Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)

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192 – "Voyage of the Damned"
Doctor Who episode
The interstellar cruise liner Titanic, the main setting of the episode, orbits above Earth on Christmas Eve.
Cast
Doctor	David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion	Kylie Minogue (Astrid Peth)
Guest stars
George Costigan – Max Capricorn Clive Swift – Mr Copper Gray O'Brien – Rickston Slade Russell Tovey – Midshipman Alonzo Frame Debbie Chazen – Foon Van Hoff Clive Rowe – Morvin Van Hoff Jimmy Vee – Bannakaffalatta Geoffrey Palmer – Captain Hardaker Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott Nicholas Witchell – Himself Paul Kasey – The Host Jessica Martin – Voice of the Queen
Production
Writer	Russell T. Davies
Director	James Strong
Script editor	Brian Minchin
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	4.X
Series	Christmas Special (2007)
Length	72 mins
Originally broadcast	25 December 2007
Chronology
← Preceded by	Followed by →
"Last of the Time Lords" (episode) "Time Crash" (special)	"Partners in Crime"
IMDb profile

"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on 25 December 2007, it is 72 minutes long and the third Christmas special since the show’s revival in 2005. The narrative continues from the final scene of "Last of the Time Lords", when a luxury space cruiser called the Titanic breached the walls of the TARDIS. The ship's captain, Hardaker (Geoffrey Palmer), sabotages the ship shortly after the Titanic's collision with the TARDIS. The Doctor (David Tennant) works with a waitress named Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue) to prevent an imminent collision with Earth.

The episode marks the only appearance of Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue as the Doctor's companion, Astrid Peth. Executive producer and writer Russell T. Davies described her casting as a "very exceptional case", having written the part of Astrid specifically for Minogue. On its original airdate, "Voyage of the Damned" was watched by 13.31 million viewers, the highest viewing figure for Doctor Who since the 1979 serial City of Death. It was the second most-watched programme of 2007, beaten only by the episode of EastEnders which aired immediately after the episode. Critical opinion about the episode was divided; the writing and Minogue's performance were both praised and criticised.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Synopsis

The episode continues from the end of the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", when the TARDIS collided with the Titanic.^[1][2] To investigate further, the Doctor runs the TARDIS's self-repair programme and boards the Titanic, where he discovers that the "ship" is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. Modelled after the Earth ocean liner of the same name, the ship is orbiting present-day Earth to observe "primitive cultures"–specifically, Christmas. He decides to stow away, only telling waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue). The Doctor joins Astrid on a brief excursion to Earth, along with married couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff (Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazen), an alien with a spiked red head named Bannakaffalatta (Jimmy Vee), and historian and guide Mr Copper (Clive Swift). However, the populace of London fled in fear of an a third consecutive extraterrestrial attack,^[3][4] and only a few people remain in the city, most notably a newspaper seller called Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins).

After the party return from the excursion, the ship's captain, Hardaker (Geoffrey Palmer), dismisses all his officers to commit an act of sabotage; he magnetises the hull of the ship, causing meteors to collide with it. The resulting collision kills most of the passengers on-board and draws the ship to an extinction level collision with Earth. The Doctor makes contact with Midshipman Alonzo Frame (Russell Tovey), a crew member who survived the collision, to help him stabilise the ship.

En route to the bridge, the Doctor's party are repeatedly attacked by the Host, androids resembling angels who were programmed to kill survivors of the collision. The Doctor breaks from the party and attempts to reach the control point for the Host. He is taken to the Host's leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn (George Costigan). He was bitter about being forced out of his own company and plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company. To save the Doctor, Astrid rams Capricorn with a forklift. Astrid and Capricorn ride off a precipice to their deaths.

The Doctor uses the Host to reach the bridge, where he uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to restart the ship's engines. After stabilising the ship, the Doctor realises that the teleport bracelet Astrid was wearing backed-up her molecular pattern. However, the damaged system can only partially regenerate Astrid. The Doctor reluctantly allows her to dissipate into atoms, so she can fulfil her dream of exploring the universe. The party then amicably part ways, vowing not to forget the Doctor's and Astrid's actions.

[edit] Continuity

The episode continues several trends from previous specials; London's evacuation is a direct effect of the Sycorax invasion in "The Christmas Invasion" and the Webstar attack in "The Runaway Bride". The episode features the third consecutive white Christmas: in this episode and "The Christmas Invasion" the snow is debris falling to Earth,^[3] and in "The Runaway Bride", the Doctor uses the TARDIS to excite the atmosphere into snowing.^[4]

Earth was referred to a "Level 5 civilisation" in the episode, a designation used in the Fourth Doctor serial City of Death and The Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen.^[5][6] Kasterborous, the constellation that the Time Lord planet Gallifrey is in, is mentioned for the first time since the show's revival in 2005.^[7]

The Doctor uses the catchphrase "allons-y Alonzo" in the episode when he helps Frame stabilise the ship. The use of the phrase is a running gag originating in "Army of Ghosts".^[8] Another recurring theme present is angels. It previously occurred in "Blink", where the antagonists of the episode were Weeping Angels, and in "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords", where the Master's communication network was called the "Archangel Network".^[7] Despite angels being the antagonist in two episodes that aired close to each other, which slightly annoyed writer and executive producer Russell T Davies when he read Steven Moffat's script for "Blink", the Host are functionally different as subordinate "robot butlers".^[9]

[edit] Production

Minogue during the Showgirl tour, which included Cyberman-inspired animatronics

[edit] Casting

The production team were approached by Will Baker, Kylie Minogue's creative director, during the series three press launch about her appearing in the show. Minogue was subsequently given a one-off role as the Doctor's companion.^[10] Her casting was first reported in the News of the World in April 2007.^[11] Davies initially dismissed the story, but Baker and Minogue contemporaneously confirmed she would star in the show.^[10][12][13] Her role was officially confirmed on 3 July 2007.^[14] Both Minogue and Doctor Who had acknowledged each other before: "The Idiot's Lantern" mentions Minogue as a real person;^[15] and Baker, a fan of Doctor Who, included aspects of the classic series in Kylie's tours: the Raston Warriors (from The Five Doctors) in the Fever tour; and the Cybermen in the Showgirl tour.^[10]

[edit] Minogue's costume

Minogue met designer Louise Page four times during pre-production to discuss her costume. Page rejected a long dress because it was atypical to Minogue; she instead elected for a "cigarette girl" image, similar to a "1950's ... cinema usherette". Five costumes were made for different scenes and Minogue's stunt doubles, and each part of each costume was made separately to keep Minogue's role secret. After filming, Minogue told Page that the costume was "the most comfortable [she] had worn in years".^[10]

[edit] Writing

The episode was written by Russell T Davies after Minogue was cast.^[10] He later stated that Minogue was a "very exceptional case": he considered writing a role specifically for one actor "dangerous territory" because the desired actor may be unavailable or decline the part.^[16] In early drafts of the episode, Astrid did not die, but Davies decided that Astrid's death was necessary to allow Minogue focus on her musical career and conform to the "disaster movie" format. The fall to her death was written as a pastiche of the format and romanticised Astrid's "ultimate sacrifice". Davies also emphasised society becoming aware of aliens and the tradition of London's consecutive Christmas attacks in the script, describing the latter as "becoming a bit of an in-joke".^[10]

The episode includes several references to outside the show's fictional universe. The episode is dedicated to Verity Lambert, Doctor Who's founding producer, who died on 22 November 2007, a day before the show's forty-fourth anniversary. The malfunctioning Host stuttering over the name "Max" is a reference to 1980s virtual presenter Max Headroom.^[7] Davies cited The Poseidon Adventure as an influence for the episode's general plot, and the portrayal of Kansas in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz as an analogue for Sto.^[9]

The episode closes with a slate that reads In Memory of Verity Lambert Obe 1935-2007. Verity Lambert was the founding producer of Doctor Who.

[edit] Filming

Filming took place in Summer 2007, starting with the scene where the group are accosted by the Host while crossing over the engines.^[9] Filming was delayed in July to allow Tennant to attend his mother's funeral.^[17][18] The scene set in a deserted street in London was filmed on 31 July 2007, and required, for the first time, that the street be sealed off for security concerns.^[10] The scene aboard the Titanic was filmed at The Exchange in Swansea^[19] and required at least fifty extras. The scene on Deck 31, where Capricorn was hidden, was difficult to shoot due to health and safety concerns and some shots of Astrid used a stunt double because Minogue did not have a licence to drive the forklift truck. Geoffrey Palmer also required firing practice before filming the scene where his character shoots Midshipman Frame.^[10]

[edit] Music

"The Stowaway"

The chorus of the song "The Stowaway", which was influenced by Irish folk music.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Composer Murray Gold, arranger Ben Foster, and singer Yamit Mamo make cameo appearances as part of the ship's band.^[20][7] Mamo, primarily a soul singer, was approached by Gold after his friends saw her performing, and she unconditionally accepted his offer.^[10] She performed the songs "My Angel Put the Devil in Me" and "The Stowaway" on the third series soundtrack.^[10][7] The latter was specifically composed for the episode and was recorded in September 2007 at AIR Studios in London. The song features everyone who was present in the studios during recording as backing vocals. "The Stowaway" continues the tradition of a Christmas song from "The Christmas Invasion" ("Song for Ten") and "The Runaway Bride" ("Love Don't Roam"). Gold loosely based the song on the episode, and set it from the captain's point of view. The song was influenced by Irish folk music, and contrasts the upbeat "under deck" feeling with melancholy lyrics about unrequited love. The episode features a new version of the theme tune during its credits, comparable to Peter Howell's version from the 1980s, which contains a new bass line, drums, and piano.^[7]

[edit] Broadcast and reception

[edit] Broadcast

Overnight figures estimated that the episode's Christmas Day broadcast was watched by 12.2 million viewers. The final viewing figures were 13.31 million viewers with a peak of 13.8 million, the second highest audience for any programme during 2007: the episode of BBC soap EastEnders which aired after the episode was watched by 13.9 million viewers.^[21][22] The viewing figure is the highest for the new series, exceeding the previous record set by "Rose". The figure is also the highest for Doctor Who overall since 1979, specifically, the final episode of "City of Death".^[23][24] The episode's Appreciation Index rating was 86 ("excellent"), above the average score of 77 for drama programmes, and was the highest Index rating for any programme shown on terrestrial television on Christmas Day.^[25]

[edit] Criticism and review

A scene where the Doctor was lifted by the angelic Host to the ship's bridge was both criticised and praised for its religious imagery.

The episode was criticised by Millvina Dean, the last living survivor of the 1912 Titanic sinking, who stated that it was "disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy."^[26] The organisation Christian Voice expressed offence at the religious imagery of a scene in which the Doctor is lifted through the ship by robot angels;^[27] however, in April 2008, vicars were encouraged to use the same scene to "illustrate themes of resurrection, redemption and evil" to young people.^[28]

Gareth McLean, who reviewed a preview screening for The Guardian's TV and radio weblog, appreciated the episode's use of "the disaster movie template" and came to a favourable overall conclusion: "For the most part, The Voyage of the Damned is absolutely smashing." Its main flaw, in his view, was the "blank and insipid" acting of Kylie Minogue.^[29] James Walton of The Daily Telegraph gave the episode a positive review, summarising it as "a winning mixture of wild imagination and careful writerly calculation".^[30] Alex Clark of The Observer commented that the death toll was rather high, but he still thought the episode was "an oasis of cheeky nonsense and careless invention".^[31] Harry Venning of The Stage concluded his positive review of the episode by stating it "was well up to Doctor Who's impeccably high standards".^[32] Doctor Who Magazine placed two of the deaths in the episode in its list of the top 100 deaths in the history of the show. Bannakaffalatta's death, a self-sacrifice to save the Doctor's party, was placed in the "top 20 tearjerkers" category. Astrid's death was given the title of "Doctor Who's all-time greatest death scene", commenting it "ticks boxes in all of our main categories [(gruesome, scary, self-sacrifice, tearjerking, surprising)]", and "her death would truly make a glass eye cry."^[33] Tim Teeman of The Times gave the episode a negative review, stating that "It was boring, despite the endless dashing about and CGI flimflam."^[34] The Daily Mirror commented the episode had "some brilliant psychedelic Pink Floyd-esque imagery", "great baddies", and "neat jokes", but lamented that "the plot was a mess, consisting mostly of one hi-tech chase scene after another, and it descended into noise and bluster."^[35]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

"Voyage of the Damned"

The TARDIS Index File has information related to:

Voyage of the Damned

• "Voyage of the Damned" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• "Voyage of the Damned" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "Voyage of the Damned" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

[edit] Official trailers

• BBC Christmas 2007 publicity trailer
• First teaser trailer
• Cinematic trailer
• "Trailer A"
• "Trailer B"
• 20-second trailer

[edit] Reviews

• "Voyage of the Damned" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide