Rate and discuss: Vengeance on Varos

[SiHart]

Sil vs Martin Jarvis, the Doctor vs reality TV... who wins?

What do you think of Vengeance on Varos?

[Philipnet]

This was one of the first Dr Who DVDs I ever bought.

[Andrew Curnow]

Clearly Planet Skaro is full of opinions on this one!!

At the time, I seem to remember it being kind of hailed as the best story of the season (and for a long time, wasn't it considered the very best of Colin's era?).

I've not seen it in quite a long time now, but from memory:

Thumbs Up For:-

Sil, a great combination of writing, acting & design.
Martin Jarvis - a role that could have been paper-thin & weak with a lesser actor is actually a real person.
Colin
Arak & Etta
The cliffhanger


Thumbs Down To:-

The woman who plays Jason Connery's wife, she's a really bad actress - not Planet of the Spiders bad, but still pretty bad.
The acid bath scene. We've had 27 years now to try and accept it, but it's just a poor judgement by some or all of the writer, script-editor, director, producer.
Like Attack of the Cybermen, part 2 is a bit rambly after a very strong part 1.
The cannibals - sadly, old men in nappies were not scary even in the more innocent 1980s


On the plus side, there are some clear signs of the production team (I would guess driven by Eric Saward mainly) trying to establish a new style and feel for the new era - whether the more grim, grimy & nasty new style is to your taste is a personal thing, but it's certainly a departure from the Davison era.

So, like a lot of season 22 (IMHO) it scores high for ambition and intention, not so high for execution.

That's probably enough for me on this post, so let's cut it......

...Now.

[Leah Betts]

The Doctor solves Varos's problems by murdering the Chief Officer and Quillam. I wonder what happened to the Doctor, to whom, all life was sacred.