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Doctor Who - Voyage of the Damned
episode 4.0
UK 2007
produced by Phil Collinson, Russell T.Davies (executive), Julie Gardner (executive) for BBC Wales/BBC
directed by James Strong
starring David Tennant, Kylie Minogue, Geoffrey Palmer, Russell Tovey, George Costigan, Clive Swift, Debbie Chazen, Clive Rowe, Jimy Vee, Gray O'Brien, Andrew Havill, Bruce Lawrence, Bernard Cribbins, Nicholas Witchell, Paul Kasey, Stefan Davis, Jason Mohammed, Yamit Mamo
written by Russell T.Davies, music by Murray Gold
TV-series Doctor Who, Doctor Who (David Tennant), Doctor Who (new series)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It's Christmas on earth, and for some reason, Doctor Who (David
Tennant) lands on the Titanic - not the earth ship that crashed into an
iceberg mind you but an interstellar cruise spaceship that is to visit
earth for Christmas.When the Doctor and his new friend Astrid (Kylie
Minogue) teleport down to earth though, they find London empty - mainly
because there seems to be an alien invasion every Christmas (see episodes The
Christmas Invasion and The
Runaway Bride). But there are actually far more pressing matters
at hand since the Titanic, it seems, is on a collision course with earth
(which would effectively destroy the planet), something her captain
(Geoffrey Palmer), a terminally ill man in the employ of some sinister
power, actually supports, so much so that he even flies his ship into a
meteor shower which kills most of the cast and crew (and himself too).
As always, it's now upon the Doctor and a small group of survivors
including Astrid and ignorant but likeable earth historian Copper (Clive
Swift) to find a way to save the earth, find out who's behind all of this
and make their way to the bridge, where inexperienced midshipman Frame
(Russell Tovey) does his best to keep things from getting even worse. What
complicates matters of course is the fact that the service robots, the
Hosts (who look remarkably like golden angels) have turned hostile and are
now out to kill survivors of the meteor shower.
Of course, the Doctor ultimately figures everything out, and finds the
man behind it all aboard the ship: Max Capricorn (George Costigan), the
owner of the company that owns the Titanic who is also a cyborg (on
wheels), and who, since the company stocks are falling, tries to create a
grande exit, at the end of which he alone will be saved. But when the
Doctor finally finds all of this out, it might already be to late since he
is surrounded by Hosts ordered to kill ... but enter Astrid with a
forklift, who ultimately throws Capricorn into the ship's reactor, even if
it costs her own life - and breaks the Doctor's heart, who has chosen her
as his new travelling companion.
And ultimately, the Doctor also manages to make his way to the bridge -
by way of Hosts that are now no longer hostile and that can fly - and save
the Titanic just before it crashes into Buckingham Palace.
Generally speaking, the new Doctor Who series was a bit
of an affair of hit-or-miss, with most of the previous season's episodes
belonging to the latter category. Voyage of the Damned however
proves that the series is not out of breath by a long shot, merging
consciously corny plot elements with intentional humour, action that
doesn't relie too much on CGI effects and screwy science fiction logic.
Add to this a bit of plot stolen from the classic series episode The
Robots of Death and Kylie Minogue, and you have one entertaining
piece of science fiction television.
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