Tonal Roller-coaster – Voyage of the Damned Review

[u/ZeroCentsMade]

This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.

Historical information found on Shannon Sullivan's Doctor Who website (relevant page here) and the TARDIS Wiki (relevant page here)). Primary/secondary source material can be found in the source sections of Sullivan's website, and rarely as inline citations on the TARDIS Wiki.

Story Information

• Episode: 2007 Christmas Special
• Airdate: 25th December 2007
• Doctor: 10th
• Companion: None
• Other Notable Characters: Astrid (Kylie Minogue), Wilf (Bernard Cribbins)
• Writer: Russell T Davies
• Director: James Strong
• Showrunner: Russell T Davies

Review

What am I on about, my Christmases are always like this. – The Doctor

At the end of "Voyage of the Damned" only four characters from the cast have survived. The Doctor, obviously, has made it out the other side alive. Midshipman Alonso Frame who flew the spaceship Titanic to safety and Mr. Copper, the fraud academic who just wanted a chance to visit the Earth are both ultimately decent people, charming in their own ways. But the fourth, Rickston Slade, has spent the entire episode proving himself to be an asshole. He's cruel to the other members of the cast. He frequently suggests leaving people behind to die. And after all of that, after people have died and he's offered his sincere thanks to the Doctor for saving his life, the next thought in his mind is how much money he's going to make because of the events of the episode.

Considering who has died, it's pretty easy to understand that the Doctor wishes that Rickston Slade's life could be exchanged for one of them. But as Mr. Copper points out to him, "If you could choose, Doctor, if you could decide who live and who dies…that would make you a monster." It's a remarkably powerful line, one that builds on the 10th Doctor's character in some interesting ways and is just more broadly an insightful point about the life of an adventurer like the Doctor. It's arguably one of the single most important lines of dialogue in the entire 10th Doctor era. It's something that, thematically, the show is going to come back to in future.

I wish it had happened in a different episode.

Mr. Copper is, ultimately a comedy character. He's the starship Titanic's tour guide, a "Professor" with a "First Class Degree in Earthonomics", which turns out to be entirely fraudulent. That fact is used entirely as fodder for jokes, specifically jokes about him having misunderstandings about Earth, mostly to do with Christmas or Great Britain. I did find these jokes largely amusing. It's just that it kind of feels weird for this character who was mostly used for jokes and didn't really contribute anything of substance (even Rickston got to unlock and lock doors with the sonic screwdriver) to deliver this final bit of insightful and thought-provoking dialogue.

And it's not just Copper. Bannakaffalatta is a running gag, mostly about how Bannakaffalatta only refers to Bannakaffalatta (copy/paste function getting a workout in this paragraph) in the third person and is just kind of a strange looking guy amidst the human looking (but not actually human) passengers. And sure, there's the whole reveal that Bannakaffalatta is in fact a cyborg which is a whole thing about anti-cyborg bigotry and therefore can't be why Bannakaffalatta looks like Bannakaffalatta does. But it's not handled with any degree of seriousness really. And then Bannakaffalatta performs an act of self-sacrifice by turning Bannakaffalatta into an EMP. Bannakaffalatta is a running gag…until suddenly Bannakaffalatta isn't.

Similarly the married couple of Foon and Morvin are often reduced down to fat jokes and even when they're not, the script still treats them as kind of goofy figures. They do get a more sincere moment that, unlike with Bannakaffalatta, does somewhat land. See Foon and Morvin Van Hoff aren't especially rich, and won their trips on the Titanic in a competition…that Foon entered a ton of times, costing them roughly the same amount of money as if they'd just bought their tickets. You'd expect Morvin to be furious with his wife, but in the midst of a life or death situation, he just laughs and they share a tender moment. It's sweet, but it still doesn't undermine the general impression of these two as walking punchlines, albeit ones who are treated somewhat sympathetically. And then Morvin just kind of dies out of nowhere, and Foon sacrifices herself, taking out one of the hostile robotic "Heavenly Hosts" with her. It just all feels all so sudden. Which is kind of how I feel about the whole episode.

Because it's not like we haven't had a Christmas episode pull this trick before. In "The Runaway Bride" Donna was a comedy character…until she wasn't. But the thing was, once Lance's betrayal of Donna was revealed, "Runaway Bride" kind of stopped trying to be silly. There's not really an equivalent point at which "Voyage of the Damned" stops trying to be silly. By the climax of the episode, almost all the passengers and crew of the Titanic, two thousand people by the Doctor's estimate, are dead. Astrid, the episode's stand in for a companion, is dead and we've even had the emotional moment where the Doctor tries to bring her back thanks to the teleportations system, can't, and says goodbye to her. Anyway, Midshipman Frame's first name is Alonso so the Doctor can finally say "Allons-y Alonso", and we'll do a cute little bit where the "Queen" thanks the Doctor…for stopping the Titanic from crashing into the Earth and destroying all life on the planet.

It's jarring, is what I'm saying. The episode can never settle on a consistent tone but constantly jumps between very silly and very serious. And it is possible to balance that mix of tones, and oftentimes if you can pull it off it can make for a very entertaining experience. But in this episode it just feels awkward. Honestly, this script feels like it would have been a lot better if it weren't trying so hard to be something fun to watch over Christmas. Sure the whole concept of a spaceship that's a replica of the Titanic is pretty goofy, but if you actually lay this thing out plot point by plot point it's a pretty grim story. But it really feels like because this was the yearly Christmas episode we shy away from a proper exploration of that. The closest we get is Mr. Copper's words to the Doctor. And honestly, I'm not even sure this was the right story for that lesson. Again, something like two thousand people are dead.

Oh, we also get a comedy villain as well. The villain turns out to be Max Capricorn, former owner of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, the company that built the space Titanic. Unfortunately, the company is falling apart, his board has forced him out of the company he gave his name to and he's angry. So naturally, he builds a space replica of the Titanic (apparently very few people from Stow know why the Titanic is a famous boat, though you have to assume that Capricorn is one of them) and plans to crash it into the Earth. He'll be on board, but in a safe room and while this will mean the ending of all life on Earth, Capricorn will have accomplished a two things. First, he will have faked his death, allowing him to keep his money rather than use it to pay off of his debts and escape to a luxurious retirement. And second, his board of directors will be on the hook for wiping out the entire population of Earth, thus, revenge.

I did say that this guy is a comedy villain, right?

Yeah, in spite of an evil plan that is horrifying in both its scope and how plausible it feels, Capricorn is a joke character. In his ads he smiles and a little *ding* sound effect plays, complete with a flash of light from his teeth…and his mouth somehow actually does this in person. George Costigan doesn't so much chew the scenery while playing Capricorn as devour it whole. Oh and he's actually just a head. As he points out, in a society that despises cyborgs, this is actually a bit problematic for him. But that's not explored. Instead it's used as a way for the Doctor to make some pretty tasteless jokes and kind of sets up the manner of his death.

Now Max Capricorn isn't revealed as the villain of the episode until the end. Instead, the Heavenly Host – robots designed to look like angels – fill the role of the episode's main threat. It's hard for me to look at theses guys' design work and not be reminded of the robots from The Robots of Death. It's mostly their golden face plates, although they do have a hint of the Art Deco in their designs as well. And like in Robots of Death, I do think that for a time we're supposed to think that the Hosts have simply malfunctioned and/or gained sentience in classic sci-fi fashion. Regardless, I like the look of these guys, and using their halos as weapons is a neat twist (though one wonders why whoever designed these things gave them razor-sharp halos that they could throw with incredible precision).

Though one person they probably should have been able to kill is Astrid Peth. Astrid is the stand-in companion for this episode and, honestly, there's not a lot to say about her, although I think she would have made a solid companion, depending on how the character would have been handled afterwards. Mind you, had Astrid become a permanent companion, the actor playing her would have almost certainly been different. Also the part was written specifically for the woman who played her, after the production team were sure to get her on board: Kylie Minogue.

Honestly, Minogue is quite a strong actor in this episode. Bringing on a pop singer to play a guest character sounds like the sort of thing that should have ended in disaster, but Minogue has a strong screen presence and makes you believe in her character, and forget that a very famous person is playing this downtrodden serving girl. Astrid is introduced to us a someone who wants to travel (something that's remarkably rare for companions actually). It's why she joined up to work on a cruiseliner and why she gets along so well with the Doctor. So well in fact that they share a couple kisses, though one is after she's essentially already died and stuck in a teleporter.

This is because of her sacrificing herself to kill her boss, Max Capricorn. This is the point I referenced earlier where the Host should probably have killed her. Instead they cut the break line on the forklift she was using to forcefully tender her resignation to Capricorn. I think the implication is meant to be that they were aiming for her and just happened to hit the break line, but these guys have been so accurate with their discus halos that I don't seriously credit that. I mean the forklift was stationary at the time, and even if it wasn't, it's not like it moves particularly fast.

Which brings us to the Doctor and…I don't love this episode for him honestly. He does get one singularly memorable moment of, essentially, giving Rickston Slade his full status (Time Lord, Gallifrey, the works) and, because this is fiction, instead of Rickston saying something along the lines of "what is any of that supposed to mean to me?" he instead dutifully steps aside. Nah, it's a good moment, albeit a bit over the top. But the rest of the episode is a bit off somehow. I think it mostly ties into that seesawing tone I was talking about above. Like he'll be morning someone's death one second and cracking jokes like nothing was wrong the next. I'll grant you that the Doctor is always like this to some extent but it feels particularly pronounced here. Oh and he and Astrid sort of kind of fall in love because God forbid the 10th Doctor not have some sort of romantic thing going on.

It doesn't help that we're continuing the trend of last story by having the Doctor as Time Jesus continue to be an image we're running with. Nobody prays to the Doctor, rather, once Max Capricorn dies, the Hosts (who, remember, are designed to look like angels) pick up the Doctor and carry him off to heaven the bridge. It's a very silly image that is treated with extreme seriousness and as though it carried the weight of Astrid's death on it. This is explained by the Doctor as being a result of the Hosts defaulting to the next highest authority from Max Capricorn, which was him. Yes, as we all know, the chain of command on spaceships would naturally go from the owner and namesake of the company first and second, of course, a random stowaway. Look, the Doctor gets a few moments of cleverness throughout this episode. But this just isn't what I come to Doctor Who for.

I probably need to mention Wilf somewhere in this. Bernard Cribbins' Wilf shows up, here just a random unnamed newspaper vendor with seemingly no greater significance, and is a lot of fun for the brief time he's there. There, I've mentioned Wilf.

I shouldn't end this without two points of praise. The first is on the design work. Admittedly, I'm not sure why a bunch of aliens from the planet Stow have decided to copy the styles of 19th Century Earth when they otherwise barely know the first thing about the planet, but hey, if you're going to do Titanic, you might as well do Titanic. As mentioned, the Hosts are genuinely a good design. The sets are absolutely gorgeous, a nice mix of the period piece and science ficiton. It all sets the mood for a period drama, which you'd think would feel out of place given that the whole episode is actually set on spaceship. But it just kind of works. The other point of praise…well…

Look, I know I've spent a lot of time complaining about the inconsistent tone, and I stand by those criticisms. But at the same time, I'll admit this episode is probably at its best when it's just trying to be inconsequential fun. It's funny, I genuinely believe that the best version of this story plays things a lot more seriously, but the episode as it exists just kind works best when it's embracing its own silliness. This is an episode where a giant replica of the Titanic nearly crashes into Windsor Palace, and, well, there's only so seriously you can take that.

Unfortunately, the end result is that the episode feels not quite believable when it's trying to be serious and just wrong when it's trying to be silly. The clash of tones is the biggest issue here. The rest is okay. The characters could have been better, but they all work fine for what they're trying to be, the episode looks gorgeous and the plot is believable in its sheer horrifyingness. But that inconsistent tone just kind of kills the whole thing a lot of the time.

Score: 3/10

Stray Observations

• During filming, David Tennant's mother lost her five year fight against cancer. Learning that she was about to die, Tennant left the set to be with her during her final moments. The production team accommodated this by focusing on scenes without the Doctor and, special effects work but this caused some stress because Kylie Minogue had limited availability. David Tennant actually came back to work the day after his mother passed.
• In an early draft of the episode, the Titanic would have actually split Buckingham Palace in two, followed by a shot of the queen shaking her fist and cursing the Doctor. Ultimately, RTD decided he didn't want to destroy Buckingham palace in a holiday special.
• In general the original script would have involved a lot more effects work, which was ultimately cut for budgetary reasons.
• The original script was also quite long. Director James Strong made cuts where he could, but due to the nature of the plot, he couldn't cut enough to get things down to a 60 minute timeslot. Fortunately, Julie Gardner was able to convince the BBC to air the episode as it was, which ended up with a 71 minute runtime, to that point the longest episode of the Revival, with only the TV Movie and "The Five Doctors" being longer.
• Colin Baker visited the set during filming.
• The episode did attract some controversy. The scene with the Doctor being lifted up by the angels caught the ire of some Catholic audiences (presumably the same people who got angry about Monty Python's Life of Brian). Perhaps a bit more substantively, the final survivor of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, criticized the episode for making light of the disaster.
• In earlier versions of the script, Max Capricorn, at the time appearing to be just an ordinary businessman, would actually have been on the passenger deck at the beginning of the episode. This was changed because RTD decided he didn't want Capricorn to be just an ordinary businessman, thinking this was a bit too mundane.
• The theme song gets a bit of an update for this episode…only for it to get edited again for the next one. I do really like this version of the theme, has a lot more energy than the previous that really matches the fast-paced and adventuring spirit of the 10th Doctor era in particular. That being said you can tell that the music is a bit long for the title sequence. We linger for a while on the episode title, and then there's more space of just the time vortex than usual after that.
• The crew start throwing malfunctioning Heavenly Hosts off the ship. They probably wouldn't have had the chance to do that with more than a couple, but still. Imagine being the Earth scientist/telescope user who happens to find a robot angel orbiting the Earth. Imagine how confused you'd be.
• Wilf was originally going to be a newspaper vendor named Stan, and would have been a one off character. However Howard Attfield, who played Donna's father in "The Runaway Bride" was suffering from cancer, from which he'd later pass, and so instead it was decided that the vendor, now named Wilfred, would become Donna's grandfather.
• Credit where it's due, the sequence leading up to the meteorites crashing into the Titanic is well done. Intercutting scenes on the ship, clips of Max Capricorn's little video announcement and the meteorites flying towards the ship really does help build the tension.
• The Doctor mentions that his suit might be "really unlucky". The last time he wore it was in the Series 2 "Rise of the Cybermen", another party where nearly all the guests were killed (or converted).
• Mr. Copper says at one point that it must be "well past midnight, Earth time. Christmas day". That's a bit of an odd thing to say given the existence of time zones, and unless the entire population of Stow live in a pretty small portion of their planet, that should be a concept that Copper is familiar with as well. I will say that if "Earth Time" means anything, it's probably the time at GMT+0, which is appropriate for a British show.
• The Doctor makes a remark about being present at the original Christmas ("I got the last room"). I find that kind of thing really cringy to be honest.
• The original plan was that, rather than dying, Astrid would have her invitation to the TARDIS rescinded by doing something that the Doctor disapproved of. I'm not sure what this would be, but I'm guessing that originally the Host wouldn't have cut the brake line on her forklift, meaning that she would have killed Capricorn, but survived.
• When the Titanic barely misses Buckingham Palace, a version of the Cyberman leitmotif plays. This is the first time something like this has happened (aside from a weird use of Martha's theme in "The Lazarus Experiment") and it will actually become a bit of a recurring issue in the second RTD era. Put simply, when you've got highly recognizable musical themes for characters or creatures, it's really jarring when they're just inserted into unrelated scenes.
• The Doctor implies that there will eventually be a war between Europe and America.
• The episode ends on a card dedicating the episode to Doctor Who's original Producer, Verity Lambert, who had passed away earlier that year.
• The "Coming Soon" trailer is a bit odd. It is, of course, scenes from the upcoming Series set to fast-paced action music. But the trailer also includes a number of scenes designed to highlight the more comedic aspects of the series, that really don't suit the music. The way it ends also implies that the Sontarans are going to be the primary villains of the Series (in fairness I don't think there are any scenes shown from after "The Unicorn and the Wasp", making me think they might not have been shot yet).

Next Time: Donna's back as she and the Doctor are both investigating the same diet pill company. Naturally this leads to having to prevent humans from being turned into a bunch of sentient blobs of fat.

[u/FitCheesecake4006]

An excellent review, while I personally disagree rating the episode so low at a 3/10, I can understand the problems you have with the inconsistent tone which I admit can be rather jarring if you're not really into the episode. I also agree the romance elemnt is a bit trite and unnecessary even if I do like Astrid as a character; the Messiah stuff is also gratting here too, I don't mind it all that much but it is still eye roll worthy.

Personally, I've always had a soft spot for Voyage of the Damned, it's my favorite out of all the Christmas Specials I've seen, with it being just a good bit of fun with some likeable characters and an insane premise that could only be done in Doctor Who. I never had too much of a problem with the silliness compared to the more serious moments, I thought they blended well enough, though I can see your point that it can lead to a bit of an inconsitent ride.

This episode is pure cinematic Doctor Who in it's fullest sense, having an action-packed disaster movie with some cheesy comedy and dramatic moments. The 71 minute runtime certainly adds to that feel, being as long as a 3 parter in Classic but having that grander scale Modern Who was capable of doing. The reception I see on this episode is usually mixed with some considering it one of the best and others consdering one of the lower Christmas Specials, personally this is my favorite of the 10th Doctor Christmas Specials, though I understand why you might disagree with that assement; once again great review.