FINALLY, a new episode of Doctor Who has aired (in the UK). I’ve seen it and will review it here, but it will be light. It won’t air in the States until December 19th so I want to issue a strong spoiler warning here. Don’t read this unless you’ve already seen it or don’t mind knowing some of the details of what occurs.

The Doctor teams up with Adelaide and Gadget

This special begins with the Doctor landing on Mars in 2059 where he quickly runs into Earth’s first base (Bowie Base One – see what they did there?) which is run by Adelaide Brooke and is comprised of a Star Trek-like group of multinational scientists. But early on, one of the crew members gets infected by something water-based (did the title give that away?) and the rest of the episode actually plays like Doctor Who’s take on a zombie movie.

However, the Doctor quickly recognizes the crew. They become famous because of their contributions to humanity reaching into space and inspiring others, but he knows they are destined to die. Today. For the first time I can think of, the Doctor decides not to get involved. He says this is a moment in time that he should not meddle with, because of its historical importance. But the infection and his unexplained appearance make the scientists keep him around.

The Doctor's terrifying new enemies

The Doctor does surprisingly little for the majority of the episode. He is very passive and normally that would be irritating, but the de facto lead becomes Adelaide with the Doctor around to dispense necessary plot exposition. For instance, he speculates that the infection comes from the ice glacier the crew gets their water from and there’s even a quick mention of his old enemies the Ice Warriors (who were from Mars in the past, if you recall) and how they must have trapped the parasitic entities within the ice.

The zombie metaphor I think is very appropriate. Even a single drop of water leads to infection and the infected hunch over with white eyes and cracked, gaping mouths. They’re very creepy, a genuinely disturbing monster for Doctor Who. The crew is slowly picked off and the Doctor along the way convinces Adelaide to trust him that he cannot get involved and tells her about her destiny to die but become an inspiration. Adelaide lets the Doctor leave, to return alone to his TARDIS.

He actually leaves the survivors behind, but in the final act has a change of heart and returns. There is more than a bit of madness in Tennant’s performance when he returns to declare that he doesn’t care about moments in time needing to be locked. He realizes that he is THE last Timelord and that his people’s rules of non-interference don’t matter – there is literally no one out there to tell him what he can or can’t do. And he saves the last three people with his TARDIS.

A Timelord victorious!

This turn of events is what won me over completely in an already interesting episode. Tennant has given us a Doctor that was disconnected and sad to almost completely off the rails and mad with power. He has no companion to aid him in his moral decisions like Donna did when he visited Pompeii at the beginning of series 4. No people to hold him accountable. And when he delivers the survivors home to Earth, Adelaide is devastated.  She scolds him over his new-found arrogance, goes inside her home and commits suicide, which mostly undoes the Doctor’s efforts to change the timeline, with only some details changing.

The Doctor realizes the impact of his decision and knows that there will be a terrible price to pay. He sees a vision of Ood Sigma, who had previously warned him that his song would soon be ending. He staggers back into the TARDIS only to hear it’s cloister bell ring – a sign that something of terrible, horrible consequence has occurred within the timeline. The Doctor is defiant: “NO!” he screams and begins working the controls of his ship.

And that’s the end! It’s pretty fantastic, to be honest. One of Russel T. Davies’ best. I believe RTD does “bottle” shows where characters are trapped in a location very well. “Midnight” from last season is a good example. “Waters of Mars” is another. Complaints? Well, some of the cast is a bit one-note. And there’s a reference to a gay brother that seems gratuitous. I have never minded RTD’s previous inclusion of gay characters. It felt natural enough. This one just felt phony. Maybe it was the line or the delivery. And the robot assistant isn’t as cute as it’s probably supposed to be. I found it a bit annoying.

The end is indeed near for the Doctor and it really feels like it. We only see a handful of moments in the previews for the Christmas/New Year’s two-parter but it seems that his ancient enemy, The Master, will return.

I give this episode a well-earned 4 out of 5 sonic screwdrivers.

photo credit: leff