The Waters of Mars

"The Laws of Time are mine, and they will obey me!"

Writers: Russell T Davies & Phil Ford

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 15th November 2009

Series: 2009 Autumn Special

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis 

The Doctor arrives on Mars. Bowie Base One. 21st November 2059. The day the Base is obliterated and the crew die. With the infectious Flood on a rampage, can the Doctor really just leave and condemn the crew to their deaths? Or does he have the right to change time?

Verdict 

The Waters of Mars is a superb episode of Doctor Who and serves well as the penultimate story for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. The Doctor goes on quite the emotional journey in this story and it really is quite hard to watch at times, knowing what he's going through. Tennant's performance is as sublime as ever and I think it was very well written in the way that the Doctor was just looking on at what was happening. He knew the result but he just couldn't do anything except watch. It must have been heartbreaking for the Doctor. His arrival was quite humorous to me. I do wonder how dangerous things could be if the Doctor was just travelling through time and space all on his lonesome. Why would he just pop to Mars? Or was it another random landing from the TARDIS? That was left ambiguous. Once he realised where and when he was, the Doctor knew he should leave immediately. The events that would unfold in this story would set in place a chain of events that would alter human history for the better and see it expand into the stars. The Doctor knowing all the details about the crew members was interesting as it meant that this base was obviously of high importance. They were the first human space colonists so they were extremely important! But each time the Doctor named a crew member, we saw that they all died in 2059. It appeared from the off that this was going to be quite a harrowing episode. Death was going to be a plenty and the Doctor could do nothing about. The rising of the Flood was quite shocking and I thought the transformation process was brilliantly disturbing! They really did look scary. They just literally flooded with water. They were dripping and dribbling water and could emit at will! With humans being approximately 60% water, they were the perfect hosts. And with a planet so rich in water, what better planet to target than Earth? The Doctor being in a dilemma regarding fixed points was quite the story throughout the episode. The reference to The Fires of Pompeii was very emotional and it was a perfect example of why the Tenth Doctor appears so desperate here. It was foreshadowed in Planet of the Ood that his song was ending and in Planet of the Dead his ending was again foreseen. Not here, not now. Just the three knocks. But it was soon. Instead of leaving things to history, the Doctor was going to change a fixed point. Even though a Dalek spared Adelaide's life, which we saw a magnificent flashback taking place during The Stolen Earth, the Doctor declared himself the Time Lord victorious. He had won the Time War, whether he liked it or not. Now the Laws of Time were his. He had the power to say who lived and who died. But Adelaide thought that was wrong. The Doctor had saved Mia, who was absolutely stunning, and Yuri but saving someone as influential as Adelaide could change the future drastically. The Doctor didn't seem too bothered about what he'd done until Adelaide took her own life ensuring her legacy lived on and her granddaughter would still be inspired by her. Ood Sigma was briefly seen and the Doctor realised he had gone too far. But he still wasn't accepting death. On he went! Overall, this was a very powerful episode and my only qualm was Gadget who I wasn't struck on. I also wish more was said about the Ice Warriors! But still, marvellous. 

Rating: 9/10