Astrid Peth

Biography

Astrid Peth was an alien from the planet Sto who worked as a waitress aboard the Titanic. All her life she dreamed of seeing other planets. She first met the Doctor when she broke a glass and he offered to help her clean it up, but she rejected. Instead he decided to take her on a teleport trip down to Earth.

There she met Wilfred Mott who told her and the Doctor that people had abandoned London due to all the alien invasions and that they happened at Christmas. The Doctor and Astrid are teleported back up to the ship. The Doctor noticed that the Titanic's shields were down, and there were three asteroids on course to impact the ship.

They all complained to the Steward, but the asteroids hit the ship and killed most of the passengers apart from the Doctor, Astrid and a small group of passengers consisting of Rickston Slade, Foon Van Hoff, Morvin Van Hoff, Bayldon Copper, and Bannakaffalatta. They then discovered that The Heavenly Host were killing all the survivors.

They then found their way to safety but Foon, Morvin and Bannakaffalatta died along the way. She is a forward, eager girl. Astrid asks the Doctor if she could be his companion and he accepts. Astrid obviously has feelings for the Doctor; before they are parted she stands on the med box and kisses him, claiming it is a "tradition". Astrid uses a teleportation bracelet to get to Floor 31 to help the Doctor.

To save the Doctor and defeat Max Capricorn, she lifts him and his life support system with a forklift and throws him into the engines, however, the brakes get cut by a halo thrown by a Host and she plunges to her death along with him. Using an advanced transmat system, the Doctor attempts to resurrect her but fails. He allows her atoms to scatter, thus fulfilling her dream of exploring the galaxy (DW: Voyage of the Damned)

When Davros made the comment "Every where you go there are always deaths". The Doctor has a flashback of people who had died along his journey, Astrid was among those people. (DW: Journey's End)

Personality

Astrid was a very curious and feisty young woman, who longed for nothing but to discover the wonders of the universe around her, by setting foot on other worlds. She is clearly thrilled when the Doctor finally grants her wish, by allowing her to visit Earth. She appeared relatively unhappy with her job as a waitress on the Titanic and is obviously hurt by Brixton's harsh words torward her.

She forms a close bond with the passenger Bannacaffalatta and is distraught when he sacrifices his life to destroy the Host threatening the survivors. She also begins to experience romantic feelings for the rogue Time traveller, the Doctor. This is proven by the fact that they kiss, twice and that she ultimately gives her very existence to save him and all of mankind from the treacherous plot of Max Capricorn.

She is given a second chance at life by the Doctor, who kisses her farewell and allows her to live on as stardust forever travelling the cosmos. All in all, Astrid was one of the Doctor's most loyal comapanions, one who the Doctor regrets never got the opportunity to take his offer to travel with him.

Alternative Timeline

When Donna Noble turned right to the wrong job interview, time was changed as The Doctor was killed on Christmas Eve 2007. He would never have crashed into the Titanic causing Astrid to die a different way, as the ship would have crashed into London killing everyone on board. (DW: Turn Left)

Notes

Astrid is an anagram of TARDIS. The name Astrid (Old Norse: Ástríðr) is of North Germanic origin, literally meaning "fair goddess" (áss (goodess) and fríð (fair)). Peth is also Welsh for 'part', which whilst implying that Astrid ultimately has some connection to the Doctor's time-ship, proved to be unfounded in the episode.

Behind the scenes

Conception and behind the scenes

Astrid was originally named, simply, Peth. (per Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale)

It was officially announced that Kylie Minogue was to feature as Astrid in "Voyage of the Damned" by the BBC on 3 July 2007 following rumours in the press and sightings of her filming.

Russell T Davies stated the character was always be going to be a "one-off" even before Kylie Minogue was cast and that Astrid would demonstrate "a whole new take - again - on what a companion can be."

Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant interviewed Kylie Minogue about her role in "Voyage of the Damned" on BBC Radio 2 in X-Amining Kylie first broadcast on 27th November 2007. On Doctor Who Confidential, Minogue describes Astrid as a "dreamer" and that meeting with the Doctor rekindles Astrid's desire to explore. Russell T. Davies reveals that when he first discussed the role of Astrid with Kylie Minogue he had not written that she would be killed off.

Astrid is the first companion in the revived series of Doctor Who to never set foot in the TARDIS, let alone travel in it. She only sees the TARDIS from a distance adrift.

As with most "one-time" companions, Astrid's actual status as an "official" companion is a matter of debate among fans. (See also Sara Kingdom, Grace Holloway, and also Donna Noble per The Runaway Bride). Astrid's case is made stronger by the fact that during the course of the story she is directly invited to join the Doctor, much like Grace Holloway, and she directly accepts. However, she dies before setting foot in the TARDIS.

The British newspaper "News of the World" released a report before Minogue was officially cast as Astrid, claiming the Minogue's character would in fact be a sexy Cyberwoman.

Astrid is the first on-screen companion since Vislor Turlough to be positively identified as coming from a planet other than Earth. Nonetheless, she appeared to be an ordinary, baseline Human. (Although Jack Harkness has been connected to alien worlds, the actual planet of his birth has yet to be identified.)