Doctor Who: "The Waters of Mars" - The Facts
Now that the first of this year's Doctor Who specials has passed, we now turn our attention to the second but just what do we know about it?
The Waters of Mars has been written by showrunner Russell T Davies along with Phil Ford and was directed by Graeme Harper. This is only the second time Davies has co-written a story for Doctor Who, the recent Planet of the Dead being the first (with Gareth Roberts). Ford has previously written an episode of Torchwood and five stories in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Harper is also no stranger to the world of Who having directed episodes in both the 'classic' and new series.
Starring in Mars are: Lindsay Duncan (Rome); Peter O' Brien (Underbelly); Chook Sibtain (Doctors); Aleksander Mikic (Eastern Promises); Cosima Shaw (V For Vendetta); Gemma Chan (Project Catwalk) and Michael Goldsmith. O' Brien and Russell T Davies worked together ten years ago on Queer As Folk whilst Sibtain previously appeared in the Sarah Jane Adventures story, Warriors of the Kudlak. Duncan herself is no stranger to sci-fi as she provided the voice for fan favourite TC-14 in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
The broadcast date has not been confirmed though Russell T Davies has stated that the transmission date will be "Novemberish". This now means that the story could be broadcast on Halloween (as it falls on a Saturday this year) though it could also tie in with Children In Need or the show's 46th anniversary in the second half of November. Various other members of the production team, however, have referred to The Waters of Mars as the 'Autumn' special.
PLEASE NOTE: THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS!
As we revealed last month, Lindsay Duncan was spotted filming on the streets of Newport with David Tennant and a Wall*E-style robot. Also present at this scene was Ood Sigma - last seen in the Planet of the Ood telling The Doctor that his song would end soon. Sound familiar? Yup, Carmen did the very same thing at the end of Planet of the Dead. Coincidentally, Tennant was spotted filming a scene, for the same episode, wearing the spacesuit last seen in the first Ood two-parter from 2006.
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Nope - no Ice Warriors nor Sutekh I'm afraid. The title is apparently an anagram of "Wars Of The Master" ... I didn't work that out though - someone else did.
Sounds a bit "silence in the library" with water.
No Ice Warriors.... :-(
Russell has been responsible for some of the worse episodes of the new Dr., Toorchwood, and Sara James.
How can we stop him from ruining the Dr. franchise?
'written by showrunner Russell T Davies...'
oh, well that will make it **so** worth tuning in for.
But did you know.... water always wind?!?.......
HAHA!! or should that be winS?! I don't know... isn't the first one better?!?
whyme -
yes i hate it when he builds up a major dalek army threat and then wipes them out in seconds- time after time .
i struggled with the manic Master on first view due to my fanboy regard for the character as portrayed in the past. but loved it when the shock had subsided
Russell is however also responsible for some of the best scripts - rewatch Midnight and argue against that
try not to forget that he was also involved in almost every other script that isn't steven moffats - from basic story/plot line development to apparently heavy rewritting.
the story arcs and themes are his - the character developments are down to him.
if someone else had been the man who resurrected the show it might not have lasted this long .
RTD - i salute you for bring my childhood back and providing me with 4 years of quality entertainment. good luck with whatever you do next
ice warriors are highly unlickley but the master will return in the finale
I really wish you had said "Peter O'Brien (Neighbours)" - That really would have scared some Who fans!
None of this sounds conducive to Ice Warriors and/or Sutekh.