The Doctor Who production team seem to be making a habit of overseas location filming these days. It's a great thing for giving the series a sense of scale. Venice is one of my favourite holiday destinations and I am really happy that this was the location chosen, even if the filming was actually taking place in Croatia.
The script was written by Toby Whithouse. The last time he wrote for Doctor Who was for Series 2 with School Reunion. Both scripts share similarities. This is a tale where a generic invasion by aliens is a backdrop to a character plot. This time around the generic aliens are the Saturnine, alien fish people instead of alien bat people and the character based story is the return of Rory Williams. There's even a similar scene in both stories where the Doctor confronts the leader of the aliens and declares that he will stop them.
The generic aliens of this piece are the Saturnine. Vampires who turn out to be fish. Very little is revealed about their history other than that they fled from something called "the silence" and came to Earth through one of those cracks in time. They are converting human girls into Saturnine females so that they can be bred be with the surviving Saturnine males and give birth to a new generation of Saturnine. The CGI Saturnine were fairly well realized although there's a sloppy error at the end where the villain's cloak is actually part of her legs, but then she takes her cloak off at the end.
Amy gets very little development this episode in spite of the fact that she has just been reunited with her fiance. She is also completely unapologetic for cheating on her boyfriend in the previous episode, which makes her come across as more than a little unlikable. Rory on the other hand, is a bit of a coward in the face of danger, like Mickey Smith during the Rose Tyler period. Similarly, Rory has been researching the latest scientific theories. However, unlike Mickey, Rory he is a good nurse and his compassion for the attacked flower girl demonstrates that he is less selfish than Mickey. He is a welcome addition to the Tardis crew.
Matt Smith's Doctor continues to be mad, funny and brilliant. His first scene, bursting out of a cake at Rory's stag night, was a hoot. It's not all fun and games though, as the scene where the Doctor confronts Madame Calvierri demonstrates. The scene begins with the Doctor sitting on a throne, calm and in control. So much for the naysayers, including myself who once thought that Matt Smith would not be able to dominate a scene.
Other than the Doctor, companions and villains the only other characters are the Gondolier, Guido and his daughter Isabella. Guido is determined to get his daughter out of the school but his grief is not really explored. He ends up being the sacrificial lamb when he uses gunpowder to blow up the fish girls.
Vampires of Venice is a fairly straightforward tale with some nice moments but nothing really spectacular. Still, at least we now have two companions in the Tardis for the first time since the 80s. I'm looking forward to seeing more Doctor/Amy/Rory interaction and how this will affect Rory's wedding plans.
3/5
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