Vengeance on Varos

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138 [1] Vengeance on Varos
Doctor Who serial
Cast
Others
Production
Directed by Ron Jones
Written by Philip Martin
Script editor Eric Saward
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Music by Jonathan Gibbs
Production code6V
Series Season 22
Running time2 episodes, 45 minutes each
First broadcast19 January 1985 (1985-01-19)
Last broadcast26 January 1985 (1985-01-26)
Chronology
 Preceded by
Attack of the Cybermen
Followed by 
The Mark of the Rani
List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989)

Vengeance on Varos is the second serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who , which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 19 and 26 January 1985.

Contents

The serial is set on the planet Varos, where the Sixth Doctor and Peri find themselves in a world in which torture and executions are broadcast to the public as entertainment, and the alien mining representative is extorting the planet's Governor into selling the valuable ore Zeiton-7 to his company cheaply.

Plot

The Sixth Doctor and Peri travel to the planet Varos in search of Zeiton-7 ore in order to repair the TARDIS.

On Varos, the Galatron Mining Corporation's representative Sil is negotiating with Varos's Governor over the price of Zeiton-7 ore. The popular vote is against the Governor, and he is forced to please the citizens by ordering the execution of a rebel leader named Jondar.

The Doctor and Peri free Jondar and flee, meeting up with Jondar's wife Areta. The Doctor is separated from the others, who are arrested. With his attempt to escape now being broadcast as entertainment to all of Varos, he enters a corridor that appears in his mind as a desert, and due to its psychological effects, begins to die from thirst.

The Governor decrees that the Doctor and Jondar will be executed by hanging, while Peri and Areta are to be subjected to horrific scientific experiments. The four escape towards a possible escape route before Peri is recaptured and taken to the control centre.

The Chief Officer and Sil make their final move on the Governor in hopes that losing the next vote will finally kill him. The vote starts and the bombardment begins, but the guard Meldak has a change of heart and stops the device, saving the Governor and Peri. They all make their way back to the control centre as Sil reveals the invasion force he had dispatched hours earlier to take Varos by force. It is revealed that the invasion force has been called back, and a second Zeiton-7 deposit has been discovered, so his company has ordered him to obtain the Varosian ore at any price. The Doctor and Peri then bid the Governor farewell, taking some ore with them for the TARDIS. Soon after, the Governor issues a message to the citizens to abolish their government's injustice, torture, and executions.

Production notes

During the first recording of the noose execution scene, part of the set collapsed under the weight of the actors. Fortunately, this did not happen when Baker and Connery actually had their necks in the nooses (although, for both safety and the plot, the nooses were not actually tied up). [2]

In his 1986 interview for Starburst , script editor Eric Saward said he thought this story was "poorly directed". [3]

Cast notes

Jason Connery (Jondar) is the son of actor Sean Connery. Martin Jarvis features as the beleaguered Governor of Varos; he had previously appeared in the series in a story in each of the previous two decades: The Web Planet (1965) and Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974). [4] Subsequent to Vengeance On Varos, Jarvis as a different character reunited with Colin Baker in the Big Finish story Jubilee. After Jubilee, Jarvis appeared in the Torchwood BBC radio play The Devil and Miss Carew. Nabil Shaban, who plays Sil, returns in the next season's The Trial of a Time Lord . Stephen Yardley (Arak) previously played Sevrin in Genesis of the Daleks (1975). Owen Teale (Maldak) later appeared as Evan Sherman in the Torchwood episode "Countrycide" (2006) and also played Hayton in the audio play The Mind's Eye . Sheila Reid later played Clara Oswald's Gran in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) and "Dark Water" (2014).

Broadcast and reception

0-426-20291-0
EpisodeTitleRun timeOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions) [5]
1"Part One"44:4619 January 1985 (1985-01-19)7.2
2"Part Two"44:4626 January 1985 (1985-01-26)7.0

A novelisation of this serial, written by Philip Martin, was published by Target Books in January 1988. It was originally planned to be released 2 years earlier, but was pushed back after delays in the delivery of the manuscript by Philip Martin. However, it kept its original number of 106. In addition, although Target had launched a new cover design format for the books with the previous volume, Time and the Rani, reflecting the new series logo of the Sylvester McCoy era, Vengeance on Varos was published with the earlier book cover format using the neon-tube logo of the Baker-Davison era.

In 1997 the novel was also issued by BBC Audio as an audio book, read by Colin Baker.

Home media

Vengeance on Varos was released on VHS in the UK in 1993 as part of the Doctor Who 30th Anniversary celebrations. It was released on DVD in the UK on 15 October 2001. The DVD commentary is provided by actors Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), and Nabil Shaban (Sil). This serial was also released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in issue 68 on 10 August 2011. A Special Edition DVD was released on 10 September 2012. [11]

In 2013 it was released on DVD again as part of the "Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 5-8" box set, alongside Earthshock , Remembrance of the Daleks and the TV movie. Alongside a documentary on the Sixth Doctor, the disc features the serial put together as a single feature in widescreen format with an introduction from then current show runner Steven Moffat, as well as its original version.

It was released as part of the ‘Doctor Who The Collection: Season 22’ blu-ray box set on 20 June 2022. An extended cut of the story was included as an extra on the set featuring a total of over 15 minutes of extended and deleted footage reinserted - the runtime of this extended two-parter was approximately 115 minutes.

Tales of the TARDIS

A special edition of the episode aired on BBC iPlayer on 1 November 2023, in the spin-off Tales of the TARDIS . [12]

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References

  1. From the Doctor Who Magazine series overview, in issue 407 (pp26-29). The Discontinuity Guide , which counts the unbroadcast serial Shada , lists this as story number 139. Region 1 DVD releases follow The Discontinuity Guide numbering system.
  2. The Colin Baker Years, BBC Video 1994, at 34 minutes from beginning of video
  3. "The Revelations of a Script Editor". Starburst . September 1986. Issue 97. Page 16.
  4. "BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - Vengeance on Varos - Details". www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  6. 1 2 Mulkern, Patrick. "Vengeance on Varos ★★★★". Radio Times . Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. Harmes, Marcus K. (2014). Doctor Who and the Art of Adaptation: Fifty Years of Storytelling. Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 61–2. ISBN   978-1442232853.
  8. Howe, David J.; Stammers, Mark; Walker, Stephen James (2005). The Handbook:The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Production of Doctor Who. Telos. pp. 640–2.
  9. Wood, Tat (2007). About Time 6: Seasons 22 to 26 and TV Movie. Illinois: Mad Norwegian Press. pp. 26–39. ISBN   978-0975944653.
  10. Campbell, Mark (2011). Doctor Who: The Complete Guide. Robinson Publishing. ISBN   978-1849015875 . Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  11. "Doctor Who Vengeance On Varos (DVD)" . Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  12. Mellor, Louisa (31 October 2023). "Doctor Who Anniversary: What Actually IS Tales of the TARDIS?". Den of Geek . Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.

Target novelisation