During his first reign asDoctor Who’s showrunner,Russell T. Daviespenned 31 episodes for the series, either by himself or in collaboration with other writers. Some are among the best the BBC hit sci-fi series has to offer. That is the case withSeason 4’s companion-lite episode “Midnight” and its twin sibling,the Doctor-lite “Turn Left”. Others, such as Season 2’s “Tooth and Claw” and “Love and Monsters”, will forever live in infamy. Most of Davies’ episodes, though, are perfectly fine, run-of-the-mill adventures that might not be stellar, but still help the show build a cohesive whole. However,there is at least one Russell T. Davies-written story that deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. It’s an episode that is not only chilling, but also an encapsulation of everything that made an era of the show so wonderful. An episode that showcases some of Davies’ greatest talents as a writer, while also proving that amazing things can come from working with a partner.
We’re talking about the 2009 special “The Waters of Mars”, a beauty of a TV episode that, despite making lists ofscariestDoctor Whostories, is rarely ranked amongthe best of the best. But, written by Davies andThe Sarah Jane Adventures’ writerPhil Ford, “The Waters of Mars” is indeed God-tier when it comes toDoctor Who. With legitimately terrifying monsters, a memorable cast of characters, and an ending that completely rips us apart, this story deserves to be remembered as more than just a spooky tale.
Doctor Who
The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord, “The Doctor,” who is able to regenerate, and the Doctor’s human friends. The Doctor and his companions journey through time and space in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – saving the universe with a combination of wit, bravery, and kindness.
What Is “The Waters of Mars” About?
Released as part of a series of five specials that came out between Christmas 2008 and New Year’s Day 2010, right as Tenth DoctorDavid Tennantwas getting ready to pass the baton toMatt Smith,the episode is a classic base-under-siege story that puts the Doctor out of his depth. The story begins with the Time Lord arriving at a human base on Mars, in the year 2059, and learning that they are the very first group of Earthlings to set foot on the red planet. With this information, his brain does what it usually does, and soon the Doctor is doing everything in his power to flee, for he has realized that the day of his arrival is also the day on which all members of this expedition will meet their fates.
The explosion of Bowie Base One is, as the Tenth Doctor so often puts it, a fixed point in time. Much like, say, the eruption of Vesuvius in “The Fires of Pompeii”, it is an event that cannot be stopped, for stopping it could mean changing the course of history for the entire human race. In the case of the Mars expedition, the secret to what comes next lies in the death of Commander Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan), whose otherworldly demise will eventually inspire her granddaughter to lead a whole new human fleet out into the universe.
But things don’t go exactly as planned for the Doctor, and, before he knows it, he’s trapped in a locked base with a group of terrified humans and a parasitic creature capable of taking control of other people’s bodies and minds through water. The infected also ooze water from their hands and mouths, in a constant attempt to break barriers and inflict their curse upon others. As this extraterrestrial plague spreads all over Bowie Base One, the Doctor tells Adelaide the truth and leaves. But, unable to deal with the screams of despair,he comes back and rescues Adelaide and two of her subordinates, Mia Bennett (Gemma Chan) and Roman Groom (Michael Goldsmith), with the help of the TARDIS.
Back on Earth, Mia runs away from the Doctor, unable to understand what has just happened, and Roman follows her. Adelaide, in turn, confronts the Doctor, stating that, if everything he told her about her granddaughter and the fate of humanity is true, he had no right rescuing her.The Doctor then delivers his most hubris-filled speech ever, in which he claims that no one can stop him anymore and that he is the Time Lord victorious. Disgusted, Adelaide proclaims that “the Time Lord victorious is wrong” and enters her home. As she shuts the door, we see her pulling her gun out of its holster. Thenwe hear a gunshot coming from inside the house. Visibly shaken, the Doctor sees the vision of an Ood that has been following him for a few episodes now, announcing the end of his life — or, at least, of this incarnation. He realizes that he has gone too far.
“The Waters of Mars” Presents the Doctor as a Tragic Character
“The Waters of Mars” delivers the Tenth Doctor to his final stint, the two-parter “The End of Time”, perfectly in shambles. It’s with a sense of acceptance that he cannot live forever — thatno onecan live forever, and everyone must die in their due time - that he eventually goes gently into that good night,saving Wilf (Bernard Cribbins)from a horrible, painful death. In a story that doesn’t talk down even to its youngest viewers,Davies and Ford present their Doctor as a tragic character, one that can’t save everyone, no matter how hard he tries, because that is simply not the nature of things.
That is something that Davies himself has always excelled at doing. From the moment his Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) was introduced as a war criminal who is responsible for the demise of his own race, it became clear that he is not exactly a good guy. More often than not,Davies’ run reminds us of the cruelty and the sadness that exist inside the Doctor, as if he’s some Old Testament God. And no episode better encapsulates that than “The Waters of Mars”.
Another key characteristic of Davies-eraDoctor Whothat pops into “The Waters of Mars” is a universe that feels palpable and lived in.All the characters in the story, from Adelaide to poor Andy (Alan Ruscoe), who really doesn’t do anything besides becoming a water monster,feel real and important. We are given little tidbits of information that help us construct entire personalities for people that we hardly know. While subsequent showrunnersSteven MoffatandChris Chibnallalways had a hard time creating engaging, consistent characteristics,sometimes even for their protagonists, Davies' run on the show is known for being populated by one-off companions and even near extras that are practically unforgettable, such as… well, basically anyone in the “Voyage of the Damned” Christmas special.
These extremely realistic characters also feel like they are part of a larger universe, one that is continuous and all-encompassing. Back when the Ninth and the Tenth Doctor were in charge of the TARDIS, events such as ships popping up in the London skyline were never swept under the rug. The existence of alien life is never a secret known only to the Doctor and UNIT. After all, how manyDalek invasionscan you actually keep hidden from the public? And, in “The Waters of Mars”,it is precisely a Dalek attack that is evoked as one of the reasons why Adelaide Brooke decided to travel into space. Furthermore, she also brings up environmental and political chaos on Earth, offering yet another explanation for her decision to pack up and leave despite having a daughter and a granddaughter waiting for her back home.
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“How many seconds in eternity?”
“The Waters of Mars” Is Still One of the Best ‘Doctor Who’ Episodes
Thus, “The Waters of Mars” can be described as an episode thatrepresents the best qualities of Russell T. Davies' time as showrunner. It may not be the most impactful of the screenwriter’s episodes — that title belongs to the aforementioned “Turn Left”, a shocking dystopia in which the world falls into fascism and chaos following the death of the Doctor. There’s really no argument to be had there. However, “The Waters of Mars” still packs one hell of a punch, particularly with its ending, anddeserves to be recognized as some of the best the revived 2005 series has to offer.
Likewise, we have to admit that the 2009 special is not the scariest one in the show’s long, long history. Moffat himself has always been better at writing horror than Davies, and has given us some fantastic, beloved gems, from “Blink” to “World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls”. Besides, Davies has also penned a much scarier episode than “The Waters of Mars”, that title would go to“Midnight”, arguably the most hair-raisingDoctor Whostory that has ever aired. Butthat doesn’t mean that “The Waters of Mars” isn’t a proper spook fest, complete with everything from jump scares to a harrowing conclusion.
In the end, sure, “The Waters of Mars” deserves its place in that list of the bestDoctor Whohorror episodes, and it deserves to be something other than first place. However,the episode also merits a spot in the list of the show’s best stories, at least when we’re talking about the 2005 series. Not only is it a chilling adventure, it is a perfect penultimate chapter for the Tenth Doctor and an even better encapsulation of everything that made the show’s initial era so great. As to which episode should be kicked out of the list to make room for “The Waters of Mars”, well… That’s a subject for another piece.
