenth Doctor who’s actually an earlier Doctor and therefore doesn’t really know who or what the Tenth is like. We also get confirmation that the Doctor’s outfit is changing with each of these regenerations, including, apparently, the sonic screwdriver. Is the plot any good? Well, we’ve seen stories before where the Master has screwed something up and calls the Doctor to come save him. That’s more of a Roger Delgado / Antony Ainley thing, though. With Missy doing her “crazy ex-girlfriend” act, it comes off somewhat differently. However, there’s some indication that Missy is also suffering from regenerative issues, so maybe she’s not entirely herself. For what it’s worth, the Tenth Doctor is having none of Missy’s approach. It’s probably a good thing that this Doctor can’t remember the John Simm Master, or things might have gone differently. This one is more of an actor’s workshop than a story, and Strax doesn’t steal any scenes, which just shows how good the actors in question are.