"Doctor Who"
Voyage of the Damned (2007)

Director:

James Strong

Writer:

Russell T. Davies (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

25 December 2007 (Season 4, Episode 0)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Doctor finds his TARDIS colliding with a spaceship based on the RMS Titanic during a Christmas party...

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Titanic | Dark Past | Man With No Name | Conflict

Cast

David Tennant	...	The Doctor
Kylie Minogue	...	Astrid Peth
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Captain Hardaker
Russell Tovey	...	Midshipman Frame
George Costigan	...	Max Capricorn
Gray O'Brien	...	Rickston Slade
Andrew Havill	...	Chief Steward
Bruce Lawrence	...	Engineer
Debbie Chazen	...	Foon Van Hoff
Clive Rowe	...	Morvin Van Hoff
Clive Swift	...	Mr. Copper
Jimmy Vee	...	Bannakaffalatta
Bernard Cribbins	...	Wilfred Mott
Nicholas Witchell	...	Himself
Paul Kasey	...	The Host
Stefan Davis	...	Kitchen Hand
Jason Mohammed	...	Newsreader (as Jason Mohammad)
Colin McFarlane	...	Alien Voices (voice)
Ewan Bailey	...	Alien Voices (voice)
Jessica Martin	...	The Queen (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Murray Gold	...	Band Member (uncredited)
Yamit Mamo	...	Singer (uncredited)

Directed by
James Strong

Writing credits
Russell T. Davies		(written by)

Cinematography by
Ernest Vincze

Casting by
Andy Pryor

Costume Design by
Louise Page

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Guy de Glanville	....	second assistant director: second unit

Art Department
Will Pope	....	stand-by carpenter

Sound Department
Kelly-Marie Angell	....	foley editor
Paul McFadden	....	supervising sound editor
Julie Ankerson	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Tim Barter	....	digital compositor
Tim Barter	....	on-set visual effects supervisor
Ceres Doyle	....	visual effects editor
Nicolas Hernandez	....	3D supervisor

Stunts
Dean Forster	....	stunt performer

Camera and Electrical Department
Stuart Brereton	....	additional photographer
Tom Hartley	....	second assistant camera
Steve Hopkins	....	electrician
Steve Rees	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Casting Department
Andy Brierley	....	casting associate

Editorial Department
Carmen Roberts	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Ben Foster	....	conductor
Ben Foster	....	orchestrator
Gerry O'Riordan	....	music recording engineer

Other crew
Brian Minchin	....	script editor
Emma Woodcock	....	location manager

Thanks
Verity Lambert	....	in memory of (as Verity Lambert OBE, 1935 - 2007)

Makeup Department
Stuart Bray	....	special makeup supervisor
Neill Gorton	....	special makeup and prosthetic effects
Rob Mayor	....	special makeup supervisor

Production Management
Lowri Thomas	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sean Clayton	....	second assistant director
Chris Hill	....	third assistant director
Alex Mercer	....	third assistant director

Sound Department
Colin Cooper	....	adr mixer
Dave Humphries	....	foley recordist
Richard Ostroff	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Charlie Bluett	....	special effects senior technician
Benjamin M. Esterson	....	special effects coordinator
Waldo Mason	....	special effects makeup

Camera and Electrical Department
Gareth Hughes	....	camera operator: second unit

Other crew
Ian Gruchfield	....	brand manager: BBC

Runtime:

71 min | 70 min (1 Episode)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG (DVD rating)

Trivia:

Mr. Copper was offered to Bill Treacher who turned down the part because of a back problem.

Quotes:

The Doctor: Take me to your leader! I've always wanted to say that!

Movie Connections:

References Passenger 57 (1992)

Twelve Million Plus Saw It on Christmas and It Was Pretty, But Not Great

This is the second Christmas Special for New Who to really disappoint, without actually being dull, particularly bad, or really horribly offensive. This was prettier, wittier, and just plain bigger than the story we got last year for Christmas, but it still paled in comparison to the hit of 2005's special which introduced the ever more popular David Tennant as the dashing geek, the Tenth Doctor. The primary complaint to be leveled here is that this was a rather tired and very familiar sort of story for Who, all flashy and fun but still overwrought with so many strange notes of high passion when the passion just seems to be all wrong for the moment. It was not bad, just tired. Nothing really new and worthy went on here after the first five minutes passed. For fear of spoiling your enjoyment, I'll keep quiet about most of the details.

Great success was to be found here by the production team for Who in making a truly beautiful show, all shiny and gorgeous, but the many witty homages, jokes both inside and out, and great casting aside, this was still just another overwrought melodramatic Russell T. Davies story with some really bizarre scenes involving the deaths of short-term characters and some inexplicably emotional responses to said deaths. If you watch this for the cheap thrills of the Who-ness of some really pretty big-budget Doctor Who on Christmas, then by all means, enjoy. But the thematic, imaginative, and storytelling great heights and depths that have been reached occasionally in the best of the new series are not touched here, merely aimed for - and missed.

This was a very pretty disappointment. Frankly, I'm tired of that. The majority of the big themes are undeveloped enough make the justification for epic qualities, unfortunately. Even if it surely justified 12.2 million live British viewers upon first viewing.