Doctor Who 4x00b - "Voyage of the Damned"

[MI7]

Plot Summary - Written by Russell T Davies
When disaster hits the Titanic, the Doctor uncovers a threat to the human race. Battling alongside aliens, saboteurs and robot angels, can he stop the inferno?

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Just saw "The Robots of Death," sorry, ahem, the Voyage of the Damned. The reason I say Robots of death is because the robots in this episode looked like the VOC robots, sounded like the VOC robots, and started in a similar plot to ROD. Service robots, "oh no, they're killing everyone, who's programmed them to do this?"

I don't wish to be hypocritical about how I spoke to Danny about LOTTL, but I think RTD displayed his usual banality. There were some really bad cliches, loved ones dying and the like. Then there were the small things, like these supposed aliens having cockney accents, and decorating the whole ship with startling accuracy to the titanic. And yet the historical guide had a ridiculously bad interpretation of christmas.

It's a crashing shame as I felt the whole cast was brilliant, especially Richard Bucket from "Keeping up Appearances," and dingo pop star Kylie Minogue.

My main problem is that the inhabitants were just too much like humans for me to believe they are aliens.

I felt I didn't know enough about any of the characters who died to really care that they were killed. The Captain who caused the crash, it was never explained how he was taken over.

But hey ho, never mind, Series 4 is on its way, and looks set to be another corker, roll on series 4!

(Oh, and when the piece of meteorite went through the window of the ship, everything should have been sucked out."
)

[Chris Britton]

This episode is lucky to get a 5/10 from me. What saved it form scoring lower was cracking acting and a plot which got better as things went on.

Firstly. I went back to play the music a few more times, to see if I could get into it. I now think it was crap! Compared to the theme musics for series 1 -3 this was dreadful. It lacked any sort of emotional reaction and was just plain too soft. It did not fit the bill and did not seem very sci-fiish or dramatic enough for me If I could say who I wanted to compose for 2009 and beyond. I would want Dominic and Danny to compose. They could easily top that and make a theme we could all remember.

The plot was initially hard to follow, but it definatley got going as things went on, which was a point in it's favour. I did not think they explained why they chose the Titanic as a ship model and for a name well enough, despite parallels to the original, it all seemed cheesy and cheap. The idea of some poxy space corporation ripping off the ship was stupid. They would have been better served setting it on the original Titanic and having Aliens infiltrate it and having the 9th and 10th Doctors about in my opinion. What saved it for me is how they used a well known conspiracy theory in which the original Titanic was apparently deliberately sank to help White Star Line gain heaps of money form insurance. I think that was nicely done and quite clever. But it seems the production team are afraid of making things look really extra-terrestrial. They need more episodes away from Earth and looking more futuristic.

Sadly the Aliens were just too human, right down to everything. They did not make the ship look even slightly Alien. it may as well have been done from a certain episode of Futurama! That was just cheesy and I bet it was because they blew so much on special effects they forgot about making everything seem extra terrestrial! I am appalled at the handling of this. Even the crewmen were just so human, taking things from our own navies like ranks, it is just too human for my liking, it was not convincing in the slightest. I don;t know if they were trying to imitate the real Titanic. but they just went way over the top. The most alien thing was the Cyborg, who i liked a lot and really was impressed with.I could go on but I am too annoyed to continue. RTD has made a complete hash of settings, concept and portrayal here. Since when did Aliens have very English accents? they were trying to make it too convincing. Like a Star Wars film. As far was i am concerned, I saw no aliens. but a bunch of humans placed in dress, given silly names and told they were alien. The actors were given little to work with. The planet was even called Stowe! Hardly alien at all. They had more convincing jobs back in the old series before the days of computer generated special effects and good old fashioned makeup. I noted one guy said he had bought an earth tux. But that little throw away line was pathetic, a disappointing way to show why they were all imitating 1912 dress sense. Not worth the effort.

The only other good thing was the acting. David Tennant shows once again why he is the worlds favorite Doctor. The chemistry between him and Kylie was wonderful. Kylie played very well and displayed a lot of curiosity, kindness, compassion, she was very convincing and I was sad she died. I would have loved her to stay on. Every actor did his or her job well. I give them kudos, as it stopped this episode form being a disaster. But there was, as Ronn quite rightly said, way too many people about to really get in touch with. I felt little to no emotion with deaths or injuries. It was again, just too cheesy or predictable. I only felt emotion with the Cyborg guy. I loved him and he seemed the most alien. I wished he had survived. but deadly angel like robots going berserk, nothing knew there. So typically Science fiction and they were not scary at all. They might as well have all shouted "Danger! Will Robinson!". That would have made it so bad it would have been funny. I could not feel shocked, or scared or even laugh. I fear the production team are running short of good ideas. The aliens view on Earth was again, too predictable and I wanted to yell at that guy for getting it wrong. It was not comical, and sounded so annoying. Russell T Davies has once again, taken what we love, screwed it up and chucked it out! I can't believe even he had the balls to pen such a thing and get it approved. It's a travesty. If i ever meet him. I am going to give him a piece of my mind. I am tempted to write an angry e-mail.

Thats my many cents on this episode. I wish I could describe fully how I felt but Ronn covered most of my points and I agree with a lot of what he says. (apart from the series 4 bit )

this episode gets a very generous 5/10 from me. But it could have been lower, and probably only would have gotten a 3 had it not been for great acting and a plot which saved itself. it seemed very ripped off, cut out, rushed and no attention to the detail and dramatic, immersing episodes I saw in series 1. I dearly hope they spent more care on series 4. That trailer looked very well done. Sadly it just seemed to be Ood and Sontarans. However the pair of eyes and murky grey skin we see near the end fo the teaster trailer convinces me more that Davros is set to make his return.

Well done to them for dedicating it to Verity Lambert. But I tihnk if she had seen that episode she would have prefered something mroe worthwhile to have been dedicated too.

[Superkid11]

I think I'm gonna skip this one, I'd rather not bother my parents with this, every single reveiw here seems to be bad.

(Imagine if they made an episode with Missingno...)

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Although you're mostly right there, Chris, the bit about aliens seeming too human is also, for me, a constant problem with the old series as well.

[Chris Britton]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Rowlands

Although you're mostly right there, Chris, the bit about aliens seeming too human is also, for me, a constant problem with the old series as well.

Thats a good point actually. I missed that one out. However would you agree that even old series aliens were more convincing then what we saw last night? I could not believe they were alien and back in the days where we did not have big budget special effects they could still do better jobs then last night.

[Josef Kenny]

To me it feels like they included loads of stuff that really shouldn't be there and really was only included for the sake of it. The whole thing felt like a gimmick. It didn't emotionally involve me at all, none of the deaths or any of the vague "twists" affected me in the slightest.

[Ross Hendrie]

I thought it was quite good, not overly so but very enjoyable.

[Chris Britton]

Well right now we have an average rating of 6.29/10. so it would seem this episode was by far the worst Christmas one yet. Lets see who else votes.

[Danny Stewart]

Well, it was an improvement on Last of the Time Lords, but that's not saying much. I enjoyed a lot of it, especially towards the start, but there were tons of points in the episode that I found cringeworthy, and as Rat Souffle said above, many things I felt were just tacked on for the hell of it. All in all, I give it a 5/10, which I think is pretty fair, all things considered.

[Hamster]

Originally Posted by Chris Britton

it may as well have been done from a certain episode of Futurama!

Unfortunately, that very thought continually distracted me throughout this whole episode. In fact, the Titanic looked almost exactly the same as the Futurama one, if i remember rightly.

I wasn't overly impressed with this latest offering, but at least an effort was made to do a different sort of story, unlike the last two. I agree with everyone about the acting - some great stuff there, and I loved seeing whatshisface from Keeping Up Appearances. I'd heard beforehand that this had had a huge budget and was going to be spectacular, but from what I can see, most of that budget was probably spent on getting the likes of the Minogue in. It wasn't anywhere near as spectacular as I was expecting, but that's probably because it was massively overhyped before broadcast. That's a real shame, because if my expectations hadn't been raised so high I would probably have enjoyed it so much more.

As for the new music, the jury's still out. It sounds a little too much like a drumkit being dropped on an 80's electro band for my liking, but after a few more episodes I might get to like it.

Another thing that's been niggling at me slightly: Can this Doctor not keep himself to himself? It seems that pretty much every woman he comes across in his latest adventures he ends up getting a real emotional - possibly bordering on romantic - attachment to.

[Superkid11]

Originally Posted by Hamster

Another thing that's been niggling at me slightly: Can this Doctor not keep himself to himself? It seems that pretty much every woman he comes across in his latest adventures he ends up getting a real emotional - possibly bordering on romantic - attachment to.

Well David Tennant DID play Casanova...

[Chris Britton]

And Casanova did have RTD at the helm if i remember correctly. However it is starting to get on my nerves somewhat.

[Hamster]

Originally Posted by Superkid11

Well David Tennant DID play Casanova...

This is true. However, Elijah Wood played both Frodo Baggins and Kevin in Sin City, and I don't recall any hobbit cannibalism in any of the LOTR films.

[Chris Britton]

Well, unless you class Gollum as an Ex-Hobbit.

[Jamie Minty]

Originally Posted by Hamster

Another thing that's been niggling at me slightly: Can this Doctor not keep himself to himself? It seems that pretty much every woman he comes across in his latest adventures he ends up getting a real emotional - possibly bordering on romantic - attachment to.

See what you mean but I guess in this case there is the reason that so many people died and he promised he would save her and she died for him. But obviously he doesn't have those reasons every time.

[BritCanuck]

Originally Posted by NegativeCyberman

...Obviously he doesn't have those reasons every time.

I'd love to see him try and get away with the "genetic transfer" excuse again.

(I know that was a legit excuse, but only for one episode.)

[Jamie Minty]

I wonder what it is in Series 4!

oh I know, Their in Pompeii so maybe hes sharing oxygen! because the ash is taking it out of the air!

[Chris Britton]

Maybe then The Doctor and Donna can share oxygen more closely, lol.

[Ronnie Rowlands]

Mr Copper was played by Clive Swift. Swift also played Jobel in Revelation of the Daleks.