Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who) opinion about the episode was divided; the writing and Minogue's performance were both praised and criticised. The episode continues from the end of the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", when the TARDIS collided with the "Titanic". To investigate further, the Doctor runs the TARDIS's self-repair programme and boards the "Titanic", where he discovers that the "ship" is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. Modelled after the Earth ocean liner of the same name, the ship is orbiting present-day Earth to observe "primitive cultures"–specifically, Christmas. He decides to stow away, only telling waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue)
The True Meaning of Christmas Special decides to move the beach party north to Canada, depicted as a snow-covered cabin, which strangely appears to be located only fifty feet from the beach. Upon arriving, Dave teams up with El Vez ("The Mexican Elvis"), Elvis Stojko, Bing Crosby, Thomas the Butler, Santa Dude, Mike Myers, and "The Ghosts of Christmas Specials Past, Present, and Yet to Come". He consults a priest and many of his new friends, but cannot gain passion for his Christmas special. Eventually, Dave dreams about "Christmas Specials Yet to Come", which is a future reminiscent of "Soylent Green", only with Christmas specials. He