Vengeance on Varos

“Well everytime you sound confident nowadays something terrible happens”
”Really? Like what?”
”Well, since we left Telos you’ve caused three electrical fires, a total power failure and a near collision with a storm of asteroids”
”Oh pshaw!”
”Not only that but twice you’ve managed to get yourself lost in the TARDIS corridors, wiped the memory of the flight computer and jettisoned three quarters of the storage hold. You even managed to burn dinner last night”
”Well I have never said I was perfect!” – Peri and The Doctor

Varos has something of the Bad Wolf about it, and after having watched it, I’m still not certain where the ‘Vengeance’ is. The story revolves around the idea of packaging torture and execution to the general public under the guise of mass entertainment, which to anyone keeping up with the revived series will sound oddly familiar. Even so the original idea is just as dark and revolves around the idea of corporate deception to underlay the serial with a more adult theme of corruption and chicanery.

The episode creates a stygian atmosphere complemented with illusion and torture. The opening moments of the serial set the attitude of the public towards the inexorable proceedings as that of something venatic. This careless attitude makes the entire ensemble a darker counterpart with the near farcical scene that takes place with Peri and the Doctor in the TARDIS. The whole thing is made more unsettling by the rather graphic portrayal of this entertainment, as at first the original victim tries to dodge his fate, before accepting it with compliance. The idea that anyone could sit through a person’s screaming in agony makes Big Brother look moral and clarifies the level of danger the Doctor is about to face.

This is made more evident by the planets more bellicose version of democracy. The governor, believing Sil is being underhanded in his agreed price for Varos unique ore requests a vote on whether they should hold out until a better offer presents itself. His own suggestion of waiting is vetoed by the public and as such he is forced to undergo a cellular disintegration process, his third, to which he just survives.

The reason for the Doctor landing on Varos is the ship is suddenly out of a precious substance native to the planet, and so with just enough emergency power he manages to land the ship and ask nicely for a cupful of Zeiton-7. Upon landing the disputatious duo come across the unfortunate rebel Jondar and set upon his release, using the guards belief they are just hallucinations. Unfortunately what they fail to realise is they’re being watched for every action they do and soon The Doctor’s escape plan becomes prime viewing, with a high appreciation figure.

Sil, as played by Nabil Shaban is essentially a slug, but more importantly to the plot he’s also the representative of the Gallitron mining corporation who is trying to swindle a deal with Varos by offering under value for their Zeiton-7 supply. To further the unpleasant green turd’s progress he has established a series of alliances amongst high ranking members within Varos such as the Chief officer, giving his character unsettling undertones of a gang warlord.

So far the whole thing sounds like a delicious dark space romp with something for everyone. Sadly this story does still fall on it’s arse a couple of times. For starters, the Doctor’s trusty craft has been effectively immobilised, yet after a bit of running around corridors and being spooked by a giant fly the Doctor resolves to make pilgrimage back to the blue box and sod off, already having forgotten the reason for touching down on the miserable planet to begin with.

Likewise towards the end of the serial the genetic transmoderation of Peri and Areta is underway with both changing into very different creatures, controlled under the quite mad Quillam, who is under seeing these experiments purely to see what will happen. Whilst the transformations themselves lack any real impact, they are at least examples of the make up team getting it right for once.

This serial, along with the rest of season 22 it would seem attracted a lot of attention for it’s violent content. This serials complaint was over the now infamous acid bath scene where many viewers complained it was uncharacteristic of the Doctor to push the men into the acid. Whilst this is true, after watching it’s bogglingly plain that one fell and the other was dragged in by the first, and whilst the quip was decidedly cruel, it’s not up there with murder. Maybe the audience were just expecting Colin Baker’s Doctor to use violence at any time convenient, or maybe it shows that by the middle 80’s, people weren’t really paying attention to Doctor Who anymore.