Vengeance on Varos
Encyclopedia
Vengeance on Varos is a serial in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 19–26 January 1985.
and Peri
are forced to land on the planet of Varos in search of more. But the colony is a former prison and the current society lives off entertainment from torture and execution. And the Doctor might be next on the listings.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is repairing the TARDIS
console. Peri complains that the Doctor has caused three electrical fires, a power failure, nearly collided with a storm of asteroids, got lost in the TARDIS
corridors twice, wiped the memory banks of the flight computer, jettisoned three quarters of the storage hold, and burned her "cold dinner", all since the time-travellers left Telos (Attack of the Cybermen
). Minutes later, the TARDIS
unexpecedly stops, stalled in the middle of deep space. And the Doctor can do nothing to fix it.
Sil
, the Mentor representative of the Galatron Mining Corporation, is negotiating with the Governor over the price of Varos’ Zeiton-7 ore. Their discussion, like many others, ends in stalemate. For many years, the Galatron Mining Corporation has swindled Varos by paying far less for the ore than its market value. And to make matters worse, the Chief Officer is in league with Sil. The Governor moves on to conduct the night’s vote. He addresses the people asking for their vote on if they should hold out longer for a fair price on the ore. The Governor loses and is forced to endure Human Cell Disintegration Bombardment. The process slowly kills the target and this is the third time his recommendations have failed to pass. The guard Bax recommends that the Governor execute Jondar to please the citizens so he can recuperate before the next vote.
Peri locates the TARDIS
manual and presents it to the Doctor who quickly dismisses it. He knows perfectly well what has caused their dilemma. The transitional elements within the TARDIS have stopped producing orbital energy and they need Zeiton-7 ore to realign the power systems. And as the Doctor explains, Zeiton-7 is exceptionally rare and only comes from one planet: Varos. The Doctor manages to repair the TARDIS
enough to travel to Varos and arrives right before the execution of Jondar is to take place.
The guard on station to watch over the execution believes the TARDIS
is merely a hallucination caused by the Punishment Dome. The Doctor and Peri exit the TARDIS
and think they are hallucinations as well. And with some help from the chained Jondar, the guard is incapacitated. The two free Jondar and make their escape, after being cut off from the TARDIS
by more guards. They are then rescued by Rondel, who has defected after speaking with Areta, and decided to help them. But he is killed shortly thereafter by pursuing guards.
The Doctor, Peri, Jondar, and Areta continue on through the Punishment Dome, attempting to make their way back to the TARDIS
. But during a run-in with another group of guards, the Doctor is separated from the others who are arrested. He enters a corridor that appears psychologically as a desert. And with all of Varos watching, the Doctor succumbs to the heat and collapses with his end as a close-up.
During the ordeal, Peri has been brought to the control center in the company of the Governor, Sil and the other officers. They question her as she watches them bring the Doctor’s body to an acid bath for disposal. It is also revealed that he is not dead, but his mind was influenced to make him believe he was dying of thirst in a desert. The Doctor suddenly stands up and walks over to the two attendants while their backs were turned. The surprise causes the first attendant to jump, pushing the second into the bath. A struggle ensues and the attendant is then pulled into the acid bath by the second who reaches up and grabs him. The Doctor strolls out with a morbid quip.
After making his way from the acid baths, the Doctor is cornered by Quillam, Varos’ chief scientist, and is taken away. Back in the control centre, it is decided that the Doctor and Jondar will be executed in a good "old-fashioned" way while Peri and Areta are to be reshaped with a cell mutator. The Doctor and Jondar are placed in the nooses while the Governor and Sil watch. At the last moment the Doctor questions the Governor about Sil and his extortion. Sil’s bodyguards rush the platform where the nooses are and pull the lever. But the two simply fall through the holes, the rope coming right off the support. As it turns out, there was to be no execution — it was all a way to get information out of the Doctor. The Doctor suspected this as he noticed that they were not being filmed.
The group then attempts to stop the cell mutator on Peri and Areta, but they are told it’s at too advanced a stage to stop. The Doctor and Jondar grab the weapons of nearby guards in an attempt to intimidate Quillam to deactivate the mutator. But it fails, and the Doctor resorts to shooting the entire control panel. The process has been stopped in the nick of time and Peri and Areta return to their original form. The four then escape back into the depths of the Punishment Dome towards a possible escape route. But Peri, still in a stupor after the affects of the mutator, is recaptured and taken to the control centre.
The Chief and Sil make their final move on the Governor in hopes that during the next vote he will be killed by the Human Cell Disintegration Bombardment, securing the way for them to control Varos and the Zeiton-7 ore. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Jondar, and Areta make their way into the End Zone of the Dome, where the exit is supposed to be. 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. The three then make their way to meet up with the Doctor through the ventilation ducts.
The Doctor’s group is then chased by two cannibals and loses them in some poisonous tendrils. The Chief and Quillam arrive on the scene but are entangled in the tendrils, killing them. They then meet up with Peri, the Governor, and Meldak. They all make their way back to the control centre and put an end to Sil’s plans of controlling Varos. The Galatron Mining Corporation also began to side with Varos; a second source of Zeiton-7 ore has been found, and Sil is ordered to obtain the Varosian ore at any price. The Doctor and Peri then bid the Governor farewell, taking the replacement ore with them.
The Governor issues a message to the citizens saying that there will be no more injustice, torture, and executions. Arak and Etta watch in disbelief, wondering what they’ll do with their new-found freedom.
, 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.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 19–26 January 1985.
Synopsis
After the TARDIS depletes its supply of Zeiton-7 ore, the Sixth DoctorSixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
and Peri
Peri Brown
Peri Brown, full name Perpugilliam Brown, is a fictional character played by Nicola Bryant in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
are forced to land on the planet of Varos in search of more. But the colony is a former prison and the current society lives off entertainment from torture and execution. And the Doctor might be next on the listings.
Plot
On Varos, a planet in the constellation of Cetes, the public torture of the rebel Jondar is taking place and being broadcast throughout the planet. Varosians Arak and Etta watch the proceedings from their room. Arak complains that they never show anything new to watch. In addition to the lack of new programming, the two must also deal with food rationing. And that night will be a punch-in vote ordered by the Governor, and voting is mandatory.Meanwhile, the Doctor is repairing the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
console. Peri complains that the Doctor has caused three electrical fires, a power failure, nearly collided with a storm of asteroids, got lost in the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
corridors twice, wiped the memory banks of the flight computer, jettisoned three quarters of the storage hold, and burned her "cold dinner", all since the time-travellers left Telos (Attack of the Cybermen
Attack of the Cybermen
Attack of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. It opened Season 22 of the series...
). Minutes later, the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
unexpecedly stops, stalled in the middle of deep space. And the Doctor can do nothing to fix it.
Sil
Sil (Doctor Who)
Sil is a fictional alien from the television series Doctor Who, first appearing in the 1985 serial Vengeance on Varos. Sil was portrayed by Nabil Shaban....
, the Mentor representative of the Galatron Mining Corporation, is negotiating with the Governor over the price of Varos’ Zeiton-7 ore. Their discussion, like many others, ends in stalemate. For many years, the Galatron Mining Corporation has swindled Varos by paying far less for the ore than its market value. And to make matters worse, the Chief Officer is in league with Sil. The Governor moves on to conduct the night’s vote. He addresses the people asking for their vote on if they should hold out longer for a fair price on the ore. The Governor loses and is forced to endure Human Cell Disintegration Bombardment. The process slowly kills the target and this is the third time his recommendations have failed to pass. The guard Bax recommends that the Governor execute Jondar to please the citizens so he can recuperate before the next vote.
Peri locates the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
manual and presents it to the Doctor who quickly dismisses it. He knows perfectly well what has caused their dilemma. The transitional elements within the TARDIS have stopped producing orbital energy and they need Zeiton-7 ore to realign the power systems. And as the Doctor explains, Zeiton-7 is exceptionally rare and only comes from one planet: Varos. The Doctor manages to repair the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
enough to travel to Varos and arrives right before the execution of Jondar is to take place.
The guard on station to watch over the execution believes the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
is merely a hallucination caused by the Punishment Dome. The Doctor and Peri exit the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
and think they are hallucinations as well. And with some help from the chained Jondar, the guard is incapacitated. The two free Jondar and make their escape, after being cut off from the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
by more guards. They are then rescued by Rondel, who has defected after speaking with Areta, and decided to help them. But he is killed shortly thereafter by pursuing guards.
The Doctor, Peri, Jondar, and Areta continue on through the Punishment Dome, attempting to make their way back to the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
. But during a run-in with another group of guards, the Doctor is separated from the others who are arrested. He enters a corridor that appears psychologically as a desert. And with all of Varos watching, the Doctor succumbs to the heat and collapses with his end as a close-up.
During the ordeal, Peri has been brought to the control center in the company of the Governor, Sil and the other officers. They question her as she watches them bring the Doctor’s body to an acid bath for disposal. It is also revealed that he is not dead, but his mind was influenced to make him believe he was dying of thirst in a desert. The Doctor suddenly stands up and walks over to the two attendants while their backs were turned. The surprise causes the first attendant to jump, pushing the second into the bath. A struggle ensues and the attendant is then pulled into the acid bath by the second who reaches up and grabs him. The Doctor strolls out with a morbid quip.
After making his way from the acid baths, the Doctor is cornered by Quillam, Varos’ chief scientist, and is taken away. Back in the control centre, it is decided that the Doctor and Jondar will be executed in a good "old-fashioned" way while Peri and Areta are to be reshaped with a cell mutator. The Doctor and Jondar are placed in the nooses while the Governor and Sil watch. At the last moment the Doctor questions the Governor about Sil and his extortion. Sil’s bodyguards rush the platform where the nooses are and pull the lever. But the two simply fall through the holes, the rope coming right off the support. As it turns out, there was to be no execution — it was all a way to get information out of the Doctor. The Doctor suspected this as he noticed that they were not being filmed.
The group then attempts to stop the cell mutator on Peri and Areta, but they are told it’s at too advanced a stage to stop. The Doctor and Jondar grab the weapons of nearby guards in an attempt to intimidate Quillam to deactivate the mutator. But it fails, and the Doctor resorts to shooting the entire control panel. The process has been stopped in the nick of time and Peri and Areta return to their original form. The four then escape back into the depths of the Punishment Dome towards a possible escape route. But Peri, still in a stupor after the affects of the mutator, is recaptured and taken to the control centre.
The Chief and Sil make their final move on the Governor in hopes that during the next vote he will be killed by the Human Cell Disintegration Bombardment, securing the way for them to control Varos and the Zeiton-7 ore. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Jondar, and Areta make their way into the End Zone of the Dome, where the exit is supposed to be. 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. The three then make their way to meet up with the Doctor through the ventilation ducts.
The Doctor’s group is then chased by two cannibals and loses them in some poisonous tendrils. The Chief and Quillam arrive on the scene but are entangled in the tendrils, killing them. They then meet up with Peri, the Governor, and Meldak. They all make their way back to the control centre and put an end to Sil’s plans of controlling Varos. The Galatron Mining Corporation also began to side with Varos; a second source of Zeiton-7 ore has been found, and Sil is ordered to obtain the Varosian ore at any price. The Doctor and Peri then bid the Governor farewell, taking the replacement ore with them.
The Governor issues a message to the citizens saying that there will be no more injustice, torture, and executions. Arak and Etta watch in disbelief, wondering what they’ll do with their new-found freedom.
Continuity
- This story begins very soon after Attack of the CybermenAttack of the CybermenAttack of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. It opened Season 22 of the series...
. Peri lists a number of problems the Doctor has caused since they left Telos. - Sil was originally to have returned in a Philip Martin serial for the 23rd season entitled Mission to MagnusMission to MagnusMission to Magnus is a story originally written to be part of the unfilmed 1986 season of Doctor Who. It was written by Philip Martin, who had previously written the television stories Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp....
, but when the season was postponed and all planned stories scrapped, Sil's return instead occurred in Mindwarp. Martin later novelised Mission to Magnus, which was published in 1990. In 2009, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nabil Shaban returned for an audio adaptation of Mission to Magnus. - The scenes including the Varosians Arak and Etta are completely detached from the story and the two are never encountered by the main characters. Their scenes act as a satire on televised violence.
- A long-standing myth holds that the Doctor pushes one or two guards into an acid bath. During the serial's original broadcast, the series drew criticism for being too violent. However, the Doctor does not actually push the guards into the acid. One falls in by accident and then pulls the other in. The fact that the Doctor does not react with horror, but instead tosses off a quip, may have led to the perception that he intended the accident to happen.
Production
- This story was written as a replacement for a serial called Song of the Space Whale by comics writer Pat MillsPat MillsPat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
. - Working titles for this story included Domain and Planet of Fear (the latter being vetoed for being too similar to the previous season's Planet of FirePlanet of FirePlanet of Fire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 23 February to 2 March 1984...
). - The story was first written for the 1982 season, but was repeatedly pushed back and re-written. In its final draft, the story had a number of comedic sequences, most of which wound up being cut, and one of which, the acid bath sequence, was played seriously. The result was that the final story was much darker than originally intended. The more grim acid bath sequence was much criticised for its tone and for the Doctor's flippant remark at the end of the scene.
- 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 in that case, for safety reasons the nooses were not actually tied up).
Cast notes
- Features Jason Connery, son of actor Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
. - Martin Jarvis makes a guest appearance 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 PlanetThe Web PlanetThe Web Planet is the fifth serial in the second season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 13 February 1965 to 20 March 1965...
and Invasion of the DinosaursInvasion of the DinosaursInvasion of the Dinosaurs is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 12 January to 16 February 1974.-Synopsis:...
. And Nabil ShabanNabil ShabanNabil Shaban is a British actor and writer. He founded The Graeae - a theatre group which promotes performers with disabilities. He has a son named Zenyel....
features as Sil, returning in the next season's MindwarpMindwarpMindwarp is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 4 October to 25 October 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole of the 23rd season...
, which is set on his home planet of Thoros Beta. - Stephen YardleyStephen YardleyStephen Yardley is an English actor, known for his work on British television between 1965 and 2004.Best known for his role as Ken Masters in the British TV drama Howards' Way , Yardley most recently appeared in the British TV comedy Hex .He made early appearances on TV in the 1960s, in series...
previously played Sevrin in Genesis of the DaleksGenesis of the DaleksGenesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.-Plot:...
. - Owen Teale later appeared as Evan Sherman in the TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
episode "CountrycideCountrycide"Countrycide" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Torchwood. It is the sixth episode of the first series, which was broadcast on 19 November 2006-Synopsis:...
" (2006). He also played Hayton in the audio play The Mind's EyeThe Mind's Eye & Mission of the ViyransThe Mind's Eye & Mission of the Viyrans is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Philip MartinPhilip Martin (screenwriter)
Philip Martin is an English television screenwriter.His early work included regular series such as Z-Cars in the late 1960s/early 70s, but his most famous work is the postmodern television series Gangsters. This was an examination of race seen through an increasingly surreal vision of...
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
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
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
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
Doctor Who audio releases
There have been many official and unofficial Doctor Who and related spin-offs released on audio, as LPs, audio cassettes, audio CDs and MP3 CDs. Recordings here are listed by their original release date.-Television soundtracks:...
, read by Colin Baker.
Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases
- This story was released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in the UK in 1993 as part of the Doctor Who 30th Anniversary celebrations. - It was released on DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2001. - The DVD commentary is provided by actors Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), and Nabil Shaban (Sil).