Voyage of the Damned DVD
Number of Discs: 1
DVD Number: BBCDVD2604
Certification: PG
Duration: 71 minutes
“…this year’s outstanding Christmas television treat ” – The Express
“… The greatest Doctor Who episode ever” – Daily Star
A spacecraft set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth, a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed-headed mastermind – it’s just another Christmas for The Doctor…
The Doctor is astounded when his ship is struck by the Titanic – a space-going reproduction of the luxury ocean liner. Venturing on board, he meets several of the alien tourists, but when the ship is devastated by a meteor shower, The Doctor and his new friends find themselves stranded in the wrecked, timebomb of a craft set on collision course with Earth…
- The theme tune was revamped for Voyage of the Damned and was a few seconds longer than the previous versions.”I think I just decided to spruce it up – new drums, new rhythm section, new bass line, new little bit of piano, ” says Murray Gold.
- The episode was dedicated to Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who, who had died about a month prior to broadcast.
- Angels seem to be a recurring theme throughout the new series. The Doctor has been referred to as a Lonely Angel, faced the
Weeping Angels and made use of the Master’s mesmeric communication network, Archangel.
- David Tennant’s mother died near the start of production of the episode, requiring the crew to shoot around him during his consequent absence.
- A specific special effects shot is repeated several times in the episode: someone falling While looking up towards the camera. This occurs at least four times in the episode: when the steward is sucked into space (although he’s technically not falling), and when Foon, Morvin, and Astrid and Max fall to their deaths.
- In his first draft of the episode, Davies had Buckingham Palace destroyed by the Titanic, The Doctor stops the ship from crashing but not before it smashes through the palace. In this version, instead of wishing The Doctor a Happy Christmas, the Queen is heard to curse The Doctor. This same early draft also featured a hoped-for cameo by Prince Charles. Davies spared the Palace as he felt it was too negative an ending for a holiday episode.
- Earth was first referred to as Sol 3 in The Deadly Assassin (and last referred to as in Last of the Time Lords).
- The Doctor agrees to let Astrid travel with him, but she dies before she gets the chance to. This also happened to Reinette in The Girl in the Fireplace and Lynda Moss in The Parting of the Ways.
- Earth was next referred as a Level 5 planet in Partners in Crime, and later in Revenge of the Slitheen and The Eleventh Hour.
- The television on which The Doctor, Astrid and Wilf view the news is clearly branded with a Magpie logo, a reference to Magpie’s television company in The Idiot’s Lantern.
- In the episode Turn Left, the Titanic crashes into Buckingham Palace, which destroys London and floods Southern England with nuclear radiation, not the entire world as The Doctor fears.
- David Tennant’s mother died near the start of production of the episode, requiring the crew to shoot around him during his consequent absence.
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