Day 323 — November 19th 2021
Vengeance on Varos Part One
Vengeance on Varos — Part One
When I was first getting into Doctor Who, I remember being told very plainly that there was no point watching any of the Colin Baker stories because they were all rubbish and without redeeming features… apart from Vengeance on Varos, which was really rather good. General opinion seems to have shifted a little over the years, to the point where I think Terror of the Vervoids is now broadly considered the better story from this era, but Varos is still regularly held up as a rare example of the programme getting it right in this period, and it has to be said that this isn’t a bad opening episode at all.
Regular readers will know that I’m a right sucker for a dystopian totalitarian setting, and I tend to describe them as being 1984-esque because I don’t have that many other points of reference. This one is certainly rendered well enough, and I feel like I’ve a good handle on the way the world of Varos operates, even though I’ve only seen a few little parts of it. The inclusion of Etta and Arak watching the events at home is great, and it feels surprisingly fresh for the show. I think they’re probably my favourite part of the whole thing so far, and they work well to undercut some of the bits which could otherwise feel a little drab. It’s their reaction to the Governor’s broadcasts which makes the whole thing click for me, and watching the story play out I think I broadly side with Arak; the Governor really does do too many referendums.
It’s a good job that this world is so much fun to watch, because this has to be the worst example so far of Doctor Who and Peri spending their time in the TARDIS rather than getting involved in the adventure. On this occasion it’s 25 minutes before they set foot out of the ship, which means that in overseas territories where these were still broadcast in the 24-minute format, they spend the entire first episode away from the action. They don’t even decide to go to Varos to get the Zeiton-7 until about 23 minutes in, so you can’t even pretend they’re on their way to the story!
Something else which has bothered me in the TARDIS scenes sounds a little silly, so I was going to avoid mentioning it… but I’ve thought about it several times lately and it just keeps happening. For some reason we get various chairs brought into the Control Room so that characters can sit down for a bit. That doesn’t bother me in itself, but they always place these chairs in pretty much the same spot ‘down stage’ which means they’re nicely positioned for the camera, but would theoretically mean that they’re sat pretty much up against the wall, staring at a roundel! It’s happened in at least Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors, The Twin Dilemma and now here. It also doesn’t help that they seem to choose the most bizarre chairs in each case, which feel oddly out of place.
Anyway, at least once Doctor Who and Peri are out of the TARDIS they do jump right into the action, helping to free Jondar and fighting off a few guards as though they expect to be doing that sort of thing as a force of habit. As much as I might complain about wasting them cooped up in the TARDIS for the first quarter of the story, there’s something satisfying about seeing them crash into the story when the time comes.
The Punishment Dome is a great idea, and the whole idea of having people watching at home and voting on the outcomes is surprisingly ahead of its time. I think the impact is slightly lost now, after 20 years of reality TV being a big thing globally, but it’s impressive to remember that this was broadcast 15 years before the likes of Big Brother began. Jondar’s description of the Dome sells it well, although I think it’s written with a hint of sarcasm which isn’t in the delivery;
Doctor Who: ‘These cameras, do they feed pictures from here into every home?’
Jondar: ‘The whole dome is wired. Areas of ingenious danger lurk in every corner. You can die in so many varied and spectacular ways.’
Areta: ‘The cruel thing is that there is supposed to be safe route leading
towards an exit. Freedom.’
The problem is… I don’t think it really comes across on screen. The place just doesn’t seem all that scary to me, and the only threats we actually encounter are a big laser beam, a giant fly and a bit of desert. I feel like we need the whole place to be scarier, with some proper threats and obstacles for our heroes to overcome. If the idea is that there’s a million ways to die in here and anything could get you at any minute, I want to see someone fall through the floor, or accidentally set off a booby trap. It’s a great concept and it’d work really well for Doctor Who, but I think it needs another pass to really make the most of the concept.
Aside from the dystopia and the vaguely underwhelming Punishment Dome, this episode also introduces us to one of the more iconic aspects of the Colin Baker era — Sil. I’ve always thought of Sil as being a character that other people liked but I was a little ambivalent towards, but he’s a proper highlight in this episode, and I’m desperately waiting for Doctor Who to encounter him, because I think it might finally give Colin some proper material to work with. This larger than life creation should be the ideal counter to a more over-the-top incarnation of the Time Lord.
The design work on Sil is well done, too. They make the most of having a smaller actor in the part by making it clear that there’s a gap between his plinth and the bubbling liquid beneath, almost a case of ‘look at this, we don’t have anyone hiding inside this thing’. If I’ve a criticism I think the liquid needs to be visible right the way through to really sell the effect. I also think that the direction isn’t making the most of the design, so while I can see what they’re aiming for, it feels like Ron Jones hasn’t realised it.
Direction is relatively poor across the board, truth be told, and i wasn’t expecting it because the first note I made when watching was that we open with a couple of nice camera moves, panning across a model of the planet’s surface and then in on Robin of Locksley chained to a wall. It gave me hope that we were in for something special which hasn’t quite been the case.
I think there’s other areas where it could all hang together a little better in the direction, but I can’t pin the blame solely on Ron Jones. The final sequence, for example, where Doctor Who crawls along and the heat closes in around him really needs some actual sand to sell the effect. I know it’s all in his head, but the fact it looks like a slightly dodgy overlaid image doesn’t help sell what’s otherwise a pretty effective cliffhanger. I’m surprised to find that this one doesn’t end with a close up on Colin’s face, because it seemed like such an obvious candidate… although I suppose it does for the people watching at home on Varos!
6/10
