Voyage of the Damned

Allons-y Alonso!

I'm not entirely sure why Voyage of the Damned is seen in a negative light by a high percentage of fandom. It's not a particularly deep story, but as a Christmas special, it's a fun little romp.

A space vessel named the Titanic has crashed into the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor goes aboard to investigate and while there, a system malfunction occurs that will cause the ship to crash into the Earth and kill millions when it's nuclear reactor blows. With a small band of survivors, it turns into The Poseidon Adventure with the Doctor leading this group to a the bridge where he can regain control. The Doctor discovers that the accident was deliberately set by the ships designer who is seeking revenge on his former company. The designer is killed by a hostess that the Doctor had invited to be his companion, Astrid Peth (played by Kylie Minogue) but she is also killed in the process. The Doctor saves the ship but only a small number of the original passengers survive the accident.

I happen to like The Poseidon Adventure so I rather enjoyed this episode. I also didn't mind the grim tone it took with killing off likable characters, although I wish RTD didn't seem to take such glee in doing so. It certainly would have been satisfying to see the more jerky characters killed off as well. But as far as a plot, I enjoyed it.

I also don't recall having any problem with Kylie Minogue's acting either. She wasn't the best actress I'd seen, but she was a sight better than a lot of people who perform that think they can act. I actually enjoyed the idea that she would be a companion, even though in the back of my mind I knew she would either die or be prevented in some other way.

I would imagine that a number of folks thought this story was too much of a mix between a silly romp and a grim death march. I could see how that might turn some people off but it didn't really bother me. I can't recall anything off the top of my head that bothered me about the story. It had moments that looked a little cheap, but that was just the nature of the era. I thought a number of stories in the Tenth Doctor era took on a cheaper look and I don't recall dinging them for that either.

In the end, I enjoyed it. It wasn't deep, but Christmas specials rarely are. It was an enjoyable romp with a bit of a grim bite.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5