Sunday, April 6, 2008

Doctor Who Season 4 Episode 0 Voyage of the Damned

Doctor Who Voyage of the Damned 0/13
The episode continues from the end of "Last of the Time Lords" and "Time Crash" when the TARDIS collided with the Titanic to the Doctor's surprise. To further investigate, he repairs the TARDIS and boards the Titanic. The Doctor learns the ship is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. The ship was modelled after the Earth ocean liner, and is orbiting present-day Earth to observe the "primitive celebration" of Christmas. He decides to stow away, only confessing his status to a waitress, Astrid Peth.
Astrid, who joined the crew of the Titanic to travel throughout the stars, is disappointed because she is not given shore leave. The Doctor sneaks her on a brief excursion to Earth, along with couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff and, an alien with a spiked red head named Bannakaffalatta, and historian and guide Mr Copper. However, the populace of London fled in fear of an a third consecutive extra-terrestrial attackand only a few people remain including the Royal Family and a newspaper seller called Wilfred Mott.
On the Titanic's bridge, Captain Hardaker dismisses all his officers to commit an act of sabotage; he magnetises the hull of the ship, causing meteors to collide with it. The resulting collision kills Hardaker and most of the passengers on-board. The Titanic's engines stop, drawing the ship to an extinction level collision with Earth. The Doctor makes contact with Midshipman Alonzo 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 survivors of the collision. While crossing a bridge over the engine, the party are attacked. Bannakaffalatta transmits an electromagnetic pulse from his cybernetic implants, killing himself in the process. The Van Hoffs die during this attack: Morvin falls into the engines, and Foon commits suicide by jumping off the bridge, pulling one of the Host with her. The survivors take Bannakaffalatta's EMP unit with them as their only defence.
The Doctor breaks from the party and attempts to reach the control point for the Host. His status as a stowaway causes the Host take him to their leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn. He is also cybernetic, and is bitter about being forced out of his own company; he plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company. He orders the Host to kill the Doctor, but Astrid rams Capricorn with a forklift truck over a precipice to their deaths.
The Doctor assumes control of the Host and uses them to make his way to the bridge. He uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to restart the ship's engines. In mid-descent, he realises the ship is heading towards Buckingham Palace but assumes control before collision. 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.
At the end of the episode, the Doctor teleports to Earth with Mr. Copper, who admits he is a salesman who lied about his credentials to travel. Before leaving in the TARDIS, the Doctor allows him to build a new life, funded by the Titanic's expenses card. Before going their separate ways, the two form an agreement that they will never forget Astrid for her heroic actions.

No comments: