‘THE WATERS OF MARS’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
“Don’t Touch The Water!” – The Flood with the Tenth Doctor
I first purchased the original DVD box-set of David Tennant’s last TV stories in ‘Doctor Who’ in 2010!
Now I have ‘The Complete Specials’ DVD, containing those two stories. They conclude the Russell T. Davies era of the show and are two thrilling adventures that also bring a closure to the Tenth Doctor era. David Tennant was the best Doctor I have seen and I enjoyed watching his era. I truly miss him!
The last two TV stories of the David Tennant era are ‘The Waters of Mars’ (a one-part story on one disc) and ‘The End of Time’ (a two-part story spread across two discs). They are both exciting stories!
‘The Waters of Mars’ by Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford, is the Autumn Special shown in November 2009. This is a chilling horror story that will scare children to bits. It stars David Tennant with Lindsay Duncan as Captain Adelaide Brooke.
The story is set on Mars and it’s the 21st of November 2059. Reports on the existence of life on Mars have been with us for a long time. It’s great to have a Martian adventure in the Russell T. Davies era!
Mars, of course, is the home of ‘Doctor Who’ monsters, the Ice Warriors. But they don’t appear in this story. Instead we have the deadly Flood, an evil water species that can possess human bodies.
The look of these monsters when humans become the Flood like Andy, Tarak and Maggie are really terrifying. It’s so frightening that once you touch the water, you’re dead and you become a zombie.
Lindsay Duncan guest stars as Adelaide Brooke, who is in charge of this doomed expedition on Mars. She leads her team on the famous Bowie Base One and becomes a driving force for the whole story.
Adelaide is a very strong and sharp individual. She doesn’t take too kindly to many of her team as she’s not an automatically nice person. But there’s something about her the Doctor take a liking to.
“Gadget, gadget”. There’s a funny little robot in this story. “Gadget, gadget”. His name is Gadget. “Gadget, gadget”. He’s like a security drone and maintenance tool that helps out on Bowie Base One.
“Gadget, gadget”. I found Gadget funny and sweet. “Gadget, gadget”. The Doctor hates funny robots. “Gadget, gadget”. He does remind me of Wall-E from that daft Disney/Pixar film. “Gadget, gadget”.
This story of courses focuses on a future event that is a fixed point in time. Bowie Base One will blow up because of an explosion and everyone will die. The Doctor knows this event and can’t interfere.
He goes through agonising torment and grief, knowing everybody will die on Bowie Base One. It put me in mind of his predicament from ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ as he had caused Vesuvius’ eruption.
The Doctor tries to walk away from the chaotic events with people getting killed left, right and centre by the Flood. But as he walks away, a certain rage enters into him and he decides to go back.
He decides to save the people of Bowie Base One, despite himself being a Time Lord and defies the laws of time. It results in disaster, making him the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ and losing a beloved figure.
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Barry Letts – former producer of ‘Doctor Who’. The DVD special features are as follows. On the ‘The Waters of Mars’ DVD and Disc 3 of ‘The Complete Specials’, there’s the ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ making of documentary called ‘Is There Life on Mars?’. There are also behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, including with David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan.
‘The Waters of Mars’ contains a colossal and amazing performance by David Tennant as the Doctor. It is also brilliantly directed by Graeme Harper. I’m very impressed with emotion driven in this episode and found it terrifying with the Flood. The episode ends on a very sad note but is so thrilling.
At the end, the Doctor gets summoned back by the Ood to meet his fate. At that time, it became such a heart-throbbing moment and I did wonder what was going to happen next to David’s Doctor.
‘The Waters of Mars’ rating – 9/10
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Bradley's Basement 
I love this story, it’s dark, gritty & dramatic David Tennant gives a excellent performance & adds a darkness at the climax never seen in any incarnation before.
Excellent review Tim, you picked up on the emotional drama of the story brilliantly in your review mate.
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I found David Tennant’s performance as the Doctor really gripping and gut-wrenching to watch, especially when he loses it at the climax of the story. The Flood monsters are very scary in this episode, aren’t they?
Thanks for your comments, Simon. I’m pleased the emotional drama of this episode stood for you in this review of mine. Tim. 🙂
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