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 brings his daughter Isabella before Rosanna Calvierri and her son Francesco, asking her to accept Isabella into her school. On her agreement, Guido is hustled out by her steward. Francesco sees if Isabella is to his liking, revealing a mouthful of fangs as she screams.

In 2010, Rory is calling Amy's answering machine from his stag party just as the cake with a stripper inside is brought in. Rory is shocked to see the Eleventh Doctor pop out of the cake. The Doctor is happy to have found the right cake at last.. He tells Rory that they need to talk about Amy because she tried to kiss him; Rory is lucky as she is a great kisser. The other patrons gasp.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor tells the couple he is taking them to Venice. As they enter the city, they are warned of a quarantine. Signora Calvierri has told them of the plague outside Venice. In the city, Guido tries to get to Isabella as students leave the Calvierri school. She does not recognise her father, and he is attacked by another girl, who has fangs. The Doctor meets Guido.

Rosanna Calvierri is 'hydrating'. She informs an impatient Francesco they will follow the plan. He attacks a flower girl in the streets and drinks her blood. Amy follows him while Rory sees to the girl. Guido feigns another attempt at regaining Isabella while the Doctor enters the school through a side gate. Inside, he discovers the girls at the school have fangs and no reflection, but is chased away before discovering more. After meeting up with Amy and Rory, they discuss with Guido how to enter the Calvierri school. Amy proposes that Rory dress in Guido's clothes to act as her brother. Once inside, she will open a trap door beneath the building. Amy is accepted into the school, where she meets Isabella. The Doctor, Rory and Guido (wearing Rory's clothes) make their way to the trap door through an underground tunnel. Amy unlocks the trap door, but is discovered and taken. Rosanna tries to get her to tell her the truth, as the psychic paper did not work on her, and bites her neck. The Doctor and Rory enter and find a body which has had all the fluid removed. Rosanna reveals to Amy that they drink girls till they are dry, then replacing their blood with their own. They either die or transform, ready for ten thousand husbands. The Doctor and Rory find Amy, who sees Rosanna's real alien form when she kicks her. Isabella helps them escape, but is recaptured, and killed as a traitor, devoured by Rosanna's sons.

Rosanna returns to find the Doctor on her throne. The Doctor reveals that she is a Saturnynian using a perception filter to appear human, while she realises that is himself an alien refugee. They begin to question each other, Rosanna revealing that her planet was destroyed by the cracks and that she and her sons fled to Earth. It is also revealed that the lack of reflection and the fangs were caused by the perception filter. Rosanna asks the Doctor to join her in rebuilding their races, but he only wants to know what happened to Isabella. Rosanna reveals that she killed her. The Doctor tells her that he will stop her plan, angry that Rosanna didn't remember Isabella's name.

Back in Guido's house, the Doctor deduces that Calvierri intends to sink Venice and repopulate it with the girls she has transformed and her children. The house is attacked by the school's girls. While the others escape, Guido stays and lights the gunpowder he had in his house, killing himself and all the girls.

Rosanna creates a storm over Venice and widespread panic. The Doctor orders Amy and Rory to the TARDIS. The Doctor finds the storm generator, and tells Rosanna of the death of her girls. Francesco finds Amy and Rory, and is killed when she directs sunlight on him with her mirror. They return to help the Doctor, while he climbs up the Calvierri mansion's tower and deactivates the device. Rosanna goes to the pool her sons are kept in, her perception filter maintaining her human appearance. She tells the Doctor to remember them and live with the death of their race on his conscience, then throws herself to her sons to be devoured.

As they are leaving Venice, Amy and the Doctor invite Rory to travel with them. Just as they are about to enter the TARDIS, a strange silence suddenly falls across Venice, echoing Rosanna's words.

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, Saturnynians, 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 36:23 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.