Doctor Who - Waters of Mars Review

[chloris]

I saw the episode this morning and it broke my brain. *ouch* I've been pretty much been avoiding lj all day so that I could write up my rather meta-heavy thoughts without having them be influenced by everyone else's thoughts. Now I'm off to read through the posts on my flist!

Comments

[evilgeniuslady]

Yes. This. I didn't have the quotes or the calmness of mind needed to put together this analysis, but I agree completely. He's been edging closer and closer to this for a very long time now. Noone is meant to have the Time Vortex inside them, especially not a Time Lord, it would make him into a vengeful god...

[chloris]

This post ate my brain until I got it on typed up! That's one thing I missed about the last two specials. They were there and fine and had some interesting bit, but this one ROCKED MY WORLD.

I personally don't see Ten's problem as having anything to do with the time vortex though. In fact, I hope it doesn't. It's too easy a solution and doesn't put enough of the blame for his actions on him. I see him as having been hit and forced to watch everything burn just one too many times combined with an intense god complex. He's not the first incarnation of the Doctor to have a god complex, but the first to have one when he knows that there's no one to stop him.

[evilgeniuslady]

I don't know that it's the Time Vortex actually causing it, even with that quote from Utopia supporting the argument. Like you said, it's an easy solution, and survivor's guilt combined with the lonely god complex is much more likely. But I find it incredibly interesting that HE would tell us (well, Jack) about the vengeful Time Lord-god and the Time Vortex, when he must know that it might apply to him too. I mean, we have no indication that he can't remember why he regenerated from Nine to Ten. So why would he say a thing like that, if it wasn't because at least a tiny part of him acknowledges that he might be behaving erratically?

[thirdbird]

I love that you pulled together all these quotes, many of which I had vaguely in mind but could not be bothered to look them up. INTERESTING point about the Companions actually failing to Stop Him, because I was kind of going along with that theory too until now, but now that you mention it...

Also, I think I might be confused by the presence of the Ood. Presumably it will figure into the finale, but in this episode it just seemed random.

Nice meta! *thumbs up*

[chloris]

Thinking about the companion issue a bit more: While the companion doesn't generally stop the Doctor, they do provide a combination of distraction for him (shiny things and need to keep them safe) and a focus on the smaller issues. The Doctor is very Big Picture and a human around lets him see the smaller picture. Also, the loss of Donna seems to have been a final blow for him in getting too close to anyone and that's BAD for the Doctor. He needs people and connections or he can lose the plot as he did here.

I didn't get the Ood either. The Doctor saw him as a harbinger of his death and I'm sure it'll make more sense at Christmas.

[anonymous]

I always enjoy your thoughts and perspectives, but may I respectfully disagree here a tiny bit? I didn't see it so much as a buildup of megalomania, but as a tearing down of Ten's last defenses, the final straw which causes a complete and utter breakdown. Yes, he may need someone to stop him--this episode harkened me back to Ten's temptation to save his planet with the Skasis Paradigm, and Sarah Jane reining him in--but I think just as importantly he needs someone to help him through the pain of his decisions (that beautiful moment in Pompeii where Donna places her hands over his to push the deadly button still chokes me up

[chloris]

No worries about disagreeing with me! Especially when you write such an interesting and well thought out comment.

but as a tearing down of Ten's last defenses, the final straw which causes a complete and utter breakdown. I can see this. Listening to them all die as he walked away was simply too much for him - he is broken when he goes back to save them. However, in what way is he broken? He's broken in a scary, I'm right, I control everything, time will answer to me sort of way. And this fault line in him has been there since Ten first appeared. Up until now he has edged up to the abyss but kept himself back from going over; this episode, he leapt over. Thinking of Donna in Pompeii, someone to hold his hand here could have been very important. (Companions are really good at stopping the Doctor but they can help remind him of who he wants to be and what must be done.) A voice of reason could have convinced him to save the people, blow the base, and settle them somewhere that they can't affect the time line - assuming that fixed

[anonymous]

I think back to the scene in JE when Ten first saw Davros on the monitor. He was paralyzed with horror, but then Donna's gentle "It's okay doctor, we're safe, you're in the Tardis" broke some tension. When he first came back to the base and was on the the edge of hysteria explaining about how there are rules, and there used to people who enforced them "but there gone now, and it's just me", I think that was the pivot point, and I forced myself to watch that scene repeatedly to be sure. The way his voice broke, and the look on his face like he was about to dissolve into sobs, and his eyes, pleading for someone to step up--if someone like Donna was there to rub his back and tell him it was okay, I really think he would have had a good cry and pulled himself together. (And thank you for letting me lurk--no computer at home right now, so I'm sneaking peaks at work! When I get re-set up I'd love to join)

[demonbaby19]

I'm friending you because I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this episode. I hope you don't mind :)

[chloris]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I'm always open to being friended.

[jaradel]

You've made some very valid arguments about this incident reverberating back to his regen from Nine to Ten. He does have a habit of making unilateral decisions. Who knows what would have happened had Harriet Jones not been deposed - would the Master have come to power, would Martha and her family have been so traumatized? What else was affected by that one split-second decision, made in a moment of anger? Part of the allure of the Doctor is that sense of danger, knowing that while he is basically a good person, he is also VERY powerful, and up to this point the only thing keeping him reined in was a personal code of ethics, basically. What happens when you strip that away? The Doctor scared me at the end - seriously chilled me to the bone. Kudos to David for playing the whole thing so brilliantly.

[chloris]

Yeah, without the time lords to hold him back (and to provide balance in the universe), it all comes down to the Doctor. So long as he is clear on right and wrong, it works. Mostly. But Ten, so much more than Nine, has taken it to heart that he is the one with the power and what he says goes.

We can always go on with what ifs when the Doctor changes something and we don't know if it would have been better or worse. (And he's always changing things and making unilateral decisions.) She was supposed to start a golden age, but even without Ten deposing her, I doubt that the Master would have let it continue once he came on the scene. Maybe she would have been killed to smooth the way and then would not have been available to help with the Daleks. *shrugs* Even thought the Doctor was not right to do what he did, there are too many variables to say 'he deposed her and that's why we have the Master in power!!' I doubt that the Master would have let her stop him for even a moment.