I didn't even hear the dinner gong.
There is a moment in Episode Ten of this story that sums up classic Doctor Who very well. The Doctor sees a group of aliens talking with the ship's captain and while two of them reach up and activate their translator devices, the third does not. This turns out to be deliberate and is an important point in the story. However, as I was watching it, I noticed it but assumed that it was a continuity error by one of the extras. Low expectations as far as production I guess; to the point that they cause you to miss part of the story.
Plot Summary
Presenting his defense at the trial, the Doctor projects a story that will occur in his near future if he is acquitted. A passenger liner is preparing to launch after taking on cargo. One of the passengers receives his accommodations and as he leaves the lounge is recognized by another passenger. He denies being the person the other passenger says he is but the crew and others in the lounge are alerted to the possibility that this passenger may be an inspection agent.
The agent heads to the cargo hold of the ship where he dons the uniform and mask of one of the workers. Shortly afterward, a mysterious figure knocks out the communications officer and sends out a distress signal. The Doctor is shown exercising with his new companion Mel (short for Melanie) in the TARDIS where they receive the distress signal. They materialize on the ship and the Doctor is immediately unsettled by a feeling of evil. They are taken by ship's security to the bridge where the Doctor learns the captain is someone whom he's met before. The Captain is unhappy at the Doctor's arrival as trouble follows the Doctor and confines him to the passenger areas, although confiding to the security chief that the Doctor may get to the bottom of the mystery of who knocked out the communications officer.
The Doctor and Mel split up; the Doctor investigating the manifest while Mel looks around. She in shuttled to the gym where she receives a message to investigate cabin six. She reports back to the Doctor who did not recognize anyone on the list. He attempts to dissuade Mel from investigating but the two find themselves meeting in cabin six which has been ransacked. The Doctor picks up a handful of silver seeds that had been shown earlier being stolen by a Mogarian. They are then alerted to the discovery of the remains of the body in the refuse shaft. A shoe has been left outside matching one in cabin six, leading to the conclusion that this passenger, the same one who was suspected of being an investigation agent, is the victim.
The Doctor and Mel head to the gym with Mel leaving shortly afterward to investigate the hydroponics room. The Doctor dismisses her leading to an outburst in the courtroom. The Doctor states that he protested her going and saw it differently when he originally viewed it in the Matrix. The Valeyard dismisses the Doctor's allegations and the trial continues. Mel meets the communications officer in the hold and he agrees to show her the hydroponics bay. As he opens it, he is electrocuted and the flash of light and electricity activate the pods. Mel runs away and is taken by two security officers. One takes her to the bridge to explain what happened. The second examines the body but is attacked by the creature emerging from the pod.
Mel and the Doctor meet the captain on the bridge and the security officer brings word of the disappearance of the comm officer's body and the security officer. With Mel in custody then, she is let go with instructions to stay in the lounge. In the lounge, Mel suggests consulting with Professor Lasky about the silver seeds they found. Professor Lasky, after initially accusing them of stealing the seeds, informs them that they are new hybrid seed that will grow anywhere and were named Demeter seeds.
The Captain comes down the lounge to inform the passengers that he has altered their course to move up their arrival time by nearly three days. His alterations alarm the Mogarians who seek reassurance but are distrustful of humans after having their planet exploited for mineral resources. The Mogarians return to their table but shortly afterwards, one falls over dead after taking a drink. The Doctor removes his faceplate to reveal the agent whom was assumed dead. The event is replayed in the courtroom with the Doctor noting that he knew it was not a Mogarian due to the man's lack of translation activation when speaking English.
Professor Lasky's assistants discover the hatched pods and inform her. Lasky and the assistants discuss the events with one of the assistants growing increasingly worried about what will happen if discovered. Meanwhile, the passenger who recognized the agent heads to his room to rest but is attacked and killed by one of the pod creatures, which have been moving through the ventilation system.
The Doctor and Mel investigate the hydroponics bay after the Doctor pulls a leaf from the agent's body. Later, curious about Professor Lasky's movements in and out of the isolation room, the Doctor triggers the fire alarm to get the guard away. Donning masks, they enter the isolation room and discover a woman partially transformed into a plant based creature. The woman pleads with them to stop Professor Lasky but Lasky comes in and sedates her. The assistant Doland ushers the Doctor and Mel out. He tells them that the woman used to be a lab assistant who was infected and that they are trying to help her. The Doctor is then escorted back to the bridge. The Captain admits to helping the Doctor and also to having attempted to try and find out what the murdered agent's mission was but has received no help from Earth. He releases the Doctor, each promising to inform the other of anything new.
While the Doctor is gone, Mel finds another leaf and takes it to Professor Lasky to identify, who is now working out in the gym. Lasky refuses to help and is called away when Doland informs her that the other assistant, Bruchner, is damaging their work. After they leave, Mel overhears a voice in the air duct. She uses a headset to record and amplify the voice in the control room but is knocked out and placed in a trash bin.
The Doctor comes down to the gym looking for Mel and discovers the recording still going. He plays it back, overhearing both the voice and Mel's scream as she is attacked. He guesses that she was placed in the trash bin that he passed as he came in and runs down to the refuse center, preventing her from being smashed. Mel informs the Doctor of what happened and the two return to the gym and find the tape has been stolen. Meanwhile the plant creatures, called Vervoids, continue to move throughout the ship, attacking and collecting the bodies of their victims.
The Doctor and Mel split up again: Mel to investigate the stewardess' cabin and the Doctor to talk with Lasky. A brief scene is shown of the Doctor with an axe destroying the communications equipment and the Doctor, back in the courtroom, objects that once again the Matrix has been tampered with as he did not see that when he reviewed the events. His objections are noted, although the Valeyard scoffs at his excuses and the story continues.
Lasky is attacked by Bruchner when she confronts him on his destruction of their work. He attacks a guard and steals his sidearm. He then takes over the bridge, forcing the Captain and First Officer out. In the Stewardess' cabin, Mel is forced to hide when a Vervoid enters and begins to tear the room apart. The Vervoids are determined to reach Earth and have become aware of Bruchner's plan to destroy the ship. The Doctor finds Lasky and the two run up to the bridge where they find the Captain and First Officer outside and the door locked. The ship begins to shake as Bruchner turns it towards the black hole. The danger causes the Vervoids to reassemble in their nesting area.
The bridge is flooded with Methane gas which kills Bruchner but keeps the others out. The Security officer calls in the Mogarians who enter the bridge and pull the ship away from the black hole. However, they then hijack the ship and the security officer escorts the hostages to the lounge. The Doctor manages to get a warning to Mel and she, the stewardess and Doland flee to another part of the ship.
They try the communications room but find it destroyed. Mel then heads into the ventilation ducts to warn the Doctor that a security team will storm the Lounge. The Doctor warns her off and says that they must retake the bridge. While she is talking with the Doctor, someone sneaks into the bridge and throws water on the Mogarians. The water is toxic to them and they collapse. When Mel rejoins the group, they find the Mogarians dead on the bridge. They remove their faceplates and show them to the security chief. With his conspirators dead, the chief drops his gun and flees. In the halls, he is waylaid by the Vervoids and killed.
The Doctor springs a ruse with the Captain and he goes to search Doland's quarters and Mel Lasky's gym locker for the tape of the Vervoid plot. Doland finds the Doctor and he takes the Doctor to the hydroponics bay. While the Doctor is distracted, he gives him the erased tape and steals the Doctor's gun. He admits to killing the Mogarians and releasing the Vervoids with the plan to use them as slaves to replace robots. He tries to shoot the Doctor but the Doctor had disarmed the gun. The Captain is waiting outside and Doland is arrested. However, as they travel to the brig, the security guard and Doland are killed by the Vervoids.
With the number of passengers and crew reduced, the Vervoids become more aggressive and begin to move directly against the remaining humans. The Captain appeals to the Doctor for help and the Doctor agrees. The Doctor cites this in the courtroom that his actions were specifically requested and he did not move of his own agency. The High Inquisitor agrees as does the Valeyard, albeit reluctantly.
Professor Lasky finds her stocks of herbicides have been destroyed and attempts to negotiate with the Vervoids. They kill her anyway. Fleeing, Mel and the Doctor find the bodies of those killed by the Vervoids and the Doctor gets an idea. He asks the Captain for access to the vault which contains a valuable mineral that will accelerate the life cycle of plants. He then has the Captain shut down life support and lighting systems. The Vervoids retreat to their lair when the lights go down and the Captain announces a failure in the generator. In the lair, he and Mel drop the minerals which release large volumes of light and carbon dioxide. The richness causes the Vervoids to accelerate their aging and they wither and decay. With the Vervoids dead, the Doctor and Mel leave the ship.
Back in the courtroom, the Valeyard asks if all the Vervoids had been destroyed. When the Doctor confirms that they all were and had to to protect other lives, the Valeyard requests the additional charge of genocide be added. The Doctor protests but the Inquisitor agrees.
Analysis
Alien mixed with Death on the Nile is a good summary for this story. As a mystery, it does a pretty good job. Professor Lasky is probably the primary suspect the whole time and the fact that it is one of her assistants is a good diversion that keeps you guessing. Unlike other stories where the murderer is revealed earlier, this story kept things back until halfway through Episode Four and that was nice as well.
The Alien aspect wasn't bad either. Much has been written or talked about with what the Vervoid heads looked like in relation to female anatomy, but at the same time I can see the flower-like appearance they were going for. If you can let the sexual aspect of it go, the Vervoid design isn't bad. I did like their hit and run tactics and the fact that they waited until the ship's compliment had already been reduced before moving in force.
I didn't like the expositional gatherings they had in Episodes Eleven and Twelve. It was a little too conference room for something that was supposed to be fanning out and taking over the ship. I also didn't it was a good idea to give a full on view of the Vervoids in Episode Eleven. I think a slower reveal would have been better, or keeping them a bit more in the shadows to preserve the mystery until the out and out assault in Episode Twelve. But that's more a style preference.
I also thought the acting was quite good. Professor Lasky being portrayed by Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) was a nice use of stunt casting. All the others did a very good job as well and I can't recall any performances that were over the top except when needed. I can see the potential for trepidation with Mel though. She worked well here but I could easily see her character going off the rails in the Seventh Doctor era (I've not seen any of those stories yet).
Even the set design wasn't bad. It was impossible to take the studio feel out completely, but I thought it was done fairly well with a nice use of space. The crew attempting to brace the doors against the Vervoids with light wicker chairs in the lounge was a bit ridiculous, but for the most part, I thought it worked well.
With all this praise, I would be tempted to rate it fairly high, but there was something a bit off about it as well. It is hard to put a finger on it but for all the good about it, there was a little something missing. I think it was a better sense of tension. Whether it was something in the dialogue or the overall atmosphere, I can't recall a sense of genuine peril that you might feel in say something from the Philip Hinchcliff era. I think that brought it down a touch as well as brief moments where I felt slightly bored. Every once in a while, there were moments where it felt like the story was killing time before it hit the next plot point. Certainly the court room scenes did that, although there were few court room interruptions in this story.
On the whole though, I would say this was a good story. It's structure unfortunately does not allow it a good watch on it's own experience with the lead in from the death of Peri, but it makes for a good little mystery and a bit of a departure from the oddness that was Mindwarp. I would still rate Mysterious Planet the highest of the three so far, but while the general consensus seems to be rate Mindwarp above Vervoids, I would switch that around and rate Vervoids higher.
Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5
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