The Vampires of Venice (TV story)

The Vampires of Venice was the sixth episode of Series 5. 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 apparently joining the Doctor in his travels.

Synopsis
Dessicated corpses, terror in the canal and a visit to the sinister House of Calvierri – the Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a romantic mini-break, as the TARDIS touches down once again.

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
Following Amy's attempts to seduce him, the Doctor gatecrashes her fiancé Rory's stag party and tells him the problem. Knowing full well that travelling with him has a habit of destroying his companions' lives and relationships on Earth, the Doctor decides to take Amy and Rory on a romantic trip to get their relationship back on track. The TARDIS lands in the city of Venice in 1580, but he quickly discovers all is not well, as according to the citizens, plague is running rampant, and the city has been placed under quarantine at the order of the city's patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri.

The Doctor heads to the Calvierri's palazzo, where he discovers that Rosanna runs a school for the betterment of young ladies which is highly sought after. However, as the Doctor watches, he sees a Venetian boat-builder called Guido, who had entered his daughter Isabella into the school several days before, trying to remove her. After Guido is turned away by the guards, the Doctor goes after him and learns that something evil is happening in the school, for his daughter didn't recognise him, and the girl who turned him away had a face like an animal.

Meanwhile, Amy and Rory, desperately trying to get along, hear a scream, and go to investigate, finding Rosanna's son, Francesco Calvierri, drinking blood from the neck of a flower girl. As Rory tends to the girl, Amy chases Francesco, only to lose him when he turns into an alley that opens on to the canal. Meanwhile, with Guido's help, the Doctor sneaks into the school, where he is ambushed by five beautiful girls. Upon noticing the girls have no reflections, and seeing their teeth are curved fangs, the Doctor quickly makes an escape and tells Amy, Rory and Guido the problem: there are vampires in Venice.

Needing a way into the school, Amy suggests that she pose as a destitute girl to gain entrance to the school, then open a way for the Doctor and the others to enter. Despite his distaste for the idea, the Doctor reluctantly agrees; however Amy is caught opening a trap door for the others and is taken to a chamber by Rosanna, Francesco and the other girl to be transformed. As they sneak into the school, the Doctor and Rory find a desiccated female corpse; the Doctor theorises that not all the girls survive the process of being turned into vampires, and Rory angrily tells the Doctor that the greatest danger he poses to his companions is the fact he drives his companions to put themselves at risk trying to impress him. Fortunately, the Doctor and Rory, with the help of Isabella, are able to rescue Amy and escape, though Isabella is caught and thrown into the canal, where something alive in the water drags her under.

The Doctor goes back to the school and confronts Rosanna. He identifies her as a Saturnynian, a race of aquatic beings. The vampiric traits displayed are a result of the natural teeth of the species, their natural aversion to sunlight (being deep-sea creatures) and a perception filter they wear to give themselves human appearance by manipulating brain waves which is rendered redundant when seen in a mirror, hence no reflection; the teeth emerge when attacking because, sensing danger, the human brain 'tweaks' the perception filter to see something dangerous. Rosanna explains that her people's planet was lost when "silence fell" and that they fell through a crack in time that sealed behind them, leaving the Saturnynians trapped in 16th century Venice. When the Doctor identifies himself as from Gallifrey, Rosanna proposes an alliance to restore their peoples together, but the Doctor refuses and departs after confirming that she doesn't even remember Isabella's name. Rosanna remarks that she will "bend the heavens" to save her people, then orders her girls to kill the Doctor and his companions.

At Guido's house, the Doctor realises that the Saturnynians are planning to make Venice habitable for their species by sinking the city. The purpose of Rosanna's school was to lure girls to the school that could be converted into female Saturnynians, since only Rosanna and her male offspring survived the fall through time. At that moment, the Calvierri girls, now fully transformed into Saturnynians, attack the house, but Guido buys the Doctor, Amy and Rory enough time to escape by detonating barrels of gunpowder he had stolen from his workplace at the Arsenal, killing the girls but sacrificing himself. At the same time, Rosanna activates a device that triggers an immense storm over Venice; the Doctor realises that the storm will trigger earthquakes and tsunamis that will sink the city and tells her that all the female Saturnynians she has created are dead. Then, with the help of Amy and Rory, he deactivates the device, saving Venice. Defeated, Rosanna throws herself into the water in human form to be eaten by her doomed offspring, but not before tormenting the Doctor with the knowledge he is now responsible for the extinction of two species: hers, and his own.

In the aftermath of the incident, Amy and the Doctor invite Rory to continue travelling with them in the TARDIS, but as the Doctor and Rory are about to enter the TARDIS, everything falls silent. Unnerved, the Doctor remembers Rosanna's words: "We saw silence, and the end of all things..."

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Rosanna Calvierri - Helen McCrory
 * Francesco - Alex Price
 * Isabella - Alisha Bailey
 * Steward - 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

 * When the Doctor attempts to use his psychic paper, but instead pulls out his library card. It has a picture of his first incarnation on it. The name on it appears to be "Dr. J. Smith."
 * Amy describes her time with the Doctor as involving "lots of running."
 * 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".

Races and 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 like Davros did when he died.

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.

Story Notes

 * A 90-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 to other people.
 * There was some initial confusion over the title of this story, with some media sources (as well as Matt Smith in a TV interview ) using 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 twice.
 * The Saturnynian are hiding from the Cracks and the Silence.
 * The Doctor mentions meeting Casanova. David Tennant had previously played Casanova in a television series written by Russell T Davies.
 * This is the first Doctor Who episode that, instead of having the last scene cut to the closing titles, 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.
 * 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.

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

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 can read out 76 TOTTERS LANE, first seen in DW: An Unearthly Child
 * The library card lists his name as "Dr. J. Smith," presumably standing for "Dr. John Smith," a frequent alias of the Doctor's.
 * The Fourth Doctor previously encountered vampires of a different 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 Eighth Doctor had previously visited 23rd Century Venice in BFA: The Stones of Venice.
 * 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.

DVD and Blu-ray Releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two will feature The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice. It will be released on Monday 5th July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.