# Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars \[Open Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685 "2009-11-15T20:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/21 "2009-11-17T07:22:46Z")
Speaking of the trailer, was anyone else disappointed that “The End of Time” appears to be the title for both halves of the next special, rather than having a title for the Christmas special and then have “The End of Time”? BBC America will be airing Waters of Mars at some point in December, **Frylock.** ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/22 "2009-11-17T07:39:54Z")
circle Saturday December 19, 9:00pm ET/PT on your calendar. That’s when Waters of Mars is scheduled on BBC America. > **[The Waters Of Mars BBC America Airdate](http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2009/10/waters-of-mars-bbc-america-airdate.html)** > > The next special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars airs on BBC AMERICA, Saturday December 19, 9:00pm ET/PT. It stars Tennant and British stage... ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/23 "2009-11-17T23:55:37Z")
I am stateside and my son had no problem queuing it up for me on a popular site. That’s how I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/24 "2009-11-18T13:35:31Z")
To be fair, the Doctor didn’t necessarily get a reset button. Sure, the only changes on those three people were news stories, but those were news stories immediately after the event. Who knows what will happen in the future because of it? Anyway, I think having a companion would have stopped him from doing it - mostly because that companion would have wanted to save them and he would have seen it as his responsibility not to. Instead of steering the emotional one, he was the one acting on emotion. > [@fluiddruid](#): > > Other than that, I didn’t find it especially frightening. The scary-entity-taking-over-people-in-space thing has been done quite a few times. Remember the episode where those creatures from a sun were taking people over? Pretty much the exact same episode. Yeah, but the sun one kinda sucked. This one was pretty cool. -Joe, USA ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/25 "2009-11-18T14:49:39Z")
After rewatching, I realized they didn’t spend enough time introducing the characters. I needed to care more about them to connect with what they faced. I don’t even know the names of most of them. That’s typical of Star Treks “redshirts”. They always brought a few along to kill off on missions. I did care about Adelaide. They put most of their character development in her. To contrast, The Doctor’s Christmas Special, _Voyage of the Damned_ did a fantastic job of fully developing several characters other than Astrid (new companion). Bannakaffalatta (the red dwarf demon), the chatty couple (lady was very obese), and the professor. I still flinch when they die. Even after repeated viewings. I wanted them all saved. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/26 "2009-11-18T22:29:56Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > To be fair, the Doctor didn’t necessarily get a reset button. Sure, the only changes on those three people were news stories, but those were news stories immediately after the event. Who knows what will happen in the future because of it? He had an emotional one. He went back from his new found stance of “I can do whatever I want to history!” to his normal self. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/27 "2009-11-20T04:25:48Z")
It’s been forever (or feels like it, anyway) since I saw Doctor Who. Can someone refresh me on the details of the Doctor knowing his own death is imminent, and the whole “four knocks” thing? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/28 "2009-11-20T04:44:46Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Can someone refresh me on the details of the Doctor knowing his own death is imminent, and the whole “four knocks” thing? [Foreshadowing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsRCREv4mTQ). Clips are from “Planet of the Ood” in season four, the Easter special “Planet of the Dead,” and a recent episode of “The Sarah Jane Adventures.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/29 "2009-11-20T13:37:02Z")
I hadn’t seen that clip with the different warnings edited together. The Doctor is probably a very worried timelord. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/30 "2009-11-20T18:25:44Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > [Foreshadowing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsRCREv4mTQ). Clips are from “Planet of the Ood” in season four, the Easter special “Planet of the Dead,” and a recent episode of “The Sarah Jane Adventures.” Thanks! I missed the Easter special and I don’t watch the SJ adventures, so this was really helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/31 "2009-11-20T21:48:13Z")
“It is coming back, through the darkness.” My WAG - Planet Gallifrey, complete with the majority of Time Lords, was sucked out into the same void between universes that the Daleks of “Army of Ghosts/Doomsday” were in. The Time Lords of course will be royally pissed off at the Doctor for having betrayed them and seek to kill him - DEAD dead, not regenerating into a new form dead. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/32 "2009-11-21T20:01:55Z")
A heads up for those in the States, the next episode “The End of Time part 1” will be shown on BBC America on December 26, only **one day** after the UK broadcast!! And the finale will probably have a similar schedule in regards to the UK airing. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/33 "2009-11-21T20:21:30Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > “It is coming back, through the darkness.” My WAG - Planet Gallifrey, complete with the majority of Time Lords, was sucked out into the same void between universes that the Daleks of “Army of Ghosts/Doomsday” were in. The Time Lords of course will be royally pissed off at the Doctor for having betrayed them and seek to kill him - DEAD dead, not regenerating into a new form dead. I hope this is true. Spoiler Time: It looks like Timothy Dalton is playing a Timelord in the Xmas/New Years Day specials - [scifiscoop.com](http://www.scifiscoop.com/?s=Doctor+Who+104) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/34 "2009-11-21T20:26:41Z")
It would definitely change the dynamic of the new series to have all the rest of the Timelords back in full force, as opposed to the “lonely angst-filled wanderer” thing they’ve had going on. I think it would be a good change. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/35 "2009-11-21T20:33:59Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Thanks! I missed the Easter special and I don’t watch the SJ adventures, so this was really helpful. I didn’t know the Doctor appeared on Sarah Jane Adventures. Is that typical, or was that a super special kind of thing? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/36 "2009-11-21T20:41:00Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > I didn’t know the Doctor appeared on Sarah Jane Adventures. > > Is that typical, or was that a super special kind of thing? > > -Joe Special appearance. I think the only other time he appeared on that show was during a Children in Need video. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/37 "2009-11-21T21:57:11Z")
I’ve posted some spoilers for the next episode in a [new thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540879). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/38 "2009-11-23T15:44:22Z")
Entertaining, but not scary or creepy at all. Right from the start it bugged me how a strange man can show up at the door of Earth’s first manned Mars base/mission and the crew wonders _who_ he is but no one seems interested in _where_ he came from. As in, another base on Mars, or a ship, or what? Then they accept it’s just a coincidence he shows up on the day they get infected by aliens a little too easily. Then when the shit really hits the fan they let him go back to… where again? No one asks, “hey, got any room where you’re going?” Souping up Gadget was supposed to be amusing and campy I hope. But Gadget seemingly can only handle flat ground, yet the Mars base was in a crater it looked like you have to climb into, and at the end Gadget took a flat, straight-line path right to Tardis. Hm. It didn’t bother anyone that now there are two survivors from the Mars base on Earth saying “Adelaide saved us” but no explanation how? Did anyone catch what the Doctor was saying about the original inhabitants of Mars? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/39 "2009-11-23T16:42:07Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Did anyone catch what the Doctor was saying about the original inhabitants of Mars? He referred to “a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow” and suggested the ice warriors may have frozen "the Flood in the glacier under the base. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685/40 "2009-11-23T16:45:38Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > He referred to “a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow” and suggested the ice warriors may have frozen "the Flood in the glacier under the base. Kind of got the impression that the Martians let themselves die off to keep the water creatures from escaping the planet. As for “Adelaide saved us”, they could very well say that there was a man known as The Doctor who had a magic flying blue box. He’s been seen around enough that it could very well believed - especially when they managed to make the 9-month journey before anyone even knew they’d left Mars. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-waters-of-mars-open-spoilers/517685.md?page=3)