Dr. Who Series 4 - The Waters of Mars
Added 2022-10-15 14:00:09 +0000 UTCHi everyone, this week I had to upload two seperate parts of my reaction, in order to get them up in time. I´m sorry for that. The afterthoughts will be up, after you have watched the reaction to it. Hopefully .... I´ll do my best :)
Comments
Yes it really was. :) I love this change of direction for the storytelling. It feels like the show is growing up. And I love moral dilemmas, so this is made for me :) :) It´s true the Zombie plot is only a backstory, because the focus absolutely lies on the doctors dilemma. This episode is so well balanced and written it´s so much "fun" to watch. :)
Nicologik
2022-10-18 10:07:37 +0000 UTCI thought she was German because of her name. But to be honest, the German really wasn´t spoken that well. I don´t know wether she tried to have a strong english accent on purpose, but it didn´t sound 100% German. :) That also goes for the lady that talked to Marthy in the finale episode (in Germany). Her German wasn´t 100% either. That´s kinda funny to be honest :)
Nicologik
2022-10-18 10:05:14 +0000 UTCIt really is a very special episode. I enjoyed it so much :)
Nicologik
2022-10-18 10:03:15 +0000 UTCI´m glad they did change the storytelling to focus on the moral dilemma, rather than focusing on the zombie storyline. The doctors dilemma was so much more intriguing. Thank you for telling me about those important dates. I had no idea this wasn´t just a coincidence. I miss our little robot puppy :D Thank you for explaining how they managed to pump water into the actors mouths. I really doesn´t show, at least I don´t see it. That makeup is perfect. Ohhh I understand why this story won the Hugo award. It´s a great one, and the moral dilemma is on point. Absolutely deserved. :)
Nicologik
2022-10-18 10:02:44 +0000 UTC"I really should go." - The Doctor, "The Waters of Mars" The change of mood from the jolly run-around in the previous stories to the Doctor's dilemma here (actually the jolly feeling disappears mid-episode when he recalls the fate of the Mars crew) was very deliberate. In those earlier stories, the Doctor was on his own, just having fun - and now there's a real conundrum (with no companion there to help). RTD talks about the director and film editor originally getting this story concept slightly wrong. The original edit concentrated on the action-thriller problem of the Water Zombies which is only the scaffolding of the real story. By re-editing the story was brought back to highlight the issue of the Doctor's dilemma as he was walking away from the base. The story is dated 21 November 2059 because the episode was scheduled to be transmitted exactly fifty years earlier in 2009. However, the transmission date was changed to be a week earlier - so it's actually 50 years and about a week earlier. BTW 23 November is an important date in Doctor Who because it is the anniversary of the transmission of the first episode, "An Unearthly Child", in 1963. In the sequence where the Doctor recalls quotes of him mentioning the Time Lords, I know it's coming up and I try to identify the quotes in real time but they come so fast I just can't manage it. The Doctor said that he hates funny robots but that he'd be okay with a robot dog - and we all know who that would be - so that gets a smile. The prosthetic element that covered the upper lip with the cracked skin contained small water tubes attached to a pump that fed water into the actor's mouth. This episode has another dedication to a Classic Who producer, Barry Letts, who had died shortly before the episode was broadcast. Barry Letts had produced Classic Who for about five years in the early 1970s and, incidentally, had commissioned the "The Genesis of the Daleks" script (which was eventually brought to production by his successor: Philip Hinchcliffe). BTW This was the story that won that Hugo award (over "The Next Doctor" and "Planet of the Dead"). "State your name, rank and intention.", "The Doctor, Doctor, fun." - Adelaide Brooke and The Doctor, "The Waters of Mars"
Andrew Vignaux
2022-10-17 06:17:55 +0000 UTCA really pivotal moment for this Doctor and a very tense and thought provoking episode. Easily the best of the year of "specials" in my opinion. I'll not say more until I have watched your own review.
Stephen Males
2022-10-16 09:45:28 +0000 UTCThe actor who played the German astronaut is herself German, so that's why she had a good accent!
Andrew Gwilliam
2022-10-15 17:37:10 +0000 UTCMy goodness; this video was 'hot off the press'! This is one of my favourite 10th Doctor stories. We've had two light and flippant (and,basically,throwaway) 'good time' stories; now it's time to take the character and his story in a different and much darker direction. One of my issues with Tenants portrayal was that he made the Doctor too omnipotent (a click of his fingers, for example, opens the Tardis doors!). In this story he finally reaps the consequences. I've read criticisms saying that there isn't much to the plot of this one - and that's true. (It's basically summed up by "Water Zombies! Run!!") - but that's missing the point, imo. This story is about how the Doctors belief in himself begins to crumble. Is it still worth living (at least in this incarnation) if he continues down this psychologically degrading and corrupting path? Or is there still time for him to redeem himself (and, if so, how?) and continue as he is? 9/10 for me.
Ian Smith
2022-10-15 14:47:58 +0000 UTC
