Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)
188 – "Voyage of the Damned" | |||
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real ship of the same name and the main setting of the episode, orbits above the Earth. | |||
Cast | |||
Others
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Production | |||
Directed by | James Strong | ||
Written by | Russell T Davies | ||
Script editor | Brian Minchin | ||
Produced by | Phil Collinson | ||
Executive producer(s) | Russell T Davies Julie Gardner | ||
Music by | Murray Gold | ||
Production code | 4.X | ||
Running time | 72 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 25 December 2007 | ||
Chronology | |||
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"Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British
In the episode, the alien businessman Max Capricorn (
On its original airdate Christmas 2007, "Voyage of the Damned" was watched by 13.31 million viewers, the highest viewing figure for Doctor Who since the 1979 serial City of Death and still the highest viewership of any episode since the show's revival. It was the second most-watched programme of 2007, beaten only by the episode of EastEnders which aired immediately after it. Critical opinion about the episode was divided; the writing and Minogue's performance were both praised and criticised.
Plot
The
After the party return from the excursion, the ship's captain, Hardaker, sabotages the ship by engineering its collision with three meteors. The resulting collision kills most of the passengers on board and draws the ship to an extinction level collision with Earth. The Doctor makes contact with Midshipman Frame, a crew member who survived the collision, to help him stabilise the ship. En route to the bridge, the Doctor's party are repeatedly attacked by the Host, androids resembling angels who were programmed to kill the survivors. The Doctor breaks from the party and attempts to reach the control point for the Host. He is taken to the Host's leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn, who is a head attached to a mobile life support unit. Capricorn was bitter about being forced out of his own company and plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company by framing the board of directors for murder; the terminally ill Captain Hardaker's part was secured by promising financial support for his family. To save the Doctor, Astrid rams Capricorn with a forklift, which sends both of them over a ledge to their deaths in the engine.
The Doctor uses the Host to reach the bridge, where he uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to restart the ship's engines. After stabilising the ship, the Doctor realises that the teleport bracelet Astrid was wearing backed up her molecular pattern. However, the damaged system can only partially regenerate Astrid. The Doctor reluctantly allows her to dissipate into atoms, so she can fulfil her dream of exploring the universe.
Production
Casting
During the third series press launch in March 2007, the production team was approached by William Baker,
Minogue met designer Louise Page four times during pre-production to discuss her costume. Page rejected a long dress because it was atypical to Minogue; she instead elected for a "
Writing
The episode was primarily written by Russell T Davies after Minogue was cast. Davies described his pitch to Minogue as "
Davies based the episode on the traditional
The episode includes several external references: the episode is dedicated to
Filming
Filming primarily took place between 9 July and 11 August 2007;[1] the first scene filmed depicted the group being accosted by the Host while crossing over the engines.[10] On 12 July, Tennant's mother, Helen McDonald, began to succumb to her cancer. Filming was rescheduled to allow Tennant to be present when she died and was buried—on 15 and 21 July, respectively.[1][13][14] During Tennant's absence, scenes in the Titanic's reception area were filmed at the Exchange in Swansea and the Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay.[15] Tennant filmed his scenes in the area on 16 and 17 July.[1] The last use of the Coal Exchange was on the 18th; scenes depicting the ship's collision with meteors were filmed on that day.[1]
One week of filming was conducted primarily at the old DuPont site in Pontypool which provided the sets for Deck 31—Capricorn's refuge and command centre. Much of the old extrusion machinery still in situ and their corresponding control "Thorn Drive" panels —and the various stairwells and corridors of the ship. Scenes on Deck 31 were filmed on 19 and 20 July. A double, Danielle de Costa, operated the fork-lift truck because Minogue didn't have the required license.[1] Shooting was staggered as a result of Tennant's departure: 21 July focused on the supporting characters; and 23 July focused on Tennant. The aftermath of the meteor strike was filmed between 25 July and 27 July.[1]
Filming returned to the Exchange in Swansea to film two more scenes: the denouément of the episode was filmed on 28 July; and the pre-credits sequence on 30 July. The most important day of filming was on 31 July 2007: an evening location shoot of the party's arrival in London. Before filming commenced, Minogue covered her death scene above a chroma key mattress.[1] The scene in London commenced filming at sunset in Cardiff city centre.[1] For security concerns—specifically, protecting Minogue—the street was sealed off for the first time since the show's revival in 2005.[1][2]
Filming finished in the first two weeks of August 2007: the closing scene was filmed in Cardiff Docks on 1 August; Hardaker's death was filmed at Upper Boat on 2 August; scenes in the ship's kitchen were filmed on 3 August; and scenes on the bridge were filmed from 6-8 August. The last day of filming was on 21 August 2007; cameo scenes by BBC reporters
Music
Composer
Broadcast and reception
Broadcast
Overnight figures estimated that the episode's Christmas Day broadcast was watched by 12.2 million viewers. The final viewing figures were 13.31 million viewers with a peak of 13.8 million, the second highest audience for any programme during 2007: the episode of BBC soap EastEnders which aired after "Voyage of the Damned" was watched by 13.9 million viewers.[17][18] The viewing figure is the highest for the new series, exceeding the previous record set by "Rose". The figure is also the highest for Doctor Who overall since 1979, specifically, the final episode of "City of Death".[19][20] The episode's Appreciation Index rating was 86 ("excellent"), above the average score of 77 for drama programmes, and was the highest Index rating for any programme shown on terrestrial television on Christmas Day.[21] Although not filmed in HD, the BBC aired it on BBC One HD, Wednesday 29 December 2010, having up-scaled the programme to HD and also including Dolby Surround sound. This is the first Doctor Who episode, filmed in SD, to have been up-scaled to HD for broadcast on television, and the second episode, overall, to be up-scaled from SD to HD, the first being the 2008 Christmas Special, "The Next Doctor", for the Blu-ray release of the Complete Specials Boxset.[22]
This special first aired in Canada on
Criticism and review
The episode was criticised by Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the 1912 Titanic sinking, who said: "The Titanic was a tragedy which tore so many families apart. I lost my father and he lies on that wreck. I think it is disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy."[24] A spokeswoman for the show said: "No offence was intended. 'Voyage of the Damned' is set on a spaceship called The Titanic and not a boat."[24] The organisation Christian Voice expressed offence at the religious imagery of a scene in which the Doctor is lifted through the ship by robot angels, believing the messianic portrayal of the Doctor as "inappropriate".[25]
Gareth McLean, who reviewed a preview screening for The Guardian's TV and radio weblog, appreciated the episode's use of "the disaster movie template" and came to a favourable overall conclusion: "For the most part, The Voyage of the Damned is absolutely smashing." Its main flaw, in his view, was the "blank and insipid" acting of Kylie Minogue.[26] James Walton of The Daily Telegraph gave the episode a positive review, summarising it as "a winning mixture of wild imagination and careful writerly calculation".[27] Alex Clark of The Observer commented that the death toll was rather high, but she still thought the episode was "an oasis of cheeky nonsense and careless invention".[28] Harry Venning of The Stage concluded his positive review of the episode by stating it "was well up to Doctor Who's impeccably high standards".[29] Doctor Who Magazine placed two of the deaths in the episode in its list of the top 100 deaths in the history of the show. Bannakaffalatta's death, a self-sacrifice to save the Doctor's party, was placed in the "top 20 tearjerkers" category. Astrid's death was given the title of "Doctor Who's all-time greatest death scene", commenting it "ticks boxes in all of our main categories [(gruesome, scary, self-sacrifice, tearjerking, surprising)]", and "her death would truly make a glass eye cry."[30] Tim Teeman of The Times gave the episode a negative review, stating that "It was boring, despite the endless dashing about and CGI flimflam."[31] The Daily Mirror commented the episode had "some brilliant psychedelic Pink Floyd-esque imagery", "great baddies", and "neat jokes", but lamented that "the plot was a mess, consisting mostly of one hi-tech chase scene after another, and it descended into noise and bluster."[32]
DVD release
The episode was first released in the UK on DVD in March 2008.[33] The ten Christmas specials between "The Christmas Invasion" and "Last Christmas" inclusive were later released in a boxset titled Doctor Who – The 10 Christmas Specials on 19 October 2015.[34]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Pixley, Andrew (14 August 2008). "Voyage of the Damned". Doctor Who Magazine. Vol. The Doctor Who Companion: Series Four, no. Special Edition 20. Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Panini Comics.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Confidential at Christmas". Doctor Who Confidential. Season 4. Episode Special. 25 December 2007. BBC. BBC Three.
- ^ Hayes, Paul (27 April 2007). "Kylie Minogue cast?". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
- ^ Hayes, Paul (27 April 2007). "Davies dismisses Kylie rumour". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
- ^ Marcus (12 May 2007). "Christmas Episode 2007". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
- ^ "Step Back In Time". BBC. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2007.
- ^ Mark Gatiss (writer), Euros Lyn (director), Phil Collinson (producer) (27 May 2006). "The Idiot's Lantern". Doctor Who. Series 2. Episode 7. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ "Doctor who Guide: Colin McFarlane". guide.doctorwhonews.net. Doctor Who Guide. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
- ^ T Davies, Russell (April 2008). "Be My Guest". Radio Times. No. 5–11 April 2008. BBC. p. 17.
- ^ a b c Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner (25 December 2007). "Voyage of the Damned commentary (stream)". BBC.co.uk (Podcast). Retrieved 25 January 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f "Doctor Who - Fact File - Voyage of the Damned". BBC. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ Russell T Davies (writer), Graeme Harper (director), Phil Collinson (producer) (1 July 2006). "Army of Ghosts". Doctor Who. Series 2. Episode 12. BBC. BBC One.
- ^ "Tributes pour in for Helen". Paisley Daily Express. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
- SyFy Portal. Archived from the originalon 26 September 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
- ^ "Walesarts, Coal Exchange and Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay". BBC. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ Berriman, Ian (13 December 2007). "Phil Collinson on Doctor Who". SFX. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
- ^ Ormsby, Avril (26 December 2007). "EastEnders pips Dr Who on Christmas". Reuters. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ Marcus (11 January 2008). "Voyage – 2nd most watched programme in 2007". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 15 March 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
- ^ Wilkes, Neil (26 December 2007). "'Doctor Who' gets best ratings since 1979". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ "Titanic Success!". BBC. 26 December 2007. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ Marcus (27 December 2007). "Voyage - Appreciation Index". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- ^ "Voyage of the Damned", BBC, retrieved 4 February 2011
- ^ "BBC Worldwide and Space Wrap Up Sci-Fi". channelcanada.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
- ^ a b "Doctor Who Slammed By Titanic Survivor". Daily Record. 22 December 2007. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (21 December 2007). "Christians protest as Doctor Who is portrayed as 'messiah'". The Times. London. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- telegraph.co.uk. London. Archived from the originalon 1 January 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ Clark, Alex (30 December 2007). "Feel the pain and pass the port". The Observer. London. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
- ^ Venning, Harry (28 December 2007). "TV review". The Stage. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
- ^ "Doctor Who's 100 Greatest Death Scenes". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 393. March 2008. pp. 18–30.
- timesonline.co.uk. London. Archived from the originalon 17 May 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
- ^ Shelly, Jim (17 December 2007). "EastEnders saves the day". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- ^ "Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned, 2007 Christmas Special". 17 April 2019 – via Amazon.
- ^ "Doctor Who News: Doctor Who - The Ten Christmas Specials". Doctor Who News. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
External links
- "Voyage of the Damned" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
- "Voyage of the Damned" at IMDb
- "Voyage of the Damned" shooting script (archived from 2008)