Doctor Who and the Waters of Mars

[MarkB]

I thought it was good, but would have had a stronger ending if they had finished about 5 mins before the actual ending. I don't want to introduce any spoilers, but to my mind it would have been more powerful (and would have left less inexplicable quandaries) if they had

Spoiler

left it with the Doctor walking off

.

The annoying thing to me was that

Spoiler

he could have rescued everyone, left the self-destruct ticking, and deposited them almost anywhere in human history - past or future - with new identities, and posterity would have been none the wiser, history would have run its course. He could've done it at almost any point in the episode. But the thought doesn't even occur to him - despite him having done the very same thing back at Pompeii - until almost everyone's dead, at which point he decides he'd rather throw out all the rules and take them right back home.

And no, I don't see how the grand-daughter could have found that altered set of events anywhere near as inspiring as the original.

 

[Morrus]

Despite reservations about Matt Smith as the new Doctor, I'm loving some of the stuff I'm hearing about next year's series.

Steven Moffat is writing six of the episodes. Historical figures featuring include Van Gogh and Winston Churchill.

Oh, and for those who didn't see the End of Time preview on Children in Need, it's up on YouTube:

[ame=<div align="center">
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1" border="0" width="400" style="margin:10px 0">
<thead>
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="2" style="text-align:center">
<a href="" title="You Tube" target="_blank">You Tube</a>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="panelsurround" align="center"><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7mnBF8FBOw"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7mnBF8FBOw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent"></embed></object></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>]YouTube - Doctor Who : The End of Time (Preview) : BBC Children In Need 2009[/ame]

 

[lin_fusan]

MarkB pretty much stated what I thought was frustrating with this ep/special.

This series really needs a stronger explanation why the Doctor can or cannot change history, and I always like stories with a darker tone, but this one was really muddled.

 

[TanisFrey]

Finely saw it, officially. Loved it. Liked how the captain showed the Doctor why he should still follow the rules of time just because it's the right thing to do. Just because you have the power does not mean that you should use it.

 

[Mallus]

It featured one of the best, one of the most powerful and poignant scenes in all of Dr. Who, plus some campy, teeth-grinding cheese and a questionable ending, therefore it's vintage RTD Who...

... which is to say I enjoyed The Waters of Mars, but I'm really looking forward to the guy who brought us Coupling --and wrote Blink-- running the show.

 

[Crothian]

Waters of Mars was good. It seems that there is more going on with the show that are suprises to the Doctor then I remember. It's nice to see.

 

[Morrus]

I'm really looking forward to the guy who brought us Coupling --and wrote Blink-- running the show.

...who has confirmed that the Weeping Angels will be back next year!

 

[Mallus]

...who has confirmed that the Weeping Angels will be back next year!

Excellent!

 

[Morrus]

MarkB pretty much stated what I thought was frustrating with this ep/special.

This series really needs a stronger explanation why the Doctor can or cannot change history, and I always like stories with a darker tone, but this one was really muddled.

I took away a different message. The whole "fixed points in time" thing was reinforced. She had to die. Even though he tried to change that, rebelling against what he'd always been taught, still she died and history continued as normal. He learned that there really are things he cannot change, despite his power. If you try to alter a fixed point, time will simply mend itself, altering events to match the future history that is planned.

 

[lin_fusan]

For me, there was a "missing" scene there.

Spoiler

Brooke confronts the Doctor about why he can choose to change history but she (and the audience) hasn't seen the consequence of the Doctor's meddling. If she and the audience had seen the consequences of that meddling, such as her grandchildren never becoming explorers or the Earth never achieving their destiny amongst the stars, then her decision to die would have been informed. The way it actually played out, her suicide was less noble and more spiteful and thus left me a little cold.

The other source of "muddiedness" was the fact that the "little people", ie. the other members of the Mars base, didn't have to die since there didn't seem to have any consequence with them being on Earth, so why did the Doctor allow the ones on the base to die if it was only Brooke who needed to die?