The Vampires of Venice is the sixth episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who. It was written by Toby Whithouse, directed by Jonny Campbell and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor & Karen Gillan as Amy Pond with Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams.
Overview[]
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Synopsis[]
Wanting to understand Amy's sudden attraction to him, the Doctor takes her and Rory to Venice in 1580 on a romantic getaway so Amy can retract her focus to her fiancé. However, upon arriving there, it becomes clear that bizarre events are surrounding a special school orchestrated by Signora Rosanna Calvierri. Hidden beneath the school is a secret chamber, out of which something magical and evil happens. While Amy goes undercover in the school, the crude effects of Calvierri's process comes to light and Rory confronts the Doctor and the dangerous lifestyle he leads...
Plot[]
Venice, 1850 - boat-builder Guido brings his 17-year-old daughter Isabella before Signora Rosanna Calviarri and requests her entry to her Calvierri School. At the insistence of her son Francesco, Rosanna agrees to accept her and suggest Guido say his farewells. As he leaves, Isabella turns to Francesco as he presents a pair of vampiric fangs. In 2010, Rory calls Amy's house from his stag night as his friends bring in the cake containing the hired stripper. As they all call for her to emerge, the Doctor springs out of the cake, to the bewilderment of everybody else and Rory's shock and slight horror. The Doctor turns to him and claims they need to talk about Amy, blurting out the fact that she kissed him without realising how bad it sounds until the stunned silence afterward.
In the TARDIS, to prevent Amy and Rory's relationship falling apart, the Doctor directs them to 16th century, Venice for their 'date'. On exploring, the Doctor spots Guido parading the veiled girls from the Calvierri School looking for Isabella, except one of the girls pushes him away once he finds her; while Amy and Rory aren't looking, he slips away and speaks with Guido who tells him that something more is going on the Calvierri School, something evil. In the school, Francesco insists to Rosanna to if they don't go ahead with their plan soon, they'll be discovered, but Rosanna is unconcerned.
Elsewhere, Amy and Rory wander through the city with Rory being perturbed hearing of Amy's recent adventures before turning to wonderstruck about his surroundings. They are watched by Francesco who attacks a passing flower girl after they leave; while Rory examines the girl, who has a bloody bite-mark on her neck, Amy chases after Francesco and loses him. Meanwhile, the Doctor gets Guido to cause a distraction while he sneaks into the school cellar and is confronted by the schoolgirls, whom he discovers don't have reflections. He races off, thrilled, and runs into Amy above ground.
The travellers meet with Guido in his house and he shows them a map of the House of Calvierri where there is a tunnel beneath to get them inside, blocked off by a trap door. Amy suggests applying for the school to get inside and let them in but the Doctor refuses; however, when he also rejects Guido's plan that they blow their way in with barrels of gunpowder, he relents and he sends Amy and Rory in as siblings to get Amy accepted; while she's inside, she meets Isabella in the girl's dorm room. That evening, the Doctor, Rory and Guido sneak inside the house through the tunnel.
While Amy unlocks the trap door, she is captured by Rosanna who, not being fooled by the psychic paper, demands to know who she really is and takes her to the conversion chambers, strapping her in a chair and biting her. The Doctor and Rory get in through the trap door and find a fully-dehydrated body in a chest, a failed victim of Rosanna's process. Rory loses his temper and accuses of the Doctor of making people a danger to themselves by making them want to impress him. The girls emerge from hiding and chase them through the tunnels while the Doctor holds them off with his ultraviolent wand.
In the chamber, Amy kicks Rosanna and damages a device concealed beneath her skirt, revealing her true form - a large, amphibious creature with fangs. When they hear the Doctor and Rory, they leave to intercept them and Isabella sneaks in and frees Amy. The four flee through the tunnels but Isabella is hindered by the sunlight, due to the process and is dragged back inside. The Doctor attempts to get her out by is downed by an electric shock sent through him by the metal of the door. Shortly afterward, Rosanna has Isabella drowned by more creatures in the river for her treachery.
Returning to her chambers, she finds the Doctor waiting for her, asking for answers. She explains that she and her brethren, as members of the Saturnyn race, lost their own world through cracks in the universe and ran from the silence that followed and plans to make their Earth a new home for them as they build a new empire. The Doctor refuses to assist her in committing genocide, after hearing of Isabella's fate, and promises to take down Rosanna's school before leaving.
After he's gone, Rosanna presents himself to her girls, promising that the time is coming to proceed while her natural form keeps sporadically shifting with her broken perception filter. Back at Guido's house, the Doctor reasons that Rosanna's people can't survive on land and thus deduces that her plan is to sink the city and repopulate it by partnering the girls from her school with the male offspring that survived that transit to Earth and are living in the canal. The schoolgirls, now completely transformed, attack the house and the travellers flee but Guido shuts himself inside and lures them to the gunpowder stash. Using a torch, he ignites it and causes a giant explosion, taking the girls, the house and himself with it.
In her chamber, Rosanna starts changing the weather; sending Amy and Rory back to the TARDIS, the Doctor goes to try and shut down her control terminal. On their way back, Amy and Rory run into Francesco who draws his sword on them. Rory tries to hold him off with a broom to little success but manages to distract him long enough for Amy to get above him and reflect a beam of direct sunlight into him, causing him to burn up. Following this, Amy goes back to help the Doctor and Rory follows. Rosanna's manipulation causes a terrible rainstorm on their way back to the house.
Upon returning the city is rocked by an earthquake, heralding the likely chance of incoming tidal waves. The Doctor tells Amy and Rory to disable Rosanna's control terminal so he can shut the system down from the backup that serves as the generator. Climbing to the top of the house's spire, the Doctor finds the secondary control hub and shuts it down, halting the storm and the city rejoyces. After city order is restored, Rosanna sets her perception filter to fix her human appearance; the Doctor catches her and tries to stop her but she simply asks if he can carry the burden of another dead race before she throws herself into the canal to be devoured by her children.
On returning to the TARDIS, Amy asks Rory if he would like to accompany them and he agrees; as Amy and Rory step into the TARDIS, the city goes completely silent. As the Doctor gets inside, Rosanna's words about the silence echo through his minds. The episode ends as the camera zooms in on the TARDIS lock as a tiny crack in reality opens up inside it...
Cast[]
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
- Rory - Arthur Darvill
- Rosanna - Helen McCrory
- Guido - Lucian Msamati
- Isabella - Alisha Bailey
- Francesco - Alex Price
- Vampire girls - Gabriella Wilde, Hannah Steele, Elizabeth Croft, Sonila Vieshta, Gabriela Montaraz
- Inspector - Michael Percival
- Steward - Simon Gregor
Crew[]
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References[]
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Story Notes[]
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Continuity []
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Home video and audio releases []
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External Links []
- Official The Vampires of Venice page on Doctor Who Website