The Waters of Mars

"All it would take to begin was one drop."

Writer: Phil Ford

Format: Novel

Released: July 2023

Series: Target 176

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

"Water is patient... water just waits. Water always wins!"

November 21st 2059, and Bowie Base One – the first human colony on Mars – is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The Laws of Time dictate that it cannot – must never – be changed. 

The Doctor arrives just as a viral life-form escapes from the Martian ice into the base's water supply. A single drop can transform a human into a terrifying monster with the power to infect others. History records that the threat is destroyed along with the base and every human in it. But as his darkest hour comes calling, the Doctor resolves to break the rules as he never has before...

Verdict

The Waters of Mars was an excellent novelisation of the television episode of the same name! The Tenth Doctor’s penultimate on screen adventure, this was a fine choice to novelise and I was really impressed with how Phil Ford handled the task of bringing this dark and powerful story to prose. I only watched the episode around three or four weeks ago so the events were extremely fresh in my head and that’s an approach I don’t usually take. I like to be quite distanced (as much as possible) from the on screen version so I’m able to judge the book in its own right, but I found the idea quite fun and I was intrigued to find how the book would be different. We got a little more fleshing out of the characters that form the crew of Bowie Base One which is expected in a prose format and something I welcomed, and we also got to delve deeper into the mind of the Doctor. I remember thinking specifically how they would incorporate the online news reports of the disaster into the book and it was minimised in a big way. We only got one instance of the Doctor remembering being in a different body in a different time reading a newspaper account of events in New York.  I quite liked that, but it is a shame we didn’t get those news flashes of each crew member. I thought the book did a good job of expanding more on Yuri and Mia both as characters and with their relationship. The moment the Doctor made it public what everyone already knew but was hiding was a fun moment, but perhaps not so much as his first introductions to the crew. When he realised who he was meeting and what the date was, things really got going and the inner turmoil began. That’s where the thoughts of the Doctor were really nicely presented as events went on he knew he should leave. But he just couldn’t. Reading the inner breakdown of the Doctor is incredible stuff really and he does resort to the Time Lord Victorious in extraordinary circumstances. I love how he proclaims to fight Time itself as he was the only one left with the burden of the Laws of Time and he decided now what they were and how they were followed. That was a lot of power and he said it was tough when Adelaide confronted him about it being too much. I thought the background of her character and the expansion on the Dalek seeing her moment during the events of The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End was brilliant. We basically had an entire chapter devoted to her as a ten year old and the reaction of her friendship group to seeing the planets in the sky. She even thought about how cold it would get now they were no longer orbiting the sun. What a thought! It was the Target format at its best. I really enjoyed some of the descriptive language for the Flood and just referring to them by name on numerous occasions was better than on screen where I’m not even sure if they were named. It gave them a bit more credibility I felt. Just reading of their patience and how they were waiting and yearning for Earth was excellent. They were water and that was a powerful enemy. Incorporating some Ice Warrior history into the story was nicely done and what you want from an adventure set on Mars! The Doctor reading the Ice Warrior warning in North Martian concerning the water was great stuff. I thought Adelaide trusting in his words completely was very good and despite being a stranger, she could see in the Doctor’s eyes that he meant what he said. That was important throughout. The setting of 2059 is good and I liked the hindsight by having the pandemic referenced as one of the reasons the world had gone wrong and was in need of expansion beyond the stars. Adelaide’s taking history into her own hands because she wanted her legacy to live on through her granddaughter is a sublime moment as just when the Doctor thinks he’s won, she sends him straight into despair. The story stayed the same despite some of the details changing. Suggesting conspiracy theories about the base was really fun stuff. I thought the links with Planet of the Dead and the four knocks warning as The End of Time is foreshadowed were also presented very well. It really did have a sense of impending finality for the Doctor. Overall, a tremendous read!

Rating: 9/10