“The Waters of Mars” isn’t just the darkest Doctor Who episode yet, it’s a chronological Rubicon for the last of the Time Lords.
Spoilers:
Emerging from the TARDIS, the Doctor finds himself at a pivotal moment – the destruction of Earth’s first Mars’ colony. Although initially reluctant to get involved, he eventually decides to save Captain Adelaide Brooke, whose death would have inspired humanity to travel across the universe.
A very cocky Doctor explains that he’s saved “little people” before but never someone as important as her, and declares “For a long time now I thought I was just a survivor but I’m not. I’m the winner, that’s who I am. The Time Lord Victorious.” Infuriated at the Doctor’s interference in her and subsequently Earth’s timeline, Adelaide asks “Is there nothing you can’t do?” “Not anymore,” he answers.
So now that the Doctor’s breaking all the rules, what’s the biggest one he might break? Unlocking the Time War that destroyed the Time Lords and left him alone and forever seeking a companion, of course.
Impossible you say?
In fact, it’s quite possible seeing as how it was the Doctor who created the time-lock in the first place. The Beast called him “the killer of his own kind” and he himself admitted to ending the Time War (The Satan Pit).
Considering the Doctor’s impending death, it would make sense for him to want to save the other Time Lords so they don’t completely go extinct. After all, then there’d be no show!
And since Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor, will need a new TARDIS after it gets destroyed (see Time’s up for the TARDIS), the best place to get a new one would be a restored Gallifrey.
Finally in “The End of Time” not only will the Master’s return, an unknown Time Lord will be played by Timothy Dalton. Could he be the first of the resurected Time Lords? If so perhaps we should call the Doctor – Time Lord Messias!
