What did you think of this episode?
Sonic!
Good!
Bumpy-wumpy!
Exterminate!
I have been desperate to watch this one since I started my rewatch - this is, in my humble opinion, one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever! Did my love for it dwindle on this, my seventy-eighth (give or take) viewing of it? Not one bit!!
This is my kind of Who! It was full of suspense, emotion, terror and David Tennant putting in one of his best performances as the Doctor. A big part of me wishes this was his regeneration episode in hindsight, although would going down as the Time Lord Victorious left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans?
It all starts fairly innocently as well, the Doctor on Mars being held up by a ropey looking robot, but the second Andy eats a carrot all hell breaks loose, in a very, very epic way.
We quickly learn that we are in Bowie Base One which houses the first human colony on Mars in the year 2059. Pretty soon we learn that all the buggers are going to die, and that this moment is a fixed point in time. The Doctor has landed, as always, on a day that will end in tragedy. I love how we see the Doctor helping against his own wishes, watching him really wanting to leave but still desperate to explore and help.
How fucking scary are the Flood? Some of the best looking and freakiest monsters in the shows history. I am willing to put them higher on the scare chart than the Weeping Angels.
They really look amazing, the freaky cracked skin, the water coming out of all sorts of places. A stunning piece of work by all the Doctor Who team.
Any episode can have a creepy monster, but they can only shine in a good story, and this one is a doozy! Sorry, I am gushing about this - if you'll pardon the pun! The whole moral dilemma the Doctor faces, torn between his sense of duty and his loneliness of being the last of the Time Lords. What happens when the Doctor decides that he is more powerful than the Universe itself? I will say this a lot - but it was a gripping watch.
"I should go. I really should go. I’m sorry. I’m sorry with all of my hearts. But it’s one of those very rare times when I’ve got no choice. It’s been an honour. Seriously. A very great honour to meet you all. The Martian pioneers. Thank you. Thank you."
Of course, the Doctor needs someone to bounce off, and Lindsay Duncan is superb as Captain Adelaide Brooke. I could listen to her story about following the Dalek to the stars all day long.
The rest of the cast are great as well. Each time one of them succumbs to the water it is a devastating blow. Each time their bodies start shaking as they are transformed it scares the living hell out of me. What time did this episode air? It should have been past the watershed!
"This moment—this precise moment in time—it’s like…. I mean it’s only a theory, what do I know. But. I think certain moments in time are fixed. Tiny, precious moments. Everything else is in flux, anything can happen. But those certain moments, they have to stand. This base on Mars, with you, Adelaide Brooke, this is one vital moment. What happens here must always happen."
As deaths go, Steffi's is probably one of the most traumatic deaths I've seen in a TV show. The water trapping her, closing her off from her friends, then watching her children on the monitor she let out a resigned scream as the water fell on her back, and then she started shaking, it was so fucking gripping.
I don't think I have ever been so gripped to what is going on as the moment the spaceship blows up and the Doctor realises he is the only Time Lord in existence. Murray Gold produces some amazing music as Tennant puts in a masterful performance of a Time Lord on the edge, and when he shouts that the laws of time will obey me it sends shivers down your spine. God, it is so good!!
"Someone told me just recently, they said I was going to die, they said, he will knock four times. And I think I know what that means, and it doesn't mean right here, right now, cause I don't hear anyone knocking, do you?"
I have only one grumble about this episode, and it still bugs me to this day. All the talk about bringing water back to Earth and then they go and roll Gadget out of the TARDIS and onto the street. Now I swear I saw that robot trundle through a lot of water before it got to the TARDIS on the surface of Mars. So did anyone ever touch the weird robot on the street? Did some of the water melt away with the snow? Heck, maybe RTD was thinking he'd unleash the Flood on Earth one day and it's all part of a long game?
I love the reaction of Mia to the TARDIS, I think more people should react in utter horror to stepping out of something so mind fuckingly mad.
Tennant keeps producing and his and Lindsay Duncan's performance on the deserted street are so bloody good. The Doctor is so cocky and a tad unlikeable here and it really does have you wondering what the F is going on.
Then Adelaide kills herself and it is like what the actual F. I know this can be a tough thing to tackle, and it probably wasn't as talked about in 2009 as it is today, but it hit home. It showed that the Doctor was never in control as he thought he was, it showed that he cannot control people, that everyone had their own minds. The Time Lord Victorious was defeated very quickly!
The desperation of the Doctor that followed as he realised what he had done left us wondering what the bloody hell would happen over Christmas and New Year.
Wow, just wow!
RATING: Sonic!
BEST LINE: "For a long time I thought I was just a survivor, but I’m not. I’m the winner. That’s who I am. The Time Lord Victorious."
#DoctorWho #TheWatersOfMars #DavidTennant #LindsayDuncan #Ten #AdelaideBrooke #Mars #BowieBaseOne #MiaBennett #TarakItal #MaggieCain #AndyStone #SteffiEhrlich #EdGold #RomanGroom #FourKnocks #OodSigma #Ood #HeWillKnockFourTimes #GadgetGadget #TheFlood #Regeneration #RTD #TARDIS #Series4 #DWSpecial
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