Tuesday 3 June 2014

Voyage of the Damned

A disaster story that is another that is poorly regarded by Doctor Who fans, but another I believe people should have another look at. It dropped 44 places in the First 50 Years Poll but there is a good story hidden in there.

With a bunch of stereotypical, yet well played and enjoyable characters, The Doctor ventures through the realms of the Titanic (listening to interesting Earth 'trivia') as he attempts to rescue the ship and prevent it from crashing into Earth. Turn Left would later take away some of the threats from this story since it claimed that the crash would wipe out London whereas in here it is the whole planet (continuity disaster!). I really like the character of Astrid, Banakafalata (I think that is right - why does RTD need to have really long alien names [Raxocrociofallapatorius - or there about springs to mind]), Alonso Frame and Mr Copper. They are fun which is what this story is - fun. It is a Christmas special therefore it is not meant to be overly dark. On rewatch I wondered why they did not have Host D84 on board (or a more explicit reference to Robots of Death as practically the host plot was practically the same as the robot plot in The Robots of Death - they could have just been the same design with wings and sprayed gold). The score is very good here and it is just a fun romp. A couple of problems include the second kiss scene and The Doctor flying with the heavenly host.

In summary a fun story it. Now my scoring has not been very clear but this story is to receive a seven which puts in the category of a good solid story.

7/10