Doctor Who: Once and Future: The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 is the fifth episode of Once and Future, Big Finish's 60th Anniversary series.

Released in September 2023 and written by Jonathan Barnes.

This episode mostly featured the Tenth Doctor with the First and Third Doctors each bookending it briefly respectively.

Incidentally while this has Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, he was also at time of release the then incumbent Fourteenth Doctor coming almost a year after first turned up as 14 at the end of The Power of the Doctor and two months before his full 14 debut The Star Beast, the start of the 60th Anniversary Specials on TV.

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 also features Missy and the Paternoster Gang.

This marks a jumble from what was shown on TV as the Tenth Doctor did not encounter Missy nor has he met the Paternoster Gang there.

In fact the only time the Paternoster Gang and Missy were in the same TV episode was for Peter Capaldi's full debut as the Twelfth Doctor, Deep Breath but didn't interact together there as the Paternoster Gang were in the main plot and after that was over Missy made her entrance in the last scene of the episode.

The Paternoster Gang and Missy had very narrowly missed (no pun intended) the Tenth Doctor on TV when he was in the 50th Anniversary Special The Day of the Doctor with brief appearances by the aforementioned First and Third Doctors which came two episodes before Deep Breath.

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 marked a collaboration between Tennant and Michelle Gomez (Missy) but it is not the first time they worked together.

Gomez had guest starred in the DuckTales (2017) episode The Fight for Castle McDuck! starring Tennant as Scrooge McDuck in which Gomez played Matilda McDuck, Scrooge's sister.

In fact the idea of the Doctor and Master being siblings was brought up but never explicitly confirmed in Doctor Who.

The said Martian invasion is really on Earth and it is in Victorian London.

Intriguing on why is Earth likes this and how the Doctor solves this situation.

Interesting Missy and the Paternoster Gang being embroiled in this and what a revelation from Missy that she too is suffering from degeneration just like the Doctor which definitely puts nuance to this mystery.

A curious bit with Missy is that she plays on the piano Gnossienne No. 1 by Erik Satie as that was same bit of music she played on a piano in Lie of the Land.

Incidentally that very same music was also play in the movie Replace (2017) featuring my wife Barbara Crampton.

Overall a pretty good romp.

Matthew See

Barbara Crampton's Chinese Husband