First broadcast on 15 November 2009, The Waters of Mars is the darkest, most psychologically complex story of David Tennant’s tenure as the Tenth Doctor. It is the penultimate television adventure before his regeneration, and the moment where the weight of time, power, and morality begin to crush him. Rewatching it in 2025, it is as haunting and relevant as ever—a story not just about monsters from beneath the surface, but about the danger of unchecked arrogance and the seductive nature of godhood.
Set in 2059 on humanity’s first Mars base, Bowie Base One, the episode opens with the Doctor arriving amid a close-knit crew led by the formidable Captain Adelaide Brooke, played with commanding nuance by Lindsay Duncan. Almost immediately, he recognises where he is and, more importantly, when. This is a fixed point in time. He knows the fate of this base. Everyone here will die. And he is not meant to interfere.
What follows is a horror story that escalates with eerie precision. The water that seeps through the base isn’t just contaminated—it is intelligent, invasive, and unrelenting. The Flood, as the infection is eventually called, transforms its hosts into ghastly, water-spewing creatures. Director Graeme Harper uses shadows, silence, and mounting dread to craft one of the most visually disturbing tales in the show’s modern era. The prosthetics and sound design of the infected remain chilling. But the real horror lies in the Doctor himself.
Throughout the episode, Tennant charts a descent that is painful to watch. He is distant, distracted, clearly affected by all he has lost. The loss of Donna, the warnings from Carmen, even the encounter with the Trickster—all of it weighs on him. He tries to walk away. He tells himself it’s not his place. But he also wants to interfere. And when the moment comes, he does. He saves Adelaide and two surviving crew members. He defies time.
And then, for the first time, the Doctor becomes terrifying.
Declaring himself the "Time Lord Victorious," he claims dominion over time itself. He says that no one else can decide who lives or dies. Only him. The scene is electrifying. It is wrong. And Tennant plays it with manic conviction—the joy of godhood colliding with the horror of realising what he's become.
Adelaide’s response is one of the bravest acts in the history of the series. She sees what the Doctor has become and makes a choice to restore the timeline. Her suicide is not sensationalised. It is framed as defiance. As course correction. As a reminder that some lines must never be crossed. Lindsay Duncan gives her character depth, dignity, and a steel spine. She stands as the moral centre of the story, even as the Doctor unravels.
The final scene, with Ood Sigma silently watching as the Doctor whispers, “I’ve gone too far,” is one of the most powerful endings in the show’s history. There is no victory. Only the sound of time catching up with a man who tried to outrun it.
Rewatching in 2025, The Waters of Mars hits differently. It resonates in an age when power, responsibility, and hubris are more scrutinised than ever. It is a warning about the limits of intervention, the costs of control, and the importance of humility. It is also one of David Tennant’s finest performances—raw, unpredictable, and ultimately heartbreaking.
As a standalone adventure, it works brilliantly. As a character study, it is devastating. And as the penultimate step toward the end of the Tenth Doctor, it is perfect. He may still have one more story left to tell, but the man who walks away from Bowie Base One is no longer the same.
He has seen the abyss. And he almost became it.
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