Wet, Wet, Wet!

Some fantastic person went to the Waters of Mars screening and gave us some hints!!

Just got back from yesterday's amazing Waters Of Mars screening in London. What a rush that was! From the cosy little cinema in the Soho Hotel, the assembled members of the press got to see the whole episode. Russell T Davies was there, David Tennant was also there. I even spotted the Doctor's daughter, Georgia Moffett there (she's a really pretty girl, looks a bit like Little Boots).

Anyway, it wouldn't be fair to spoil the episode so far in advance, so don't worry about finding out too much from this post. What I will say is that based on the trailer's I've seen for Waters Of Mars, I thought the whole episode would be abysmal. Really. I had serious concerns that David Tennant's third-last Doctor Who would be a complete washout.

Let's face it, The Doctor has wound up on these remote space colonies in the past, facing nameless evils - The Satan Pit for one, arguably Silence In The Library for another. I figured Waters Of Mars for another of those claustrophobic space disaster stories that don't rank among my favourites.

I still hold that the 'scary water' storyline is a bit clumsily executed. "Water always waits, water always wins..." However, it gives an excellent backdrop to the real story - and a massive dilemma for The Doctor which will pave the way to his demise. Add to that the tantalising trailers for "The End Of Time", and you'll be salivating for the two Christmas specials!

Teasers

How to tease you without giving the story away? Well, I'd definitely advise you to go back and watch the Pompeii episode - a Doctor and Donna adventure. There's lots of stuff in there that's relevant to this episode. Also, you might want to check out The Runaway Bride, the first episode to feature Donna Noble. Events in that episode, and Pompeii, also hint at something important to The Doctor.

Oh, and the name of the base (and the episode, I suppose) is actually quite a strong hint toward an upcoming guest star in the next episode.

The End Of Time

At the end of the episode, we got a preview of Tennant's penultimate episode as The Doctor - The End Of Time. It's got Bernard Cribbins as Wilf, which is excellent. We already knew that, but it's excellent. Catherine Tate seems to be in the episode as Donna, but she wasn't doing much. Russell T Davies said that Donna's mother would also be featured. We also see John Simm as an almost feral-looking blonde version of The Master. Again, we heard that Lucy Saxon, The Master's wife would be in the episode as well - will she be friend to The Doctor or foe? We'll just have to wait and see.

Finally...

I just want to say thanks to the BBC and their publicists for inviting Unreality TV along to the screening - it's the first time we've had an invitation this cool, and an honour to be part of this. You know how much we love Doctor Who!

So, a return of the house Gods (ie, the Doctor and Donna?!).

Meanwhile, we get even more spoilers from these lovely people here...

Both an action adventure, base under siege, story, plus an enormously powerful emotional story. I was choked on more than one occasion and actually thought I would cry at one point. (Ben Stephenson from BBC Drama, assured us we would have “wet turkeys” when we watch the newly-completed Xmas eps, but more of that later.)

On the other hand, there’s some class comic dialogue. When asked “Name, rank and intent” the Doctor answers “The Doctor, doctor, fun”, which Tennant delivers brilliantly. Plus there’s some nice to-ing and fro-ing with Linsday Duncan’s character. And a funny robot. (The Doctor doesn’t like funny robots… though he does admit that ones shaped like dogs are different.) And some of the darker stuff is good too. Watch out for the line, “As consolation”. It hits you like a punch to the guts.

A lot of the plot hinges on the same issues of time, consequence and fixed points that were referenced in Fires Of Pompeii, but with rather different consequences. Another obvious influence was 28 Days Later, including one direct lift of a memorable scene from that film. You could also argue that the funny robot is a tribute to Johnny Five or WALL-E.

The Ice Warriors, unsurprisingly, get a mention in a good, plot-reinforcing way, and there’s more than one old enemy that puts in an appearance, either in flashback (not necessarily from The Doctor’s life) or… dare I say, premonition. We never really get to know the nature of the threat, either. Very Midnight.

There was a preview of The End Of Time confirming much of what we already knew but let’s just say thatWaters Of Mars ends on such a mood that you wouldn’t want it going out on Chrimbo Day. The last two eps are scheduled for then and New Year’s Day.

Oh, and it’s in HD, so I’m assuming the titles have been re-rendered. It certainly looked amazing. You could see every pore on Tennant’s face in the close-ups. And the CGI was impressive, even on a big screen. Also, I dunno where they went to shoot the Mars surface but it was pretty fucking cool. Graeme Harper’s done a bang-up job. So many jump-y moments and creepy direction, plus it all hangs together well. There were so very few moments when you thought “Hang on, this isn’t Mars, it’s a warehouse in Llandaff.”