(S04E01) Originally broadcast at the 2007 Christmas Special on the BBC, Season 4 (or Season 30, depending on who you ask) kicks off with "Voyage of the Damned" on the Sci Fi Channel. Having been a fan of the show for a long, long time, it is my pleasure to review this season for TV Squad.Apparently, showrunner Russell T. Davies wanted this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special to have a disaster theme, so he used a name from one of the most famous disasters in history. The episode begins where the season 3 finale left off, right after the Doctor's previous traveling companion Martha Jones leaves him after they defeated his arch-nemesis, the Master (and after the events of Time Crash). It seems that the Titanic (or rather, a Titanic) crashes into the hull of the TARDIS when he forgets to raise the ship's shields.
We quickly learn that the Titanic in question is an intergalactic space cruise ship that is taking some tourists on the "Earth experience." Granted, it is traditional in the long history of Doctor Who that most of the alien species in Whoniverse look human, but I do wish SOME sort of explanation was given regarding this, such as the cruise ship's travel agency changing everyone's appearance and language (with the exception of a short, red individual named Bannakaffalatta) to give them a richer Earth experience. Oh well. There's always fan fiction
However, as with all the Doctor's experiences, he can't be in a place for ten minutes without the Earth or the universe being in danger. Apparently the former owner of the company named Max Capricorn is trying to bankrupt his former business and has bribed the ship's captain to magnetize the hull so that meteors could collide with it. The result would be a catastrophic collision between the cruise ship and Earth that would destroy both.
Australian pop star and actress Kylie Minogue is the Doctor's ad-hoc companion for this episode. She plays a hostess on the ship named Astrid Peth (I had hoped there would be more to her character since "Astrid" is an anagram of TARDIS, but apparently that was just a coincidence). It wouldn't be the first time a pop star was the Doctor's partner on the show, since previous companion Billie Piper (who played Rose Tyler on the first two seasons of the relaunch) was one in England before joining the cast.
So disaster strikes; and to make matters worse it seems that the robot butlers of the ship (dressed as angels and armed with homicidal halos) have been given orders to kill all the inhabitants of the vessel (a very "Robots of Death" moment for fans of the classic series). Clive Swift of the Britcom Keeping Up Appearances plays Mr. Copper, a tour guide with a very skewed view of Earth's history and culture, and relatively known Brit actor Bernard Cribbins makes a cameo (he will appear again in the next episode. That's what I get for obtaining advance copies).
Both Bannakaffalatta (whom could be described visually as "mini-Darth Maul") and Max Capricorn are cyborgs. I wonder if it's a subtle set-up for the return of a certain Doctor Who cyborg adversary at the end of the season? Well, perhaps not. The Whoniverse has an overabundance of killer robots and cyborgs anyway.
The episode is a disaster movie in the vein more of The Poseidon Adventure than of Titanic (with a little Ghost thrown in for good measure). Astrid is not the first Who companion to die, but it's a shame the character couldn't last longer so the audience could grow more attached to her.
It seemed kind of silly that Queen Elizabeth, without seeing anybody on the spaceship, knew who the Doctor was and that he was the one to save Buckingham Palace from impact of the falling cruiser. It does make sense that she knows who the Doctor is, given his involvement in British history, but...ah well. It's the Christmas episode. For that, we will engage in the cutting of the slack.
To be honest, I didn't like the episode overall. David Tennant was excellent as the Doctor, as usual. The supporting cast was also superb. The visual effects of the crashing ship were stunning. However, a good television program always begins with the writing and with that, the story fell flat. Russell T. Davies, while I appreciate his role in bringing back Doctor Who to the airwaves, just can't write science fiction. He writes wonderful characters, but his sci-fi plots seem hackneyed. The previous Christmas Specials played up the humor of the series and allowed for the sci-fi aspect to be somewhat deemphasized (these specials are intended as lighter, more family-oriented fare anyway). As a result, Davies' inadequacies as a sci-fi writer weren't as visible and the previous specials were better viewing as a result.
Still, I'm looking forward to the season. We have the return of the Ood, the Sontarans, the wonderful Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and...well, that would be telling. See you next week.
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
Giveaway Tuesday: Fastlane - The Complete Series
Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-19-2008 @ 10:48AM
Dee said...
I was thinking recently that, just like the TARDIS gives it's travelers the translation of alien language into English, it might also let travelers see aliens as humans, but this ability got stuck like the TARDIS got stuck looking like a police box so some aliens are portrayed as they are and some are made to look like humans! It's a stretch especially since the Doctor had no earthling on this adventure. Which begs the question - what does the Doctor actually look like as a Gallifreyan and what does his native language sound like?
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4-19-2008 @ 10:50AM
Misty said...
The Queen knew he was up there because the Doctor called ahead and warned her to get out of Buckingham.
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4-19-2008 @ 11:11AM
Oreo said...
A lot of people died in a Christmas episode. :)
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4-19-2008 @ 11:13AM
MacLean said...
I thought this was the worst Dr Who episode since it came back. Truly awful.
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4-19-2008 @ 11:23AM
Paul McCall said...
Too much a rehash of the Poseidon Adventure right down to the fat people and the harsh wealthy guy. Visually very impressive, they spent a packet on this one, too bad it was such a derivative story.
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4-19-2008 @ 11:37AM
Ryan said...
It wasn't awful. Just freaking depressing. Having said that I'm glad it's back and that TV Squad will be reviewing the episodes.
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4-19-2008 @ 12:06PM
Kevinc said...
Please call it season 4. This show has little to nothing to do with the original.
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4-21-2008 @ 1:39AM
Akbar Fazil said...
You mean other than the fact that it is the same character from the original series doing the same exact thing? The history, past companions and the time line (as convoluted as it is) are all one from the old show to the new.
However, as in terms of production... this should be Series 4.
4-19-2008 @ 1:04PM
ed said...
RUSSELL T DAVIS can't write. Let Stephen Moffatt do them all, please!
Seriously, he's Mr Hackney. His only talent is in throwing homo-eroticism moments in to every scene (See: Torchwood)
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4-19-2008 @ 2:56PM
Alex99 said...
Well, let's recap, shall we?
Likable characters killed off one by one....check.
Creepy robots that will start killing everyone....check.
Lots of running and screaming....check.
While typical new-generation "Who" in most ways, I didn't particularly enjoy it. Displeased me that they killed off Astrid. In fact, did all the old-generation "Who" stories have such a high body count? I hope this doesn't set the tone for the fourth series. Please, at least not so much running and screaming!
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4-19-2008 @ 4:56PM
dave said...
I think we can forgive a Christmas special for being a little 'for the people'. The whole episode was probably conceived as an excuse to put Kylie Minogue in a french maids outfit, which I appreciated in theory if in practice it wasn't such a big deal.
Brad, what's up with this review? When you review Southpark, everyone calls you an asshole and tells you to drop dead. This one just elicited comments about the show. It's clearly not up to your usual standards;)
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4-19-2008 @ 9:13PM
bamberluvr said...
Man, you people are harsh. I thought the episode was fun - a definite nod to the "Poseidon Adventure." That's what made it humorous. Kylie Minogue was a great companion (and her death added another dimension to the Doctor and his personal journey over the loss of Rose). Sure, there were many deaths, but you know what? If this had been a "no death. happy, joy, joy episode" you'd probably kvetch about that, too. Just sit back and enjoy. "Doctor Who" has never been about deep philosophical issues...it's about fun. And while I'm at it, if it wasn't for Russell T. Davies, we wouldn't have these new adventures. Lighten up and enjoy the ride.
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4-20-2008 @ 12:15AM
Chuck said...
Maybe it's just that I've been missing it, but I liked this episode. Not the best, sure, but still fun to watch. I liked the Poseidon Adventure nod, and was also reminded of Robots of Death (glad I wasn't the only one who thought that). I thought the Doc was a little harsh at the end, leaving Mr. Copper on earth (I mean, he's never had a problem dropping people along the way before), even though that all worked out.
And Kevinc, even though this show is indeed very different from the earlier series, I still consider this season 30. There's still enough the same and the canon has sort of more or less been left intact.
Can't wait for next week!
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4-20-2008 @ 12:58AM
Aaron Slater said...
Did nobody catch the blatant Douglas Adams refrences (for thos who don't know, Douglas Adams wrote many classic Who stories in the 70's and 80's) from the most obvious (it's the Starship Titanic) to the subtle (one of the numbers the doctor spits out when fighting the angels is "42", and I'm sure there's other ones, but still pretty obvious
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4-21-2008 @ 10:07AM
Michael said...
Saw it at Christmas time and it wasn't as wince-inducing as The Runaway Bride last year. That said, it was just OK. I have to admit a bit of me is worn out by the whole "Doctor is embracing being a legendary action hero " motiff that is cropping up in series four.
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4-22-2008 @ 6:48AM
Sage said...
I thought the Doctor's call to Buckingham included an authorization number... to let him through the switchboard.
I sort of guessed that number was "his" number, so when a big ship did crazy things--the Queen knew it was him. (As opposed to say... Torchwood.) *laughs*
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4-24-2008 @ 6:17PM
Rassi said...
Is there a particular reason why the images in this review are from "Partners in Crime" rather than "Voyage of the Damned"?
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4-26-2008 @ 5:04AM
greg said...
Not everyone looks “human”. Everyone that looks human really looks like a Time Lord. Its because the Time Lords were first. “The novel Lucifer Rising by Andy Lane and Jim Mortimore suggests that the Time Lords were the first sentient life-form. As such, their evolutionary pattern created a morphogenetic field that resonated across the universe, making the development of humanoids far more likely.”
-Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Lord
and also, the BBC has a budget…
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5-13-2008 @ 8:35AM
ps@paulasgallery.com said...
I had to watch this a second time and still came out with the same feeling. This was noisy and confusing visually. Lots of screaming and noise. Never really gave David a chance to show off his distinctive rapid fire delivery. And I got totally confused as to where on the ship each character was, and where they were going. I had no mental image of the layout of the ship, which is unusual because in the other stories where the Tardis lands inside another ship, I easily understand that ship's layout. Where was that fallen beam that everyone had to squeeze through? And why did they have to do it? Where were they going? Where was the bridge in relation to the rest of the story? And, yes, it seemed like they could have told a great story without killing off some of the more likeable characters. I'd like to have seen more of Bannakaffalatta. Anyway, an overall disappointment, mostly because it was a vehicle for noises, screams, and a sloppy set.
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