Voyage of the Damned (TV story)

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Information: you are all going to die.Heavenly Host

Synopsis

The Doctor finds his TARDIS colliding with a spaceship based on the RMS Titanic during a Christmas party. With the help of a waitress named Astrid, the Doctor must take on the robotic Hosts, as the lives of the Titanic crew and the whole of humanity are in danger.

Plot

The bow of a ship crashes through the wall of the Doctor's TARDIS. The Doctor is momentarily stunned, especially after learning the ship is the Titanic. Pressing some buttons, he repairs the TARDIS walls, pushing the ship out. The TARDIS then materialises aboard the ship. The Doctor soon learns the Titanic is a large luxury spaceship cruiser from the planet Sto, orbiting Earth and finds out the date: Christmas Eve. He decides to stow away to enjoy the party, only confessing his unauthorized status to lively waitress Astrid Peth, who reveals her own desire to travel the stars.

Astrid has found her new job disappointing, as she is not allowed off the ship to visit destination planets. The Doctor cheers her up by sneaking her onto an excursion to London via teleport, along with Morvin and Foon Van Hoff and a small red-skinned alien, Bannakaffalatta. Following alien attacks on London on the previous two Christmases, however, London is deserted apart from the Queen, Nicholas Witchell, and newspaper seller Wilfred Mott. The rest of the population has decided to spend Christmas in the countryside. Ship's historian and guide Mr. Copper gives the excursion party a bizarrely inaccurate explanation of human society, especially Christmas, despite the fact that he claims to be an expert on the planet. His description of earth is as follows:

"I will be taking you to Old London Town, in the country of UK. Ruled over by good King Wenseslis. Now human beings worship the great god 'Santa', a creature with fearsome claws and his wife Mary. Every year, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the turkey people for Christmas Dinner, like savages!"

The Main Room of the Titanic.

The party returns to the ship because of a power failure in the teleports system. The Doctor attempts to find out what caused it, and discovers that the shields are offline with meteors approaching. The Doctor warns the Captain of the ship, but is forced away from the computer by a Steward, as he is unauthorised to use the system. The Doctor breaks free and tries to warn everyone, but is forcibly taken away from the singer's microphone and taken away from the main party. The Doctor gasps to a guest to look out of the window. He sees the meteors and finds out the shields are off. He tries to tell the staff, but they will not listen, so he follows the Doctor. Also trying to help the Doctor now are Astrid, Foon and Morvin Ban Hoff. Midshipman Frame tries to get the shields back online, but is (non-fatally) shot by the Captain. Three meteors slam into the side of the Starship Titanic.

The Captain is killed in the resulting collision, as are the bulk of the crew and passengers. The Titanic's hull holed in several places, and the TARDIS is left drifting in space before automatically homing in for a landing on Earth. With the teleport system offline and the engines losing power, the Titanic is heading for an extinction-level collision with the Earth. The Doctor makes contact with the injured Midshipman Frame, and leads a small group of survivors in a climb through the shattered vessel to reach him.

Complicating matters are the Host, android servitors that were seen malfunctioning earlier. Now their sole function is to kill the survivors scattered throughout he ship. The Doctor's party is harassed by Host all the way, and the Doctor's sonic screwdriver proves to be useless against them. Bannakaffalatta reveals to Astrid that he is actually a cyborg, something considered shameful in the society on Sto. Bravely, he saves the party from a Host attack by transmitting an electromagnetic pulse from his cybernetic implants, killing himself in the process. The Van Hoffs also die during this attack: Morvin falls from the ledge into the nuclear engines, while Foon commits suicide while pulling a surviving Host down with her. At this, the Doctor makes a grim promise that "no more" will die. The survivors take Bannakaffalatta's EMP unit with them as their only effective weapon against the Host.

The Doctor sends the remaining survivors, including Astrid (who gives him a kiss to follow an old tradition,) on ahead with the EMP unit and the sonic screwdriver, while he attempts to reach Deck 31, the place from which the Host seem to be controlled. Using a security protocol, he convinces the Host to take them to their leader. This turns out to be the cruise line's owner, Max Capricorn, who is hiding in an indestructible "impact chamber" on Deck 31. Capricorn is also revealed to be a cyborg, resembling a small wheeled vehicle. Having been forced out by the company's board of directors (due to their prejudice against cyborgs), he is seeking revenge. The collision of the Titanic into a heavily-populated world will not only break the company, but see the board charged with murder, giving Capricorn his ultimate revenge. Outnumbered by Host and faced with death, the Doctor is saved by Astrid, who has made a short range teleport to his position. She rams Capricorn with a fork-lift truck, and in the struggle both are forced off a precipice and fall into the fiery engine of the ship.

With the Host no longer under Capricorn's control, the Doctor grimly makes his way to the bridge just as the ship plunges into Earth's atmosphere. Working with Frame, he uses the heat from the re-entry to try to re-start the ship's engines, but discovers that they are headed straight for one of the few places in London currently inhabited: Buckingham Palace. Calling through with a security code, he manages to get the Queen out of the building, which the Titanic narrowly misses as the ship pulls up, now back under control. The Queen, in her dressing gown, is heard thanking the Doctor as he pilots the ship back into space.

With the danger over, the Doctor suddenly realises that there might be hope for Astrid after all. A safety feature of the ship's teleport system is that in case of accident, it automatically holds in stasis the molecules of the affected passenger. As she was wearing a teleport bracelet at the time of her death, her pattern might still be stored in its buffers. Despite desperate efforts, only a shadow of Astrid can be generated due to extensive damage to the teleport system, despite the Doctor's claims, "I can fix it, I can do anything!" After a kiss to follow an old tradition, the Doctor watches her dissipate into motes of light that float free into space. This way, she can at least fulfill her dream of exploring the universe, forever.

Sadly, the Doctor teleports back to earth with Mr. Copper, who is no expert on Earth, but a former salesman who lied his way onto the ship to explore the stars. Impressed by his heroism on the Titanic, the Doctor leaves him on the planet to build a new life, with the ship's expenses card, which contains £1,000,000. The Doctor then heads off in the TARDIS, alone.

Cast

Production Crew

References

  • The Doctor refers to Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. (This is the first time that Kasterborous has been mentioned in the new series.)
  • Bannakaffalatta is a cyborg, as is Max Capricorn. The episode's backstory establishes that cyborgs have been historically discriminated against on Sto, living in cyborg caravans and only recently being allowed to marry.
  • When the Doctor is shouting out random numbers (to try to stop the Hosts), he says 666 (the Devil's number) and 42 (The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books by former Doctor Who writer Douglas Adams). 42 is also a name of a previous episode.
  • The Teleport system on the Titanic is very reminiscent of the one used on the Liberator in the 70's series Blake's 7 in that it uses similarly styled bracelets.
  • The Doctor says, "Take me to your leader," to the Host. That's a classic alien remark from early sci-fi.
  • The use of a starship incarnation of the Titanic has been featured in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the television series Futurama, and the video game and novel Starship Titanic, also authored by Douglas Adams.
  • The Doctor states he was present at the start of Christmas, though it's not made clear whether he is referring to the actual establishment of the festival, or, in the traditional sense, that he was present at the Nativity. However, since he states that he got the last room, it can be assumed that he was referring to the Nativity and that he was the reason for there being no room in the inn, further as "Christmas" had no real beginning as it has been invented and reinvented many times it can be assumed that it was not in reference to a festival.
  • The Doctor introduces himself as "Passenger 57", a reference to the film of the same name.

Story Notes

  • The working title for this story was Starship Titanic. It was changed when it was pointed out that Douglas Adams had created a video game and novel by that title years earlier.
  • Also according to The Writer's Tale, American actor Dennis Hopper was approached about playing Mr. Copper and, later, Max Capricorn, but plans fell through.
  • Astrid Peth was originally named simply "Peth" until Davies gave her a second name.
  • Composer Murray Gold and arranger Ben Foster both cameo as members of the Titanic's band, along with singer Yamit Mamo who performs the original song, "The Stowaway". Mamo also performs "Winter Wonderland". An instrumental version of "Jingle Bells" is also heard when the Doctor first arrives.
  • The theme tune has been revamped for Voyage Of The Damned. "I think I just decided to spruce it up - new drums, new rhythm section, new bass line, new little bit of piano," says Murray Gold.
  • The episode is dedicated to the late Verity Lambert, the very first producer of Doctor Who and a legend in the TV industry. Verity died on 22 November 2007, one day before Doctor Who's 44th anniversary, and (per The Writer's Tale), Davies immediately requested a tribute card be inserted into the episode. The TARDIS sound effect is heard softly in the background as the tribute is shown.
  • Angels seem to be a recurring theme throughout the new series. The Doctor has been referred to as a Lonely Angel, faced The Weeping Angels and made use of the Master's mesmeric communication network, Archangel.
  • The Doctor agrees to let Astrid travel with him, but she dies before she gets the chance to. This also happened to Reinette in The Girl in the Fireplace and Lynda Moss in The Parting of the Ways, although Astrid gets to act more in the traditional vein of companion, placing her in the same category of one-time companion as Grace Holloway and Sara Kingdom.
  • The scene where the Doctor is lifted into the air by Angels was heavily criticized by Catholic audiences.
  • This was Kylie Minogue's first major acting appearance since her diagnosis and survival from breast cancer two years earlier. Minogue was actually a film and TV actor before she became a singer, and had made occasional film appearances since launching her musical career.
  • David Tennant's mother died near the start of production of the episode, forcing the crew to shoot around him during his subsequent absence.
  • A specific special effects shot is repeated several times in the episode: someone falling while looking up towards the camera. This occurs at least four times in the episode: when the steward is sucked into space (although he's technically not falling), and when Foon and Astrid fall to their deaths; a fourth occasion can just be glimpsed when Morvin falls.
  • In his first draft of the episode, Davies had Buckingham Palace destroyed by the Titanic (the Doctor stops the ship from crashing but not before it smashes through the palace). In this version, instead of wishing the Doctor a Happy Christmas, the Queen is heard to curse the Doctor (in keeping with the recurring theme of the Doctor making enemies of British royalty). This same early draft also featured a hoped-for cameo by Prince Charles. Davies spared the Palace as he felt it was too negative an ending for a holiday episode.
  • At 71 minutes long, Voyage of the Damned holds the record for the longest 'single episode' of Doctor Who since the series revival and the third longest single episode of all (the second longest episode ever is the 1996 movie, which was 85 minutes long, and the longest was the special The Five Doctors, which was 90 minutes long ). It will lose this title to episode 2 of The End of Time in late 2009, as it is expected to be longer by several minutes.
  • Voyage of the Damned has the distinction of being the only episode of the revived Doctor Who not to be shown by the series' Canadian broadcast network, the CBC. The network skipped the episode when it began showing Series 4 in the fall of 2008 and the season ended on 12 December 2008 with no announcement that the Christmas special would be shown. Perhaps coincidentally, beginning with Voyage of the Damned, the CBC no longer received an on-screen credit for its participation in funding the series, although it continued to do so for the remainder of Series 4. When CBC Bold, a digital cable network run by the CBC, began airing Series 4 in early 2009, Voyage of the Damned was again omitted. In June 2009, the CBC officially lost the broadcast rights to new episodes of Doctor Who to rival network Space; Space also obtained the rights to broadcast Voyage of the Damned, but the earliest it can do so is April 2010. The CBC retains the rights until then and it is not known if it, or any of its subsidiaries, will air the two-year-old special before then.
  • Mr. Copper implies that he wants to travel with the Doctor, but the Doctor declines, stating he travels alone. This is the same rationale given when he refuses Christina de Souza's request to join him in Planet of the Dead.

Ratings

  • Overnight - 12.2 million viewers. (At times the ratings peaked at 13.8 million.)
  • Final ratings - 13.31 million, making this the most-watched Doctor Who story since its 2005 return, and one of the highest in franchise history.

Myths and rumours

  • A lot was made of the fact that Astrid is an anagram of TARDIS. This however, turned out to be a red herring and not at all significant to the story.
  • When publicity photos for this episode were first released, some fans noted the resemblance of the Hosts to the Humanoid Axons, giving rise to the rumours (soon disproven) that the episode featured the Axons.
  • As the producers intended, the cliff hanger leading into this story raised the question as to whether the TARDIS had collided with the real Titanic, which gave rise to fan speculation in the interim as to how this episode would reconcile with previous references to the Doctor's involvement with the ill-fated vessel (DW: Rose, et al).
  • The British tabloid press published reports that Minogue's character was going to be a Cyberwoman; this was disproven once publicity photos of her in Astrid's serving girl outfit were released. (According to The Writer's Tale, the tabloid reports of Kylie-as-Cybermen not only went out before she'd actually been cast in the special, but Davies hadn't even completed writing it yet.
  • The meaning of the lyrics in the original song "The Stowaway" (heard only briefly on screen, but released in full on the Series 3 soundtrack album prior to broadcast) have given rise to some speculation. The general consensus is that they are from Astrid's point of view (reflecting in part their first meeting where the Doctor identifies himself to her as a stowaway, supported by the fact they're sung in a female voice), but comments by production team have been interpreted to suggest they might be from the captain's point of view (implying a same-sex interest, but not coinciding with anything that occurs in the episode - the Doctor and the captain never even meet each other). In either case, it was widely speculated that Rose Tyler is the lost love referenced in the lyrics, with the line "lying with his love that's where he'll be" in particular foreshadowing her later return in Series 4, and the events at the conclusion of DW: The Stolen Earth.
  • Newspaper, The Sun released a report claiming Albert Einstein would be in this episode played by Woody Allen.
  • Minogue was reportedly mistaken for a waitress outside a hotel due to her costume.
  • The nature of Astrid's fate led to rumors that she might reappear in Series 4, particularly in the finale; this did not happen (other than a brief flashback appearance in Journey's End). Ongoing rumors suggest a possible return in one of the 2009 specials; as of March 2009 there has been no indication of this.

Filming Locations

  • St John's Street, Cardiff (by the Queen's Arcade Shopping Centre)
  • Close to where the shop dummies went on a rampage in "Rose".
  • Where the evil Father Christmases menaced Rose and Micky in the Christmas market in the first Christmas special.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • As the Doctor was flying with the Hosts towards the bridge of the Titanic, his hair was going upwards instead of downwards. Likely the effect of gel or hairspray. Strong amounts of either can support light objects and could likely sustain the flight.
  • The Doctor later explains that they flew him up to the flight deck because with Max dead the Hosts were programmed to obey the next highest figure of authority, The Doctor, who had just been acknowledged as a stowaway and a criminal, there were still members of the Titanic crew around so why take orders from the Doctor He was the only non-Host in the vicinity.
  • After the Doctor says, "Take me to your leader", he remarks on how he's always wanted to say that sentence, even though his ninth incarnation said it in Aliens of London, as had his fourth incarnation. (Whether or not he happens to remember those moments, he is simply making a joke.)
  • Although the evacuation of London renders the Doctor's concern moot, the question is left unanswered as to how Bannakaffalatta was expected to remain incognito during the shore party excursion to Earth. It doesn't appear that Mr. Copper expected the evacuation to have taken place, given that he expected the passengers to go shopping upon arrival. (The crew of the liner were woefully misinformed about much on Earth, so clearly did not realize that Bannakaffalatta's appearance would cause a stir. The Doctor does specifically mention it.)
  • When the Doctor tries to warn the fellow passengers by grabbing the microphone the singer was using, it is branded Magpie electricals; why would a Sto microphone be branded Magpie Electricals? (It's established in dialogue that Slade's tuxedo is "a genuine Earth antique", ergo it came from Earth. That means the microphone likely was obtained during a previous visit.)
  • The opening collision between the TARDIS and the ship raises several questions: Why would a space-going vessel have a foghorn? How could a vessel in space expel a life preserver (and why would one even be needed?) And how was the captain of the ship not aware that it had not only collided with another craft, but had briefly embedded itself within it? The foghorn and life preserver make the ship seem authentic, and more realistic like the Titanic itself. Perhaps the vessel is designed to enter the atmosphere of a planet, and thus the foghorn would be used. As for the captain being strangely unaware - only Midshipman Frame knew about the meteors and the Captain was after all under orders to crash the Titanic so maybe he did know about the crash but thought that (if anything) that it would only damage the ship more and make it crash faster.
  • Rickston Slade is seen using a mobile phone (or something similar) both before and after the crash, why couldn't he have used it to send an SOS, the survivors didn't need to get to the Main Deck at all. They also needed to stop the ship crashing, it may have taken a while for the distress vehicle to reach them. Also, given how Slade is portrayed in the episode, he may have simply forgotten to mention he had a phone. The DVD release of the story included deleted scenes in which it is stated that the phone is not working, presumably due to its signal being blocked.
  • Related to the above, the Doctor is seen using a telephone on the bridge to contact Buckingham Palace. Couldn't Frame have been instructed to "phone down" to Earth to warn them about the danger? As this occurs prior to DW: The Stolen Earth the general population wasn't aware of alien life yet, and who would Frame have called? Contacting Torchwood 3 or UNIT would have probably resulted in the ship being blown out of the sky, an option the Doctor would not have sanctioned. Actually, by the time of the special, Humans were well informed about the existence of alien life, considering Sycorax, the Cybermen and The Daleks invaded the whole world 2 years previously, and the racnoss invasion a year after that and the hospital being taken to the moon and back, not to mention there was still the toclafane as their acknowledgemnt was not erased (the invasion however was) The master himself confirmed that humanity knew about these events publicly. In fact, London was deserted because of previous chistmas invasions, as stated by Wilf in this episode
  • Why was there an English flag in the room where the TARDIS landed? This is once again most likely because the ship is based on the alien's perceptions of the real Earth Titanic. Many things in the ship are designed to follow this pattern. It's possible that the flag may be incorrectly placed if this were the real Titanic, but given how many other details were wrong (i.e. Christmas in general), this is consistent with the aliens having only a partial knowledge of the facts.
  • The Doctor claims that he is 903 years old. This contradicts [[DW]}: Time and the Rani, in which the Doctor's age is given as 953. (The Doctor has been vague and deceptive about his age in the past, as has been mentioned by other characters.)
  • When Mr Copper is talking about Great Britain in the final scene, why doesn't the Doctor correct him that the country is actually called the United Kingdom, especially considering that Mr Copper actually referred to the country as the UK earlier in the episode? The Doctor has previously referred to the United Kingdom as Great Britain and it is probably just a habit.
  • The Doctor explained that the exchange rate from credits to pounds is 50 million to 1 million, respectively. This means that Foon Van Hoff's 5000 credit debt is only 100 pounds, or $147. How is it that they'll never be able to pay off 100 pounds? We don't know the wages for workers in robot mills of Sto. The Van Hoff's could earn only a credit a year, but that would be enough for them to live comfortably enough on.
  • In what way is Cardiff the nearest centre of gravity. (The nearest centre of gravity is the Earth, so that's where the ship ended up. It's possible that the rift drew it more specifically towards Cardiff, as a potential refueling stop.)
  • If Host have the strengh of 10 why does one struggle to strangle Morvin. Morvin's heavy-set build might have made it difficult for the Host to grab his neck.
  • Just before the meteoroids are about to hit, the alert system says "Red Alert" despite the Doctor saying in DW: The Empty Child that mauve is the universally recognised color for danger (except on earth)Again, it would be for authentic purposes.
  • Midshipman Frame says meteors are coming yet the meteors do not have tails as is shown, further if they are comets as indicted by the tails the tails should not move with a change in direction as the tail always moves away from the sun regardless of direction of travel. (The ship is in the outer part of Earth's atmosphere, so a tail/streak is reasonable.)

Continuity

  • It is explained in the final scenes of DW: Time Crash that the Titanic collided with the TARDIS because the Doctor left its shields down. Time Crash occurs immediately before the collision, which means the very first shot of the Doctor walking around the TARDIS (before the crash) occurs within moments of the Fifth Doctor's departure (however we do not hear the earlier Doctor's admonition to the Tenth Doctor to "Put your shields up").
  • Reference is made to the two previous Christmas specials, DW: The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride, with brief clips from both shown.
  • The Doctor uses the phrase Allons-y Alonso, which he stated he liked in DW: Army of Ghosts.
  • The Doctor mentions that his tuxedo is unlucky, referring to the fact he wore the same outfit in DW: The Lazarus Experiment and Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel, both of which resulted in life-and-death struggles.
  • The Doctor is known to Queen Elizabeth (she is heard referring to him as Doctor), and utters a code word to evacuate the Palace and the Queen. This is quite a contrast from his relationship with her ancestor in DW: Tooth and Claw, however quite consistent with previous references that the Doctor and QE2 have a friendly relationship. (DW: Silver Nemesis)
  • There are more than a few references to DW: The Robots of Death, the robots chanting "Kill, Kill, Kill" in monotone and the hand of the robot being stuck in the bridge's door and being subsequently cut off. The Hosts also play a similar subserviant role to the robots in the earlier story.
  • Earth was first referred to as Sol 3 in DW: The Deadly Assassin (and last referred to as in DW: Last of the Time Lords).
  • Earth was next referred as a Level 5 planet in DW: Partners in Crime, and in the SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen
  • The television on which the Doctor, Astrid and Wilf view the news is clearly branded with a Magpie logo, as a reference to Magpie's televisions in DW: The Idiot's Lantern.
  • In the episode DW: Turn Left, the Titanic crashes down onto Buckingham Palace, which destroys London and floods Southern England with nuclear radiation (and not the entire world as the Doctor fears).
  • Max Capricorn's parting words to the Doctor, 'this interview is terminated', is the exact phrase used by the Collector to end a conversation with the Gatherer in DW: The Sun Makers. The Collector is also a character of a corporation concerned only with profit, and bears some resemblance to Max.

DVD and Other Releases

Voyage of the Damned DVD Cover
  • Released in the Series 4 DVD boxset.
  • Released on Region 2 (UK) DVD on 10th March 2008. Unlike most single-disc Region 2 DVD releases from the revived series, this was not a "vanilla" edition (program only, no extras), but included the mini-episode Time Crash, as well as an edition of the cutdown version of Doctor Who Confidential.

External Links

Series 4
Mini-episode: Time Crash  • Christmas Special: Voyage of the Damned

Partners in Crime  • The Fires of Pompeii  • Planet of the Ood  • The Sontaran Stratagem  • The Poison Sky  • The Doctor's Daughter  • The Unicorn and the Wasp  • Silence in the Library  • Forest of the Dead  • Midnight  • Turn Left  • The Stolen Earth  • Journey's End

Christmas Special: The Next Doctor  • Mini-episode: Music of the Spheres

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