Doctor Who – The Waters of Mars on BBC One
One of the Last Episodes for David Tennant’s Time Lord
Nov 15, 2009
‘Planet of the Dead’ was terrible. Can everyone admit that now? Just because David Tennant’s final days as Doctor Who are becoming more sporadic in appearances until he hands over the TARDIS to the fresh faced Matt Smith doesn’t mean they are all going to be great. For a while it looked like the Tenth Doctor’s last moments would turn out to be a massive disappointment that was until ‘The Waters of Mars’ reassured the world by a being brilliant hour-long special.
A Scary but Fun Doctor Who Adventure
‘Blink’ has long held the trophy for scariest episode of new Who and ‘The Waters of Mars’ is the closest anything has come to taking that crown. It’s not a fright a minute spectacle by any means but the shocks do make an impact and the monsters – a water-based life form that possesses the human crew members – are creepy, in a good way.
Doctor Who has this ability of making something as innocent as water scary. The image of people running around aimlessly with black cracks on their faces and water running out their mouths is somewhat unsettling. For the sake of balance though there was a Johnny 5 type robot to lure the children out from behind the sofa.
Doctor Who 'The Waters of Mars' Special
On ‘The Waters of Mars’ The Doctor, travelling as ever, lands on Mars in the year 2059 where Earth has built a research colony (Bowie Base One, guess the reference...) lead by Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan in fine form). Typically when he arrives at a scene it all goes wrong as the flood monsters start to seep out of the woodwork. However, the Time Lord comes to the realisation that this is a fixed point in time meaning that whatever events take place must not be changed.
He remembers that everyone died, exactly on the day he arrived. Instead of just reeling off untapped sections of his memory that make him look like an annoying smart alec, in this episode the reason for his knowledge is explained briefly through flashes of obituaries. In a way this is a wink to the audience who themselves have read about and are aware of The Doctor’s own demise.
Ultimately this is a very dark story for a family audience but a fun one crafted expertly by Graeme Harper’s effortless direction. It could be described as a zombie film in space but in reality it’s a tale of destiny, morality and accepting fate. Writers Russell T Davies and Phil Ford have really got to the heart of what makes Doctor Who so enjoyable: likeable characters, terrifying scenes, believable environment and fantastic adventure. All of this without any Londoner companion getting in the way by asking obvious questions or getting themselves captured.
David Tennant’s Last Moments as Doctor Who
And just when the ending was about to descend into the schmaltzy sentimentality of The Doctor saving the day it suddenly reveals a dark side to this incarnation that’s never been seen on this scale. Has power now corrupted the universe’s greatest hero?
Every generation has its “Doctor” and although it’s sad when one decides to step down it’s good to keep the show constantly moving. Christopher Eccleston set a high standard under the extreme pressure placed on him when he took up the mantle but Tennant has really made the role his own. In ‘The Waters of Mars’ he again demonstrated why fans love him, especially through his use of strong facial expressions and the genuine emotion as he walks slowly away listening to the crew members fall one-by-one.
Tennant has a two-part Christmas special to cement his legacy and ‘The Waters of Mars’ is an almost perfect entry point for creating tension and excitement for fans, simply as it was so well put together. If that’s not enough the teaser trailer that followed had images of Donna Noble returning (boo!) and John Simm as The Master. Why can't those arch nemeses ever stay dead? Still, it’s intriguing to see how things will end.
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