Oh yes…
Don’t know if you saw last night’s The Waters Of Mars but in my humble opinion as a longtime Dr Who geek (I’m old enough to have watched old Tom Baker episodes when they were new) it’s definitely one of the best of the Russell Davies episodes. I loved the idea that the action was almost secondary to the central concept of the episode which was about the nature if immutable points in time and whether or not some things just shouldn’t be messed with, even if you are a Timelord. And the nature of what happens when you start to believe you are time itself…
It was much better than the last special, really top drawer stuff, and sad and melancholy.
Nothing however, ever brings a tear to the eye though quite like this…
There’s no doubt that Tennant is the ultimate Doctor, embodying the incarnation that has tested the very concept of the show and therefore representative of all previous incarnations. Last night’s episode was servicable,… but. It was simply the preamble to the final arc of Tennant’s tenure, and unfortunately it grated in it’s similarity to 42 and Silence in the Library: a crew slowly taken over by some malevolent force. This seems to be a Davies staple if you include the Satan Pit and Midnight, and to have achieved the status of a great episode I think it should have shirked similarities to previous stories. Simply turning up on Mars like that was a bit of a damp squib too: some urgency, some summoning would have really added an edge.
In saying that, there were some great touches, and despite what I’ve written, I find it hard to find fault in a show I have such a childish adherence to, no matter how ridiculous the constant running down corridors gets in repetition.
The Davies tenure was a great one, but I’m now looking forward to a new direction. And I really want the Who mythology to run and run.
(I prefix this by saying that I was *extraordinarily” tired when I finally sat down to watch this at midnight on Sunday.)
I felt the episode floundered somewhat, it didn’t mesh together as they usually do - yes, why did he just show up on Mars like that.
The last few minutes of the show were better than the rest combined. I really like where they are going with it, even if it does feel familiar - flashes back to Eccelston’s breakdown at the end of his life span. Eccelston also did “crazy” in a much more frightening way.
Also, YAY, John Simm is back soon.
I’m with Rick on this. I loved the episode. It was big and dramatic (with plenty of running), while also tackling the wider questions of the Time Lord’s relevance in the universe and whether or not he has the right to interfere.
The final arc will be one for the history books.
I LOVED this episode, which may or may not be partly because I was pretty disappointed with the last Easter and Christmas specials. Scary water zombies that RAN REALLY FAST! Brilliant! I was properly freaked out by them. I’m so sad that Tennant is finishing up, I really haven’t warmed to the idea of the new guy just yet. And the amount of squeaking out of me during the teaser for the Christmas episode was ridiculous! The Bear was sitting next to me with a puzzled look on his face so I had to explain that all this is VERY EXCITING STUFF if you love Doctor Who!
There’s an errant “it’s” in my comment.
I liked the episode a lot too. It’s a standard scenario, starting with a large group and gradually knocking people off.
What I really liked was scene when he decided he was in charge of time. I felt he took a lot from having played Hamlet - verging on madness. Maybe not even verging. This was filmed in February and he played Hamlet at the RSC up to December.
@EmergingWriter I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. In fact his character throughout the episode was very Hamlet-inspired - the lonely beginning, the procrastination, ending with the unfortunate destruction of everyone around him. And and and…his death is also imminent.