"Voyage of the Damned"
"If you could decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster."
- Mr. Cooper
Hail and well met all! New episodes of
Torchwood, new (old) episodes of
The Sarah Jane Adventures and now new episodes of
Doctor Who: all is well with the world now! I'm extremely happy us poor blokes in North America do not have to wait months and months to continue our travels with the Doctor, so let's get to it, shall we?
Some quick notes:
- The blog will be organized with a straight forward recap/synopsis followed by my actually commentary, nitpicks and quotes. I've adopted this pattern based on feedback from readers. So if you dislike reading a recap (since you've already "watched the episode"), then just skip down to the commentary section and beyond. As time goes on, I will probably shorten the recap portion or just change it up because that's how I roll.
- This blog is based on the unedited BBC broadcast of the show so there is a chance that I could reference a scene that was potentially cut from the Sci-Fi Channel's broadcast. The home video release of this season should be uncut.
OK, now may fortune favor the foolish! Let's begin!
The TARDIS collides with what appears to be the RMS Titanic. After quickly repairing the shields, the Doctor docks his ship in an storage room (with a registry listed as new Zealand) of the ill-fated ship. Venturing out into the main decks he discovers: Christmas/Holiday music playing, modern/futuristic technology like robotic angel information kiosks/hosts and a tiny red alien. Looking out the portal, he says to himself, "Right...," realizing that it's not April 1912 -especially since the portal looks out into space. This Titanic is orbiting Earth on a cruise to explore the Earth's primitive culture and holidays. Bemused, the Doctor decides to stay (he even dons a tux for the festive occasion) and mingles with the ship's crew, staff and guests. Still feeling the effects of the lost of two recent companions, the Doctor immediately zeros in on a possible replacement, Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue), a beautiful member of the ship's staff who dreams to travel amongst the stars (just not as an employee on a space cruise liner) . He is able to use his "psychic paper" to join up with a shore leave tour of Earth, inviting Astrid to come with. The Doctor's concerns about the human reaction to aliens (specifically, Bannakaffalatta) are unfounded as the tour group in teleported to the empty streets of London. A newspaper stand operator tells the Doctor that the population (minus himself and the Queen) have evacuated London because of the previous Christmas' close encounters of the dangerous kind. In mid-sentence, the Doctor and group are teleported back to the Titanic b/c of a power fluctuation. Perplexed by this, he starts snooping around, discovers that the ship's shields are offline and that meteors are heading straight for the ship. He contacts the bridge to warn them of the impending tragedy, and the captain orders him to be taken in custody. Apparently, the captain had magnetized the ship's hull, thus altering the meteors' path by pulling them towards the Titanic. He has done so because of his terminal illness and the need for supporting his family after his death. As the Doctor is being escorted to the brig, followed by Astrid, Morvin and Foon Van Hoff (passengers the Doctor befriended), Bannakaffalatta, Mr. Cooper (the humorously incorrect tour guide) and Rickston Slade (a wealthy passenger), the ship is struck repeatedly by meteors, damaging it and killing many of the passengers and crew. Midshipman Frame, who was shot by the captain before the collision, is able to contact the Doctor and with his help, they discover that the ship's engines are cycling down - if the ship crashes into the Earth, the impact wipe out all life there. The Doctor rallies the survivors to attempt to save themselves, the Titanic and Earth.
During their journey to the bridge, the angelic hosts start killing off all the other survivors in the ship, which forces the Midshipman to seal off the bridge from their attacks. After a small respite, the hosts find the survivors causing them to flee until they are stopped by a chasm, bridged by wreckage, over the engine's core, Morvin accidentally falls to his doom before the start of the attack. Unable to easily break through to the fleeing survivors, the hosts try a new tactic by flying into the chasm, attacking the group with their deadly, boomerang-like halos. Bannakaffalatta sacrifices himself by using his cyborg implant EMP unit to knocking out all but one of the angels, who fall into the engine. The last host manages to reactivate itself, but the Doctor enables a security protocol by shouting out various numbers (such as 666 and 42) and grills it for information. After answering three questions (which is the limit) the host prepares to slay the group. A distraught Foon, ensnares the Host from behind and jumps off the bridge, pulling the angel down with her, to meet her husband's fate. The group separates with the Doctor heading to a hidden control room on Deck 31. He encounters a large number of hosts but is able to trick them into taking him directly to their leader. Astrid and company reach the main deck and attempt to send out a S.O.S. Signal. She notices the rack of teleportation bracelets and asks the Midshipman on the bridge for help in using the device get to help the Doctor. On Deck 31, the Doctor comes face to face with Max Capricorn, who is basically just a head attached to a mobile, cybernetic, life support system. Max's plan is to hide out on Deck 31's impact chamber until rescued after the Titanic destroys all life on Earth. This tragedy would result with the board of directors of his old company being jailed for mass murder - basically, Max wants revenge (and a nice retirement plan). Max orders the Doctor's death but Astrid, who has been watching from the wings, intervenes with a forklift. She, like Foon and Bannakaffalatta before her, makes the ultimate sacrifice by forcing Max to fall with her into the engine core below.
The Titanic lists then starts it's decent into the Earth's atmosphere. The Doctor flies (with the help of the hosts) to the ship's bridge, steers a semi-controlled re-entry which helps restart the backup engines and saves Buckingham Palace too boot. It suddenly dawns on him that Astrid was wearing the teleportation bracelet when she fell - they are supposed to store a person's molecules in the event of an emergency. Sadly, the main device was too badly damaged - what was left of Astrid was only an echo. He kisses her image and sets her molecules free to fly amongst the stars forever. The Doctor and Mr. Cooper teleport off the ship, mainly so that the Doctor could be reunited with his TARDIS and Mr. Cooper could escape possible prosecution for some fabrications made to his employer. The Doctor informs Cooper that he should be able to retire to Earth (with his new found riches from the tour's space credit card). Merry Christmas!
Commentary:
Wow! What a way to come back from a hiatus! That gosh-darn Titanic crash (from the end of season 3) has finally been explained! Thankfully, the Doctor was not responsible for the real-life Titanic disaster (although I believe at the time of this posting some new theories about it's sinking have been released). I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers: I hate them because of the anticipation for the next episode (especially when the next episode is like a year away from being broadcast) and love them because (if good) they make me even more of a rabid fanboy than I already am during the season. What is really even more intriguing and ingenious is the real reason why the Titanic crashed into the TARDIS in the first place. With all this wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff going on, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often to the Doctor... or maybe it does and we just don't know about it. If you have no idea what I am rambling on about (most of you should though -heh) and if you want to understand why a stick of celery was a "brave choice," then I recommend you immediately drop what you are doing (err... reading) and do a search on Youtube for "Doctor Who Time Crash." Make sure to return here when you are done! "Changed the desktop theme" (snicker)
Just as David Tennant's had "his Doctor," Tennant's Doctor is more and more becoming MY Doctor. Granted, no one will able to replace all my childhood memories of the previous Doctors, but Tennant's interpretation of the character is becoming my favorite. Egads, blasphemy! It's just that it's all brand new (well, three seasons new) and current. I really feel connected to the character now more than ever; I really feel the heartbreak and loss when he does or rather, I believe the character feels it. His joy and triumphs and such severe loneliness carry through more, in my opinion, than the previous Doctors before him (although I would had liked to have had an extra season or two with with Christopher Eccleston's Doctor). The actors and production staff should be commended for taking
Doctor Who out of being a mere "children's show" (although the BBC certain still considers it one... wait a second... then what do they consider
The Sarah Jane Adventures?) and beyond campiness. That being stated, so in this episode, there is spaceship/cruise liner named Titanic orbiting the Earth...
For the many months since the end of season three, I ran through all the scenarios in my head about what the episode would be about and how the Titanic collision would be explained -especially since there seemed to be some interaction with the ninth Doctor and the ship/passengers back in 1912 (see season one, episode one, "Rose"). I was actually hoping that Eccleston would return for a Ninth and Tenth Doctor reunion episode. Instead, I got "Time Crash" and Kylie Minogue. So in that sense, this episode was a slight let down... at first (see my comments about cliffhangers and my fanboyism). Watching a few more times has changed my opinion of it for the better.
Side note: I might not had mentioned this idea before but since I really want to see more of the Ninth Doctor, how about the producers make one of those scheduled TV movie/specials in 2009 be about the Time War. To quote Cartman, I think that would be "hella sweet!"
Besides being derivative of the
Poseidon Adventure,
Titanic and
Die Hard. the plot uses many elements from the season one episode, "The End of the World" (and probably a few others that I can't think of at the moment), where the Ninth Doctor takes Rose to a floating platform orbiting Earth in the distant future and things go all haywire. This is not necessarily a bad thing (especially when you consider that there are over 700 episodes of
Doctor Who), but still it's slightly annoying.
I'm not sure that people will agree with me here (I think I lost everyone when I blasphemed above); I really enjoyed Kylie Minogue performance in this episode. In her short time on-screen (relatively speaking), I cared for and what happened to the character of Astrid Peth. I knew ultimately that the character was doomed because she came on to the Doctor just a wee bit strong and the Doctor was on the rebound, plus had already heard about the casting choices for season four. It really sucks for the Doctor doesn't it? Rose is gone, Martha just left and Astrid is dead (if this is a spoiler to you, then why are you reading this in the first place? Heh). It's just a never ending cycle of loss and loneliness for our poor Doctor. One wonders if the producers are following Joss Whedon's style of happy characters are boring characters so lets build them up for a tragic fall. Although I would had loved to have Astrid as the Doctor's new companion, realistically, we have already been-there/done-that with Rose and Martha. In a sense, Astrid's demise could be a subtitle way of the producers b-slapping the audience (and the Doctor) into realizing that the Doctor was not (or should not?) be romantically linked to his companions like in the past. Well, maybe not at this particular moment in time anyway (heh).
Although I enjoyed most of the guest cast performances in the episode, I think ultimately, the episode suffers from having too many secondary characters mucking about. I honestly did not care one way or the other for the characters of Morvin and Foon Van Hoff and Rickston Slade. I understand why they are there and what role they are to play (as well as mirroring the types of passengers on the real Titanic), I feel that more time could had been devoted to Mr. Cooper and Bannakaffalatta (methinks the copy editor will have a field day with that name ha), who also in their short time on screen (really short in Bannakaffalatta's case a pun!), were more fleshed out that those other three. Then again, I did feel sad when Morvin and Foon died; but that is more because of the Doctor's reaction rather than the characters themselves. Meh, what do I know!
Max Capricorn tooth glint and The Doctor's reaction to it - classic!
How wonderful is it to have such a wonderful musical score to accompany this episode? I have stated before that I feel that the background score of the entire series is outstanding and this episode proves my point. If you did not pay attention to the score the first time, please re-watch or rather, re-listen to the episode. From the beautiful Christmas music in the beginning of the episode to the final scene where the Doctor wishes Mr. Cooper a Merry Christmas, the score was simply superb. When combined with the proper editing, the score... well, the episode, truly stands put from many of the other poo... err... shows on television at the moment. Two examples for you to experience again:
- The series of shots leading up to the meteor impact on the Titanic has the score slowly rising in the background, intercut with all the various and relevant characters/locations/scenes, again, mirroring (in our mind's eye) the possible real-life reactions of the actual Titanic's crew and passengers. The Doctor and company freaking out over the knowledge of the meteors, the passengers bemused by the light show approaching them, the captain steadfastly steering them to their doom (with the camera pulling and zooming into his face through the round frame on the window -space-aged iris effect!) and videos of Max and his glinting tooth - seriously, am I watching a motion picture or a television show here? (side note: semi-similar to a series of shots from
Star Trek II when the Enterprise tries to escape from the impeding Genesis device explosion. James Horner's score with the editing and camera work on the bridge is just first class check it out! Also, possibly from
The Godfather as well... OK OK, no more movie references)
- The use of sound or lack of except for her theme (or is that Rose's or Martha's -- Hmmm, I must check that) during the scene when she sacrifices herself to kill Max. Wow!
- It's not just the larger scenes, but smaller ones like when the humorous UK-themed music is heard when the Doctor and Astrid are talking to the newspaper stand owner (side note: make sure to remember this character).
Music, part II: I don't think I like this new Doctor Who opening theme! More blasphemy! I think it's just a little too busy than it needs to be. The string portion that I love seems to get lost in this new arrangement because of all the other things going on in it. Still, it'll probably grow on me. Eventually.
The Doctor should wear a tux more often! Down with celery!
Besides the number "42," one wonders if the entire episode itself was a reference to the Douglas Adams designed computer game, Starship Titanic.
They still use cell phones in the future? Since Christmas on Earth seemed to be a violent holiday, why would wishing others a "Merry Christmas" be considered a friendly or thoughtful greeting?
Robotic angels! Ahhhh! I had my fill (read: fright) of them in the episode, "Blink," from season three! I just knew they would be up to no good! The previous Christmas episodes had evil Santas, so I guess this is an upgrade of sorts. I wonder if the next Christmas episode will feature Santas and angels teaming up to destroy the Doctor.
Since this blog is already way too long and I know I will get yelled at my the editors, I'll finish it up by briefly mentioning that I think the spaceship version of the Titanic actually didn't look too shabby at all. In fact all the special effects were on the mark (except for maybe the hosts flying the Doctor to the bridge). My guess is that future episodes may not have the same quality of effects because of time constraints or budget considerations; however, I hope I am incorrect.
Quotes
Astrid: "You enjoying the cruise?"
The Doctor: "Umm. Yeah, I suppose. I dunno. It don't quite work 'a cruise on your own."
Astrid: "You're not with anyone?"
The Doctor: "No, no. Just me. Just ah, used to be... but ah. but no."
Foon Van Hoff: "They must enormous, these buffaloes. So many wings."
Mr. Copper: "I shall be taking you to Old London Town, in the country of UK. Ruled over by Good King Wenceslas. Now human beings worship the great god, Santa, a creature with fearsome claws and his wife, Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner, like savages."
Host: "Information: You're all going to die."
The Doctor: "Bad name for a ship... or that this suit is very unlucky."
Doctor: "That's my ship over there."
Astrid: "Where?"
Doctor: "There, that box that little blue box."
Astrid: "That's a spaceship?"
Doctor: "Hey! Don't knock it!"
Astrid: "It's a bit small."
Doctor: "A bit distant."
Doctor: "First things first! One: we are going to climb through this ship. B... no... Two: we are going to reach the
bridge. Three or C: We are going to save the Titanic. And coming in at a very low four or D or that little...
brackets they use in footnotes, Y: right then, follow me."
Doctor: "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"
Astrid: "You might be a Time King from Gallabee but you still need to eat.... You look good for nine hundred and
three."
Doctor: "You should see me in the mornings."
Astrid: "OK"
The Doctor: "No more!"
The Doctor: "Take me to your leader! I always wanted to say that."
The Doctor: "So that's the plan? A retirement plan! Two-thousand people on the ship... six-billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser!"
Max: "I never lose!"
Max: "Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence."
Astrid: "Mr. Capricorn! I resign."
The Doctor: "Unsinkable, that's me!"
The Doctor: "You're not falling, Astrid. You're flying."
The Doctor: "Where are you going?"
Mr. Cooper: "I have no idea!"
The Doctor: "No... me neither."
Whew! So ends this blog and at the moment, I can't think of a funny (and current) Doctor Who line to end it with. I guess I'll just end it by promising to feature even more parentheses in the next installment!
Till next time, cheers!
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