New Who Review for “Voyage of the Damned”
Posted By Kathleen David on April 22, 2008
Short version now. Longer version later when I have some time.
Please remember that spoilers are allowed in the comments.
Overall I really liked it. I thought Kylie did a great job as Astra Peth. It was a good Doctor Who version of the Poseidon Adventure .
I am grateful that Doctor Who is starting up in the Americas.
Hmmm. I was more impressed with the elderly actor playing the tour guide. Now that would have made an interesting companion for a while.
Tennant’s acting is what made that episode tick. When he does leave the show, he will be missed.
Just wondering, Kath, have you seen or mentioned the Sarah Jane Adventures on Sci Fi? If you have seen it, any comments?
There were two really cool faces in that episode..i don’t know the actors names but the guy who was the capt is the lead in As Time Goes By and the tour guide is Mr Bucket (no…Bouquet!) in Keeping up Appearances;)
By the way..did anyone else who was at NYCC see the guy dressed as Mickey? I only saw him when we were standing in line and i didn’t have enough time to get a picture nor to get the Doctor out of my bag! I kept an eye out the rest of the con for him but never saw him!
Wouldn’t it be ultra fab if NEXT YEAR there were folks dressed as Who characters at the con??? I’d be willing to do it…but the only one i might be able to pull of is Ace… slightly aged Ace;)
The tour guide was played by Clive Swift. He plays the village priest in a truly excellent show called Born and Bred, about rural Lancashire in the 1950s, that people might be able to find if they hunt around their PBS listings. B&B was produced by Phil Collinson (Doctor Who) and written by Chris Chibnall (Torchwood), so a lot of its cast have a habit of popping up in New Who–the village nurse plays the family matriarch in the episode “The Fires of Pompeii” that will be coming up on Sci Fi the Friday after this one, for instance.
The captain was played by Geoffrey Palmer. For any Bridge on the River Kwai fans, he played the young doctor who became uncomfortable with how willing Sir Alec Guinness’s character was to collaborate with the Japanese.
Clive Swift also played Jobel in the Colin Baker story “Revelation of the Daleks”, and Geoffrey Palmer appeared in two Jon Pertwee Doctor Who stories, as a British government minister in “Doctor Who and the Silurians” and as an Earth Empire minister in “The Mutants”. Since all three of these characters died very ugly deaths, there was a joke when their casting was announced about the real reasoning behind the title “Voyage of the Ðámņëd”. 😉
For me, though, the coolest piece of Who casting in VOTD was Bernard Cribbins, who played the old man at the newsstand. He also played the Doctor’s companion in the second of the two 1960s DW movies starring Peter Cushing, “Dalek Invasion Earth: 2150 AD”.
With out giving too much away, I loved the idea of the “Whoniverse’s” London being nearly deserted at Christmas.
oh..i didn’t get a chance to really look at the show while i was on…what was on while i was trying to get a little computer time i THOUGHT i was taping. I missed the guy at the newstand! I love it when they let inside bits like that in!
Yes, it was great seeing all those great actors in this episode. Regarding Clive Swift on Born & Bred – I’ve seen the first three seasons of this. They are great. I am thinking of passing on the 4th and final season for a number of reasons. They phased out one of the lead actors at the end of the 3rd season and they get rid of the other lead actor for the 4th season. I’ve also read that the 4th season ends on a terribly unresolved cliffhanger.