Voyage of the Damned (TV story)

"Information, you are all going to die."

- Hosts

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 race called the Hosts as the lives of the Titanic crew and those on Earth 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.

The party returns to the ship just as its Captain commits an act of sabotage, causing high-speed meteors to collide with the ship. Midshipman Frame, the only other man on the bridge, attempts to stop the Captain but is shot by him. 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 scattered 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, 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. 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

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Astrid Peth - Kylie Minogue
 * Bayldon Copper - Clive Swift
 * Captain Hardaker - Geoffrey Palmer
 * Morvin Van Hoff - Clive Rowe
 * Bannakaffalatta - Jimmy Vee
 * Rickston Slade - Gray O'Brien
 * Foon Van Hoff - Debbie Chazen
 * Midshipman Frame - Russell Tovey
 * Max Capricorn - George Costigan
 * Chief Steward - Andrew Havill
 * Engineer - Bruce Lawrence
 * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
 * Nicholas Witchell - Himself
 * Singer - Yamit Mamo
 * Kitchen Hand — Stefan Davis
 * Newsreader — Jason Mohammad
 * Alien Voices — Colin McFarlane, Ewan Bailey
 * Voice of the Queen — Jessica Martin

Production Crew

 * 1st Assistant Director - Peter Bennett
 * 2nd Assistant Director - Jennie Fava
 * 3rd Assistant Director - Sarah Davies
 * Location Manager - Gareth Skelding
 * Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths
 * Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk
 * Production Secretary - Kevin Myers
 * Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Debi Griffiths
 * Production Runners - Nicola Brown
 * Drivers - Wayne Humphreys, Darren Leen
 * Floor Runners - Heddi Joy Taylor, Andy Newbery
 * Contracts Assistants - Kath Blackman, Beth Britton
 * Continuity - Sheila Johnston
 * Script Editor - Brian Minchin
 * Camera Operator - Julian Barber
 * 2nd Camera Operator - Rory Taylor
 * Focus Puller - Steve Rees
 * 2nd Focus Puller - Jamie Southcott
 * Camera Assistants - Tom Hartley, Jon Vidgen
 * Steadicam Operator - Paul Edwards
 * Grip - John Robinson
 * Boom Operator - Jeff Welch
 * Gaffer - Mark Hutchings
 * Best Boy - Peter Chester
 * Electricians - Steve Slocombe, Clive Johnson, Ben Griffiths
 * Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy
 * Stunt Performers - Jason Hunjan, Stephanie Carey, Danielle Da Costa
 * Stand-Ins - Colum Regan, Robyn Lea
 * Choreographer - Ailsa Berk
 * Chief Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas
 * Art Department Production Manager - Jonathan Marquand Allison
 * Supervising Art Director - Arwel Wyn Jones
 * Associate Designer - James North
 * Art Department Coordinator - Anna Coote
 * Set Decorator - Tristan Peatfield
 * Props Buyer - Joelle Rumbelow
 * Standby Art Director - Rebecca Hemy
 * Design Assistants - Peter McKinstry, Sarah Payne, Al Roberts
 * Storyboard Artist - Shaun Williams
 * Standby Props - Phil Shellard, Nick Murray, Patrick Deacy
 * Standby Carpenter - Will Pope
 * Standby Painter - Ellen Woods
 * Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman
 * Property Master - Phil Lyons
 * Forward Dressers - Nicholas Wysoczanskyj, Stuart Mackay
 * Senior Props Maker - Barry Jones
 * Props Makers - Penny Howarth, Nick Robatto, Jon Grundon
 * Practical Electrician - Albert James
 * Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies
 * Scenic Artists - John Whalley, John Pinkerton
 * Construction Workshop Manager - Mark Hill
 * Construction Chargehands - Scott Fisher, Allen Jones
 * Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics
 * Assistant Costume Designer - Rose Goodhart
 * Costume Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi
 * Costume Assistants - Barbara Harrington, Louise Martin
 * Make-Up Artists - Pam Mullins, Steve Smith, John Munro
 * Casting Associate - Andy Brierley
 * Casting Assistant - Amy Rogers
 * VFX Editor - Ceres Doyle
 * Assistant Editor - Carmen Roberts
 * Post Production Supervisors - Samantha Hall, Chris Blatchford
 * Post Production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown
 * SFX Co-ordinator - Ben Ashmore
 * SFX Supervisors - Danny Hargreaves, Paul Kelly
 * SFX Technicians - Henry Brook, Dan Bentley
 * Prosthetics Designer - Neill Gorton
 * Prosthetics Supervisors - Rob Mayor, Pete Hawkins
 * Prosthetics Technicians - Charlie Bluett, Jon Moore, Abbie Jones, Lenny Sant, Laura Wellman
 * Prosthetic Make-up Artist - Sarah Lockwood
 * On Line Editors - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright
 * Colourist - Mick Vincent
 * 3D Supervisors - Jean Claude Deguar, Nicolas Hernandez
 * 3D Artists - Nick Webber, Neil Roche, Will Pryor, Andy Guest, Ruth Bailey, Bruce Magroune, Matt McKinney, Mark Wallman, Jeff North, Jean Yves Audouard
 * 2D Supervisor - Sara Bennett
 * 2D Artists - Russell Horth, Bryan Bartlett, Greg Spencer, Tim Barter, Arianna Lago, Loraine Cooper, James Moxon, Simon Holden, Isobel Barber
 * Matte Painters - Simon Wicker, [[Charlie Bennett, Alex Fort
 * VFX Co-ordinators - Jenna Powell, Rebecca Johnson
 * VFX Production Assistant - Marianne Paton
 * On Set VFX Supervisor - Tim Barter
 * Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts
 * Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden
 * Sound FX Editor - Paul Jefferies
 * Foley Editor - Kelly-Marie Angell
 * Finance Manager - Chris Rogers

Story Notes

 * Composer Murray Gold and arranger Ben Foster both cameo as members of the Titanic's band, along with singer Yamit Mamo.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Ratings

 * Overnight - 12.2 million viewers. At times the ratings peaked at 13.8 million. The rating was 13.31 million, making this the most-watched Doctor Who story since its 2005 return.

Myths

 * 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.
 * Some of the fans has mistaken Hosts as Humanoid Axons due their similiarity

Location Filming

 * 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

 * Before the asteroids collide with the ship, a red alert is given on the radar display. This appears to contradict with The Empty Child where it was established that the universal colour for danger is mauve, red being considered too camp (It is possible that it's either not in effect on Sto or an error on the writer's part).
 * As the Doctor was flying with the Hosts towards the bridge of Titanic, his hair was going upwards instead of downwards. (Strong hair gel or copious amounts of hairspray.)
 * 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 Perhaps this means that the Tenth Doctor has always wanted to say it and doesn't count his previous regenerations.
 * Despite jumping over the side in a suicide attempt Foon still tries to resist.
 * 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.

Continuity

 * It is explained in the final scenes of Time Crash that the Titanic collided with the TARDIS because the Doctor left its shields down.
 * Reference is made to the two previous Christmas specials, The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride.
 * The Doctor uses the phrase Allons-y Alonso, which he stated he liked in Army of Ghosts.
 * The Doctor mentions that his black suit is unlucky, referring to his previous statement in The Lazarus Experiment and his suit wearing in Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel.
 * There are more than a few references to 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.
 * Earth was first referred to as Sol 3 in The Deadly Assasin (and last referred to as in Last of the Time Lords).
 * Earth was next referred as a Level 5 planet in DW: Partners in Crime.

DVD and Other Releases

 * This DVD has been released on 10th March 2008