-> '''Robot Angel:''' Information: the Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures.
-> '''The Doctor:''' Titanic. Um... who... thought of the name?
-> '''Robot Angel:''' Information: it was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth.
-> '''The Doctor:''' Did they tell you why it was famous?

Just as we exoticize other cultures, apparently, aliens exoticize ours. Or the parts of Earth culture they like, stuck together willy-nilly, so that the end result is a charming Old Earth Christmas pleasure cruise... set aboard a spaceship named after Earth's most famous ship, the ''Titanic''.

The Doctor, who's appeared aboard after accidentally crashing into it, can recognize a dire portent when he sees one. Sure enough, it's not long before trouble arises: the ship's mechanical servants start to malfunction and harm people, plus the ship's captain deactivates the spaceship's shields, then magnetizes the ship's hull to purposely attract three blazing meteors so they crash against the ship. From this point on,all hell breaks loose.

The Doctor has the usual motley collection of eccentrics around him: nice waitress Astrid (who the Doctor picks as his next companion), HappilyMarried contest winners Morvin and Foon, {{JerkAss}} Rickston Slade, Mr. Copper (played by Richard from ''KeepingUpAppearances'') the alleged Earth expert, and Bannakaffalatta, the spiny red cyborg ([[FantasticRacism though don't tell anyone]]). They first try to make their way to the bridge, which is now under the inexpert if enthusiastic command of one Midshipman Frame, after the captain's untimely death. But one of the evil Christmas angel robots is coaxed into revealing that the ''real'' source of evil leadership is on Deck 31. Now they must defy the dying ship and the creepy angel robots to get there.

And creepy they are. When a pocket of survivors comes to Midshipman Frame's attention, he can't do much more than watch helplessly as the angels ''kill'' them.

Still, they haven't spotted the Doctor ''et al'' yet, as the motley crew sneaks through the ship's secret passages.

There are deaths. The Doctor discovers that he gets to ask the Host (the robot angels) three questions, but wastes two of them. Eventually, Deck 31 is reached and proves to contain the ''Titanic'''s ludicrously wealthy yet cyborgified and unhappy owner, Max Capricorn, who is bent on crashing it into Earth and riding out the collision in an impact-proof chamber, in a complicated revenge scheme against the board of directors which owns the ship and locked him out of the company. And the Doctor is powerless in the arms of the robot angels, so Astrid has to take the HeroicSacrifice on herself.

With Capricorn dead, the Doctor now has full command of the Host, and messianically spreads his arms to have the angels carry him up into... the control room. He calls Buckingham Palace to have it evacuated, and even manages to keep the Titanic from crashing into London. The Queen waves at him as he sails past.

What's left of Astrid gets a final kiss from the Doctor and becomes stardust. Mr. Copper asks if he can come along in the TARDIS as the next companion, but the Doctor ''really'' doesn't want any more companions right now, after having all the of the previous ones either lost forever or in love with him or both. However, Mr. Copper also happens to have one million pounds sterling in his bank account, so he probably won't be struggling in the future.

!!Tropes
* AGodAmI: The Doctor's anguished cry of "I can do ''anything''!" Then he must confront the fact that for how often he's ranked himself with gods, he really isn't, and really can't.
* AnyoneCanDie - The deaths of [[spoiler:Morvin]] and [[spoiler:Astrid]] are very unexpected.
** As are [[spoiler:Foon]]'s and [[spoiler:Bannakaffalatta]]'s.
** And subverted with [[spoiler:Slade]] surviving, despite having AssholeVictim writen all over him.
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics - Sto's economy has serious problems. Foon and Morvin supposedly can't ever pay off a 5000-credit debt. The exchange rate between credits and pounds is about 50:1, according to the Doctor, so that "crippling" debt is only 100 pounds, or about US$160.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: InUniverse, "To repeat, I am Mr. Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of U.K. ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve the people of U.K. go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner...like savages."
** Don't worry, this is what you get for someone who has [[BlatantLies a first-class degree in Earthonomics]].
* BadassBoast - "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 903 years]] old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"
** Also a rather unfortunate case of UnspokenPlanGuarantee.
** This troper has seen this speech printed on a t-shirt.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst - Poor Morvin.
* BittersweetEnding: Let's face it, if it wasn't for kind Mr. Copper profiting from this it would have been a full-fledged DownerEnding.
* BoringInsult:
--> "All of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricon is a ''loser''".
--> "I ''never'' lose!"
--> "You can't even sink the ''Titanic''!"
* BowTiesAreCool - The Doctor dons one as a part of his outfit to blend in on board.
* CallBack: The Doctor being pleased when he finds out Alonzo's name and then saying "Allons-y, Alonzo!" is a reference to ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E12ArmyOfGhosts Army Of Ghosts]]''.
* {{Camp}} - With bells on.
* ChristmasEpisode[=/=]AnAssKickingChristmas: "Look, I don't know where you're getting your information, but you're completely wrong. Christmas isn't a barbaric festival of blood. It's about love and thanksgiving and generosity and... who am I kidding, all of my Christmases are like this."
* CrushKillDestroy: Information: Kill. Kill kill kill!
* DeadStarWalking - [[spoiler: Literally]].
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:When Morvin falls into the engines, his wife Foon doesn't see much to live for and does a TakingYouWithMe with a Host as she jumps into the engines herself.]]
* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech - The Doctor's rescue plan. The second one this year after the one given to Martha in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature Human Nature]]".
* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: Max Capicorn gets ousted by his own board of trustees and blamed for the company's failure. So he contrives to crash the Titanic (2000 killed) into Earth (6 ''billion'' killed) and get the trustees jailed for mass murder. ''Wow.'']]
* DistressedDude - DavidTennant gets manhandled ''a lot'' in this episode.
* DoomedContrarian - [[spoiler:Subverted in the case of]] Rickston Slade. He's a rude, selfish asshole, and there's little doubt that the audience is just waiting for the sweet catharsis that his death/comeuppance will bring. [[spoiler:He's one of the few people who live, and he walks away from the whole thing ever richer, because he just invested in the rivals of the spaceliner that had the accident. The look on The Doctor's face when Slade is thanking him and explaining his good fortune was probably shared by more than a few audience members.]]
** And then [[spoiler:he ''literally'' just walks away from it all. No last-second comeuppance or ''anything''.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Poor Foon...]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Wilfred Mott makes his first appearance as a street vendor selling newspapers. He would go on to become a major recurring character in series 4 and eventually the companion for the Tenth Doctor's final episodes.
** Of course, he wasn't intended to be. The actor who was going to play Donna's father passed away, so this unrelated minor character was retooled into her grandfather. [[EnsembleDarkhorse This was a good thing.]]
* {{Expy}} - The Hosts look and act like the antagonists of a serial from the Tom Baker years, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath "The Robots of Death"]].
** Well, this is a little over six months after [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink angels which stood still in the background at first, then started killing]].
* FantasticRacism - Against cyborgs. At least they are allowed to marry now.
* FauxSymbolism: Information: Flying Angel Doctor! Some Church of England vicars actually used the scene to illustrate themes of redemption and evil.
** Also occurs earlier in the episode, when two Hosts are holding the Doctor. He is standing directly in the camera's line of sight of one, making it appear that he is wearing a halo.
** Information: And taking the halos off leaves the bare struts, which resemble ''[[FallenAngel horns]]''.
* FlatWhat: At the ColdOpen, the Doctor's trademark escalating [[BigWhat "What? WHAT? ''WHAT?!''"]] ends with a lifebelt rolling into his hands with the word "TITANIC" written on it. Cue this.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Near the end of the story after the danger has passed, Mr. Copper and Rickston Slade are the only ones from The Doctor's group that have made it. Mr. Copper comments that "Of all the people to survive, Slade is not the one you would have chosen, is he? But if you could choose, Doctor, if you could decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster". Of course then cue the events of [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]] when he [[spoiler: does try to choose who lives and dies. Although we don't see it for very long, the potential horrors of the Time Lord Victorious are all too apparent.]]
** There's also a brief bit of foreshadowing when the tourists beam down to Earth for a bit of Christmas shopping. Aside from Wilfred Mott sitting in a kiosk selling newspapers, Astrid mentions that there are ''no stars in the sky''. Very subtle, but awesome to catch after watching the whole season.
* ForegoneConclusion: Information: It's a ship called the [[TemptingFate Titanic]], [[SarcasmMode surely this will be a smooth voyage with absolutely no danger at all.]] It even hits something in the very first scene of the episode - the TARDIS!
* ForkliftFu: Astrid uses one against [[spoiler: Max Capricorn]]
* FridgeHorror: What happens when Mr. Copper tries to blend in with actual humans?
** Answered in the season finale. Three words: "Mr. Copper Foundation."
* GenreSavvy: At last, the people of London have remembered the [[ContinuityNod weirdness that seems to happen around]] [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] and fled ''en masse.'' London Town is now a ghost town.
* GoryDiscretionShot: It's only assumed -- but with very good reason -- that the trapped technician is decapitated by the Host's halo.
* GravitySucks
* HappilyMarried - Morvin and Foon.
* HeroicSacrifice ''Lots'' of these. [[spoiler: Poor Foon, Bannakaffalatta and Astrid...]]
* HopeSpot - [[spoiler: Astrid]] was wearing a teleporter bracelet! Surely those must have some kind of safety feature! [[spoiler: They do, but it got broken in the chaos and the Doctor only can reassamble half of her, leaving her as a ghost. He's forced to MercyKill her, turning her into stardust so she could fly through the universe as she always wanted to.]]
* HumanAliens: Be honest, apart from Bannakaffalatta, does anyone on board ''really'' look like they're from another planet?
** According to [[WordOfGod Word of God]], Russell T Davies wrestled with how to make it clear that the rest of the ''Titanic'''s crew and passengers weren't just a bunch of humans. It was only after it was too late that he realised he should have made them talk about "the humans" (in the third person) more often.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: New Zealand may be beautiful, but this is just a street. Astrid thinks it's riveting.
* IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: Twice.
** "Allons-y, Alonzo!"
** TakeMeToYourLeader
* IncrediblyLamePun: The Doctor's joke about "How to get ahead in business" does not really go over well.
* InsistentTerminology: Information: No, you can't shorten Bannakaffalatta's name.
* ItsACostumePartyISwear The higher class passengers tell Morvin and Foon the Christmas party is Fancy Dress
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Rickston spends the entire episode with one KickTheDog moment after another, trying to leave people to die and insulting people and insisting that, eg. he be the first one across the dangerous bridge. However, even he gets a PetTheDog moment witnessing the death/recording of [[spoiler:Astrid]]. Then he spoils it at the end by talking about how much richer he is. Jerk.
* KillEmAll: Information: You are all going to die. Oh, wow, does it ever fill that one.
* KilledMidSentence.
* LeaveNoWitnesses: Information: It is the plan.
* LightIsNotGood: Information: Shiny white-and-gold angels! ''[[UncannyValley Creepy]]'' shiny white-and-gold [[SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids robot]] angels that decapitate people with their halos.
* LiteralGenie: Information: The angels will answer three questions. Any three questions? Wait, I didn't mean to do that, can I take it back? What do you mean, "No"?
* MauveShirt
* MeaningfulName: Played straight with the ''Titanic''; averted with Astrid, whose name is an anagram of TARDIS (causing much speculation online), but nothing comes of it.
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Averted. The four ''Titanic'' survivors (including the Doctor) are all male.
* NoOSHACompliance: Long two-foot-wide metal bridges as the only way over a nuclear reactor engine? Though the area was damaged from the whole meteors striking the ship. [[spoiler:Then again, Max did want the thing to fail ...]]
* OhCrap: Information: You are all going to die.
* OverlyLongName: Bannakaffalatta
** "Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time." "No. Bannakaffalatta."
* PreAssKickingOneLiner: A couple of ''awesome'' occasions. [[spoiler: Too bad they both pretty much precede a HeroicSacrifice.]]
-->'''Bannakaffalatta''': Bannakaffalatta proud! Bannakaffalatta CYBORG!
-->'''Astrid''': Mr. Capricorn... I resign.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot - Astrid is set up to join the Doctor as a new companion, but Music/KylieMinogue probably can't spend a year filming in Wales.
* ShoutOut: To StarshipTitanic
** Information: The penultimate security protocol number the Doctor tries on the host before settling on 1 and getting a result is [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy 42]]
* RunningGag: Another Christmas, another disaster menacing London. This time the citizens wise up and evacuate the city to stay safe of whatever could happen.
** And once again, the "snow" falling during Christmas is actually spaceship's ashes.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Meant in a good way with [[spoiler: Bannakaffalatta]] when everyone realizes that fighting off the Hosts with pieces of iron [[spoiler: and instead opts for a HeroicSacrifice.]]
* ScullyBox: Music/KylieMinogue's diminutive height is exploited by having Astrid pull up a box and stand up on it in order to give the Doctor a goodbye kiss.
* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler: Foon really didn't need to throw herself off the bridge with the Host once she roped it. It's implied she was DrivenToSuicide.]]
** [[spoiler: Neither did Astrid. They explicitly showed the brakes were cut, but the forklift was moving slow enough she could have easily jumped clear.]]
* SlowMotionFall: Any time someone falls to their death. [[DarkerAndEdgier Which happens frequently, to people you like]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfMortality: Subverted. Every scrap of GenreSavvy says that [[{{Jerkass}} Rickston]] will have [[DroppedABridgeOnHim a bridge dropped on him]] early on, while Astrid will survive and leave with the Doctor; [[KarmaHoudini no such]] [[HeroicSacrifice luck]].
* SpaceIsAnOcean
* SpaceSailing
* StellarName: Astrid was named as a more subtle version of "Astra". [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial The anagram is apparently just a coincidence]].
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: Information: The Hosts are meant to be servants and decorations, yet their halos can decapitate people. Justified, though; they were installed because the owner was planning to use them to [[KillEmAll kill everyone]].
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Foon takes a Host with her when she decides to kill herself after her husband's death.]]
* TemporaryLoveInterest: Astrid.
* TemptingFate[=/=]WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt - A ship called the ''Titanic''! WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
** Invoked actually - it was named after the "most famous ship of Earth" - they just didn't know what it was famous ''for''. And the passengers, having no idea of Earth culture, had no idea of the ship's history.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Bannakaffalatta, though wouldn't ''you'' be if you had a name like that?
* TwinkleSmile: Max Capricorn's repeating advertisement has a tooth that does this. When the Doctor gets to meet him for real, the same tooth twinkles with the 'my name is Max' bit. "It really does that?"
* UncannyValley - The Hosts, ''dear god'', the hosts when they move and talk.
* UnflinchingWalk - Also a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* VerbalTic: Information: The Host cannot begin a single sentence without first saying: "Information".
* WealthyEverAfter: Mr. Copper
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic - When the Angels go into battle mode, they remove their halos to use for weapons, leaving the little support struts on their heads, which resemble ''horns.''
* WholePlotReference: ''ThePoseidonAdventure'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]
* WritersCannotDoMath: See ArtisticLicenseEconomics above.
* TheXOfY