Titanic ( spaceship ) The Titanic was a cruise liner - spaceship built by Max Capricorn Cruiseliners and in use during the early 21st century on Sto . Like her unfortunate namesake , " Titanic " met with a horrible accident with very few survivors . History . It was loosely based upon the design of the original Earth sea - going vessel " RMS Titanic " . This was primarily a tourist vessel and it is unclear whether Max Capricorn , the owner , was aware of the name ' s significance : the Doctor himself noted that it was a very bad for a ship . The ship had a humanoid crew , supplemented by a contingent of information and service robot s called Hosts , who offered assistance and advice to the passengers . Like the ill - fated vessel that sank in 1912 , this ship met with a horrific accident . The vessel , under the command of Captain Hardaker , travelled to Earth in December 2008 to allow its passengers to experience the Earth holiday of Christmas . The vessel was bedecked with Christmas decorations and its band performed Christmas songs . Some facts related to the holiday were skewed by the ship ' s poorly - informed history expert , Mr Copper . ( TV : " Voyage of the Damned " ) The Tenth Doctor , fresh from leaving Martha Jones on Earth ( TV : " Last of the Time Lords " ) and a brief encounter with his fifth incarnation ( TV : " Time Crash " ) , accidentally collided his TARDIS with the " Titanic " , ( TV : " Last of the Time Lords " , " Time Crash " ) though neither vessel was damaged . The Doctor boarded the vessel , effectively as a stowaway , and befriended several passengers as well as crewmembers Bayldon Copper and Astrid Peth . Unknown to the passengers and crew , Capricorn had arranged for the " Titanic " to be destroyed in Earth orbit to take revenge on the board of directors of his company , who had forced him out of his own firm . Captain Hardaker , terminally ill , had agreed to pilot the vessel in return for his family being taken care of . Capricorn , himself a cyborg , also boarded the vessel but expected to be protected from the disaster and later rescued . Hardaker orchestrated matters so that the ship ' s shields would be lowered as three small asteroid s approached the vessel . The resulting impact killed most of the crew and passengers ( including Hardaker ) , but did not destroy the vessel outright . Capricorn had arranged for the Hosts ' programming to be changed so they would kill any survivors . Over the next few hours , the Doctor and his friends , assisted by the " Titanic " s only surviving bridge crewmember , Midshipman Alonso Frame , worked to stop it from crashing on Earth , which the Doctor feared would cause an explosion strong enough to wipe out all life on the planet . Efforts to stabilise the orbit failed and the " Titanic " entered the Earth ' s atmosphere . After defeating Capricorn and rendering the Hosts harmless , the Doctor narrowly prevented the " Titanic " from crashing into Buckingham Palace in London , and started the vessel ' s secondary storm drive by using the heat of re - entry to fire it up , returning it to space . The vessel , under the temporary command of Alonso Frame , was salvaged after he had sent a distress call . ( TV : " Voyage of the Damned " ) Panda used a Time Scrunchy to travel onboard the Titanic , where he was chased by the Heavenly Host when they began to attack the passengers of the ship . ( PROSE : " From Wildthyme with Love " ) Parallel world . In a parallel world created by the time beetle , the Doctor , having died a year earlier than in the main universe , was not present to stop the " Titanic " from crashing to Earth in the heart of London . Although the resulting nuclear explosion did not wipe out all life on Earth , it destroyed London and irradiated southern England , forcing much of the country to move elsewhere as refugee s . This led to a series of events that resulted in it becoming a police state . ( TV : " Turn Left " )