The Waters of Mars (episode)


*The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.*

The Waters of Mars was the twelfth episode of Season 49 of Doctor Who. It was written by Phil Ford, directed by Euros Lyn and featured Samantha Bond as the Fourteenth Doctor, Montserrat Lombard as Erin Stevenson and Bernard Cribbins as Hogan Cox.

Synopsis

Mars, 2064, Bowie Base One. Last recorded message: "Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."

After visiting the moon landing, the Doctor takes Erin and Hogan to the first human settlement on Mars... However, she got the date slightly off and has landed them in the middle of one of the most important historical events of all time.

Plot

The TARDIS materialises on a red rocky planet, and the Doctor, Erin and Hogan step out, dressed in adapted versions of the Starship Forge spacesuits. The Doctor tells them that they've seen the moon landing and as such she welcomes them to Mars, 2064, the first human colony. However, before long a remote-controlled robot finds them, and arrests them, much to their annoyance.

The Doctor, Erin and Hogan are brought inside the base, with its commander, Captain Adelaide Brooke, holding them at gunpoint. The crew assume that they are from a rival agency and that they want to disrupt the mission. However, during this they find out that the date is the 21st November 2064, months later than the Doctor thought they landed. Both the Doctor and Hogan, looked petrified, seemingly knowing something about this date. The Doctor and Hogan insist that they must go, much to Erin's bewilderment, but Adelaide refuses them leaving.

However, a crisis is developing: a crew member, Andy Stone has been infected by a mysterious life form which has taken over his body and caused 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 TARDIS team's spacesuits, thinking they may be responsible for the infection in some way, and orders them to come with her to investigate.

As the Doctor, Erin, Hogan and Adelaide walk down the corridor with Gadget, the robot, the Doctor engages in conversation with Adelaide about the mission and whether it was worth everything that she sacrificed. Meanwhile, Erin and Hogan walk ahead of them, and Hogan explains to Erin, who is still rather confused, as to who Adelaide is. He explains that she was the captain of the first human colony on Mars, that was made even more famous, even until his time, in the far future, due to the fact that everyone died in mysterious circumstances, on the 21st November 2064.

When they reach the end of the corridor, they find the unconscious body of one of their crew, Maggie. She is still alive and breathing but wounded. Adelaide calls the medical officer over the comm-link, while the Doctor examines the body, trying to do the best she can. Over the comm-link, Ed Gold, the second in command, points out to Adelaide that the only other person in the bio-dome, apart from Maggie, was Andy Stone, who as they know has gone berserk.

Afterwards, the team step into the bio-dome, now with the addition of the medical office, Tarik. The lights are off, to which Hogan begins to try and fix as he fiddles with the control panel to try and get it back on. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Erin, Adelaide and Tarik split up with the Doctor and Adelaide in one party and Erin and Tarik in the other, all using torches to see while Hogan fixes the lights. However, at the same time, Maggie, now back in the main dome, under quarantine, awakens. She tries to get Yuri to open the door, but he refuses, and then as he turns her back, her facial features change, into something that isn’t quite herself anymore.

Soon, they find Andy in the bio-dome and he infects Tarak, causing him to find himself with the same zombie-like appearance, with cracks around his mouth as water trickles out of it. At the same time, its made clear on both speculation by the Doctor and from Maggie, in quarantine as she’s transforming (albeit at a much slower rate), that the Flood (as their called) want to reach Earth as it is so rich in water, and they want to infect it also.

Hogan finally gets the lights on, to reveal Andy and Tarak advancing on the party, in their zombified form. From this moment on, one by one the crew of Bowie Base One are infected, with the Doctor, Erin, Hogan and Adelaide on the run - while also trying to evacuate the base. However, the Doctor knows that she has to stop this, as she knows from history that the crew die, they are supposed to die - its a fixed point in time. However, Hogan feels differently, he just can’t let them die, it has to be changed - and him and the Doctor butt heads about this, as Hogan feels that they have a duty to save people, especially if it can be prevented, and the Doctor is misusing her power of time travel, by not doing anything.

As the rocket prepares for take-off, disaster strikes however as Maggie infiltrates it, infecting Ed, who is onboard - Ed not wanting to live in this zombie-like existence triggers the self destruct, destroying it and as far as their concerned trapping them on Mars. The Doctor, Erin and Hogan make to leave - but Hogan stops the Doctor at the airlock and asks her to please reconsider… to please allow this one. He says that most of the crew are dead anyway, at least let them save the survivors. The Doctor turns to walk away, feeling ashamed but she knows what she’s doing is right for history… but then Erin walks over to Hogan and says “save them, please, oh god, please save them”. In a heart-wrenching moment, the Doctor agrees to do just that.

Working as a team, the Doctor, Erin and Hogan storm back into the base. Erin helps get everyone to the airlock to get them evacuated, into somewhere relatively safe at the moment. Hogan hot-wires the doors, to run a pulse of electricity through them to react with the water, to bide them time so the Flood can’t make it in, and the Doctor tries to get Adelaide to come with her, but at this point the Doctor ends up revealing why she wanted to leave in the first place - and Adelaide agrees, she must die.

However, it’s getting hotter and hotter and Hogan tells the Doctor that his defences won’t keep them out much longer and they have to leave now otherwise they won’t make it to the TARDIS in time. Adelaide is still refusing to go, so Hogan and Erin decide to leave with the survivors and leave the Doctor and Adelaide there for now. Hogan and Erin trek the terrain as they get the survivors inside the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adelaide get into an argument, and the Doctor tells her that because of her death, her granddaughter would be inspired to become one of the most influential figures in human history. And then Adelaide says, that decides it, she's staying - she tells the Doctor to go, and save her skin while she can. The Doctor solemnly walks out of the airlock, as we see the Flood break in and infect Adelaide, however during the process Adelaide hits a button on the control panel, and behind the Doctor, the base blows up, with the blast knocking her to the ground.

When the Doctor reaches the TARDIS she remains silent, not speaking. She just hits the controls and flies the TARDIS back to Earth, dropping off the two survivors. Afterwards, she just stands behind the console, staring at Erin and Hogan, with a petrifying glance.

Cast

Crew

Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

Production History

Filming begins - 23 June 2014
Filming ends - 18 July 2014
Broadcast - 14 February 2015

Development

To be added.

Production

This episode was part of Block 5, along with One Giant Leap. A break in production was taken after this episode for San Diego Comic-Con.

Post-Production

To be added.

Reaction

To be added.

Story Notes

To be added.

Continuity

To be added.

Home Video Releases

To be added.