Voyage of the Damned

You know, when Hollywood does a steaming pile of explosions and cgi like this, it's called out for the useless drivel it is. Why is everyone loving this episode? It's so poor, so sub-class, so riddled with stereotypes and amazingly cruelty for a Doctor Who episode. And this was a holiday show?

Life is cheap now too it seems. Russell Davis seems to want to up the body count to match Torchwood. Frankly, I'd not mind if they were as half suspenseful or clever as the two-parter "Impossible Planet" and "Satan's Pit", but if this is a sign of things to come, it's sooo not.

Leave the needless Hollywood violence for Torchwood, hm'kay?

Proof that a big name brings in the viewers, if you judge the success of an episode by viewing figures alone then this is the ultimate nu who adventure, a whopping 13 million of us tuned in, compare that with the exact 5 million less that tuned in for 2014's Last Christmas.

But is it any good?

I couldn't help but smile by seeing KYLIE MINOGUE in the opening credits, I must admit in my teen years I was fan, but that was a little while back.

To start with the incredulity of Last of the Timelords was immense, and it kind of carried on here, with the Titanic bursting through the TARDIS, we'd been led to believe that was an impossibility.

In brief, once on board the Titanic, the Doctor befriends Astrid Peth, and takes her on a trip to Earth. A party is ongoing, with the planets rich, sulky sailors and a Captain up to something. Disaster strikes and mayhem erupts.

The title itself is one of my favourite in the show's history, it's so big and dramatic, perfect for Christmas day.

It's really all about Kylie though isn't it, she accounted for a few million people tuning in, and largely she doesn't fail, she's got one episode to impress some pretty cynical fans. She does rather a good job, there's not enough time for major emotional connection between her and the Doctor, but she's truly likable and the ending leaves a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye.

For me the genius piece of casting was Bernard Cribbins, the man is instantly lovable, and he'd continue to be a joy in Series 4.

Slight Robots of Death feel to it, which is no bad thing, but they're a bit irritating, bit over the top.

70 minutes was a big deal, an extra 10 minutes allowed for more Bailey's and more Ferrero Rochers, a bit of an annual ritual, piece, dr who and the aforementioned goodies.

It's big and garish, but fun and a bit camp, it's not what i'd like throughout the main series, but I'm loathed to say it works well for the annual seasonal special, is it any wonder the viewing figures have fallen, they've gone a wee bit serious.

Dazzling effects detract from a wee bit of padding, but there are plenty of surprises in store. The Palace scenes are comic gold. It has a fairly hefty death count.

Overall 8/10

It's time once again for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, in this one The Doctor, recently companion-less, finds himself inboards the Titanic, an interstellar cruiser orbiting Earth to observe how they celebrate Christmas (which in London isn't festively on account of the previous years' fiascoes) The Doctor also must deal with the Titanic 'crashing' into asteroids.

Pretty much "the Posieden Andventure" set in space with killer robots. This was a little bit of fun fluff, nothing that substantial to think about. The one strike this special has going against it is Kylie Minogue, who can't act her way out of a plastic bag. The other thing going against it is seldom lapses into cheap sappy sentimentality. Neither of those totally ruins the episode, but they do keep it from being on the same caliber as "The Christmas Invasion"

My Grade: C+

In this Christmas special of doctor who, the always spectacular tenth doctor is traveling alone when he arrives on a luxurious space cruise called the Titanic named after...well, the titanic. The Doctor meets and interesting crew of characters who have to fight for survival, which ends tragically for some. This episode is by far my favorite Christmas special. With all the extra time they have sometimes the writers don't know what to do with it. (The Doctor the widow the wardrobe for example) But in this one the suspense and humor kept the episode lively the whole time. There are some villainous angels (blink?!?) but slightly different in character. These ones can move when you see them. They bring some scary moments in to the episode which I highly appreciate being a fan of the scary episodes who. So long story short, VOTD is frightening, funny, and slightly sad, which is everything a good episode of doctor who needs!

"Voyage of the Damned" is a welcome Christmas special. Let's face it, there's hardly any original Christmas material produced these-days so a whole 70 minutes of "Doctor Who" on the 25th December is always a pleasant treat. However, not everything that glitters is gold and despite the presence of Kylie, an appearance by Bernard Cribbins and lots of intergalactic fireworks, this episode lacked true sparkle.

It has to be said, I'm growing tired of Russell T. Davies' over-the-top emotional installments. Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned, scary "Who" story? What Davies supplies is turning out to be predictable, by-the-numbers, emotional porn. I miss the simple pleasures of the show and become frustrated at all the emotional highs and lows and improbable endings. Give me the good old days of Tom Baker! While the overall production standards of this show are pleasing, there's more than a shade of familiarity to the overall look of "Voyage of the Damned". Viewers will scratch their collective heads and wonder, "Where have I seen this corridor / engine room / control centre before?" Good, but not great, I think this was a wasted opportunity.

7 out of 10.