Doctor Who: Best And Worst Story Of Each New Who Doctor
4. Tenth Doctor - Best: The Waters of Mars
Regardless of your personal feelings towards the Tenth incarnation of the Doctor, it is undeniable that he is one of the most iconic representations of the character across the general audience, often ranking first or second in lists of the best ever Doctor Who (he seems to switch back and forth with Tom Baker).
The penultimate story for David Tennant’s take on the character takes a bold (but completely fitting) character risk by taking the most human version of the Time Lord to his breaking point and then, pushing him beyond it.
The Doctor arrives on Mars, sans-companions, and discovers it is the year 2059 and he is in Bowie Base One, the first ever human colony on the red planet. The Doctor is honoured to meet everyone but is also insistent that he really must leave immediately. What he knows, that none of the crew currently do, is that on that exact date Captain Adelaide Brooks will detonate the nuclear reactor at the centre of the base and wipe it from the surface, killing her entire crew at the same time.
The problem with this, is that it is a fixed point in time. The Doctor cannot do anything to change it. Adelaide Brooks must die because her death inspire her granddaughter back on Earth to achieve greatness and become a pioneer in the field of space exploration absolutely pivotal to mankind’s survival.
As always though, curiosity kills the cat as The Doctor hangs around a little too long, witnessing as a strange infection begins sweeping the crew. Their bodies are wracked with violent convulsions and, when those are over, they are overtaken by some sort of waterborne parasite. This thing, dubbed The Flood by The Doctor, can produce more water seemingly endlessly.
Realizing Adelaide will detonate the base to prevent the infection reaching Earth, The Doctor turns his back and attempts to leave. However he is forced to listen to cries and terrified screams of the crew as they begin to succumb to the infection one by one and finally he snaps.
“The Waters of Mars” is a script executed with pinpoint precision, confident in what it is doing and an expert in its own characters. Phil Ford and RTD know the Tenth Doctor inside and out and exactly how to break him. Tennant delivers one of his best performances ever as the Time Lord Victorious, a scary indicator of what The Doctor becomes if left to wander too long on his own.
The creatures look fantastic and the crew of Bowie Base One are excellently fleshed out. They feel incredibly real and lifelike and it is easy to believe in their existence prior to The Doctor’s arrival at the base. The episode plays our emotions like a fiddle, piquing our curiosity, dragging us to the edge of our seats, making our hearts ache for The Doctor and his situation and then putting us in the uncomfortable position of judging his actions. “The Waters of Mars” is a 10 out of 10 episode.