The Waters of Mars by: Phil Ford

 

The Waters of Mars was written by: Phil Ford, based on the story of the same name by Ford and Russell T. Davies.  It was the 183^rd story to be novelized by BBC Books.

 

So much of “The Waters of Mars” works because of Ford and Davies’ script and Graeme Harper’s direction being incredibly aware of what a visual medium television is and making a horror episode that fits within that medium.  Horror on film and horror on the page are two very different types of horror, and Phil Ford is a television writer so it was quite the pleasant surprise to see The Waters of Mars works just as well as a novelization as it does on television.  The Doctor is the main point of view character in The Waters of Mars as was the case on television, though through third person limited perspective with a few shifts for the other characters when there are scenes on television the Doctor isn’t present for early on.  There are particular deaths as presented in the novel through the Doctor’s viewpoint, translating and cementing the visual language of film that it was the death of Ed Gold, a self-sacrifice once infected with the Flood, that pushed the Doctor into the decision to save the survivors on Bowie Base One and it is the knowledge of the correct future that drives Adelaide Brook to her final decisions to destroy the base and herself, after being saved.  Adelaide’s death seems quicker in the novel, it’s only a few pages from the end after all and is done in one line, but with that one line Ford has this excellent moment to genuinely look at how this tiny decision changes the world.  Ford adds an aftermath: her suicide changed her daughter and granddaughter’s hardship the world beginning to believe Earth never actually went to Mars and that became the drive to get out into space.

 

There are several other interesting additions.  Because this is a novel and Ford is aware that the audience of this adaptation is Doctor Who fans, there is a longer explanation of the Ice Warrior society that uncovered the Flood initially, a warning written in Martian being found and unheeded due to the inability to translate, Mia being revealed to secretly assigned as translator as well as archeologist as UNIT was aware of the Ice Warriors by 2059.  It’s a nice little bit of worldbuilding that is expanded by sections from the perspective of the Flood, exclusively referring to humanity as the Flesh and not making distinctions of previous identities of Maggie Cain, something that feels as if Ford is taking inspiration from John Carpenter’s 1982 film The Thing; the prologue in particular does this by really making the reader understand how the water has been waiting.  Adelaide’s flashback to “The Stolen Earth” is also greatly expanded to really give her this deeper love of space and exploration from the beginning, as well as recontextualizing the horror through the eyes of a child which is beautifully written with Ford really expanding his prose style to an almost lyrical nature.

 

Overall, The Waters of Mars manages to be equally as interesting as the televised episode with Phil Ford adding this depth necessary to make the transition to the format of a novel instead of a piece of television.  Ford both does a tribute to pulp horror as well as keeping the strong characterization that made the story work, making some subtleties of the Time Lord Victorious slightly more explicit to compensate for the lack of performance and adding more depth in general to everyone.  10/10.