My 2009 Specials Review:
Waters of Mars
This is an exciting and expertly put together story from Showrunner Russell T. Davies who proves again his great ability as a writer.
It features the Doctor arriving in 2059 at the first human colony on Mars 'Bowie Base One'. The Doctor is detained and meets the commander Captain Adelaide Brooke. On learning the date he feels he needs to leave as events due to occur are to become famous and are pivotal in human space exploration. It is a fixed point in time in which he feels interference would be exceptionally risky and 'against the rules' of time travel. Crew members start to be infected by an alien virus but the Doctor is still very reluctant to get involved.
All the ideas in this story are interesting, clever and excellent entertainment. The risks of time travel interference are explored intelligently and lead to a very dark and shocking conclusion when the Doctor shows his more reckless side going against the principles he normally lives by and then faces the consequences.
The sequence of the Doctor making his 'victorious' speech and then seeing it go wrong is uncomfortable to watch and very challenging but it is logically done and perfectly judged so it actually adds a whole extra dimension to an already superb story.
Steven Moffatt seemed to spend a lot of his time as Showrunner trying to recreate this dark, dangerous edge to the Doctor but in my opinion he overused what I felt were far less successful attempts at referencing this side of the Doctor. I think Davies had got it just right as a single act of the Doctor going over the line.
The thrilling 'water zombies' are scary and effective and all the action and plot development is top notch. The dialogue is of the highest standard and the characters are totally believable and very well formed. All the acting is fantastic from all the guest cast especially Lindsay Duncan as the Captain. David Tennant is on absolute peak form showing his impressive range and phenomenal talent.
Every aspect of this adventure is as good as Doctor Who gets and even the challenging ending that freaked me out on first viewing is really just an extra plus as it is good to be challenged as long as it works logically. It gives further depth to this thought provoking, powerful and absorbing thriller of an episode.
My Rating: 10/10.
Waters of Mars
This is an exciting and expertly put together story from Showrunner Russell T. Davies who proves again his great ability as a writer.
It features the Doctor arriving in 2059 at the first human colony on Mars 'Bowie Base One'. The Doctor is detained and meets the commander Captain Adelaide Brooke. On learning the date he feels he needs to leave as events due to occur are to become famous and are pivotal in human space exploration. It is a fixed point in time in which he feels interference would be exceptionally risky and 'against the rules' of time travel. Crew members start to be infected by an alien virus but the Doctor is still very reluctant to get involved.
All the ideas in this story are interesting, clever and excellent entertainment. The risks of time travel interference are explored intelligently and lead to a very dark and shocking conclusion when the Doctor shows his more reckless side going against the principles he normally lives by and then faces the consequences.
The sequence of the Doctor making his 'victorious' speech and then seeing it go wrong is uncomfortable to watch and very challenging but it is logically done and perfectly judged so it actually adds a whole extra dimension to an already superb story.
Steven Moffatt seemed to spend a lot of his time as Showrunner trying to recreate this dark, dangerous edge to the Doctor but in my opinion he overused what I felt were far less successful attempts at referencing this side of the Doctor. I think Davies had got it just right as a single act of the Doctor going over the line.
The thrilling 'water zombies' are scary and effective and all the action and plot development is top notch. The dialogue is of the highest standard and the characters are totally believable and very well formed. All the acting is fantastic from all the guest cast especially Lindsay Duncan as the Captain. David Tennant is on absolute peak form showing his impressive range and phenomenal talent.
Every aspect of this adventure is as good as Doctor Who gets and even the challenging ending that freaked me out on first viewing is really just an extra plus as it is good to be challenged as long as it works logically. It gives further depth to this thought provoking, powerful and absorbing thriller of an episode.
My Rating: 10/10.