Voyage of the Damned

[Craig @craig Emperor]

Kylie! In a Christmas special! A spacecraft set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth, a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed-headed mastermind — it’s just another Christmas for the Doctor…

Dedicated to Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who, who died a month prior to broadcast. I’m glad she got to see the series reborn and be a huge success yet again.

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@craig

Dedicated to Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who, who died a month prior to broadcast. I’m glad she got to see the series reborn and be a huge success yet again.

Well said, and I agree. Back in 2006 SFX (doing something more constructive than coming up with spurious annoying lists) arranged a meeting between Russel and Verity. Their first meeting. The interview is quite good, and is now online:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/11/21/from-the-sfx-archive-russell-t-davies-meets-verity-lambert/

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

Just before I kick in, I think its fair to say that RTD and SM probably remember Christmas in the 70s/80s as I do. When SM wrote his Christmissier-than-Christmas episode A Christmas Carol, he threw a shark in. Jaws was always a Christmas movie once the TV rights were sold. For about 10 successive years.

The other staple (apart from Bond, natch) was a good old disaster movie, and I think RTD must just have just thought “Let’s revive that tradition. Is Ernest Borgnine still available!? No – oh well.”

So there are clichés from just about every disaster movie – your Towering Infernos, your Airports, and your Poseidon Adventures. With a huge, healthy dollop of a tribute to the Tom Baker Robots of Death. In Space. With Kylie. It’s everything upto and including the kitchen sink.

Does it work? I think my feelings are largely yes. I’ve actually found myself laughing at this in all the right places.

After two Christmas specials stuck on Earth, it’s actually lovely to get off-world, even if we’re just in orbit. The set design looks fantastic. Opulance abounds, and that extends to the filming. It has a lushness that suits the story.

OK – the Doctors miserable. His Christmas song is “It’ll be lonely this Christmas” by Mud. Even in that state though he has enough innate charm to start meeting and charming people. The dinner scene is still chucklesome as the Doctor gets to make the bullies look stupid, including all-round arse Rickston Slade.

The more you learn about the society these people come from, the less palatable it sounds as we meet our cast. Nice down-to-Sto couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff are there by luck and are the underclass. As is waitress Astrid Peth, working her way to the stars. Earth “expert” Mr Copper seems to have some weird views, but a nice enough bloke. And then we have red midget BannaKaffalatta.

It’s tradition in disaster these people will have the skills to get the group out. Most of them will have SOMETHING TO HIDE, as its Rule #3 of Disaster Movie scripting. I immediately suspected the Robots as well. The stylised faces and voices immediately made me think of the Tom Baker stories and the Voc series of Robots. This can’t be a good sign.

It was too much to ask to be completely in Space, so we pop down to Earth for a look around. That’s made up for, because LOOK, it’s only Bernard bloody Cribbins. I’m sure a nation of inebriated adults of a certain age went completely misted eyed when this was first shown, almost drowning in soggy nostalgia. I certainly did. The joke about London evacuating was OK but does highlight a growing problem with the “everyone knows about aliens” thing. You can paint yourself into a corner.

Back on the ship and the casting is just as good – Geoffrey Palmer as the Captain (with a secret!) and Russell Tovey as Midshipman Frame. And the captain seems intent of going down with the ship on purpose! Meteor was another disaster movie of the 70s, but not a particularly good one.

OK we have our band of survivors. Rule #2 of Disaster movies will be that the people in immediate authority in the group of survivors will actually be pretty inept, so it’s goodbye to the officer as he ejects himself. Tick Rule #2.

Rule #1 of Disaster movie plotting says the survivors will include a charismatic leader, usually a priest or a cop who actually has a vague plan. Usually he’s driven by a need to atone for something. Huzzah – we have a Doctor!!

Oh dear – who saw a robot rebellion coming in the middle of this carnage? Well – most of us oldies certainly. As we know robots act on programming, surely there must be a fiendish Taren Capel like character in our midst?!

And we’re off. Rule #4 of Disaster movie plotting means that our survivors will be wittled down, and usually it’s the nice characters who suffer. Because they are ones stupid enough to have empathy and help other people.

So we say goodbye to the nice couple (who at least have an end to their money problems) in the pretty thrilling encounter with the robots. And red midget gets to save the day even though his society hates him because he’s a cyborg. Midshipman Frame is still in the mix, and gets to seal himself in from robot attach severing a hand. My god – that scene is lifted straight from Robots of Death. No shame at all. 😀

It’s actually a thrilling ride around here, lots of to-ing and fro-ing. It is a pretty good pastiche of the genre. It seems really quick before the Doctor is teleporting himself down to the missing deck, to seek out his Taren Capell. And here’s Max, looking a bit poorly frankly. That’s no way to be the head of a major corporation. No way to get ahead. I’ll stop now. It’s actually quite a nice performance from George Costigan underneath all that.

And it’s Kylie to the rescue! Oh noes!!

The Doctor has to pull himself together then. He’s got a planet to save after all. And we’re entering dangerous territory. The red mist descends on me as the Doctor assumes the Jesus Christ pose, is lifted up by the Angelic hosts and born aloft to the heavens.

WHY! Come on Russell – this is Christmas! Do we really need to bring religious allusions into it?! This is a bit too soon after Last of the Time Lords. I want to vomit.

Frankly – after this, the site of a huge Titanic flying towards Buckingham Palace is welcome relief.

And in the end, our survivor from the initial batch are a niceish guy who lied, and gets a confortable retirement. Oh, and a complete utter shitbag. The Doctor can’t decide who lives and dies, etc. A heartwarming Christmas message.

Largely – this is a fine bit of nonsense, but the Doctor as God thing – someone really ought to have had the confidence to have a bit of a chat to Russell about it at this point. I think he has a problem.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@phaseshift

Thanks for posting that interview with Verity Lambert and RTD. I had not seen it before. I think she was spot on in her assessments of Eccleston and Tennant (as she was in other interviews on the BG post-Hartnell Doctors).

Fascinating idea about Peter Cook. I assume she was thinking of his ability to be simultaneously funny and frightening; which sounds a bit like Peter Capaldi, actually…

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Glad you enjoyed it. It was @craig reminding me this was dedicated to Verity that made me remember it. I may put another quote on the Season 8 thread (because it’s a bit more suited for that).

[janetteB @janetteb]

@phaseshift‘s excellent breakdown helped me understand why this is the one Christmas special which I never rewatch. Appart from featuring Kylie, who is as much a national embarrassment as Nicole, Mel and Tony, (well no that isn’t fair. The last two are in a class all their own) it is inspired by a genre of film which I really dislike.

Oh and thanks for the video link. Nice to hear Verity talk about the resurrection of her “baby” even though she denies that term, especially after watching An Adventure in Space and Time. I did not know that RTD was also born in 1963, As I always say, what a good vintage. I hope he has time now to set back and simply enjoy watching the show, for if it was Verity’s baby it was RTD that rescued it.

Cheers

Janette

 

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

As I’ve said before I don’t really like the Christmas specials, and this one is probably the worst.

[janetteB @janetteb]

I love the Christmas specials but when it comes to Voyage of the Damned I am in complete agreement with you @thekrynoidman

Cheers

Janette

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@janetteb

inspired by a genre of film which I really dislike.

I used to be really bemused as to why these films were so popular, because you saw one, you effectively saw them all. Just different scenarios and different hazards. Growing up, Christmas wasn’t complete without one though (as far as TV land was concerned). As a teenager, I developed the theory that it was down to family Christmas. After a day of hell, you wanted to flake out on the sofa, get drunk and see people who were having a more miserable time than you were having. 😀

It’s an invaluable public service, I suppose. These days we have the Soaps who do it. I still quite like the joke in the Impossible Planet about Eastenders, who usually deliver a double bill of misery every Christmas Day.

Ida: Well, we’ve come this far, there’s no turning back.
The Doctor: Oh, come on! Did you have to? “No turning back”, that’s almost as bad as “Nothing could possibly go wrong”, or “This is gonna be the best Christmas Walford’s ever had!”

@thekrynoidman

I find the first 40 minutes of this quite engaging, and rewatched thinking “why don’t I watch this more often?”. And then I remembered.

When I look back on the Russell Christmas specials, they seem on balance to have stand-out “spectacular” scenes that the plot just serves to get you to, and the gradual payback on that idea diminished over time. I don’t think (from memory) this is the worst though. We’ve still got Giant stompy robots and the Master race to come.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

I managed to miss this (and the Runaway Bride) first time round (no iplayer catch-up way back then and Dr Who fans are waaay in the minority in my family ie there’s just me!)

I liked a lot of it, a lot. But definitely with @phaseshift on the heavenly ascension bit – tho they do manage to switch it to a Superman 1 hand extended flying pose to crash thro the floor.  I was surprised by the no of actual deaths in it, and sorry, Kylie turning into the phoenix asteroids to circle the universe forever doesn’t really cut it in compensation. I liked Morvin and Foon 😥  It’s interesting who is saved (a bit against genre?) and I liked the scene where Astrid says that it would be awful to be the person who decides who lives or dies. This time the Doctor doesn’t get to choose.

Nice callout to Robots of Death. And it’s got Bernard Cribbins 😀

To be fair to RTD they were still working out what the Xmas Special could/should be. But overall I much prefer Moffat’s take on it, esp Christmas Carol ( 🙂 @phaseshift‘s Jaws comment) and the Snowmen. Less of the big scary things stamping around, and “smaller ” stories on the whole, fairy tales rather than disaster movies.  (But yes, Christmas in the 70s wasn’t complete without a rerun of  Jaws, Towering Inferno, Bond… and the Great Escape; kids today have no idea just how lucky they are!!)

[ScaryB @scaryb]

And yes, enjoyed the RTD/Verity Lambert interview very much. The comments about older v younger Doctors are funny; never say never with this show.  And really glad Gatiss made such a success of Adventure in Space and Time. 

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@scaryb

… and the Great Escape

In retrospect, that has to have been a missed opportunity for eleven. Remember the throw away scene in Impossible Astronaut with the tunnel to the camp commandants office?

Having the Doctor (with the obvious football skills of Matt Smith) spending time in a concentration camp and leading a series of escape attempts culminating in a successful Christmas break out could have channelled every single PoW camp (and you’re right. There were so many).

The football skills from the Lodger could have given us our Escape to Victory moment. Who would have needed Pele? 😀

I’ll echo your sentiments about Morvin and Foon. They were very nice performances from both.

In the genre, there are always the most sympathetic characters who die. Where this really breaks the tradition is that usually someone unpleasant lives, but speaks movingly at the end about learning a vital life lesson, before going on to become a great philanthropist. In this, the genuine arse revels in his remaining an absolute arse.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

Interesting comments by @phaseshift and @janetteb. I have fond memories of watching The Poseidon Adventure on TV years ago, it used to come up with great regularity and for some reason, I could never resist watching these doomed people fighting their way through the nightmare setting that the ship had become. So I guess that that is part of the reason I did enjoy this episode.

I have always enjoyed the Christmas episodes, although there were a few that I felt were pretty weak. The problem of course is the need to shoehorn a Christmas theme into an episode, which places artificial restrictions on the writing. I thought this one worked well because the Christmas theme appeared in the setting, but didn’t really drive the plot at all. I enjoyed all the supporting characters, and found the opening scenes of the Doctor jumping in and enjoying the cruise to be a lot of fun.

They really only lost me with Resurrection Doctor. And I thought it was too bad that Astrid had to die, although I’m not sure I would have wanted her as a companion. I would have liked it if she could have started a new life somehow, exploring the universe in some other way. But I also liked the “not getting to choose who lives” idea, that sometimes it’s the undeserving who survive. (I was saddened but not shocked by Foon’s death, as her character was clearly a call out to the Shelly Winters character in The Poseidon Adventure, who also died.) I did like the ending, with newly-wealthy Mr. Copper left on earth, delighted that he would be able to buy himself a house!

[Emeralds @theemeralddoctor]

I got given a tour of the sets of Doctor who around Wales, one of them is the street in which David Tennant and Kylie Monuge with Bernerd Cribbins the part in which they teleport down to earth. at that very same time they were filming there was a flood of University students around the corner, if they were to turn right, they would see kylie monouge. luckily they didn’t

[Rewvian @rewvian]

So I think this episode might be a little underrated, and it had a lot going on in it.

We have the introduction of Wilf, who’s running a news stand when the group teleports off of the ship to Earth.  The episode has a slew of one-off characters, including Kylie Minogue as Astrid, and Clive Swift as Mr. Copper.  It also features a character named Alonzo, so the Doctor can finally say, “Allons-y, Alonzo!”

The monster of the episode is the Hosts, which are golden angel robots that are meant to answer questions for passengers on the ship, until they go on a murderous rampage.  The antagonist is Max Capricorn, owner of the space Titanic and mostly a cyborg, and I like that his gold tooth shines in person like it did on the video.  Max’s business is apparently not doing well so he decides to destroy his ship and crash it into Earth, so he can go bankrupt and blame the board of directors for the murders. (Because I guess that’s what will happen?)  Mostly I thought Max Capricorn was funny during his time in the episode.

Much of the episode plays out like The Poseidon Adventure, with the Doctor leading the group of survivors through the ship on the way to the bridge.  One by one characters begin to die, until only a few survivors are left.  The death of Banna grants the survivors an EMP device from his cyborg body, which they use to destroy Hosts on their way through the ship.  Astrid’s death scene was honestly pretty cool, taking Max out with a forklift.

I thought the scene with the Doctor taking control of the Hosts and using them to fly upwards through the floor of the bridge was really awesome, though apparently that scene caused a lot of backlash from members of the religious community.  The scene where the ship almost crashes into Buckingham Palace seemed a little ridiculous, since the ship could crash at any point on Earth but it winds up where the Doctor usually goes.  I am guessing the writers really wanted to get some mention of the Queen into the Christmas episode.

The Doctor’s discovery that Astrid was wearing a teleporter leads to some false hope, since for a second you’re thinking she can be saved.  I guess turning her into space dust to travel through the universe is a bittersweet alternative.

The conversation Mr. Copper has with the Doctor about it being funny the rude man was one of the survivors, and how he would be a monster if he could choose who lives and who dies was a nice addition to the ending.  You almost get the sense that these are the sort of conversations the Doctor has to have with himself at times.  At least using the teleporters Mr. Copper could avoid jail time, and learn that he is wealthy.

The episode was much more entertaining than I’d remembered, and made for a solid stand-alone episode.

[janetteB @janetteb]

I am glad that you have reviewed this @rewvian as looking back at my previous comment it is more than time that I amended that. A couple of years ago I included Voyage of the Damned in my annual Christmas rewatch and realised that it is far better than I thought. It has a lot of lovely moments, which you have covered a lot of filler action scenes but that is “par for the course” .  So in fact I would retract anything I said previously about this episode.

And I love the alternative as seen in Turn Left though the impact is considerably modified, ie from destroy the entire plant to nuke London.  (the “plant destroying” threat is overdone in Dr Who to the point where it becomes a bit meaningless.)

Cheers

Janette

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@janetteb Yeah, you know this is one of the episodes that I remembered not enjoying quite as much back in 2010, but I found to be much more entertaining the second time around.  A lot of episodes have been like that for me.

I’m glad you were able to find things you liked about Voyage of the Damned.  You know for me, quite a lot of these episodes I only ever saw one time, back in 2010.  So I have forgotten lots about them, and usually only remember one or two moments that stood out at the time.  The whole rewatching experience has turned out to be something I definitely needed, since my memories of the series were outdated.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian   @janetteb    I seem to recall Voyage of the Damned was based on Poseidon Adventure (which I never watched, I wasn’t into blockbuster movies much).   I wasn’t a fan of Kylie Minogue as a singer, but I thought she was very sweet and appealing as Astrid Peth and I almost shed a tear when she couldn’t be retrieved.    The forkhoist scene was of course directly stolen from Ripley’s cargo handler battle with the Alien (and nothing wrong with that, I should add).   And of course the angelic Hosts turning evil was a classic trope.

I gather it was not very highly regarded as an episode, but I quite like it.   Not in my top ten list or even top twenty, but I always find it quite watchable.

cr

 

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@dentarthurdent I think Clive Swift appearing in the episode (and surviving all the way through it!) was something that hit the nostalgia button for me since my parents used to watch Keeping Up Appearances when they would show it on the PBS.  I read on Wikipedia that he apparently gave a very grumpy interview about being in the episode to DW Magazine, but I guess at his age that sort of crotchety behavior would have been forgivable.

Kylie was obviously a pretty big name in music back in the day.  I remember when I got my second XBOX 360 with the Kinect, Can’t Get You Out of My Head was one of the songs you danced to on Dance Central.  I almost got the impression in the episode that Astrid would have survived and could have made a new companion for the Doctor in season 4, but knowing that Minogue is from Australia I doubt scheduling would have worked out for that anyway.  Astrid simply went the way of Lynda “with a Y.”

[janetteB @janetteb]

@rewvian  I don’t think they could ever have afforded Kylie as a permanent companion but as a guest star she certainly pushed the ratings. For a long time at least this episode had the highest viewer ratings, at least in the UK where she was very popular. Now Lynda with a Y would have been an excellent companion and that was early days in her acting career. Dr Who has a knack for getting actors just starting out who go on the bigger though not necessarily better things. Carey Mulligan being a shining example.

Cheers

Janette

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian    I got that same feeling watching the episode, that Astrid was shaping up to be a Companion.   Particularly since Martha had just left him.  Poor Doctor – lost Rose, Martha left him, lost Astrid – he had a worse success rate than me  (though all of my ex-girlfriends or never-quite-made-it girlfriends were alive when we parted  🙂

I never listened to Kylie’s music much though (and likewise I never heard Billie Piper singing.   I recall – unless I’m just imagining it – some scepticism whether a pop star could ever be any good as a Companion.   I think Billie settled that one pretty well.   And – based on her performance in Voyage – I think Kylie would have been good too.

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@janetteb I remember reading that VotD had some pretty high ratings when it aired.  The UK must have been itching for more Doctor Who that Christmas lol.  But I kind of get it, the episode had a couple of big names, had the Titanic, and came along in an abrupt ending from the episode before.

It felt like Lynda with a Y was there to show that not everyone makes it as the Doctor’s companion, especially when the Daleks are involved.  Really she had a pretty lousy fate after just getting out of the big brother house with the Ninth Doctor.

@dentarthurdent He didn’t have the best conclusion with Donna either.  Or Amy.  And I am guessing not Clara or Bill either.  Come to think of it, we really need the Doctor to have more companions like Martha who actually survive and get to leave on better terms lol.

I have never heard Billie Piper sing either.  I wonder which she considers her more favorite accomplishment, her pop career or her time as a companion in DW?

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian   You would be correct that Clara and Bill didn’t have the best conclusions.  Or, maybe they did.   I’m being very cryptic here so as not to perpetrate spoilers.   Let’s say their departure was not without drama.

Even Marha, though she left the Doctor on good terms, ended up as a Unit (or was it Torchwood?) operative, I think we later got a brief glimpse of her fighting Sontarans, so her exit was not exactly peaceful.

[VickyMallard @vickymallard]

What an episode! The Titanic, but a spaceship. Crashing into the Tardis. These golden angels smelled trouble right from the beginning, at first I thought they were maybe a variety of Weeping Angels. But later I laughed when they used their halos to kill, mostly because it reminded me of a scene in Good Omens involving a halo 😉

What I also found fascinating was how much the characters in the episode reminded me of the characters in the Titanic movie from the 90s – there was the unsinkable Molly Brown with the hairdo, and the pain-in-the-neck rich guy who survives while so many of the nice ones die, and for some reason even midshipman Frame reminded me of an officer in the movie. Although that may simply have been the costume.

I loved the little twists and turns in the episode. That little spiky readhead – how on earth do you come up with a name like Bannakaffalatta?! – suddenly being a cyborg. Kylie Minogue was okay, although I never really clicked with her character. I loved Mr Copper and his weird “knowledge” of Earth. There were so many things I can’t remember them all… The UK being at war with Turkey every year, feasting on their victims?! I almost fell of the sofa giggling. The Doctor finally meeting someone named Alonzo, just so that he can say “Allons-y, Alonzo!”?! Brilliant. And we meet Wilf, camping out in London while everyone else has left town – nice reference to the two previous Christmas specials. Of course, he is not the only person who decided to stay – the Queen of course is also setting an example. And the one thing on the Doctor’s mind when he finds out where the ship’s going to crash is make an emergency call to Buckingham Palace to make sure she’s evacuated to a safe place (and the Corgies, of course). Me being German, I will probably never be able to fully understand how it feels to have a monarch, especially such an iconic one. That was so….. British to make sure she does not perish on television. And then we see Her Majesty in curlers and slippers?!! Isn’t that considered lese majesty or something?! I couldn’t help but laugh – so much that the cat go quite annoyed with me. I liked the reminder about what it would make the Doctor if he were to decide who lives or dies. Reminded me a bit of Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.

There was probably a lot more that I’ve simply forgotten by now, but I loved the episode!

[winston @winston]

@vickymallard  Hello and welcome to the site. Isn’t it good to talk to other people from around the world about the one thing we all love ? I live in Canada and we have a bit of snow so it looks Christmassy out there. I always watch the Xmas specials every year and I just watched this one. Although a lot of people die , the Doctor with the help of Astrid ,saves millions by stopping the spaceship from crashing into Earth. I like the Queen waving and saying “thank you Doctor” while the puppies wag their tails.

I liked Astrid and think she would have made a feisty but compassionate companion. Foon and her husband had a tragic ending as did Ballakapalota and Astrid Peth yet the nasty guy made it out safe and sound because even in the Whoniverse life is not always fair.

The happy ending came with Mr. Copper left on earth,free and rich and promising to never forget “her” and vowing to make a good life for himself.

happy holidays

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@vickymallard

I have previously expressed my admiration for this Christmas special in these hallowed pages. Not all of the specials are worth watching EVERY year but this one and The Husbands of River Song are nailed on.

Some people don’t like the body count in VotD but you can’t crash Titanic/Poseidon Adventure and Aliens, with an extra nod to the best of Classic Tom Baker Who, and not have a few tagged toes.

Bring on The Goblins tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

[VickyMallard @vickymallard]

@winston (again 😉 ) I fully agree! It’s absolutely awesome that this show is so beloved by people all around the world! And I also like it that life in the Whoniverse isn’t always fair, it would be pretty boring if it were.

@ps1l0v3y0u Thank you for the recommendation – another episode to put on my list once I’ve made it past the Tenth Doctor. Still haven’t made it to the goblins yet, actually. But I’m very curious about Fifteen!

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