Water Zombies [Review: Doctor Who The Waters Of Mars]

Doctor Who special The Waters of Mars was, as promised, a darker episode than usual, with very little humour apart from Tennant's occasional clowning. There have been some great episodes that really play on claustrophobia effectively and this is one of them. The dark tone also applies to the fates of many of the characters - and the Doctor, who as usual is forced to make difficult moral choices, responds in a way we haven't seen before. Set on a human colony on Mars, Bowie Base One, the story featured zombie-like monsters - colonists' bodies taken over by an entity in the water. The set up reminded me of an old PC game, Martian Gothic - Reunification which is also about zombies on Mars.

If you also just watched the episode, you will know that the BBC played a trick on everyone in one of the trailers. Nice one! If not, and you're reading this within a week of the transmission date then The Waters of Mars should be available on iPlayer here. I am going to miss David Tennant.

Software hamster? Afar mother stews?

"I am completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly" - H.A.L. 9000

The shape of things to come: any, all, some or none of the following stories will be featured in subsequent Sci-Fi Gene posts.

Doctor Who returns to TV this weekend in "The Waters Of Mars" (anagram). It's about time, as I think it's now traditional to say whenever a long-awaited Doctor Who project finally gets broadcast. Anyway, here's the "I don't hear anyone knocking" trailer.



After seeing Let The Right One In I've re-acquired a taste for vampire movies. I saw Thirst last week - full review to follow - and I'm also looking forward to Daybreakers. Vampires are the new zombies...

While it still needs some fine tuning, I managed to get this chromakey shot to work. This effect will be needed in my next film project, which is slowly coming together - more on that story later.

Reheats Fat Worms?

Like a swarm of, well, Swarm, Planet of the Dead has swept across the UK - an enjoyable if fairly lightweight Doctor Who special with Michelle Ryan (as Tomb Raider-style aristocratic thief Lady Christina Blakeley), and Lee Evans (as a bumbling UNIT professor) both leaving their subtle heads at home. This wasn't so much a plot as a series of cool visual concepts (the 200 bus stranded on an alien desert, the approaching Swarm, the crashed Tritovore spaceship).

The next special, The Waters of Mars (anagram) may strike a more sinister note. Prophecies in Planet of the Dead, hints in Tennant's recent interviews and the trailer all point to something ominous on the way - here's hoping. Like the title - sadly it doesn't imply that John Carpenter is directing...