11.30.09
Doctor Who - The Waters of Mars
So my Doctor Who review. I’ve been putting it off because I still don’t know how I feel about it.
It played last night on tv, but of course I saw it about a day after it showed in the UK, so last night was my second viewing.
My first response, the first 40minutes, it’s a rather boring episode. There were good parts, it’s Doctor Who so there are always good parts, but in general it was slow and didn’t get the freaky factor it could have. I think now, because the writers knew where they were heading they got slack on the build up, the actual story of the water of mars was secondary, and therefore sort of got lost. It could have been really scary and thrilling, but as I said, in the end, it was rather forgettable.
And then came the last 20 minutes. Oh my god, I’m still in a tizzy over it. The Doctor went dark, well actually the Doctor has always been dark, but the darkness took the forefront, pushing away the other aspects of the Doctor. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, I like that the Doctor is a dark man, they don’t call him the Oncoming Storm for nothing. But what the Doctor is for me is a dark man that wants good, that fights against his darkness.
I think one of the aspects of this is showing how much the Doctor needs a companion. They keep him connected to his humanity. Ok, I know the word isn’t humanity, because the Doctor isn’t human, but its those aspects of him that people would label humanity, his honour, his respect for life, his sense of duty. He lost that for a while, and all he was was a powerful timelord, all he could see was his power. He got lost in his power, and arrogance and for a while he became the Master.
I need him to be able to step back. I need my Doctor to still be the Doctor. I need him to be dark and scary, but still striving to be good. I don’t want someone that arrogantly believes he is a God. In Waters of Mars he spoke in almost a contempt filled way about the ‘little people’ he saved. That’s not my Doctor, my Doctor is the one that in Father’s Day spoke with such admiration about the wonders of being an ordinary person.
Was Adelaide’s suicide enough to make him step back? There was a hint that it was, but can it be so easy to step back from the arrogance of power, I’m not so sure. I know Ten leaves at the end of this season, (the poor actor has been beaten up so bad filming the 4 seasons), but does he die like Nine did, with honour and love, or does the darkness and arrogance push him towards death.
I loved Adelaide, I loved that she was the older woman, strong and stroppy. She didn’t play nice, she wasn’t some cloying fan of the Doctor. She stood up to him a number of times, not just in the perfection of her reaction to the Doctor at the end. But she was also a good person, she was hard but not cold.
I also love the gay references that Russell puts into his episodes. I know so many make negative comments about Russell’s gay agenda, and yes its definitely there. But I personally think, at least in Doctor Who he does it well. It’s never a big deal, there’s never the flashing sign going GAY GAY GAY. A character will just mention a same sex relationship like they would any relationship. It is actually a good way to say, hey homosexuality is a part of life, it isn’t different or special.
I’ve heard some terrible rumours of where Doctor Who will go after this. There is a reason some incidents in time are set, they can’t be changed. What effects will the Doctor changing this one create. One rumour is the Time War will be undone. Now if they don’t that I’ll be so pissed, the Time War is time-locked, it shouldn’t be able to be touched. One rumour I heard was it was undone, and when the Doctor dies in this one, he actually dies, and the so called 11th Doctor is actually a whole different Time Lord. Now I think if they do that I’m going to stop watching. But I also think that it is unlikely to happen.
That said, the preview shows the Master is coming back. Now a big part of that is me being excited. I hated they killed off the Master, the Master shouldn’t die. He should lose but always escape. But he died, and then was set alight on a funeral pyre, so I am really wondering how they deal with that without the whole magical button no it didn’t really happen solution.
Last point… Donna and Wilf are coming back.. god am I bouncy about that.