The Vampires of Venice
Story 207, Episode 762, Series 5 Episode 6
Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor
Companions: Amy Pond, Rory Williams
This story turns out to be better than I remembered, mainly with Arthur Darvill crushing it in his first big episode as Rory.
The Review
I couldn’t remember much about this story, but I ended up having a fair but of fun watching it. The Doctor wants to take Amy and Rory out on a date, and it starts with the hilarious comedy of the Doctor crashing Rory’s bachelor party and saying Amy is a great kisser. Amy is predictably all over the place in this episode, clearly still caring for Rory but put in a very awkward spot of her own making. Rory starts off by not being impressed by the TARDIS being bigger on the inside, and continues to show that although he is still awkward, he is willing to do whatever it takes to save Amy. Matt Smith is great in this episode too, I completely forgot how often he yelled at Amy and Rory in Series 5, and often needed saving from himself. Rory says the Doctor makes people around him dangerous, then gets called out as he volunteers to save the Doctor. Typical.
It’s a pretty typical villain story here, it turns out it’s not actual vampires, it’s aliens that are very similar to vampires. The head vampire, Rosanna, is played by the late great Helen McCrory, and she is a suitably menacing villain. The plot is all pretty rote, villains making rain to flood the city so they can take over the world, refugees fleeing something the Doctor is responsible for indirectly (the Time War in the RTD era and now cracks in time). That’s all pretty standard. It’s a straightforward episode, but it works because of good performances from the cast and McCrory as the villain. The ending of ‘silence’ is nice and unnerving, and keeps up the series arc. Let’s roll on!
The Vampires of Venice might be the most average story ever. It gets in, it gets out, it does its job, its filmed on location, the only quibbles are it’s rather forgettable.
7.95/10 I’ll be harsh for once and deny this an 8 solely on its straightforward-ness.
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 