History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice

* {{Hammerspace}}: Where, do you ask, was the Doctor hiding that big light? [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride His pockets are bigger on the inside]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Vampires[[note]]Well, okay, not ''real'' ones, but nevertheless.[[/note]]! Better than ''Christmas''!]]

* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor uses the Psychic Paper to claim he's ''ThePope'', and later that Amy is the daughter of the King of Sweden. Roy's an eunuch.

[[GenreSavvy Even the Doctor was expecting that.]] So now our heroes are under attack by buxom fish girls from space. ''Levitating'' buxom fish girls from space, since they're on the second floor and all. In order to save the others and avenge Isabella, Guido chooses to blow himself and the fish girls up with barrels of gunpowder he'd kept stored in his chambers. He defiantly shouts "We! Are! ''VENETIANS''!!" as he lights the barrels. Unaware of the demise of her protégées, Rosanna begins the process that will drown Venice. The Doctor rushes to stop her, after telling Amy and Rory to go back to the TARDIS, because he doesn't want any more deaths today. Guido's sacrifice seems to have touched a raw nerve that Rory's already rubbed before: ''"You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around!"''

* GenreSavvy: Rory cuts off the Doctor's "it's bigger on the inside" speech by pointing out that he's been doing some reading up on "the latest theories" since their encounter with Prisoner Zero. The Doctor is a little miffed about that:
-->'''The Doctor:''' I ''like'' the bit when someone says "it's bigger on the inside". I ''always look forward to it''.

** The look of the vampire girls is a deliberate homage to the HammerHorror era. They also look a bit like the girls of [[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Castle Anthrax]].

** Rosanna implying that he didn't fight hard enough for his own people, and asking if he wants to have another doomed race on his conscience. Of course, she doesn't know that he ''blew them up on purpose'' and for the same selfish reasons that she has.

* CoolChair: The Calvierri [[http://i49.tinypic.com/htutqf.jpg throne]] is purple and gold and a control hub for weather device.

* GorgeousPeriodDress: The House of Calvierri

* HissBeforeFleeing: Only rarely do the vampires flee. Usually, it's the people they encounter. But they do love hissing.

* JumpingOutOfACake: The Doctor does this at the very beginning.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Invoked, to no avail.

** And there goes ''another'' species.
** And the rest of the supporting cast. Seriously, the only characters (whether they had any lines or not) who survive, apart from the main trio, are the steward, that remarkably lucky flower girl who typically might have bought it and the official at the start.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Subverted. Rory would appreciate it if he was ''not'' introduced as Amy's brother.

* MarsNeedsWomen

* MonsterMisogyny: An odd example, considering that the monster in question is female, and [[MarsNeedsWomen acquiring some more females]] was the entire point of her actions. But Rosanna sends the converted girls to attack our heroes, instead of [[MenAreTheExpendableGender the thousands of available males]], even though their deaths ruin everything.
* MoodWhiplash: At the very end. It's all joking about with Amy and her boys, and then... silence. Utter silence. Not even the water is making any noise. And everyone in the area has vanished. The Doctor wisely gets inside the TARDIS as the episode ends.
* MummysBoy: Francesco
* MundaneSolution: The Doctor shuts down the weather machine by... flicking a switch. A small one.
* NiceHat: Francesco
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Doctor is called out ''again'' by a race for genocide as he's genociding it. It's a bit troubling that this is a series that requires viewers to use the word "genocide" as a transitive verb. More than once.
* NonActionGuy: Rory is Mickey Smith v 2.0. Or [[Series/{{Torchwood}} Rhys]] v 2.0. Quite a lot like Larry from "Blink", too.

** Also, apparently he accidentally crashed at least one incorrect stag / hen do by hiding in a cake before happening upon the correct Rory.

** Rory swings the broom around, jabbing it at Francesco. Francesco draws an actual sword. Rory panics.
** The Doctor gets an OhCrap moment himself when he realises that Guido is going to use the gunpowder stored in his house to perform a HeroicSacrifice - and he's standing right in front of said house.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: These are not the vampires from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay "State of Decay"]]. Or the Plasmavore from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]]. Or the Haemovores from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric "The Curse of Fenric"]]. They're actually fish-like. The lack of reflections is a simple bug of their perception filters. The fangs peek through the filter thanks to a subconscious override of the filter due to the observer's survival instinct.

* PreMortemOneLiner: "Oi! Mummy's boy!"

* SceneryPorn: This is one of the prettier episodes, and the scenery is shown off with some really stunning cinematography.

* SelfDestructMechanism: It's a switch. A tiny one.
* ShipperOnDeck: The Doctor with Amy and Rory.
* ShooTheDog: One of the main ways the Doctor goes about shipping Amy and Rory. Consistency and success rate are both variable so far.

** The look of the vampire girls is a deliberate homage to the HammerHorror era.
*** They also look a bit like the girls of [[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Castle Anthrax]].

* SicklyGreenGlow: The blood-draining torture chamber. See also the picture at the top of the page.

* StayInTheKitchen: Well, Stay in the TARDIS. Although he may have done that to get her off his back, romantically.

* AStormIsComing

* TotallyNotAWerewolf: ...or vampire, in this case.

* WalkThePlank: It's not the fall that kills you this time. It's the sudden vampire-fish-husbands at the end...

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Calvierri's intention, to save her race and her family, is rather understandable and sympathetic. The way she goes about it on the other hand...

** Rosanna implying that he didn't fight hard enough for his own people, and asking if he wants to have another doomed race on his conscience. Of course, she doesn't know that he ''blew them up on purpose.''

** Rory trying to defeat one vampire/fish alien with a self-made cross. It doesn't really work. Amy calls him out on this because they already knew that the vampires were alien fish and would not have this weakness.
** The Doctor also has a minor case on his part when he first meets the Calvierri girls. He orders them to tell him the whole plan, before bemoaning that ''one day'' he'll get that to work.

Guido causes a ruckus outside the Calvierri house, giving the Doctor a chance to sneak in through a back entrance. He ends up in a cellar, where he gets [[DistractedByMyOwnSexy distracted by a mirror]], before realizing that there are in fact five young women standing behind him, and none of them have a reflection. Ominous. They, quite understandably, demand to know who he is, only they do it in synchronization. More ominous. The Doctor tries to bluff his way out by using the psychic paper, but accidentally gets his extremely old library card instead. (As in, it's got his ''first'' face and his 1960s' London address on it.) The girls display some rather impressive teeth -- oh, now that's not right -- and don't even have the decency to tell him the whole plan, so he decides to get out of there sharpish.[[note]]The tension of this whole scene is slightly spoiled by the fact that it was shown on ''Jonathan Ross'' and after that was fair game, but it's still impressive.[[/note]]

Meeting up with Amy, Rory and Guido again, the four try to think of a way to get inside information on the Calvierri. Guido already knows of a tunnel leading under the house; now they just need someone on the inside, and Amy suggests being that someone. The Doctor and Rory are not too happy about this, and then they manage to get into an argument about who'd make a more convincing dad, brother or fiancé for her. Oh, and the Doctor is starting to suspect that they might not be dealing with vampires after all. He is not entirely sure what the Calvierris actually are, but since they don't mind been thought of as vampires they might be something worse.

In the end, Rory ends up posing as Amy's brother. In Guido's borrowed clothes, meaning Guido is poling a gondola around Venice wearing a T-shirt with the immortal phrase "Rory's Stag" on the back (and a picture of the two lovebirds in a heart on the front). A nervous Roy stammers through the cover story, which leaves something to be desired, but the Calvierris seem to buy it. A little too well; Francesco is showing decidedly more interest in Amy than she, Rory or the audience would like. In the girls' dormitory Amy comes across a Isabella, and learns that the Calvierri are bringing about some sort of change in her that makes the sunlight burn her. And there are some nasty bite marks on her neck....

As the Doctor and Rory make their way through the secret tunnel (and have a little bicker about Amy's kiss) Amy goes to the entrance of the tunnel to let them in. This show being what it is, she ends up getting captured instead, and strapped into a chair so that she can be bitten by Rosanna. The process works thus; they drain her of ''all'' her blood and then fill her with theirs instead, making her into one of them. What with that and all that lusting over Amy's blood and being so ''thirsty'', they ''must'' be vampires, right?

Just then, the Doctor and Rory's arrival creates a distraction, and with Isabella helping to free Amy they all make a break for it, warding off the Calvierri with a portable sunlight lamp as they go. Our trio manages to escape, but poor Isabella gets dragged back inside the house and the Doctor, in trying to save her, gets an electric shock from the door and gets knocked out. Isabella is later forced to jump into an evil bubbling canal, with something living below the water that drags her beneath.

Satisfied at a job well done, Rosanna returns to her audience chamber -- only to find the Doctor, quite recovered from his shock and sitting on her throne. He identifies her as a Sister of the Water and from Saturnyne. There follows a question and answer session where they learn things about each other and also answers some of the questions we've had about these not-vampires, such as why they don't show up in mirrors (the perception filter around them means that the brain that's being manipulated doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank). It also emerges that Rosanna and her people have had some encounters with the cracks, through which they saw silence and the end of all things. Can you tell what the running theme is yet?

Those of Saturnyne fled to our world through such a crack, which closed behind them and supposedly destroyed their world. Rosanna intends to rebuild her race by any means necessary, and asks the Doctor to join her in her efforts. Unsurprisingly the Doctor says no, and is disgusted not just by the fact that Rosanna had Isabella executed, but that she didn't even ''know'' her ''name.'' [[HeHadAName That clinches the deal.]]

But Rosanna isn't content to sit and wait. The final preparations have been made, after all, and so she summons the girls. She has a job for them.

Our intrepid four have a brainstorming -- or rather a storming of the Doctor's brain, since he doesn't allow anyone else to chip in. They, so to speak, figure out from Rosanna's cryptic words that Rosanna plans to sink Venice and repopulate it with the girls she's transformed, as wives for her 10,000 male children that even now populate the canals and snack on anyone who displeases her. Um, ick. Even the Doctor's grossed out. You know it's bad when the Doctor's grossed out. He is then distracted as the people upstairs become rather noisy.

[[GenreSavvy Even the Doctor was expecting that.]] So now our heroes are under attack by buxom fish girls from space. ''Levitating'' buxom fish girls from space, since they're on the second floor and all. In order to save the others and avenge Isabella, Guido chooses to blow himself and the fish girls up with barrels of gunpowder he'd kept stored in his chambers, defiantly shouting "We! Are! ''VENETIANS''!!" as he lights the barrels. Unaware of the demise of her protégées, Rosanna begins the process that will drown Venice. The Doctor rushes to stop her, after telling Amy and Rory to go back to the TARDIS, because he doesn't want any more deaths today. Guido's sacrifice seems to have touched a nervy nerve that Rory's already rubbed before: ''"You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around!"''

As they head back to the TARDIS, the Doctor (in full StepfordSmiler mode) muses that maybe it's time to head off to Leadworth Registry Office for a certain happy event. Rory, a bit glumly, just suggests dropping him off back where they picked him up, but Amy, clearly wanting to make him feel better, gives him a kiss and suggests that he stays on for just a bit longer. The Doctor has no objection, and Rory -- clearly thrilled -- agrees. Happily, Amy disappears into the TARDIS to put the kettle on -- and in doing so, misses the entire city suddenly fall deathly, unnaturally silent. Rory doesn't appear to notice anything amiss, but the Doctor, recalling Rosanna's words about the silence at the other side of the cracks, is freaked out, and the episode ends with a sinister zoom-in to the TARDIS keyhole as he shuts the door behind him.

* ActuallyNotAVampire

* {{Adorkable}}: Rory, especially during his fight with Francesco.

* AristocratsAreEvil: But then again, they're vampires or alien fish. The two words practically go hand in hand.

** Isabella, when she thinks she's going to be executed by drowning, taunts the Calvierri by reminding them that she's a ''Venetian''. ''"We can all swim!"'' Subverted, though, in that once she's ''in'' the water she actually gets eaten alive by space piranhas.
** Played straight, however, by the Doctor saying that he will ''end'' the House of Calvierri.
* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor uses the Psychic Paper to claim he's ''ThePope'', and later that Amy is the daughter of the King of Sweden.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Black girl dies first, and her father dies next. ...Well, technically, [[HeroicSacrifice he]] [[TakingYouWithMe ties]] for second death with five white women.
* BlatantLies: The TARDIS sparks and smokes and explodes...

* BroomstickQuarterstaff: Attempted by Rory...
* BreakingSpeech: In their interactions, Rosanna is fond of (rather snidely) implying that the Doctor didn't do everything he could to save his people.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: The Doctor swears to destroy everything Rosanna has built because she doesn't know the name of the woman she killed. This is only a borderline case though, as she probably does remember the actual killing.
* ButtMonkey: Rory. As an illustration, when bluffing their way past an ObstructiveBureaucrat with the psychic paper, the Doctor becomes the Pope and Amy a viscountess. Rory?

* CaliforniaDoubling: Or Croatia Doubling, since the city of Trogir has authentically Venetian architecture (but no canals).

* CharacterDevelopment: After the Doctor's recent experiences with Rose Tyler, Martha Jones and Sarah Jane Smith, it's sunk in that having female companions in unrequited love with you is actually quite cruel, so he goes to some trouble to sort out Amy and her fiancé. Of course they nearly get killed in the process -- the Doctor hasn't changed ''that'' much.

** Or rather gunpowder. Guido has barrels of it in his house, and later uses it to blow up the attacking Calvierri girls in his HeroicSacrifice.
** Francesco warning Rosanna about using her perception filter near her children.
* CityOfCanals: Obviously.

** The Doctor identifies himself to the vampire girls by showing his library card. With a picture of the First Doctor on. If you look at it in close up, you can see the card is in the name of Dr J Smith of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild 76 Totter's Lane]], Shoreditch, London.

** It also [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode isn't the first time]] that a massive dark cloud filled with lightning has formed over a historical city and threatened the end of the world.
** Nor is it [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment the first time]] that the Doctor has had to lure an alien up to the top of a very tall bell tower. Reverses the original scene, though -- in "The Lazarus Experiment", the bells caused pain to Lazarus, in "Vampires of Venice", they cause pain to the Doctor.
** [[OverlyLongGag Nor is it the first time]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen a death has been caused by an electric door.]]

* CoolChair: The Calvierri [[http://i49.tinypic.com/htutqf.jpg throne.]]

* DarkIsEvil: Francesco and Rosanna are both dressed in dark purple.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: There is a scream; Rory and Amy run to help. Amy chases after the vampire, Rory stays to help the girl. Because he's a nurse.

* GameFace: Explained as the survival instinct overriding a perception filter.

* GlamourFailure
* GorgeousPeriodDress
* {{Hammerspace}}: Where exactly was the Doctor hiding that big light?

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Black girl dies first, and her father dies next.

Our intrepid four have a brainstorming -- or rather a storming of the Doctor's brain, since he doesn't allow anyone else to chip in. They, so to speak, figure out from Rosanna's cryptic words that Rosanna plans to sink Venice and repopulate it with the girls she's transformed, as wives for her 10,000 male children that even now populate the canals and snack on anyone who displeases her. Um, ick. Even the Doctor's grossed out. You know it's bad when the Doctor's grossed out. He is then distracted as the people upstairs becomes rather noisy.

[[GenreSavvy Even the Doctor was expecting that.]] So now our heroes are under attack by buxom fish girls from space. ''Levitating'' buxom fish girls from space, since they're on the second floor and all. In order to save the others and avenge Isabella, Guido chooses to blow himself and the fish girls up with barrels of gunpowder he'd kept stored in his chambers, defiantly shouting "We! Are! ''VENETIANS''!!" as he light the barrels. Unaware of the demise of her protégées, Rosanna begins the process that will drown Venice. The Doctor rushes to stop her, after telling Amy and Rory to go back to the TARDIS, because he doesn't want any more deaths today. Guido's sacrifice seems to have touched a nervy nerve that Rory's already rubbed before: ''"You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around!"''

* FreezeFrameBonus: We actually get to see the image on the Psychic Paper: It's a picture of WilliamHartnell.

* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor uses the Psychic Paper to claim he's ''ThePope'', and later that Amy is the daughter of the King of [[UsefulNotes/Sweden.]]

* BavarianFireDrill: The Doctor uses the Psychic Paper to claim he's ''ThePope'', and later that Amy is the daughter of the King of UsefulNotes/Sweden.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHerBack: Amy Pond skips out on fiancee, [[ChildhoodFriendRomance childhood friend]], and all-around DoggedNiceGuy Rory to gallivant around the universe with a dashing young ([[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld looking]]) Gallifreyan. Granted, in a time machine, so she should have no trouble making it [[{{Pun}} back in time]], so that's not TOO bad... until she kisses and attempts to seduce the Doctor. Even this alone wouldn't be quite enough to qualify for this trope-- relationships can survive infidelity-- but Rory has to hear about it from the Doctor, and she never apologizes or takes any responsibility for her attempted dalliance. When confronted, her response is along the lines of, "Well, we never really ''did'' anything." Right... because the Doctor rejected her, not for lack of trying on her part. Rory expresses understandable concern about the lack of loyalty his prospective wife displays, but being the ExtremeDoormat that he is, nothing ever comes of it, and the whole incident is [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness seldom mentioned again]].

Our intrepid four have a brainstorming -- or rather a storming of the Doctor's brain, since he doesn't allow anyone else to chip in. They, so to speak, figure out from Rosanna's cryptic words that Rosanna plans to sink Venice and repopulate it with the girls she's transformed, as wives for her 10,000 male children that even now populate the canals and snack on anyone who displeases her. Um, ick. Even the Doctor's grossed out. You know it's bad when the Doctor's grossed out. And the people upstairs are rather noisy, aren't they?

[[GenreSavvy Even the Doctor was expecting that.]] So now our heroes are under attack by buxom fish girls from space. ''Levitating'' buxom fish girls from space, since they're on the second floor and all. In order to save the others and avenge Isabella, Guido chooses to blow himself and the fish girls up with barrels of gunpowder he'd kept stored in his chambers. Unaware of the demise of her protégées, Rosanna begins the process that will drown Venice. The Doctor rushes to stop her, after telling Amy and Rory to go back to the TARDIS, because he doesn't want any more deaths today. Guido's sacrifice seems to have touched a nervy nerve that Rory's already rubbed before: ''"You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around!"''

What people upstairs?, asks Guido. There aren't any people upstairs.

What people upst--

Meeting up with Amy, Rory and Guido again, the four try to think of a way to get inside information on the Calvierri. Guido already knows of a tunnel leading under the house; now they just need someone on the inside, and Amy suggests being that someone. The Doctor and Rory are not too happy about this, and then they manage to get into an argument about who'd make a more convincing dad, brother or fiancé for her. Oh, and it turns out that the vampires are not actually vampires. They're something worse.

In the end, Rory ends up posing as Amy's brother. In Guido's borrowed clothes, meaning Guido is poling a gondola around Venice wearing a T-shirt with the immortal phrase "Rory's Stag" on the back (and a picture of the two lovebirds in a heart on the front). The cover story leaves something to be desired, but the Calvierris seem to buy it. A little too well; Francesco is showing decidedly more interest in Amy than she, Rory or the audience would like. In the girls' dormitory Amy comes across a Isabella, and learns that the Calvierri are bringing about some sort of change in her that makes the sunlight burn her. And there are some nasty bite marks on her neck....

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* GenreSavvy: Rory cuts off the Doctor's "it's bigger on the inside" speech by pointing out that he's been doing some reading up on "the latest theories" since their encounter with Prisoner Zero. The Doctor is a little pissed off:

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