The Resurrection of Mars

Eighth Doctor Adventures #4.6

Released: 15 November 2010

Listened: 11/6/21

This story follows on immediately from the last one, but the Ice Warrior threat takes kind of a back seat. To be accurate, the threat is still there, but its primary purpose is to provide the Doctor with an ethical dilemma. Lucie Miller returns, having been dropped on Deimos by the Monk, and the Monk is revealed to have been the driving force behind almost everything since “Situation Vacant.” Which is a lot more planning than other incarnations of the Monk usually do, but he’s still got it all wrong. The Doctor explains that his current morality is a reaction to his previous “chessmaster” incarnation, so he won’t countenance the death of even one innocent, if he can prevent it. However, he’ll also tolerate the death of whole planets if needed to keep the Web of Time intact. The Monk doesn’t seem to care about the Web of Time, and he uses that difference to subvert Tamsyn, making her think the Doctor is a hypocrite. The story runs the risk of being just a discourse on moral philosophy, but Paul McGann sells it pretty well, and you can tell the Doctor’s experiences brought him to this point. There are some brief scenes where Lucie and Tamsyn get together, but given that they’re coming from opposite perspectives, they don’t really get along. Resolving the main conflict is almost pro-forma, and the ending is mostly about how these characters feel about each other. In that sense, it’s pretty enjoyable.