The Vampires of Venice (TV story)

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
The Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a romantic mini-break, 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.
Venice 1580 -- Guido presents his teenage daughter Isabella to Rosanna Calvierri and her son, Francesco, for consideration for admittance to Rosanna's school. On her agreement, Guido is immediately hustled out of the room by a steward. Rosanna asks Francesco if Isabella is to his liking; he bares a mouthful of fangs at the girl as she screams.

In 2010, Rory phones Amy's house from his stag party and leaves a message for her on her answering machine, telling her how much he loves her. He ends the call just as cake with a stripper inside is rolled into the room; though he is initially excited, his face falls as soon as the Eleventh Doctor pops out of the cake. The Doctor tells Rory that they need to talk about Amy because she tried to kiss him -- though he does mention that Rory is lucky because she is a great kisser. The other guests gasp

In the TARDIS, the Doctor tells the couple that he is taking them to Venice for a romantic retreat. The TARDIS materializes on the dock outside the city; as they move to enter, they are stopped at the gate by a steward and asked to present their papers. Venice has been quarantined at the suggestion of the city's patron, Rosanna Calvierri, to protect the citizens from the plague; the Doctor is immediately suspicious, as he remembers that the plague had died out years ago. They present the psychic paper and are admitted to the city, where they witness Guido hysterically interrupting a procession of Calvierri school girls, demanding to know where Isabella is. He locates her in the procession, but she does not appear to recognize him, and he is immediately warded off by another girl, who bares fangs at him. The Doctor breaks away from Amy and Rory, going off to meet Guido.

Francesco interrupts his mother in the school's courtyard, where she is "hydrating"; he wonders if he shouldn't take the girls out at night to "convert" more citizens, as their current process is taking too long. Rosanna informs her son that they will operate according to the plan, and he leaves, annoyed by her refusal. Meanwhile, Rory and Amy begin to reconcile while exploring the city, and happen upon Francesco, who has attacked a flower girl in the street and begun to drink her blood. Amy gives chase while Rory sees to the young woman, but dead-ends at the river, unaware that she is being watched from below the surface.

Guido feigns another attempt at breaking into the school to retrieve Isabella while the Doctor sneaks in through a side gate. He comes across a group of Rosanna's girls in the corridor, noting that they have no reflection in the mirror. They threaten to call the steward unless he leaves and advance on him, baring their fangs, as he flees

The Doctor meets up with Amy and Rory; he and Amy are excited at having apparently discovered vampires in Venice, which confuses Rory. The Doctor takes the couple to meet Guido, and they begin to strategize the best way to infiltrate the school. Guido suggests blowing their way in with gunpowder, which he has stacked in barrels in the corner of the room, but the Doctor discards this suggestion. Amy proposes dressing in Isabella's clothing and having the Doctor pose as her fiance; she will be admitted to the school, and once inside, will open a trap door that leads down to the river, thereby allowing them inside. The Doctor sends Rory in his place, posing as Amy's brother, since the girls have already seen him. Amy is admitted to the school and meets Isabella inside. Isabella tells her of the school: she is taken in the middle of the night and strapped to some sort of medical chair; a process occurs that Isabella cannot remember when she wakes up in the morning -- all she knows is that the sun burns her skin. Amy promises to help Isabella escape. During the night, she sneaks down to the courtyard and unlocks the trap door, but is caught by the steward.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rory successfully infiltrate the school, with Rory persistently questioning the Doctor's relationship with Amy. They manage to break into the courtyard, but Amy is nowhere to be found. While looking around, the Doctor uncovers a body drained of all of its fluid stuffed in a nearby trunk; this discovery prompts Rory to furiously yell at the Doctor for casually placing Amy in harm's way. Even though she volunteered, there is something about the Doctor which makes his companions want to put themselves at risk to impress him. They are soon cornered and chased through the school by Rosanna's girls.

Meanwhile, Amy awakes to find herself strapped to the medical table in the dungeon cell that Isabella described earlier; Francesco and Rosanna circle her. Rosanna tries to force her to reveal her true identity, as well as how she managed to obtain psychic paper (which she and Rory used to bluff their way into the school); when Amy resists, Rosanna orders the commencement of the process, informing Amy that she and Francesco drink the girls dry and replace their human blood with that of their own species. The girls either die or transform; if they transform, ten thousand husbands wait for them in the river. Amy kicks at Rosanna as the woman advances on her, accidentally dislodging a perception filter which reveals Rosanna's true alien form. Francesco bites Amy's neck in retaliation.

The process is interrupted, however, by the commotion caused by the Doctor and Rory. Rosanna and Francesco rush off to investigate, leaving Amy to be found and freed by Isabella. The two women join the Doctor and Rory and make their way down through the dungeons, closely pursued by Francesco and the girls. They manage to escape the school, but Isabella's sensitivity to light makes her shy away from it, allowing her to be recaptured by Francesco. When the Doctor rushes back to rescue her, he is knocked unconscious by a massive electrical shock that courses through the door. Later, Isabella is deemed a traitor and cast into the river, where she is devoured by Rosanna's sons, who live beneath the surface.

Rosanna returns from the "ceremony" to find the Doctor waiting for her on her throne. The Doctor has deduced that she is from Saturnyne, and is using a perception filter to appear human; she deduces that he is an alien refugee, and shows some shock when she learns that he is from Gallifrey, mentioning that he should be in a museum. They begin to question each other, with Rosanna revealing that her planet was consumed by the cracks in time, forcing herself and her children to flee to Earth. Rosanna asks for the Doctor's help in rebuilding her race, but he only wants to know what happened to Isabella. Rosanna shows some confusion, not knowing who "Isabella" is until the Doctor reveals that she is the girl who helped them escape the school; she remarks that all traitors must be killed. As the Doctor is removed by the steward, he furiously informs her that he will stop her, if only because she didn't remember Isabella's name.

Back at Guido's house, Amy tells the Doctor what Rosanna said about having "ten thousand husbands waiting in the river"; he deduces that she has transformed the girls into suitable mates for her sons, and that she intends to sink Venice to create a new homeworld for the Saturnyn race. Suddenly, Rosanna's girls swarm the house; the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to ascertain that they are fully transformed. The group prepares to escape but at the last minute, Guido returns to the house, locking the Doctor out; he lures the girls upstairs and lights the gunpowder, incinerating the house, himself, and all of the girls. Realizing the danger that lies ahead, the Doctor orders Amy back to the TARDIS for her own safety; Rory thanks him before following her.

Rosanna unveils a control hub set in her throne and uses it to create a deadly thunderstorm over Venice; widespread panic ensues. The Doctor returns to the school and locates the generator. He informs Rosanna of the death of her girls and begs for her help in ending the catastrophe. Devastated that her plan has failed, Rosanna leaves, telling him to save the city himself.

On their way back to the TARDIS, Francesco confronts Amy and Rory; he is still bitter that Amy, whom he is "attracted" to, escaped from the school, and plans to transform her. Rory tries to ward him off while Amy escapes, but Francesco overpowers him, nearly killing him. Amy comes to his rescue in the nick of time, using her compact mirror to amplify the sunlight and direct it at Francesco, who is instantly vaporized. They return to help the Doctor, sneaking into the school while the steward empties the house of its treasures. The Doctor sets them about destroying the control hub set in the throne while he climbs up to the bell tower, realizing that the tolling bell is powering the generator at the top of the spire. He stops the bell and continues climbing, eventually deactivating the generator; the weather immediately returns to normal.

Rosanna goes to the edge of the river, distraught. She attempts to deactivate her perception filter, but it malfunctions and retains her human form. The Doctor rushes out, pleading for her to stop; she encourages the Doctor to remember her species, knowing that he will have to live with the death of their race on his conscience. Before he can reach her, she throws herself into the river, where she is devoured by her sons, who don't recognize her.

The trio departs Venice, with the Doctor gleefully remarking that their next trip will be to the Leadworth Registry Office; however, when Amy continues to express some reluctance at marrying Rory, he sadly requests that the Doctor drop him off where they found him. Instead of agreeing to this plan, Amy instead invites Rory to join them, and the Doctor agrees. As they are about to leave in the TARDIS, a strange silence falls across the city.

Cast

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

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 Tenth Doctor also described his life in the same way to Jenny (DW: The Doctor's Daughter).
 * 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.
 * When Guido is about to kill the female vampires with the gunpowder explosion he yells "WE ARE VENETIANS!" resembling the "THIS IS SPARTA!" scene from the movie 300.

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 as Davros did when he died (DW: Journey's End).

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 is 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 five minutes longer than the usual format, making it a fifty-minute long episode.
 * A ninety-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, Saturnyns, 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 Casanova and having a bet with him. 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. In the DVD version, the closing titles begin playing at this point; in the original broadcast, it led into the "next time" preview for the following episode.
 * 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 can 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.
 * At 38:23 when Calvierri is watching the sky the statue next to her resembles Prisoner Zero

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 and Castell Coch.
 * Scenes featuring The Doctor, Amy and Rory were filmed at Llancaiach Fawr.

Production errors

 * When the Doctor begins climbing a pillar on top of the bell tower, we can see white sky in the central arch. Two other arches in the very same shot picture proper dark CG sky. Minor appearances of white sky in other shots also occur.

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 more traditional 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 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. Presumably, this would mean that Saturnyne was never lost, and Rosanna and her brood never came to Earth.
 * The First Doctor, Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet previously visit Venice in 1609 (MA: The Empire of Glass), as did the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard in the 23rd century (BFA: The Stones of Venice).

Timeline
For the Doctor and Amy For Rory
 * This story occurs after DW: Flesh and Stone
 * This story occurs before NSA: The Glamour Chase
 * This story occurs after DW: The Eleventh Hour
 * 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.