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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Doctor Who Christmas: Voyage of the Damned (2007)

This is Doctor Who Christmas week--did you see yesterday's "Christmas Invasion?"  Continuing our SCI-FI Christmas in July marathon, Christmas TV History would like to welcome guest blogger Mathias Noble King.  He has studied film at the University of Toledo and is an all around nerd.

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned (2007)
by Mathias Noble King



In the words of the Doctor, “What…What…WHAT?!” I’m very new to Doctor Who but not so new to Christmas, unlike the attendants of the ironically named cruise liner, Titanic, which is on a voyage to Earth. British pop star Kylie Minogue joins David Tennant in this Christmas themed episode full of misunderstood holiday sayings, romance, killer robots, cyborgs and Bannakaffalatta.

She's still waiting tables and he's still saving Earth.

"Voyage of the Damned" aired in December of 2007, was directed by James Strong, and written by Russell T. Davies. After crashing the TARDIS into the Titanic, the Doctor joins the passengers as a “stowaway.” While a corrupt suicidal captain tries to take down the ship with a couple well-aimed asteroids, little does he know that there’s a 903-year-old time lord with a soft spot for Earth on board.

Who doesn’t love a space ship as an actual ship, Captain Harlock anyone?

A major theme of this episode is sacrifice, which ideally is the central theme of Christmas. The Doctor’s hodgepodge team doesn’t disappoint though, ready to jump into the ships main reactor to take down a Host at a moment’s notice (but I guess who wouldn’t if the love of your life just fell to the same fate?).

Bannakaffalatta noble, but dead


After some banter with the Host the Doctor is taken to the cause of this whole mess. And who do you think is behind the ruin of this holiday cruise? Yep you guessed it corporate greed, or maybe revenge however you want to read into it. But once again love and selflessness prevails and Earth and the Doctor live on for another episode (hopefully another Christmas themed one).

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