User Reviews

I have loved this episode since the day it came out and have watched it countless times. I myself am a very big fan of doctor who, it is a show full of hundreds of remarkable episodes thanks to the show's outstanding soundtrack and brilliant casting particularly from 2005-2011, my favourite period of Doctor Who. Before this episode it was hard to imagine David Tennart becoming even more entertaining to watch and along with the new ensemble of castmembers especially the actress who plays Adelaide Brooke who is stunning, specifically her scene at the end of the episode when she confronts the Doctor for his reckless actions and abusing his power to distort even locked moments in time. This scene is perfectly ended with the death of Adelaide which displays to the viewer how serious she is about the subject.

When the Doctor is walking away from the Mars base, the screams of terror from the crew fill his mind. He keeps trying to remind himself to not save them in order to not ruin later important events in time. Eventually he does go back for them anyway which begins the best sequence in Doctor Who history. He finally realises that he is the last time lord and can manipulate time however much he wants which contrasts brilliantly with the very next episode where this is shown to not be true. Overall the monsters in this episodes are a great threat and in my opinion this is an amazing episode that anyone should watch even if there not a fan of the show as a whole even just for the amazing climax at the end.

While "Doctor Who" has always had its share of fun, there have been times that it's taken a darker tone. "The Waters of Mars," the second of four specials that mark the end of David Tennant's time as the Tenth Doctor, is such an episode. It's a thrilling, funny, and downright creepy episode. And dare I say it, but I thought it was the darkest episode of the show's history. But not because of the creatures, which the Flood is a downright terrifying monster for the Doctor to face. And it's not the fact that the Doctor has landed at a fixed point in time where historical events must take place, meaning everybody on Mars' Bowie Base One will die. What makes this the darkest episode of all time is none other than the Doctor himself. After having witnessed so much death and destruction, including the death of his own people, the Time Lords, he takes a turn for the dark, believing that he has a right to change historical events, because he is the last of the Time Lords, and decides to take on time itself. He begins by rescuing the three humans not infected by the martian water, including Adelaide Brooke, the base's commander, and a hero. Through some truly ingenious work, he gets them back to Earth on the same day as their death. But now, the Doctor has taken on a dark and malicious arrogance, and believes that there is nothing he cannot do. But Brooke decides to make sure the time line stays right for her, and commits suicide. When she does this, the Doctor realizes that he has gone too far, and believes that his death is at hand. "The Waters of Mars" is definitely the best special created so far: an exciting, character-driven, dark adventure that takes on a more grim storyline that is more suited for "Torchwood," but works here. If there is a complaint I have, it's this, which is more an observation: This episode, with it's dark ending, is definitely not one for young children. But still, it's a terrific episode, and bodes well for the final two episodes of the David Tennant/Russell T. Davies era of "Doctor Who." Grade: A+

My 2009 Specials Review:

Waters of Mars

This is an exciting and expertly put together story from Showrunner Russell T. Davies who proves again his great ability as a writer.

It features the Doctor arriving in 2059 at the first human colony on Mars 'Bowie Base One'. The Doctor is detained and meets the commander Captain Adelaide Brooke. On learning the date he feels he needs to leave as events due to occur are to become famous and are pivotal in human space exploration. It is a fixed point in time in which he feels interference would be exceptionally risky and 'against the rules' of time travel. Crew members start to be infected by an alien virus but the Doctor is still very reluctant to get involved.

All the ideas in this story are interesting, clever and excellent entertainment. The risks of time travel interference are explored intelligently and lead to a very dark and shocking conclusion when the Doctor shows his more reckless side going against the principles he normally lives by and then faces the consequences.

The sequence of the Doctor making his 'victorious' speech and then seeing it go wrong is uncomfortable to watch and very challenging but it is logically done and perfectly judged so it actually adds a whole extra dimension to an already superb story.

Steven Moffatt seemed to spend a lot of his time as Showrunner trying to recreate this dark, dangerous edge to the Doctor but in my opinion he overused what I felt were far less successful attempts at referencing this side of the Doctor. I think Davies had got it just right as a single act of the Doctor going over the line.

The thrilling 'water zombies' are scary and effective and all the action and plot development is top notch. The dialogue is of the highest standard and the characters are totally believable and very well formed. All the acting is fantastic from all the guest cast especially Lindsay Duncan as the Captain. David Tennant is on absolute peak form showing his impressive range and phenomenal talent.

Every aspect of this adventure is as good as Doctor Who gets and even the challenging ending that freaked me out on first viewing is really just an extra plus as it is good to be challenged as long as it works logically. It gives further depth to this thought provoking, powerful and absorbing thriller of an episode.

My Rating: 10/10.

This episode covers a wide range. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry. It had a silly robot. It touched on very human reactions to an uncanny event. It had some excellent performances, but from David Tenant and Lindsay Duncan that is hardly surprising. Finally, we have an act of selfless bravery in the face of something we have seen in the series before, but that I never expected to see this way. If you have been watching for the last four years, you may remember the Doctor uttering the phrase, "there is nothing so extraordinary as an ordinary man." Look for him to return to that phrase, and for its memory to make the scene and the story into something entirely new.

The episode is scary, but not quite in the old "hide behind the couch" way. I wonder just how many kids will refuse to bathe after seeing this story.

One can tell the production team was really trying to go all out on this one. It particularly shows in the special effects, which for the most part were practical rather than cgi and definitely well done this time around. It is full of many exciting and thrilling moments, and the villains are effectively creepy (even if it rehashes the basic escape from zombies trope). The water gushing from their mouths just makes me feel icky, ugh lol.

Unfortunately we don't get much time with many of the characters before they start dying off, which limits a bit how much we connect with them, though RTD does put forth his best effort to make their deaths as sad as possible. The captain is played quite well and is refreshing to see such a strong female character without overdoing it. Unfortunately she is the only member of the crew that feels fully realized, although I did like Ed the second in command.

We are introduced to the Doctor's conundrum of trying to avoid altering a fixed point in time, and knowing their fates before hand does make things a bit more tragic. The special features many poignant scenes, culminating in the Doctor defying the laws of time to save what's left of the doomed crew of the Martian Bowie base in a standout performance from David Tennant (though all the actors did quite well) as the "Timelord Victorious."

With that said the ending feels a little contrived for my liking. While the Doctor has indeed gone a little power mad, the rescued crew seems rather ungrateful and the captain's suicude really seemed unnecessary to keep events in line. And then the Doctor realized his mistake, the "Timelord Victorious" basically disappears and the Doctor resets, kinda making the entire story a bit moot. Still, it was a wild and enjoyable ride that gave us the opportunity to see a broad range of acting chops from all involved. 9/10

I'm currently on a rewatch of the entire series and this might be one of my favorite episodes mainly due to Tennant's acting.

The "Laws of time" speech is amazing , the amount of emotion he was able to deliver onscreen is truly incredible. He can seamlessly switch between comedy, pure rage, fear, and pain.

All the publicity for this one off episode suggested that it would be scarier than most Doctor Who episodes and I think it was... I'm sure it will have had some children hiding behind the settee just as their parents did in the seventies.

The episode opened in an easy going manner with The Doctor arriving on Mars and going for a stroll, his walk takes him to a small base. It isn't just any base though, nor is it any day... it is the first ever human base on Mars and it is the day it is destined to be lost along with all its personnel. At around the time The Doctor is captured outside the base two of its staff are harvesting the first crops to be grown there, something is wrong though, as soon as one of them bites into a carrot something strange happens, he starts to drip water and the area around his mouth appears cracked giving him a scary appearance. It is clear that they must be kept away from the rest of the people there at all costs and that anybody who gets the water on them is lost.

Unusually The Doctor is keen to leave them to their fate, not because he is afraid but because he believes it is a pivotal moment in time and they must die if humanity is to fulfil its destiny and explore the stars. As the people there prepare to evacuate The Doctor tells Adelaide Brooke, the leader of the base personnel, what her destiny and why he can't help.

I feared that we were going to get a cop-out happy ending but with a nice twist we got an ending that was both dark and showed The Doctor in a bad light.. it will be interesting to see where this leads in the next special. David Tennant once again does a great job as The Doctor, he will be missed when he leaves the role, he was ably supported by a good cast including Lindsay Duncan as Adelaide Brooke.

Mars, 2059, Bowie Base One. Last recorded message: "Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."

I have no words for this episode. It has to be one of the best examples of pure writing. It had so many great moments and scenes. Many of them include some 'Dark Doctor Moments' where the Doctor was watching the first humans on Mars' supposed last moments. He knew that he couldn't do anything. He can't rewrite history, "Not one line!" and where he was walking away from Bowie Base One and remarked about the Last Great Time War.

Murray Gold just. DID IT AGAIN! God, there are no words for how amazing his music is. It perfectly fits when there's a scene. Another 'Dark Doctor Moment' where the Doctor purposely saving the first crew on Mars from the infected humans, where he claimed that there are laws of time, and people were in charge of those laws. But they all died, which leaves the Doctor, which has taken him all these years to realize the laws of time are supposedly are his and will obey him, which leads the Doctor to believe that he was fighting time itself and wanted to win.

Lindsay Duncan did a badass job at portraying as Adelaide Brooke, the commander of Bowie Base One, and led humanity to the stars, inspiring so many people to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension. Even her granddaughter whose led humanity's first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centauri.

The Monsters themselves were a fantastic concept. If they even get one drop of Martian water on you, your doomed. You begin to become like them. How terrifying is that?

I loved the dark ending. It has to be my most favorite scene in this episode and one of the greatest Tennant moments.

Following the child-friendly colour and noise of Planet of the Dead (complete with flying London bus for sh1ts, giggles and "cool-Britannia brand recognition), I was looking forward to the next specials as they were sold as being a lot darker and more suited to adults than their children. Of course it was still going to be family-friendly but what I knew of the plot going in suggested it would be more than that. The first 15 minutes confirm that the potential is definitely there and indeed it does seem like we are on our way to something particularly good. The monsters have the deadly patience and determination of zombies and visually are well filmed to be unsettling and frightening. The Doctor's knowledge of the fate of the base (and its importance in time) introduces a familiar theme but one that still has legs – his ability to stand back and watch events that have already happened unfold as they have already done – whether they are right or fair.

Does it deliver on this potential? Well, the fair answer is "sort of", because while it never produces something really impressive, it is still pretty good. The fast moving plot benefits from decreasing options and the inevitable nature of the plotting but at the same time it never really nails any one aspect as well as I would have liked. The infected/possessed characters are indeed creepy and feel unstoppable, while the infection of some of the characters do indeed have some emotional impact – as Theo has said already, there is an air of 28 Days Later about it and I think that this is one of the things it did well. The weaknesses come in with the more complex character themes that the show tries to deal with beyond the specific adventure plot. If you wrote these conflicting inner turmoil down in a couple of sentences then you would have developed them as fully as this special does. Mostly it is done by having the Doctor square his jaw and look determined and/or in deep thought. This I have no real problem with but it is not backed up by good dialogue or clever character observations – the final few moments of the special maybe do this but it is just as superficial. Maybe I am being unfair since this is still a Sunday evening piece of family entertainment but it did give the special a tone of "doing the basics", with the "importance" of certain things painted on rather than being engrained into the characters and plot in the way that works best.

The supporting aspects of the special can either shore it up to be stronger or give it a weaker base that doesn't help. In this case the threat of the infected is definitely a shoring factor but everything else doesn't help that much. The Gadget robot put me in mind of Tweaky in Buck Rodgers or that bl00dy dog in the original Battlestar Galactica. It was an unnecessarily silly addition and the impact of two infecting chasing the Doctor and Adelaide was undercut somewhat by having them escape on a "tricked-out" Gadget, complete with flames coming from the exhaust. The supporting cast were solid and I did think that Duncan was good but could really have done with a little bit less running and a bit more time to process her character's actions to produce something more memorable. The computer effects were OK but the use of music was mostly poor – often being obvious and intrusive. Tennant is on typical good form though as he approaches the end of his tenure – he is capable of doing more with the darker character stuff but this special didn't give him the time.

Waters of Mars is certainly a massive improvement on the last special even if it doesn't live up to its potential and fudges some aspects it should have been strong on. One more special remains, containing the Master; I suspect that it will be similar to this special in the mix of running, threats and darker aspects, I would just hope that it can match the impact of the better parts of this special while also doing a better job on the more interesting thematic/character aspects, which I didn't think were that good here (even if they were present).

Once in a while your favorite TV series will surprise you. I remember liking but not being blown away by The Next Doctor and being utterly disappointed by Planet Of The Dead. So I wasn't sure what to make of the next special Waters Of Mars, especially with it seemingly delayed to the point of being an afterthought to what promises to be an epic finale to the tenth Doctor era. So imagine my surprise upon finally seeing Waters Of Mars and discovering that not only was it a major improvement over the two previous specials but that here was a story featuring everything that makes Doctor Who great was in it: action, fine acting, horror and yet it being a personal tale at the same time.

David Tennant turns in his best performance since Human Nature/Family Of Blood. Here we see a tenth Doctor like we have never seen before on a roller coaster ride of emotions. We first see a Doctor thrilled by adventure as he always has before realizing he's in the wrong place at the wrong time and trying futilely to not get involved. Then we see something unexpected during an incredible eleven or twelves minutes with a Doctor who throws caution to the wind and soon learns the price of doing so. Tennant's performance throughout all this is nothing short of one word: extraordinary. It's a performance that hits all the acting notes beautifully and may well be Tennant's best performance in the role.

There's also a fine supporting cast as well. Lindsay Duncan plays base commander Adelaide Brooke, who in a way becomes a one-off companion of sorts. Yet she is far more then just that though. In just an hour she becomes a full fledged character with a back-story and a character arc as well. Brooke is a pioneer who finds herself caught up in a crisis with a man who knows what is about to happen and, in the end, will be utterly appalled by the actions he will take. Duncan plays the role well as she shares some fine scenes with Tennant during the back half of the special, especially during one of the most emotional scenes the New Series has yet served to its audience. Duncan was a perfect choice for the role and her presence helps to elevate the special's quality. There's also a good supporting cast as well in the form of base members including Peter O'Brien as Ed, Alan Ruscoe as Andy, Sharon Duncan Brewster as Maggie and Gemma Chan as Mia Bennett. Together they make a fine supporting cast.

There's also some fine work behind the camera as well. There is some fantastic make-up and effects work in regards to the villains of the special which make them, next to the stone angels from Blink, perhaps the scariest thing to have been used in the New Series, especially in the revealing of the first one which made he jump out of my seat (literally). The base is well realized both in the form of the sets interiors (including some fine location work) and the well done CGI exterior as well. There's also a really well done version of the Martian surface as well which is almost convincing, especially with the Doctor walking on it. Then there's the robot Gadget as well which is almost a character rather then a prop. Plus there's the music of Murray Gold that, especially in the last eleven or twelve minutes, shows once again the power of a Doctor Who score. To top it all off there's the ever fantastic direction of Graeme Harper who once again proves himself to be the best director on the New Series by walking the tightrope of action, emotion, horror and suspense without ever falling off. Fine work by all indeed.

Which brings us to the script. While Russel T. Davies previous collaboration with Gareth Roberts turned out to be something of a dud, his collaboration with Phil Ford proves to be among the better scripts of the New Series. Waters Of Mars takes the classic Doctor Who formula of base under siege and feeds into that formula action sequences, horror, sacrifices and the question at the heart of any time travel series: if you knew what was to happen and could change it, should you? It is that last question that occupies the Doctor throughout the special and that ultimately leads to a powerful finale that answers that question all too painfully. The script does what any great Doctor Who story should do: be exciting, horrifying and yet personal.

Waters Of Mars qualifies as one of the finest stories of the New Series. It starts with fine performances from David Tennant, Lindsay Duncan and the supporting cast. It continues on into the production values including make-up, special effects, the CGI rendering of the base, the score and more of the fantastic direction of Graeme Harper. Then there's the script from Russel T. Davies and Phil Ford that hits all the right notes of action, horror, suspense and yet remaining a personal tale as well. Waters Of Mars ranks with Human Nature/Family Of Blood, Blink and Dalek as amongst the best stories to come out of the New Series and is a fine example of what Doctor Who is at its best.

Yes unlike dear old Earth there's no water shortage on Mars (hopefully we'll go there one day) although it should carry a health warning 'Eau non potable' as they say in France. This episode had a clever twist and was very emotional at the end leaving the door open for the final swansong of this incarnation of the good Doctor.

Although only referenced it would be great to see the Ice Warriors again. The BBC certainly rendered Mars very well (although it was filmed in a quarry pit with the help of green screen).

So here we are leading up to the final climax - I hope it's as good as this episode,

I'm beginning to think that the Doctor is a tragic hero, perhaps this much was obvious to others before, perhaps this is what the viewer is supposed to think, but it was in this episode where I finally clocked it. The Doctor explains how no matter what he or anyone else does to a fixed point in time the outcome is always the same, he later attempts to change history but his own words ring true and he changes only minor details, the bigger picture aka outcome remains the same.

The best special episode of 10th Doctor. Dark atmosphere, strong villains and Doctor pushing his own boundaries in the end.

"I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not. I'm the winner. That's who I am. A Time Lord victorious!"

Beautifully entertaining episode, plenty of action, a few explosions chucked in to make the disaster even more well disastrous but not over the top. Love to see it when The Doctor goes dark. Episodes such as Dalek in season 1 and The Runaway Bride Season 3 (sorta season 3 anyway). When the doctor will do anything to "win" (Timelord Victorious). Beautifully acted every time and beautiful to see. This time however his realization of just how far he went was clear and further than he had ever gone.

I can't give this a 10/10, not only do I have the gnawing feeling I can't for some reason but also because of what I saw. Sealing up a leak with some foam stuff okay i will let that slide, but why could she easily stand up and seal it while everyone else is holding on to some pipes for dear life.

Beautiful to see the so called "Butterfly effect" in action in Doctor Who. In this episode The Doctor comes across a fixed point in history where there is nothing he can do. Again he has to leave precious, innocent people behind to die.

But then he makes a choice he never made before. He decides to change the fixed point, without thinking, without caring about the huge consequences it can have. But in the end, time and future stabilizes itself and in the end, not much changes and the Doctor is yet again, left alone, heartbroken.

Interesting to see a different side of the Doctor in this episode, where he describes himself as a winner, a God, a conquerer in a world where he makes the rules as the last Time Lord. The Lord of Time and Space.

Just like the Master he realises, and that, that breaks him even more.

Well, after a seven month wait that seemed longer than the nine years between the TVM and 'Rose', we have the most ambitious and expensive looking DW episode ever. And was it an improvement on Planet Of The Dead, the last special? Well, yes, because...almost anything would have been better than Planet Of The Dead. But let's get down to specifics. What we have here is a solid, exciting, genuinely disturbing first half hour of classic Dr Who that shares with the instant-classic episode "Blink" a monster that would actually scare young children. To date, Russell Davies' creatures have usually been more laughable than frightening, and it is as of he's trying to make up for lost opportunities and mistakes like the Slitheen. I say 'first half hour' because things go a bit pear-shaped in the second half. The tension and claustrophobia of the story gets largely thrown out in favour of 'cosmic angst', lengthy flashbacks, and incredibly clumsy foreshadowing. Yes, we all know that there is one thing Russell D can't manage, and that is subtlety. The story's sets are phenomenal, as are the simple but effective CG-treated Mars surface shots. I do wonder about the scale and the engineering wisdom of the base in the CG shots, however - the dialogue states that the designers scrimped on every kilo, yet decided to make pointlessly long and ludicrously huge dome connector tunnels made of very heavy steel that don't seem to serve any function other than being long metal box-tubes. But that's nitpicking. As for the plot, it's not exactly original. John Carpenter's late 80s horror movie Prince Of Darkness is, in effect, stolen wholesale here, and the director's later film Ghosts Of Mars is also mined. Throw in obvious pinches from 28 Days/Weeks Later, and you don't have a great deal of new stuff here. It's only when the Infected plot basically slams to a halt and we get the 15 minutes of angsting that we see any new material. And what new material! We have a galaxy-weary Doctor more or less becoming the Master here, with his self-imposed rules about not messing with 'fixed' Time being thrown out. Davies and Ford do not give Tennant enough of a chance to do more than yell a lot in this, so the chilling implications of a rogue Doctor are undermined somewhat. But the writing for those scenes is very good, and Tennant himself is never anything less than superb. The acting in general in 'Waters' is good, with "that guy from Neighbours" (as I think we all greeted him when he appeared) being the obvious standout for me.

Amazing sets and CG, a threat that's actually scary, a handful of the most poignant scenes in the show (the German crew-woman playing the video of her daughter and sobbing as she awaits her doom is, hands down, the best acted and shot scene in the entirety of DW)...there's a lot to like here. Some to not like, though - Murray Gold's music is typically overblown, intrusive and mixed FAR too loud on the soundtrack - but that's quibbling. A good special, all in all. Gripping telly!

OBVIOUS CONTINUITY ERROR The first humans on Mars? Er, sorry, that honour would go to the crews of Mars Probes 6 and 7 eighty years before Bowie Base even existed, as seen in Season 7 of the old show. :)

What we have here is your basic traditional zombie film plot. The doctor and sundry others are trapped in an environment from which they cannot escape; first one person is infected, then another - the heroes barricade themselves in, anyone touched becomes a zombie - jeez, its just Night Of The Living Dead all over again. This could work if the dialogue was witty and interesting and if the characters were better defined and developed but it isn't and they aren't. There's an interesting attempt at the beginning to create some friction between the captain and her second-in-command but it doesn't go anywhere. When Dr Who is at its best it features intricate, interesting well written plots - this ain't one of them. Fresh writing blood is urgently needed.