Vengeance on Varos

I like that one, the one in the funny coat.

Nearly every science-fiction series does some variant on the Roman bread and circuses routine. Vengeance on Varos is that for Doctor Who, although it seems a bit odd that it took them that long to do one. Also, this one is long on the circuses but a bit short on the bread, giving it a stronger tie-in to the modern reality television market.

Plot Summary

On the planet Varos, a couple are watching a rebel leader named Jondar being tortured. They are awaiting a message and vote from the planetary governor. The Governor is negotiating a contract with the off-planet mining company representative named Sil over the planet's chief export, the mineral Zeiton-7. At a stand-off, the Governor goes before the people to ask for greater rations to expand mining operations. The people vote immediately and directly through their screens and when he loses the vote, the Governor is tortured with a cellular decay field, nearly killing him.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor is attempting to repair the damage done by the Cybermen in the previous adventure. The TARDIS suddenly stops dead and the Doctor begins to mope that they are stuck in the middle of space. Peri grabs the manual and when she notices the time-rotor still moving slightly, the Doctor is reanimated knowing they can make at least one more landing. Investigating, he figures the TARDIS needs an infusion of Zeiton-7 for renewed power and the two decide to head for Varos.

After the failed vote, Sil attempts to gain ground on the Governor in his weakened state. The Governor, needing time to recover, takes the suggestion of one of the guards to execute Jondar in a random fashion as a means of entertainment and driving up the Governor's ratings. Sil concedes the time as he is also fond of watching the executions but sends word to the company that more militant action may be necessary.

As the means is prepared, the Doctor and Peri land. The TARDIS is attacked by a guard and the Doctor disarms him. He then releases Jondar. The act brings the guards in and the trio flee into the tunnels. The Doctor sets up some distractions but the only lose the guards when pulled into an access tunnel by Jondar's wife Areta, aided by a sympathetic guard. The guard is gunned down as they flee but the rest escape deeper into the tunnels.

The Doctor tries to get back to the TARDIS and learns the only way is through a series of tunnels and rooms designed to terrify and torture people for entertainment. The group is unaware that they are still being broadcast and the public is enjoying their attempts at escape. They navigate through two rooms designed to paralyze them with fear but emerge unscathed. However, upon reaching the original room, they find the TARDIS has been taken by the authorities.

Continuing to look for the TARDIS, the group is separated by guards. Peri, Jondar and Areta are captured with Peri being taken to the control room for questioning. The Doctor is trapped in a hallway where hypnotic suggestion impresses on him that he is dying of thirst in the desert. He collapses, apparently dead. However, when the guards take him to the acid bath disposal room, he comes alert and gets up. The shock sends a guard back, knocking his companion into the bath. The remaining guard attacks the Doctor, but he is forced back and then dragged into the acid bath by the first guard trying to get out.

The Doctor leaves but is quickly recaptured. He and Jondar are sentenced to execution by hanging while the women will be cellularly reconstructed into some other creature. After the women are lead away, the Doctor accuses Sil of underpricing the Zeiton-7 ore, detailing how valuable it is and what the demand for it should be. Enraged, Sil sends his men in and one triggers the trap door. However, the nooses were not secured to anything and the Doctor and Jondar fall harmlessly below. The whole thing had been a ruse by the Governor to get the truth out of both the Doctor and Sil.

The Doctor states he will only help if Peri and Areta are released unharmed. Sil encourages the Chief Officer to not comply, allowing the transmogrification to continue. Peri begins to assume the form of a bird while Areta takes a more reptilian appearance. Realizing what has happened, the Doctor grabs a gun and orders them to stop the process. When they refuse, he destroys the equipment. With the process incomplete, Peri and Areta revert back to their normal states.

An alarm is sounded and the group make a run for it, although Peri and Areta are very weak. Seeking to help them, the Doctor and Jondar steal a guard car, but while doing so, Peri wanders off in a semi-delusional state and is captured. She is brought back to the control room and the Chief Controller orders a populace vote as the Governor has outstepped his mandate.

While the stream is being set up, the Governor appeals to guard captain Maldak to help them. He refuses, waiting for the vote results. Both the Chief Officer and the Governor state their cases and the vote goes against the Governor. As the cellular decay beam is activated, he condemns the Varosian society for what is has become. This moves Maldak and he destroys the cellular decay machine. Maldak, the Governor and Peri then flee into the tunnels.

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Jondar and Areta elude death traps in the corridors as they approach the exit of the dome. They enter an area with deadly vines and when a patrol car approaches, the Doctor has Jondar pull a group of the vines away with a string. The Chief Officer and Quilliam the torturer arrive and attempt to gather them for torture display when Jondar releases the vines, running into their pursuers and killing them.

The Doctor's group meets the Governor's group as they emerge from the vines and return to the control room. There they find Sil communicating with his own people about an invasion force. The invasion fleet is called off as another source of Zeiton-7 has been discovered although the immediate need requires them to pay any price. The Governor then creates a new contract that will bring great wealth to Varos.

The Governor gives the Doctor and Peri the Zeiton-7 they need and then addresses the people. As they will now getting greater wealth, he is calling off all rationing and cancelling the broadcast tortures. The couple who had been watching events all this time reflect that although they have now been grated freedom, they are unsure of what to do next.

Analysis

There are a number of stories in Doctor Who that have not aged well, whether due to a change in civic outlook, production values, or just an appreciation of acting performance. Vengeance on Varos seems to be one of those rare productions that actually increases in appreciation the older it gets. The effects and overall production of the story are still mediocre at best and reek of the cheap stylishness of the 1980's, but the story quality itself is so forward looking (while also being rear facing) that it seems to be appreciated more and more as time goes by.

Obviously the first reference is to the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome and how that kept the people sedated. However, the fact that it extends into the political arena where the Governor himself may be tortured and killed as a means of pacifying the people is very forward thinking. Our own elections of today have become as much a reality television show as anything else on. We shouldn't be surprised that one candidate is effectively a reality show star in and of himself.

Probably one of the most interesting things about this story is that as good at is as a straight narrative, you constantly have quick cuts to the couple of Arak and Etta who offer commentary just as was probably being done to the show at the time and indeed as we do now. Arak takes great relish in being contrary to anything the Governor states and proposes (much like a modern political system) and is almost gleeful when he votes to kill the Governor, stealing Etta's vote in the process. His indignence at having the Governor's death thwarted to the point of double voting a second time is almost like the petulance seen in modern internet reaction where people scream and rage over the pettiest garbage simply because they do not get their way.

I must praise the acting in this as well. The Governor and the Chief Officer are wonderfully deadpan and understated in their performances, giving a nicer contrast to the emotional and reactionary Sil. Sil gets a little mustache twirl-y at times, but it comes across mostly in a comedic fashion, adding a nice bit of levity to the story.

The Doctor was quite good in this story as well. He whiney petulance at the beginning where the TARDIS stalls out was a little annoying but once they landed on Varos, he really picked up, both with wit and enthusiasm. He also began to show a nice report with Peri. His comments to her were more interactive and informative rather than belittling or condescending. He goes so far to actually express great concern for her, something notably lacking in other stories.

Peri, on the other hand, does not really keep up her end. Nothing is wrong with her in the way she is written, but I'm getting the feeling that the desire for Peri to be expressed as an American, really hampered Nicola Bryant's acting ability. She effectively only has two tones: a lower, more conversational tone (like when she is with the Doctor in the TARDIS) and a higher pitched, whinier tone expressed whenever they get into trouble. It reduces her to the damsel in distress role and she is never really seen to do anything of benefit to what the Doctor is doing. Her only contribution here is to get out the TARDIS manual and kick the Doctor in the butt to land on Varos. Once there, it is run, get captured, escape; wash, rinse, repeat. Granted, the Doctor does much the same, but he is interacting and aiding in the formant of rebellion. Peri is a complete tag-a-long, existing solely as something to be rescued.

My only other complaint about this story is the rather cheap look to the story. The story does a decent job of disguising things with dark, moody lighting, but it can't disguise sets like the gallows, which are back-lit like an 80's episode of Lawrence Welk. The vine scene also has a fake look to it that is hard to ignore. Obviously the show was hampered by budget concerns and studio space limitations, but there is something about the way the show was filmed in the 1980's just seems to draw your eye to the limitations where it was more easily ignored in the 1970's.

Overall, this story was quite good. Enjoyable story, enjoyable characters, witty script and very interesting premise. I think I would go so far as to say that this is my favorite Sixth Doctor story to date. I only have three left to see and the reputation of two of them is less than stellar so it'll be interesting to see how that final story stacks up against this one to claim the title of my favorite of the era.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5