Tuesday 25 December 2007

Voyage of the Damned

The episode continues from the end of the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", when the TARDIS collided with the Titanic. To investigate further, the Doctor runs the TARDIS's self-repair programme and boards the Titanic, where he discovers that the "ship" is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto.
Modelled after the Earth ocean liner of the same name, the ship is orbiting present-day Earth to observe "primitive cultures"–specifically, Christmas. He decides to stow away, only telling waitress Astrid Peth. The Doctor joins Astrid on a brief excursion to Earth, along with married couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff, an alien with a spiked red head named Bannakaffalatta, and historian and guide Mr Copper. However, the populace of London fled in fear of a third consecutive extraterrestrial attack, and only a few people remain in the city, most notably a newspaper seller called Wilfred Mott.
After the party return from the excursion, the ship's captain, Hardaker, dismisses all the bridge officers to commit an act of sabotage; Dropping the vessel's protective shielding he magnetises the hull of the ship, causing meteors to collide with it, hitting the vessel at three points along the starboard side. The resulting collision kills most of the passengers on-board and puts the vessel at risk of causing an extinction level collision with Earth due to its nuclear powerplant. The Doctor makes contact with Midshipman Alonzo Frame, a crew member who survived the collision, who although suffering from a gunshot wound helps him stabilise and maintain power from the damaged engines. Midshipman Frame had previously refused to leave the bridge, citing company regulations that under no circumstance should the bridge be held by a single officer.
En route to the bridge, the Doctor's party are repeatedly attacked by the Host, androids resembling angels who were programmed to kill survivors of the collision. The Doctor breaks from the party and attempts to reach the control point for the Host. He is taken to the Host's leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn. He was bitter about being forced out of his own company and plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company. To save the Doctor, Astrid rams Capricorn with a forklift. Astrid and Capricorn ride off a precipice to their deaths.
The Doctor uses the Host to reach the bridge, where he uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to start the ship's auxiliary engines, the primary Nuclear Storm Drive having shut down. After stabilising the ship, narrowly avoiding a collision with Buckingham Palace, the Doctor realises that the teleport bracelet Astrid was wearing backed-up her molecular pattern. However, the damaged system can only partially regenerate Astrid. The Doctor reluctantly allows her to dissipate into atoms, so she can fulfil her dream of exploring the universe. The party then amicably part ways, vowing not to forget the Doctor's and Astrid's actions. Mr Copper is left on Earth by the Doctor, since the ensuing investigation is bound to reveal his fraudulent position.