The Waters of Mars (2009)

[Teddybrown]

Thanks for explaining it for me. I understand it now, sort of!!

BTW: Anyone else getting cheesed off at the Terminator pop-ups? Its really slowing my laptop down everytime it appears!! Grr!!

Thats ok, and yes, the Terminator pop ups are annoying

And to beale947
It was like the Doctor was out of control (is that what OOC is?) and he is realising the power he has, but he comes to his senses when the woman shoots herself because he realises what he has done and what the consequences may be. Also when he sees Ood Sigma, he definately realises what he has done and he thinks he will be punished for it.

That is the difference between the Master and the Doctor. The Master doesnt really care that hes changing the timeline or about the consequences whereas the Doctor does

[huntress]

Mixed feelings about this one....
A story about a doomed Mars colony and an event that the doctor can't and won't change and him stuck in the middle. "Fires of Pompeii" anyone? Yes and it is even mentioned but Pompeii was better, because the doctor was so passive in this one. Fixed point in history in all that. He just looked on, very sorrowful and tried to get away himself. There was quite a bit of pathos and a story that didn't quite deserve that name. It had hints of the X-Files and I would have loved if they had gone into that direction but in the end it was all a bit meh. We never saw what was really going on there and in the end it didn't really matter.

Now to the more interesting bit: the fact that the doctor is badly loosing it. We always saw little glimpses of it and they were frightening, but now he has reached the breaking point and this time there is no one there for him. No Rose, no Martha, no Donna. The doctor we saw at the end in the final bit scared me badly. Timelord Victorious...oh doctor. This could have gone into a really, great and heartbreaking direction but unfortunately the whole story development went to a screeching halt and made a U-Turn when the doctor sees that Ood (WTF?) and becomes afraid of dying. The doctor has never before been afraid of dying, because he always knew that he could simply regenerate but here - he was afraid which makes little sense. He was always comfortable with the fact that he won't live forever and always had a strong dislike for anyone who craved immortality, so why should he be afraid now? It would have been so much better if the doctor had looked at the house, shrugged and kept on walking...TBC :sigh:

Kudos to David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan because they really got the most out of the weak story. It really helps to have some excellent actors around, also the music by Murray Gold especially in the second half blew me away. The very last scene with the contra tenor singing the song of the doctor.....wow. The teaser for the finale made me happy though it held no surprises. Donna, Wilf + Master (who was very blond) = WIN

Story: **
Acting: *****
Music: ****

Overall: *** 1/2 due to the weak story

[huntress]

As a Red Dwarf fan, half of me wanted The Valeyar...erm...Doctor to simply say "Smeg" when Adelaide shot herself, then walk into the TARDIS, not a care in the world, he would rationalize that this wouldnt be the first attempt to change history with his newly realized freedom.

That was EXACTLY what I had hoped would happen but it didn't

[Teddybrown]

Mixed feelings about this one....
A story about a doomed Mars colony and an event that the doctor can't and won't change and him stuck in the middle. "Fires of Pompeii" anyone? Yes and it is even mentioned but Pompeii was better, because the doctor was so passive in this one. Fixed point in history in all that. He just looked on, very sorrowful and tried to get away himself. There was quite a bit of pathos and a story that didn't quite deserve that name. It had hints of the X-Files and I would have loved if they had gone into that direction but in the end it was all a bit meh. We never saw what was really going on there and in the end it didn't really matter.

Now to the more interesting bit: the fact that the doctor is badly loosing it. We always saw little glimpses of it and they were frightening, but now he has reached the breaking point and this time there is no one there for him. No Rose, no Martha, no Donna. The doctor we saw at the end in the final bit scared me badly. Timelord Victorious...oh doctor. This could have gone into a really, great and heartbreaking direction but unfortunately the whole story development went to a screeching halt and made a U-Turn when the doctor sees that Ood (WTF?) and becomes afraid of dying. The doctor has never before been afraid of dying, because he always knew that he could simply regenerate but here - he was afraid which makes little sense. He was always comfortable with the fact that he won't live forever and always had a strong dislike for anyone who craved immortality, so why should he be afraid now? It would have been so much better if the doctor had looked at the house, shrugged and kept on walking...TBC :sigh:

Kudos to David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan because they really got the most out of the weak story. It really helps to have some excellent actors around, also the music by Murray Gold especially in the second half blew me away. The very last scene with the contra tenor singing the song of the doctor.....wow. The teaser for the finale made me happy though it held no surprises. Donna, Wilf + Master (who was very blond) = WIN

Story: **
Acting: *****
Music: ****

Overall: *** 1/2 due to the weak story

I agree with you in the fact that it was a bit like Fires Of Pompeii because of the whole fixed point in time and the fact that even though he saw people dying and had Donna begging him to go back and help them, he only saved four people, but here he actually changed the timeline by saving these 3 people, but this time he made the choice to do it, even without anyone begging him. He also realises he has the power to change time if he wanted to because there was no one left to punish him.

On your point about the Doctor being scared of death, after his little tyrade about being the victorious timelord and that he could create his own laws in time (I have to agree with you that the Doctors attitude was rather scary then) and after the woman shot herself, he realised what he had done and the consequences it could have in the world, and he probably saw how mad he was going, and when he saw Ood Sigma, it dawned on him how bad what he had done was, and he believed he was going to be punished for it and that is why he seemed scared off his death because he thought that would be his punishment. But when he realised it wasnt, he decided to do something about it.

I agree with you about the Christmas Special though in that it looks to be very good and I am also looking forward to seeing Donna, Wilf and the Master back.

Spoiler:

We also apparently see Rose, but only in flashbacks

Also, who else thought twice before turning on a tap after this episode? lol

[valen_sinclair]

The doctor has never before been afraid of dying, because he always knew that he could simply regenerate but here - he was afraid which makes little sense. He was always comfortable with the fact that he won't live forever and always had a strong dislike for anyone who craved immortality, so why should he be afraid now? It would have been so much better if the doctor had looked at the house, shrugged and kept on walking...TBC :sigh:

Yes the Doctor has never been afraid of dying before, but then he knows now that he is running out of regenerations, so he knows that his time as an entity is coming to an end, and of course he is scared.
People saying that the end of WoM was OOC I think are wrong, the Doctor has always had a dark side to him since Hartnell, and to be fair even Tennant has shown glimpses of his dark side in the past again in the aforementioned fires of pompeii.
But I am of the opinon that Ood Sigma didn't make him realize what he had done, he had a moment of self doubt, but the whole "NO!" at the end makes me believe that he went back to being darker and more determined to change certain fixed points.
We know the time war is a fixed point but Dalek Caan changed that when he became more than a dalek, why not the Doctor as well.
I can't remember who said that maybe the Doctor is forced to regenerate to pay for his crimes by the timelords, well maybe he ventures to stop the timewar and the destruction of his people and the timelords punish him for that.
Either way I enjoyed The Waters of Mars, it was much more enjoyable than Planet of the Dead of the Christmas special from last year which were both very lucklustre.

[Reefgirl]

BTW: Anyone else getting cheesed off at the Terminator pop-ups? Its really slowing my laptop down everytime it appears!! Grr!!

Me, everytime I roll my mouse to turn the browser off or go to the browser bar it pop's up, ****ing annoying

[valen_sinclair]

Me, everytime I roll my mouse to turn the browser off or go to the browser bar it pop's up, ****ing annoying

pop up blocker anyone.

[Kidwizz]

Wow... i thought it was an EPIC episode. I loved that ending, it shows that all time lords have that within them, it just took ahwile for the dr to snap.

[Aerilon]

To be honest, the first 45 minutes of this episode seemed a waste. We was never told why the Doctor even went to Mars in the first place, he just turned up there, not knowing the date or anything. It was only the last 15 minutes that we actually got something decent out of it, that being, a darker Doctor.

Also, in regards to more timelords in End of Time, I think not. If there were other timelords alive, surely they would have stepped in on Mars to preserve the 'locked moment'. That is the job of a timelord is it not?

[huntress]

Also, in regards to more timelords in End of Time, I think not. If there were other timelords alive, surely they would have stepped in on Mars to preserve the 'locked moment'. That is the job of a timelord is it not?

No. Not necessarily. I hope the whole Ood incident was not enough to scare the doctor off but that he will become truly megalomaniac and whatever he does then, in his "I couldn't care less about the consequences and laws of time" mood triggers of the return of the timelords.

[wise one]

No. Not necessarily. I hope the whole Ood incident was not enough to scare the doctor off but that he will become truly megalomaniac and whatever he does then, in his "I couldn't care less about the consequences and laws of time" mood triggers of the return of the timelords.

maybe his actions ripple through time and the timelord notices certain events that should of happened but were altered because they have a fixed point of events dont mess with it diary???? but that being said they would done they same for the master when he took over earth with the toclafane

[Linda06]

Okay, fire doesn't burn without oxygen, right? So I don't understand why the fire kept on burning after the ship exploded without oxygen Wouldn't it have burned itself out pretty much straight away?

[The Prophet]

Okay, fire doesn't burn without oxygen, right? So I don't understand why the fire kept on burning after the ship exploded without oxygen Wouldn't it have burned itself out pretty much straight away?

Liquid Oxygen is Rocket Fuel isn't it?

[Linda06]

Liquid Oxygen is Rocket Fuel isn't it?

I don't know, but I thought if you took oxygen out of a room say, then the fire would pretty much burn out pretty quickly *shrugs* Or I may be thinking too much

[The Prophet]

I don't know, but I thought if you took oxygen out of a room say, then the fire would pretty much burn out pretty quickly *shrugs* Or I may be thinking too much

I think rocket fuel can burn for quite a while, seeing as it's a continual supply of oxygen.

Depends how much rocket fuel there is, I guess.