The Vampires of Venice (TV story)

The Vampires of Venice (TV story)

left

The Vampires of Venice
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eleventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Amy Pond Rory Williams (joins)
Main enemy:	Saturnynians Rosanna Calvierri Francesco
Main setting:	Leadworth, 25th June 2010 Venice 1580
Key crew
Writer:	Toby Whithouse
Director:	Jonny Campbell
Producer:	Tracie Simpson
Release details
Story number:	207
Release number:	Series 5
Premiere broadcast:	8th May 2010
Format:	1 x 50 minute episode
Production code:	1.6
Confidential:	[[confidential::Death in Venice|Death in Venice]]

The Vampires of Venice was the sixth episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It was narratively tied to the final scene of Flesh and Stone, greatly furthered the Doctor-Rory-Amy romantic triangle subplot, and ended with Rory joining the Doctor in his travels.

Synopsis

Dessicated corpses, terror in the canal and a visit to the sinister House of Calvierri – the Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a romantic mini-break, as the TARDIS touches down once again.

But 16th-century Venice is not as it should be. The city has been sealed to protect it from the Plague, although Rosanna Calvierri may have other plans...

Plot

In Venice, 1580, a boat-builder named Guido brings his daughter Isabella before Rosanna Calvierri and her son Franceso, asking her to accept Isabella into her school. She agrees, and the father is immediately escorted out by her steward. As Francesco sees if Isabella is to his liking, he reveals a mouthful of fangs as she screams. In 2010, the Doctor crashes Rory's stag party (substituting himself for a stripper, Lucy) and informs him Amy tried to kiss him.

File:Series5vampires.jpg

Guido is attacked.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Rory and Amy that he will be taking them on a romantic retreat: Venice. As they try to enter the city, they are stopped and cautioned that a qurantine has been imposed due to the warnings of Signora Calvierri on the presence of Plague outside Venice. Once inside the city, they see Guido trying to get to Isabella as students leave the Calvierri school. She does not recognize her father, and he is attacked by another girl, who has fangs. The Doctor meets Guido, who speak of why he is trying to get his daughter back.

Rosanna Calvierri is interrupted while 'hydrating', and informs an impatient Francesco that they will follow the plan. He however attacks a flower girl in the streets and drinks some of her blood. Amy follows him while Rory sees to the girl. Guido feigns another attempt at regaining Isabella while the Doctor enters the school through a side gate. Once inside, he discovers the girls at the school have fangs and no reflection, but is chased away by them before discovering more.

Vampires in the dungeon

After meeting up with Amy and Rory, they discuss with Guido how to infiltrate the Calvierri school. Amy proposes that Rory act as her brother to get her in to open a trap door beneath the building. Amy is accepted, and meets Isablla who informs her that at night they take her to a room and strap her down as if for an operation, and that the sun burns her skin. The Doctor, Rory and Guido make their way to the trap door through an underground tunnel on Guido's gondola. Amy manages to unlock the trap door, but is discovered and taken to the room Isabella described. Rosanna tries to get her to tell her the truth, as the psychic paper did not work on her, and bites her neck with her fangs. The Doctor and Rory enter through the trap door and find a body which has had all the fluid removed. Rory berates the Doctor for making others want to impress him, and they are surrounded by the school's girls. Rosanna reveals to Amy that they drink girls till they are dry, then replacing their blood with their own. They either die or transform, ready for ten thousand husbands. The Doctor and Rory find Amy, who manages to see Rosanna's real form as she kicks her, and Isabella helps them escape. She is however recaptured, and later killed as a traitor, devoured by Rosanna's sons.

Rosanna later finds the Doctor on her throne. As they discuss things, it is revealed that Calvierri is a Saturnynian and is using a perception filter to appear human. They have no reflection as the brain cannot perceive a reflection different than its original, and the visibility of their fangs is due to a self-preservation loophole in the filter. Rosanna reveals her planet was lost due to the appearance of the cracks, and asks the Doctor to help her establish a new colony. He refuses as he learns of Isabella's death as a traitor, and that Rosanna did not even know Isabella's name.

File:Jelly Tots.jpg

The "Vampires" fully converted.

In Guido's house, the Doctor deduces that Calvierri intends to sink Venice and repopulate it with the girls she has transformed and her children. The house is attacked by the school's girls. While the others escape, Guido stays behind and lights the gunpowder store he had in his house, killing himself and all the girls.

Rosanna activates a device creating a storm over Venice, causing widespread panic. The Doctor tells Amy and Rory to get to the TARDIS. The Doctor finds the device, and informs Rosanna of the death of the girls. Francesco finds Amy and Rory, and is killed when she directs sunlight at him using her mirror. They both decide to help the Doctor, while he climbs up the Calvierri mansion's tower and manages to deactivate the device. Rosanna goes to the pool her sons are kept, her perception filter keeping up her human appearance. She tells the Doctor to remember them and live with the death of their race on his conscience, then throws herself to her sons to be devoured.

As they are leaving Venice, Amy and the Doctor invite Rory to travel with them. Just as they are about to enter the TARDIS, a strange silence suddenly falls across Venice, echoing Rosanna's words.

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
• Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
• Rosanna Calvierri - Helen McCrory
• Francesco - Alex Price
• Isabella - Alisha Bailey
• Steward - Simon Gregor
• Guido - Lucian Msamati
• Inspector - Michael Percival
• Vampire - Gabriela Montarez
• Vampire - Elizabeth Croft
• Vampire - Gabriella Wylde
• Vampire - Sonila Vieshta
• Vampire - Hannah Steele

Crew

Executive Producers   Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Line Producer - Patrick Schweitzer Location Manager - Gareth Skelding Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk Assistant Production Manager - Claire Thomas Production Runner - Sian Warrilow Production Accountant - Ceri Tothill A/Production Accountant - Carole Wakefield Script department Script Editor - Brian Minchin Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - John Bennett 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch Runners - Nicola Eynon Price, Laura Jenkins Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes Camera Operator - Ian Adrian B Camera Operator - Matthew Poynter Focus Puller - Steve Rees Grip - John Robinson Camera Assistants - Tom Hartley, Jon Vidgen Boom Operator - Dafydd Parry Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Pete Chester Electricians - Ben Griffiths, Steve Slocombe, Bob Milton, Alan Tippets	Art department Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Art Department Co-ordinator - Amy Oakes Associate Designer - James North Production Buyer - Ben Morris Set Decorator - Keith Dunne Props Buyer - Catherine Samuel Set Designer - Ben Austin Storyboard Artist - James Iles Concept Artists - Richard Shaun Williams, Peter McKinstry Graphic Artist - Jackson Pope Standby Props - Phill Shellard, Tom Evans Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Standby Art Director - Tristan Peatfield Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman Standby Painter - Ellen Woods Props Master - Paul Aitken Props Chargehand - Matt Wild Dressing Props - Martin Broadbent, Rhys Jones Props Makers - Penny Howarth, Nicholas Robatto Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Workshop Manager - Mark Hill Construction Chargehand - Scott Fisher Practical Electrician - Albert James Scenic Artists - John Pinkerton, John Whalley Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume department Costume Supervisor - Bobbie Peach Crowd Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi Costume Assistants - Sara Morgan, Maria Franchi	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Pam Mullins Make-up Artists - Abi Brotherton, Morag Smith Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Crispin Layfield Stunt Performer - Gordon Seed Casting Casting Associates - Andy Brierley, Alice Purser General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Ceres Doyle Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Assistant Editor - Becky Trotman On-line Conform - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Cat Gregory Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Sound Recordist - Bryn Howarth Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineer - Jeff Welch Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Foley Editor - Helen Dickson

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
According to a pre-launch press pack issued by the BBC, Patrick Schweitzer was actually the co-producer of this episode, but in the event, he was actually double credited — as both a full producer and a line producer.

References

File:DocLibraryID.png

The Doctor's library card.

The Doctor

• The Doctor's library card, which he shows to the Vampires, has a picture of his first incarnation on it. The Doctor's name is given on it as "Dr. J. Smith" (showing that he came up with it long before Jamie did in The Wheel in Space), and the address is 76 Totter's Lane in Shoreditch, London.
• Amy describes her time with the Doctor as involving "lots of running".
• The Doctor gives Amy a boiled sweet.

Individuals

• The Doctor compares the Vampires to Harry Houdini.
• When Rory asks why the Psychic paper says he is Amy's eunuch, she says "I'll explain later," a possible reference to the Moffat-penned Red Nose Day special The Curse of Fatal Death.

Races and species

• The relationship between Calvierri and her son and their plan to convert people to become their species is similar to that of the Family of Blood who shared a close bond and took over individuals to go unnoticed.
• When Calvierri commits suicide, she asks the Doctor if he can carry another dead race on his conscience, and to remember her, much like Davros did when he died.

Technology

• Rosanna Calvierri uses a Perception filter. The perception filter is shown to have a self preservation loophole, making the teeth visible when the brain detects a threat.
• The Doctor's dimensionally transcendental pockets are possibly larger than previously suspected since he was shown pulling a rather large UV light stick out of his coat pocket.

Story notes

• As were earlier episodes Partners in Crime and The Fires of Pompeii, this episode is 5 minutes longer than the usual format, making it a 50-minute long episode.
• A 90-second clip from this episode was aired during Matt Smith's appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 26 March 2010.
• The Vampires are not real vampires, but are of alien origin. They are fish-like alien creatures using Perception Filters to hide themselves from other people.
• There was some initial confusion over the title of this story. Some media sources (as well as Matt Smith in a TV interview) used the title Vampires in Venice.
• In the Series 5 preview, one of the vampires leap for Rory, without any change. In the actual episode, he changes to his alien form. Differences like this have happened many times from trailer to episode.
• The name of the species, Saturnynians, isn't spoken in the episode, though the planet Saturnyne is mentioned three times.
• The Saturnynians are hiding from the Cracks and the Silence.
• The Doctor mentions meeting Casanova. David Tennant had previously played Casanova in a television series written by Russell T Davies. Helen McCrory played Casanova's mother in a 2005 film.
• This is the first Doctor Who episode that, instead of having the last scene cut to the closing titles, has the closing titles 'merge' with the scene. In this case, the camera zooms into the TARDIS keyhole, and, through it, the Time Vortex is visible.
• This episode is notable for being filmed in Croatia, and is therefore the first episode of a Doctor Who universe show to be filmed in a formerly Communist country.
• The Vampires of Venice has similarities to School Reunion, also written by Toby Whithouse:
  • Pre-titles sequence involves scene of a young girl being attacked by an alien, followed by a scene in which the Doctor appears during a mundane activity and says something rather ordinary.
  • The companion's boyfriend joins in for the adventure and becomes part of the TARDIS crew for the following episodes.
  • Both episodes feature scenes where two of the main characters discuss the Doctor's effect on relationships.
  • The alien species in both episodes have the ability to transform into humans.
  • The leader of the alien race in both episodes proposes an alliance with the Doctor.
  • A minor character disposes of most of the aliens by causing an explosion.
  • The alien's plan is thwarted by a simple flick of a switch.
• This episode aired on the same day as the K9 episode, The Last Oak Tree was first broadcast on Disney XD in Britain. It also aired on the same day that Fear Itself was first broadcast on Network Ten in Australia.

Ratings

6.2 million

Filming locations

• Croatia was used as the primary location for the setting of this episode. It is the third episode of the revived series after DW: The Fires of Pompeii and Planet of the Dead to include major filming outside the UK.
• Some filming took place in Caephilly Castle.
• Scenes featuring The Doctor, Amy and Rory were filmed at Llancaiach Fawr.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

• The Doctor tells Rory that Amy kissed him. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
• Instead of his psychic paper, the Doctor shows his library card, which includes a photo of his first incarnation.
• The First Doctor's library card shows the address 76 TOTTERS LANE, first seen in DW: An Unearthly Child.
• The library card lists his name as "Dr. J. Smith," standing for "Dr. John Smith," a frequent alias of the Doctor's throughout the entire series.
• The Fourth Doctor previously encountered vampires of a different kind in DW: State of Decay
• The Seventh Doctor encountered a kind of vampire known as "Haemovores", which also happened to reside in water, in DW: The Curse of Fenric.
• The Tenth Doctor encountered a blood-drinking alien called a Plasmavore in DW: Smith and Jones.
• The Eighth Doctor had previously visited 23rd Century Venice in BFA: The Stones of Venice.
• The Doctor mentions how a life of time travel can make it difficult to readjust to a normal existence. Sarah Jane Smith told him much the same thing in DW: School Reunion.
• The Doctor erased the cracks from existence in DW: The Big Bang, which would most likely have caused the events of this story to have never happened.

Timeline

• This story occurs after: DW: Flesh and Stone
• This story occurs before: NSA: The Glamour Chase

Home video releases

BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two was released on Monday 5th July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray, featuring The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice.

External links

To be Added