Waters of Mars Comment & Grading SPOILERS

[wamdue]

And hopefully a kid can see, or have explained to them, that by committing suicide she was trying to put history back on course.

which is kinda similar to what happens in the Trickester stories in SJA, sure the character "committing suicide" is very clean, but the character does end his/her life to save the world.

of course the main difference is that they should already be dead, and have made a deal, but they still "die" to save the world.

never mind the fact that the kids regularly kill aliens, and dont seem to think much of it, killing a Siltheen is them like one of us stepping on a ant.

 

[Bacl]

Okay, but certainly this was no Lion King, etc... The show was much darker then any other, not because of the scary monsters but because she committed suicide at the end.

Yeah, off-screen, and by means of sci-fi 'fantasy' laser beam.

Darker than usual? Sure. Dark? Meh.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

It's definitely darker, though. If this were an older Doctor Who story, he would just take her to the future so everyone thinks she died and history continues the way it should.

Having her commit suicide is done to impact the character of the Doctor and how he acts.

 

[John Picard]

Instead, I was surprised (and a bit taken aback) by The Doctor's sudden pompous decision to take on time and trying to bend it to his will. And failed. Felt like Chaos Theory and time teamed up and smacked The Doctor across the face.

Agreed. It seemed to me that The Doctor was acting more like The Master -- almost becoming corrupt at the thought of the Absolute Power he wields. I was thinking that his actions would lead to a downfall that will pave the way to his regeneration. I'm still of the mind that when he opted not to regenerate when "killed" by the Dalek the Doctor was left damaged and unstable.

Hm, I thought I had more to say about this episode, but I guess not. Overall very emotional, although not that scary despite the media's claims prior to airing.

I can't wait for Christmas!

Yep. Not dreary, but a shocker of an ending. The Doctor was basically reprimanded like a young child and he's shocked. And now, with the Ood appearing, he's going to be worse.

 

[VDCNI]

I enjoyed it very much. But the show isn't for children anymore is it?! They follow the audience. Good for them.

It hasn't been "for children" since the 1970's. This is a family show.

I'm not sure I see a clear distiction, but when one of the main characters commits suicide it stops being a "family show" as well.

It that case it stopped being a family show in the 1960's when the victim in the Aztecs willingly jumped to his death or in the 1970's - Image Of The Fendhal had Tom Baker hand a gun to someone so they could kill themselves. Doctor Who has always dealt with harsh realities from time to time.