KOOL TV REVIEW: 'DOCTOR WHO - VENGEANCE ON VAROS' SPECIAL EDITION DVD

Video nasties? Trouble for the Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) in the new BBC DVD release: DOCTOR WHO - VENGEANCE ON VAROS. Images: BBC.

DOCTOR WHO: VENGEANCE ON VAROS - SPECIAL EDITION DVD (2 discs)

Written by Philip Martin

Directed by Ron Jones

Starring Colin Baker as the Doctor, and Nicola Bryant as Peri

Available on DVD from BBC CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Acclaimed screenwriter Philip Martin brings his unique blend of gritty storytelling and intriguing characters to the hit British sci-fi series, after the noted success of his ahead of it’s time and very stylised BBC 1 thriller series GANGSTERS (starring the late Maurice Colbourne). Originally devised for the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, under the working titles of Domainand Planet of Fear, many rewrites later and a changes of lead actor/companions saw the tale metamorphosis into the dark fuelled adventure Vengeance on Varos, now available in a shiny re-mastered features packed two-disc Special Edition from BBC CONSUMER PRODUCTS, and the third televised 1985 adventure for the multi-coloured coated hero Colin Baker in his sixth flamboyant and jubilantly confident persona at a time which saw the series in a continuing journey into new storytelling dynamics and moral complexity.

The new Doctor and Peri arrive on Varos.

After the violence and planet hopping of the prior season launcher Attack of the Cybermen, and before the welcome return of Patrick Troughton in The Two Doctors (we’re talking in filmed production order), here’s a chance for an original tale between bouts of nostalgia. An intelligent and thought provoking script that really stands out from the pack, full of drama and social commentary- a scathing attack on modern society and violence, both then and now, plus the relationship between politics, commercial enterprise and the then state of modern television and its viewing audiences- all storytelling elements just as relevant today as they were in 1985, what with the likes of CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER and the glories and indignation of YOUTUBE. The entertainment industry in general receives a strong Orwellian–esque twist from Martin, as the rulers of Varos sell tapes of torture and death to buyers across the galaxy, a nod to the eighties increase in the consumer video tape market, more competitive television and the importance of audience figures for rival channels.

Varos also boasts one of the shows greatest cliff-hangers and a final wrap up scene worthy of Rod Serling’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE. It’s just in the final all-important translation of the story to the screen, that it hits the odd bump on the road…

The Doctor meets The Governor (Martin Jarvis)

DVD release trailer: Doctor Who - Vengeance On Varos - Special Edition - Coming Soon Trailer - COPYRIGHT BBC AND 2 ENTER - YouTube

His post regeneration exuberance's toned down from the first two stories, Colin Baker’s multi- faceted, perhaps still highly unstable at times, portrayal of the Doctor will either delight or infuriate. As an actor he’s very good in certain scenes as the Time Lord-importantly, he’s bold, heroic and great at confronting baddies, but in other scenes he seems to misjudge his delivery of certain dialogue or seems too wistful or egocentric for the viewers. His more boisterous characterisation, foisted on him from behind the scenes (the actor wanting to inject further elements of his own personality, mixed with a bit of Sherlock Holmes) may have inadvertently rubbed viewers up the wrong way, when other actors before him in the role, despite their occasional crankiness and arrogance, had been more accessible. His companion, Nicola Bryant’s often whiny American botany student Peri, whilst nowhere in the same top of the league table of annoying companions that Karen Gillan’s Amy Pond currently is, appears underused in the adventure. Additionally, their sometimes bitchy and biting relationship soon becomes both annoying and unbelievable in the series: and this was only their third story together! On the plus side, though, Miss Bryant looks fantastic in her for the dad’stight, figure hugging blue top and shorts (the actress hated her costumes both at the time and now, but hey, I’m not complaining!). Also on the plus side, she does get to hang out in some visually cool though surely uncomfortable bird make-up in between getting captured a lot. The potential for Peri and Miss Bryant as an actress, shown during her two stories at the end of the Davison era, would sadly not be recognised very much this season.

Under lock and key. The Doctor with Jondar (Jason Connery) and Areta (Geraldine Alexander).

There’s also something a but wishy-washy about Varos supporting cast, with a few weak actors here and there: notably ROBIN OF SHERWOOD-to-be Jason Connery and Geraldine Alexander playing resistance fighters Jondar and Areta in first time performances that come across as pretty raw, whilst Nicolas Chagrin, despite some impressive make up and a grim eye patch mask, ultimately hams it up too much as the dreaded Varosian scientist and torturer, Quillam. But the main guest cast, though, are excellent, especially Martin Jarvis as the beleaguered Governor and weighty Forbes Collins as corruptible henchman, the Chief Officer. Look out for an appearance from a very young pre-GAME OF THRONES Owen Teale, too!

Nabil Shaban impresses as the alien businessman Sil.

The ultimate star of the story is also its singular monster, played by the great Nabil Shaban: the  grotesque, vainly creepy and wonderfully repulsive Sil, the totally greedy intergalactic businessman and villain of commerce who could show STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE’s Quark a thing or two. A wonderful multi-faceted creation from Martin that Shaban grabs a hold of and doesn’t let go in giving a marvellous performance, as Sil eats away at his marsh minnows and enjoys the fun of the game watching the torture and suffering playing out around him on Varos. His quest to get hold of the valuable Zeiton ore supplies of the planet are without morality or conscience, and there’s seemingly no end to his delicious villainy. Shaban’s performance, of which he makes the most of his paraplegic frame within the costume, is full of humour and danger, and deservedly won acclaim from cast and crew, critics and audiences of the time, of which he would make a welcome and deserved reappearance in the series 18 months later, in the Trial of a Time Lord adventure, Mindwarp. Probably one of the best devised baddies ever to appear in not only eighties WHO but the entire series in general- not out to take over the universe by traditional means of conquesting hordes of robots or soldiers, but through the power of the purse and corrupting commercial interests-with a memorably sinister happy profit making gurgle that I’m sure UK schoolchildren of the time memorably recreated in their playgrounds.

Enjoying the show: Stephen Yardley as Arak and Sheila Reid as Etta.

On the flip side of the story, in a unique bubble of their own, special mentions must also go to Stephen Yardley and Sheila Reid in their roles of the equally well conceived characters of the blackly funny Arak and Etta, the story’s overall Average Joe commentators: the equivalent barometers to us when watching DOCTOR WHO and television. They act as our windows to the main story, watching events play out on their television screens, providing a running commentary of the story and their lives on Varos, two people used to the world of violence happening around them as long as they are generally entertained by it. It may seem a bit stagey at times to a modern audience but there‘s some cracking dialogue and chemistry here between the two of them.

Peri is captured by Sil and the Chief Officer (Forbes Collins).

Having done a fine job in visually realising the solitary and dangerous environs of Frontios, and its extinction threatened colonists, for Peter Davison’s final season as the Doctor, eighties WHO series veteran Ron Jones direction on Varos is solid, if unspectacular, with the occasional intriguing angle, but it lacks the visual finesses and atmosphere building that Martin’s story truly deserves. His cameras also move in and out of set designs that are basic but good, in an overall story with very few special effects: a factor which works to its advantage. A lot of tense mood is also provided by Radiophonic Workshop talent Jonathan Gibbs-his third of four incidental scores for the series in the eighties. 

The Doctor and Peri attempt to free the tortured Jondar.

Pacing wise, the first episode takes a while for our lead heroes to become involved in the story (a plotting problem of the new fifty minute episodes duration, which lasted a season), whilst continuity is abandoned for the sake of a good story (only a few seasons back the TARDIS had “limitless power”, now it just about makes its way to Varos for some urgently needed Zeiton ore). Some of the key action sequences and fights also seem poorly choreographed and look very slow. Fortunately, things pick up considerably by the second episode, with the Doctor and Peri well infused into the dark goings on within the colony, though there’s still the odd occasional lame moment or two hampering things ever so slightly, like the pair of completely decrepit looking elderly and totally unscary cannibals chasing them at one point, plus the so old it creaks “into the ventilator shafts” cliché.

Harsh times for The Governor.

There’s also the controversial criticisms of violence thrown against not only this story but several others in Colin Baker’s first year that have to be addressed. Most remembered for the “acid bath” death scenes, where the Doctor fights two Varosian guards, resulting one falling into the acid bath and unintentionally pulling the other one in, Varos was the first to truly suffer the wrath of BBC management (even though Head of Drama Jonathan Powell had prior seen and approved all the scripts) and the distaste and displeasure of certain audiences, who feared the show was becoming too adult for its timeslot, it’s levels of violence and an altogether tougher attitude inherent within the stories proving very noticeable (steered on by script editor Eric Saward and producer John Nathan-Turner, having been promised by BBC management, but ultimately not getting, a later time-slot for such additions). Additionally, Colin Baker’s performance as the series lead also occasionally seemed to glorify in the violence (though one can refute that by saying that the Doctor’s central heroic qualities remains mostly intact, and he was up against some quite merciless opponents at the time!).

Personally, at the time of transmission I thought the “acid bath” sequence was darkly comic rather than anything horrific, and one of the season’s most memorable moments, though one shot perhaps lingers a little bit in the mind: a long shot image of a bath emerging guards disfigured face and arm reaching out from the corrosive water. As an adult, and with the passage of time, I can see why the scene causes such worries for a children/family adventure series-they’d certainly never do a scene like that now in Modern WHO.

Though first available on DVD in a rather basic release from 2001, this new Special Edition gives fans a much better overall perspective look at the story, with a wealth of great specially made bonus features of high quality, including a lively commentary from stars Baker, Bryant and Shaban. The documentary on the making of the show, Nice or Nasty?, sees writer/presenter Matthew Sweet asking all the right questions about the shows genesis and controversies to script writer Philip Martin and script editor Eric Saward (including a nice 2003 interview with Nabil Shaban about playing the villainous Sil). There’s also a look at how DOCTOR WHO as a series has made the most out of its diverse storytelling format (including VAROS as an example) and the televisual times it has lived in, with The Idiot’s Lantern – a short but sweet featurette presented by Samira Ahmed, written by Simon Guerrier. Some nice deleted scenes of nearly twenty minutes are dusted down (with some nice character and scene setting moments), as well as a few behind the scenes/outtakes moments, and an unused/alternate piece of incidental music for the infamous “acid bath deaths” scene from Jonathan Gibbs (also interviewed in Nice or Nasty?). Further, there’s rare imagery, production notes and PDFs with some interesting background info on the story's genesis, a French and Saunders aborted WHO comedy sketch that's painfully unfunny (circa 1986/87), and of the time BBC 1 continuity and trailers adding to the bigger picture. Rounding out the Sixth Doctor’s then recent 1984 arrival is a nice interview with Baker on the BBC’s BREAKFAST TIME programme, plus a charming and on-form Baker with Nicola Bryant, both in character costumes, appearing on the SATURDAY SUPERSTORE programme, answering questions from young fans, and receiving a threatening call to arms from a no longer dead The Master (once more personified by Anthony Ainley)!

Happier times for Colin and Nicola in their first photocall together in 1984.

Furthermore, the Tomorrows Times featurettes looking back at press reaction to the show’s classic era continue, with Fifth Doctor companion Sarah Sutton comfortably handling the presenting reins for the Sixth’s tumultuous period. And going back through the vortex to the Third Doctor’s era we also get a spiffing trailer for the next WHO release, the superb early 1970 adventure co-starring UNIT: The Ambassadors of Death…

It overall would probably have worked much better in the Davison era (what with his more vulnerable hero trapped in such a nightmare environment of shady and manipulative characters), and as a once planned four-parter (instead, becoming part of Season Twenty-Two’s not totally successful re-launch of the show in aforementioned forty five minute episodes), but Vengeance on Varos remains one of the true high points of Colin Baker’s short but enjoyable run, of which this new release makes its mark as an essential purchase and a more fitting end to his on-screen tenure via DVD.

Overall story and extras: 4 out of 5 (Note: the story itself gets a 4 mostly for Philip Martin’s original concept and script).

Get VENGEANCE ON VAROS here: Doctor Who - Vengeance on Varos Special Edition DVD 1985: Amazon.co.uk: Colin Baker, Nichola Bryant, Nabil Shaban, Ron Jones, Philip Martin: Film & TV