eve11 | Lo, for I have seen "Voyage of the Damned" (Reply)

Man, they weren't kidding about the whole "damned" thing, were they? Aside from the approximately 1,920 people who perished with no mention whatsoever in the story, there was still one heck of a body count, omg. It was season 21-worthy. Kinda dark for a christmas special, and I think although it tackled the same themes that the previous special did, it lacked something that the other one had to keep it light. It was an okay homage to the disaster movie, but I wish it had been a bit better of a Whovian episode. Not to say there weren't things I didn't like about it, but it seemed (possibly aptly) like a flash in the pan. With these episodes, I kind of get the Farscape-season-4 feeling; there is so much possibility that always seems to go by the wayside.

So, tidbits:

- Was anyone else reminded of the Eternals at the beginning? I was kind of excited that they might actually have run with that idea. See above notion of possibility going nowhere.

- Thank you Doctor, for bringing up exactly what I was thinking-- why name it the Titanic? I kind of loved this strangely human-yet-alien society of Stowe, with their gala parties and their inept Earth knowledge.

- I actually really liked the first twenty minutes or so, the setup, meeting the cowboy couple and the banker, and the strange little red dude (he was cool btw), and Kylie Minogue-- being an unapologetic Yank, I have absolutely no idea who this woman is, which probably was a good thing. Anyway I suppose she did alright with the material she was given. The material, on the other hand... eh.

- Dr. Copper was fun. Poor Earth scholar-- how wrong was he? On the other hand, it's kind of an easy writing trope, I suppose, too. The confused alien. Still, I liked the scene down on the planet, how the Doctor gave Astrid some shore leave.

- Midshipman Frame was awesome. Though, I have no idea what goes through a writer's head when they merrily write someone getting shot in the chest, then getting progressively better and more mobile as they have to lurch around. As someone on the flist or a

who_daily link mentioned, didn't the Master get shot in that same place? I suppose Stowe-ian anatomy might be a bit different.

- The showdown on the bridge-thing. Sigh. That scene went on forever, half the cast died, and yet it still managed only to be a bit banal. What a downer. I really wanted Cowboy couple to live. And the end...

violetisblue I think this is probably your 'wtf' moment? I was just confused. I thought the Doctor was giving up-- it was an incredibly cheesy visual (um, we should be used to these by now), but actually it was kind of cool to have him burst onto the bridge at the end.

- So, it makes me wonder how many times one-off companions have just blithely thrown themselves into pits of flame for the sake of the Doctor. I mean, in season 21 lots of people got killed, but it wasn't in blind sacrifice to a guy they've just met, it was still within the context of their own lives. It doesn't pan out. If it'd been me, I would have been like, "Oh, deck 31 eh? Have a good time, thanks!" and tried to find some lifeboats. But there just wasn't enough characterization, interaction, etc., to make those decisions work! They did a good job of that last year with Donna-- she was as selfish and as clueless as ever, and the Doctor got to save her, which was cool. Flip it around this time, and it just doesn't work. Donna, I miss you! I'm so glad you're coming back next season!

- The message, overall, nobody gets to choose who lives and who dies, is a good one, but at the same time, um, hey! This is the Doctor! He's 903 (ish) and a Time Lord and he can f-ing do ANYTHING! Including, if he set his mind to it, rescue a set of folks from the belly of the starship Titanic. What I don't like about this is that RTD seems to have sacrificed the Doctor's characterization in order to prove a point. With a big freaking sledgehammer. That was an interesting hero-tale, and maybe it would have done well as a Die Hard movie or The Towering Inferno, but aside from some quick-thinking and sonic-screwdrivery madness, I didn't catch THE DOCTOR out of the generic disaster-movie leader in this one. Which I think was my main problem with the episode.

- The ending was kind of sweet, though it bothers me that the Doctor didn't offer Copper a ride to where he might have wanted to go. Young perky blondes need only apply? Come on!

- So the whole Astrid=Tardis thing was a red herring? Bummer. That might have been interesting. It would have at least given the whole kissing thing a different tack. Rusty, you've got one story you seem to be writing over and over-- please try something new.

So, overall, it was an hour of Doctor Who, which always manages to entertain at some level, but I wish they'd gone a level up from where they did. I've decided that I'm rather through with RTD episodes. But luckily, all we need to do to trap him forever is encase him in a paper bag and hand him a pen, since God knows he can't write himself out of one.