Copyright ©2009 by Michael A. Burstein
Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars
BBC America, Saturday 19 December 19, 9PM
Starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan
Written by Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford
Directed by Graeme Harper
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the episode is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
Almost five years ago, the BBC brought back the long-running show Doctor Who in a new format. Instead of serialized episodes, the programme now had thirteen one-hour episodes in a season.
Christopher Eccleston spent a year as the ninth actor to play the Doctor, the helpful humanoid Time Lord from Gallifrey who travels through all of space and time in his ship, the TARDIS. Apparently not wanting to be typecast, Eccleston left the role after the first season, to be replaced by David Tennant, who reportedly had wanted to play the Doctor since childhood.
Tennant played the Doctor for three seasons, into 2008. Starting last Christmas, the BBC began broadcasting the first of four special movie-length adventures to bring Tennant’s stewardship of the role to its conclusion. The first two, “The Next Doctor” and “Planet of the Dead”, were serviceable adventures but nothing about them screamed out “special episode.” Now, leading into Tennant’s final portrayal of the Doctor in a two-part Christmas episode, we get an episode that is worthy of being considered a standalone special.
Bereft of any companions, the Doctor lands on Mars on what turns out to be a pivotal date in human history: 21 November 2059. History tells us that on that date, the first human colony on Mars was destroyed in an explosion. Oddly, although he was prepared for his arrival on Mars, the Doctor seemed oblivious of the date he chose. When he is captured by the members of Bowie Base One, it seems to take him a while to realize just exactly who these people are and what the date means. The look on Tennant’s face as the Doctor comes to understand what’s about to happen, and his inability to do anything to stop it, is chilling.
Tennat is served well by the supporting cast, who have little time to make the audience care about them, and yet manage to do so adroitly. In particular, Lindsay Duncan portrays Adelaide Brooke, the head of the expedition, very well as a no-nonsense leader who understands far better than the Doctor the implications of changing history.
Oddly, much of the movie feels formulaic. For long-time fans of Doctor Who, there’s the standard setup where the Doctor encounters an isolated group of humans who don’t yet realize that there is a threat around and that all is not as it seems. Then the threat becomes more and more evident, and in a usual episode, the Doctor would pull out all the stops in order to save the day.
But “The Waters of Mars” departs dramatically from the typical Doctor Who formula when the Doctor makes two significant decisions, one after the other. His belief that certain points in time must remain fixed is followed by his megalomaniacal actions when he rejects his own sacred belief. The tenth Doctor’s actions clearly point the path to an abrupt change in character, but a change that has been a long time coming given all the losses he has suffered over Tennant’s tenure. In a way, the Doctor comes to resemble the Master, his Time Lord nemesis whose goal in traveling around the universe is not to save it, but to bend it to his will. “The Waters of Mars” forces the Doctor to examine his own motivations, and to face a reality that is far too often unpleasant for him.
The Doctor has always been a contradiction in impulses. On the one hand, this humanoid alien from the planet Gallifrey continually inserts himself into and interferes with events throughout all time and space. Stubbornly, he knows what is right and wrong, and aims to fix the problem. But on the other hand, the Doctor fled Gallifrey in the first place to get away from this very attitude held by the rest of the Time Lords.
“The Waters of Mars” definitely feels like it is setting up the audience for something big. Tennant’s Doctor has gone from a joyous historical interloper to a somber observer. In the end, before he regenerates into his eleventh incarnation, the tenth Doctor will have to face the flaws in his own personality, and be careful not to cross over that thin line from hero to villain.
(The final two Doctor Who specials with David Tennant, “The End of Time, Part One,” and “The End of Time, Part Two,” will be broadcast on BBC America on 26 December and 2 January 2010 at 9PM.)