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| The Story |
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The TARDIS collides with the Titanic - a Spacecraft that has travelled from the planet Stow. After repairing the shields,
the Doctor hops on board the ship. It's Christmas and the guests are all dining on festive food. One of the people who is
not dining, however, is Astrid - one of the maids. The Doctor introduces himself to her and, using the slightly psychic
paper, takes her on a trip to London.
London is completely deserted. A Newspaper vendor explains to the Doctor that only he and the Queen have stayed behind. The others have rushed to the countryside in order to escape another Alien invasion. The journey is cut short, however, when a mysterious power fluctuation occurs. On the bridge of the ship, Captain Hardaker has sent his personnel down below. Midshipman Frame refused to go explaining that at least two must man the bridge. The Captain disables the shields and directs three nearby asteroids towards the ship. Alonso Frame is shot by his Captain before the three asteroids leave the ship severely damaged; many people dead; and the unmanned TARDIS heading for the planet below. Worse still, the Engines are being powered down and the Hosts - the information guide robots - have gone mad. It's up to the Doctor to stop the Titanic killing all life on the Earth below. |
| Memorable Quotes |
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Mr Copper: I shall be taking you to old London Town in the country UK. Ruled over by Good King Wenceslas. Now,
Human beings worship the great God Santa - a creature with fearsome claws - and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the
people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner. Like savages!
The Doctor: Actually, that's not true. Christmas is a time of peace and thanksgiving and... What am I on about? My Christmases are always like this! Max Capricorn: Oh but I can Doctor. I can cancel the Engines from here! Astrid Peth: Mr Capricorn - I resign. Mr Cooper: Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen is he? But if you could choose Doctor. If you could decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster. |
| Editor's Review |
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Voyage of the Damned was a reasonably good festive treat. Sandwiched between two episodes of Eastenders should
hopefully give the episode the good ratings that it deserves. It was especially nice to see that the episode was dedicated to the late
Verity Lambert - Doctor Who's first Producer. It was a nice touch.
I'll get the bad things out of the way first. The worst bit of the episode was the latest rendition of the theme tune. The Murray Gold version was already close to overloaded with instruments, and is brilliant, but this new version has gone over-the-top and has ruined it. I'm hoping that the other episodes will stick with the previous rendition of the theme tune because this one is horrible! The two minor niggles I had with the story itself was Midshipman Frame's initial reluctance to act when he saw danger approaching. The fact that he'd already disobeyed his Captain in order to follow regulations makes it a little odd. The other minor niggle was the Doctor's last minute attempt to save Astrid. It wasn't really needed because she'd already died. If he had managed to save her, then there is nothing to stop him reviving everyone else (including Scooti, his former self and probably his entire race). Those negative points aside, it was a really good episode. Kylie Minogue performed well as did most of the cast. Jimmy Vee's latest vertically challenged alien, Bannakaffalatta, was fairly loveable. Clive Swift's factually challenged Mr Cooper was very good and, for me, was the best performance of the episode. The mixture of incorrect facts was fairly humourous and, even at the end he still had much to learn. It was also nice that a not so nice passenger survived. It made for a great bit of dialogue from Mr Cooper (see above). The series preview that aired just before the mach one credits was a great teaser for what is to come. Roll on series four. (Dan Ludlow) |