‘Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars’ – Phil Ford (BBC Books)

 


Page Count: 186 Pages

November 21st 2059, and Bowie Base One - the first human colony on Mars - is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The Laws of Time dictate that it cannot - must never - be changed.

The Doctor arrives just as a viral life-form escapes from the Martian ice into the base's water supply. A single drop can transform a human into a terrifying monster with the power to infect others. History records that the threat is destroyed along with the base and every human in it. But as his darkest hour comes calling, the Doctor resolves to break the rules as he never has before...

I’m always on the hunt for cheap ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs and was lucky enough to find a copy of ‘The Waters of Mars’ in my local ‘Cancer Research’ shop the other day. It’s an episode that I don’t watch nearly enough, given how much I enjoy it when I do. Water zombies (not literally but, you know what I mean), the Doctor having an existential crisis and a plot that delights in building you up only to trip you up when you least expect it (and it’s properly creepy at the same time); what’s not to love? Exactly.

With that much love for the story then, I just had to give the novelisation a go 😊 I tend to focus on the older ‘Doctor Who’ books, as a rule, but like I said, water zombies, that and a revision schedule that hasn’t left me a lot of time to get stuck into anything heavy. A couple of bus rides later and… how did it go? I really enjoyed ‘The Waters of Mars’.

I’ve said before that as important as the old Terrance Dicks novelisations are, they are more or a less a straight re-telling of each story, which was good when you were filling in the gaps as a kid but not as satisfying when you want something to actually read. There’s a lot of that still here (which isn’t all that surprising really) but Ford is a Doctor Who writer that isn’t afraid to step outside that box and really flesh things out. The main outcome of that is characters who you get to know a little more and if I’m anything to go by, you can’t help but get behind them more, especially when you already know how the story ends. Adelaide is a good example of this with a more detailed retelling of the events leading up to her meeting the Dalek. It’s the Doctor though who gets the best of this treatment (again, not surprising) with a deeper look into what’s happening for him as he becomes the Time Lord Victorious. This isn’t just a snap decision, there’s a lead up to it that makes things all the more chilling as you think about how close things were to going somewhere very bad…

And talking about chilling… Another thing I really enjoyed about Ford’s willingness to go a little further with the plot is how he manages to heighten the terror by letting us know what the Flood really is and what it wants. You don’t really get that in the TV show, fair enough really, and that sense of the unknown really unsettles the reader. By giving us that glimpse though, especially as our players still don’t know, things somehow get scarier. We know what’s happening and at the same time, we’re still dealing with that fear of the unknown… Fair play to Ford for pulling it off.

All in all then, not a bad read at all. Just what I needed to get me through this week. Well, the first part of this week… What should I read next? 😉

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