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- The episode was originally intended to be the 2009 Christmas special, and writers Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford hence conceived that "Christmas on Mars" would be the story’s conceit (it was also nearly titled both that and "Red Christmas.")
- In another email in The Writer's Tale, Davies mentions going to the cinema and watching three films back to back while struggling with a logistical problem over the third season of Torchwood.
- The scenes in the Mars base’s "bio-dome" were filmed at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The production crew were surprised to discover that upon turning the lights on, hundreds of birds woke up and began chirping, creating a noise that was impossible to edit out of the episode.
- Bowie Base One is named after the singer/songwriter David Bowie, and is an obvious allusion to his 1971 song Life on Mars?— which also, of course, inspired the TV series of the same name.
For the presence of water on the planet Mars, see Water on Mars. " The Waters of Mars " is the third of five specials of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, all serving as David Tennant 's final episodes as the Tenth Doctor. As with the previous special, " Planet of the Dead ", it was simultaneously broadcast on BBC One ...
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Plot
- Cast
- Worldbuilding
- Notes
- Continuity
- International broadcasts
was the 2009 Autumn Special of Doctor Who.
Mostly a character piece, it showed the extremes to which the Doctor would go when unregulated by either other Time Lords or companions, specifically by trying to change a fixed point in time. It continued the "He will knock four times" story arc begun in the previous episode.
It won a 2010 Hugo Award for writers Russell T Davies and Phil Ford. After years of stability at the producer's office, The Waters of Mars was the fourth episode in a row to be produced by a different person.
Just prior to his regeneration a significant change in the Tenth Doctor's character was presented, showing a much darker and callous side. Up to this point he had viewed himself as a survivor of the Time War, but now he started to believe that he was the "Time Lord Victorious" and that the Laws of Time were his to command, allowing him to break them because there were no other Time Lords around to stop him. After saving Adelaide Brooke even though he knew her death was fixed, he realised that he had gone too far and that he should not influence history and the future on such a large scale.
Adelaide's flashback also indicates that the Daleks are aware of people and events important to the universe's history. The consequences of altering such important events was displayed in The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., when the Silence create an event that appears to be the Eleventh Doctor's assassination; if the event is prevented, it will stop time and cause all of history to happen at once at the epicentre. In time, the effects will spread to the rest of reality and the universe would simply collapse.
This is the first time since 1980's Logopolis [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981)., that the Cloister Bells have rung to signal to the Doctor that he will regenerate soon. However, unlike the previous time, where the Fourth Doctor was willing to wait for his time to come, the Tenth Doctor was greatly fearful of having to regenerate. Unknown to the audience at this time, the Doctor had only one regeneration left; he had aborted one in Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., and kept one secretly buried in his memory.
Mars, 2059, Bowie Base One. Last recorded message: "Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."
The TARDIS arrives on Mars and the Tenth Doctor steps out in his spacesuit from Sanctuary Base 6, seemingly just to relax and enjoy the landscape. Stumbling across a base inhabited by a team from Earth, he is detained by a remote-controlled robot called "Gadget" and taken inside.
The base commander, Adelaide Brooke, holds the Doctor at gunpoint, demanding to know his name, rank and intentions; he responds "the Doctor; doctor; fun." The crew wonder if he's from a rival space agency, to which the Doctor decides to agree to; he then asks who they are. Adelaide scoffs at him saying that everyone on Earth should know who they are as they are the first colonists on Mars.
The Doctor realises that the date is 21 November 2059, and this is Bowie Base One. History has it that on this date, the base was destroyed in a mysterious explosion and Brooke and her crew were all killed as a result. Unwilling to break the laws of time and interfere with a "fixed point" in history, the Doctor states that he is sorry with all his hearts, but he needs to leave.
However, a crisis is developing: a crew member, Andy Stone, has been infected by a mysterious life form which takes over his body and causes him to gush copious amounts of water. Maggie Cain, another crew member, screams as Andy growls and attacks her, leaving her unconscious in the biodome corridor. After second-in-command, Ed Gold, attempts to establish contact with Andy and Maggie over the comlink and they hear Andy's guttural snarls over the comlink, Adelaide confiscates the Doctor's spacesuit, thinking he may be responsible for the infection in some way, and orders him to come with her and physician, Tarak Ital, MD, to investigate.
As the Doctor, Adelaide and Tarak walk down the corridor with Gadget, operated by Junior Technician Roman Groom from the central dome, the Doctor finds it annoying that the robot repeats its name. The Doctor asks the famous Adelaide Brooke if the Bowie Base One mission was worth everything she sacrificed, to which the Captain replied that Earth was reaching the point of uninhabitability with all the smog and pollution, all of which pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, and that to walk on another planet without any smoke but just infinite sky... yes, it's worth it. The Doctor is greatly impressed and tells Adelaide that she was the woman with starlight in her soul. Adelaide says nothing, but her expression is thoughtful.
As they walk down the corridor, Adelaide's torch picks out Maggie's unconscious form, and they race to her. She is still alive and breathing, but has a nasty gash on her head. Tarak calls Nurse Yuri Kerenski over the comlink, who arrives with a medi-pack for Maggie and a stretcher. Ed also arrives, after realising that only one other person was in the biodome — officer Andrew Stone. Ed tells Maggie that the only way this couldn't have been an accident was that Andy has gone berserk. Adelaide dismisses him using rank and citing security protocol.
•The Doctor - David Tennant
•Adelaide Brooke - Lindsay Duncan
•Ed Gold - Peter O'Brien
•Yuri Kerenski - Aleksandar Mikic
•Mia Bennett - Gemma Chan
•Maggie Cain - Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Individuals
•Adelaide was 10 years old when the Earth was stolen by the Daleks, and witnessed a Dalek herself. •Susie Fontana Brooke entered the Space Agency at an early age. •Tarak Ital attended Aga Khan University. •Steffi Ehrlich trained in Bundeswehr. •Margaret served on Project Midas. •Adelaide led Project Pitt Stop.
Earth history
•Adelaide Brooke says that the last forty years on Earth have been chaos, with massive climate change, ozone degradation, and "the oil apocalypse"; humanity "almost reached extinction" during this period. Andy's obituary mentions "appalling storm conditions" in 2040, and climate change affecting agriculture in 2045. •Maggie believes the Doctor may be a Filipino or Spanish astronaut, as the Philippines are rumoured to be building a Mars rocket and Spain have a "space link" that they managed to keep secret. Andy Stone's sister worked for the Spanish space programme. Ed Gold believes the Doctor is from a non-state independent group, referring to the "Branson Inheritance", likely a reference to Richard Branson, a British industrialist who uses his vast wealth to fund commercial space flight. •Various lunar missions have been carried out, including ten German missions and Project Pit Stop, establishing a refuelling station on the moon. Mars was landed on in 2041, with Adelaide Brooke as part of the crew. Thirty years after 2059, Brooke's granddaughter Susan will pilot the first lightspeed ship. •At least one of the webpages - the one showing Brooke's granddaughter - dates from the 2080s or later, suggesting the Internet still exists in some form in the late 21st century. •On Adelaide's web page, there is a line of text at the top that states the page was updated on Thursday, 22 November 2059. •In 2059, flares emanating from the Sun are preventing clear communications between Earth and Mars. •One of the web pages indicates that the name of the spacecraft that brought Brooke's crew to Mars, and that of the vessel Ed Gold is forced to destroy, is Apollo 34. •NASA sent the space probe Phoenix to Mars, where it discovered liquid water.
Locations
•Bowie Base One is Earth's first off-world colony. •Section F storages weather spikes, robots and atom clamps. •Bowie Base One is located on Mars in the Gusev Crater. •The Republic of Dagestan exists by the Caspian Sea, apparently a reference to the part of Russian Federation. •The Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Dragon Star and the Map of the Water Snake Wormholes are all locations that will be discovered by Adelaide's descendants. •Bowie Base One was designed and created in Liverpool.
•This story was initially envisaged as a Christmas special. In fact, the Doctor was originally supposed to use the base's metal Christmas tree as a transmitter to contact the TARDIS. Several festive references remain, such as the crew on Mars preparing for Christmas dinner, and the snowing when the Doctor arrives back on Earth as he exclaims how he likes snow. In this phase of development, the episode had the working titles of Red Christmas and Christmas on Mars.
•Another working title was •Lindsay Duncan became the oldest actress, and briefly the oldest individual, to be cast in the companion role (although like several before her, her official status as a companion will remain debatable). As Bernard Cribbins took on the companion role in The End of Time, he became the oldest male actor and oldest individual in this role.
•The episode ends with a dedication to Barry Letts. The former Doctor Who producer and writer had died several weeks before the broadcast.
•Phil Ford had a different idea for the special, which was originally meant to be the 2008 Christmas Special, but was replaced with The Next Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2008 (BBC One, 2008)..It would have featured the Doctor in an eerie hotel while alien activity caused the Earth to be frozen in time. However, Russell T Davies was concerned about a key element of the narrative, which would have seen the Doctor exploring a deserted London. It was abandoned due to budgetary and logistical concerns. Ford then pitched a swords-and-sorcery story called A Midwinter's Tale, emphasising the fantastical elements much more than he had envisaged. It also felt out of place as a Christmas special, appearing more suited to Halloween. Two elements were retained - the Ood cameo and the Doctor pairing up with a mature woman.
•When initially sketching out the story, Russell T Davies considered Helen Mirren as a potential actress to play the character that eventually became Adelaide. In an early draft, the character that became Adelaide was a Russian named Valentina Kerenski, but this was changed when, still thinking of Mirren as a potential guest star, Davies felt it would have been too close to the character played by Mirren in the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Her original Russian surname would ultimately be reassigned to Yuri. (REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter)
•In a deleted scene, the Doctor suggested that the Ice Warriors were unable to fully defeat the Flood and fled the planet as a result, explaining their absence.
•The Doctor refers to his visit to Pompeii in August 79 in the company of Donna Noble during The Fires of Pompeii [+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)..
•Adelaide recalls seeing a Dalek during her childhood, which occurred when Earth was relocated to the Medusa Cascade as seen in The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008). and Error: code 3 - no source given in template transclusion..
•The Doctor wears the spacesuit he picked up on Krop Tor as done in The Impossible Planet [+]Matt Jones, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006)., The Satan Pit [+]Matt Jones, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006). Hide [+]Neil Cross, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2013)., and Kill the Moon [+]Peter Harness, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014)..
•Carmen's prophecy, "He will knock four times", is mentioned as started in Planet of the Dead [+]Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who Easter Special 2009 (BBC One, 2009)..
•The Doctor reflects on his own relatively recent statements about the Time Lords and the Time War as seen in Rise of the Cybermen [+]Tom MacRae, adapted from Spare Parts (Marc Platt), Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006). Doomsday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006)., Gridlock [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., The Sound of Drums [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007). and Last of the Time Lords [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)..
•The Doctor references a race known as the Ice Warriors that had lived on Mars as shown in The Ice Warriors [+]Brian Hayles, Doctor Who season 5 (BBC1, 1967).
•Prime - New Zealand: 29 November 2009
•ABC1 - Australia: 6 December 2009
•BBC America: 19 December 2009
•Space - Canada: 19 December 2009; rebroadcasts on 20 December 2009 and 2 January 2010.
•Virtually no major edits were made to The Waters on Mars for any of its broadcasts on Space on 19 and 20 December, except that the preview for The End of Time was omitted (the dedication to Barry Letts, however, remained intact).
•France - 30 October 2010
Jul 13, 2023 · The Waters of Mars. Unowned ⊕Save to Wishlist. “Water is patient… water just waits. Water always wins!”. November 21st 2059, and Bowie Base One - the first human colony on Mars - is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The Laws of Time dictate that it cannot - must never - be changed.
As a result, Ford's vision of enormous, computer-generated water monsters attacking Bowie Base had to be abandoned. Instead, the Martian water would now carry an intelligence called the Flood. It would act like a contagion, infecting those with whom it came into contact, and mutating them into a monstrous form which could be realised using prosthetics.
November 21st 2059, and Bowie Base One - the first human colony on Mars - is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The Laws of Time dictate that it cannot - must never - be changed. The Doctor arrives just as a viral life-form escapes from the Martian ice into the base’s water supply.
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Oct 23, 2023 · The Waters of Mars was written by Phil Ford and Russell T Davies. It follows the story of Captain Adelaide Brook and her team on Bowie Base 1. The Doctor finds himself at a fixed point in history where he can’t interfere with some kind of Mars disaster which inspires Adelaide’s granddaughter, triggering humanity’s journey out into the stars.
