Vengeance on Varos

Best watched: not sure. I watched it in two halves, and felt the second episode was worse. But it might be just too much in one go.

Something happened just pre Waters of Mars, something that has coloured and caused my absence at this blog. I met Blake's 7 in a charity shop, like love at first sight. 51 episodes of "this still isn't awful. Why isn't this awful?"* later, I can proudly call it the greatest sci fi show ever made.

*and Ultraworld

Not in comparison to Doctor Who, of course. DW can't really be compared to anything - it's so long, so changeable in every way that nothing can reasonably compete. Yet, in a way, it has put me off Doctor Who for quite some time, because I know I will have to approach it more critically. It's one thing to excuse the Classic series because it's "old". It's quite another to actually see that the 1970s were capable of producing character development, clever dialogue and stunning direction, for four almost solid years. Doctor Who is necessarily a mixed bag.

So, it was with some considerable pleasure that I sat down to Vengeance on Varos, and found it worthy of my new expectations.

Upfront, it's message is an interesting one. Varos is exhibit one in the evidence that the Sixth Doctor era was vicious. I was shocked by the knives and gas in Two Doctors, but they do form part of the plot - they're just a little stronger than what I'd expect. I was very shocked by Attack of the Cybermen, and it's incidental viciousness, but it did make sense with what I know of the Sixth Doctor and the Cybs. Varos is the worst of the lot, because necessarily, the violence is dwelt on - it's also quite viscerally directed. And for this reason, it shocked me the least because it never seemed out of place. Compare it to Bad Wolf - which is funny, but totally undersells its message because of it.

In making a comment on the way we enjoy violent television, it has to produce some pretty violent television. So is it exploitative? Uncomfortable viewing or not, we are still invited to consume it on some level. The only difference is, we have the characters Etta and Arak who are also viewing, drawing attention to our own situation. Just like us, they judge or root for the characters on screen, but they also derive enjoyment from it. So its violence is self aware, and while sadistic, it can't be called unecessary or gratuitous. But there is also a level at which it can both have and eat its Jelly Babies.

An easy comparison to draw is to Blake's 7: Deathwatch, which has a similar premise - a televised fight to the death, with implants that allow viewers to experience the sensations and emotions the combatants. When Deeta sadly describes it as "murder without guilt, death without loss". I always feel he's breaking the fourth wall at that moment: B7 dishes up plenty of both and again, with one notable exception, the experience is an enjoyable one. Similarly, here we have the self-reflexive "close up on death throes!". It's a chilling, marvellous cliffhanger, but one that draws attention to the way DW always ends.

Both episodes just get more and more relevant, with the advent of reality TV. If the Punishment Zone was just that, however, this would seem a shallow one indeed. But it's backed by some truly fantastic worldbuilding - the small events there are linked to the fate of the whole planet. The addiction to, exploitation (and export) of violent television is a result of it's crippling poverty. The poverty is linked to corporate shenanigans, and weak government, and so it goes. A television addicted populace, it makes sense to put politics to television. Varos is probably the meanest planet ever, and this itself is kinda sad - everyone seems degraded by association, shallow and exhausted. I don't feel like any of the Varosians are innately bad people, per se - they're just a product of their merciless enviroment. The Governer's plight is irresistable, and I was really, really rooting for him to discover the true worth of Zeiton 7 and (because this is Doctor Who) make the planet prosperous and kind. Not, y'know, keep the populace in agony and keep the profits to create a fantastically wealthy upper class of croneys. Did I not mention what B7 has done to my optimism? I was also relieved to see the nice guard survive to the end.

Way back this time last year, I started trying to produce a thematic chronology of Doctor Who planets. The 51st Century, for example, was home to Jack, Captain John and River Song - and Classic episodes featuring lax decadents would most comfortably fit there. Varos temporally coexisting with Androzani Minor and Terminus, and all of Who's most unforgiving worlds makes a sort of sense in my head. The DWRG makes this interesting comment, presumably based on stated dates:

"In terms of Whoniverse history, yet again we have a suggestion that the 22nd and 23rd centuries were a bad time for Earth colonies. After the Daleks invaded in 2157, it seems that everything went to pot. Tara's a mild example. There's Varos, Terra Alpha... "

that makes me want to check out those other planets.

People have pointed out that the Doctor merely runs around. Perhaps. But he also does what he does best - shaking things up merely by being there. His skill in outwitting the Punishment Zone invigorates the viewers: it's a kind of rebellion. He helps inspire the governer, he puts pay to Sil's mean little scheme, and rescues some revolutionaries. He's the development nobody could plan for, the sonic spanner in the works. The comparison to Caves is a fair one: the Doctor's sheer arrival sets dominos toppling. In a way, Varos is so stagnant, that that's all it needs. Somebody to prove, in word and deed, that things can be different.

Don't really remember the Doctor or Peri. Don't really need to. I enjoyed it very much indeed, for its atmosphere and set pieces, and little ideas and wholeharted chilling awfulness.


Is it too violent? For my money, no, but I think Peri being turned into a bird is the most unpleasant bit. To be honest, the much-discussed acid bath is the least of it. I was surprised how unremarkable that scene was - perhaps the fact it is so incidental and unecessary is part of people's dislike. I also expected it to be a much more obvious shove - when actually, it was a mistake in a struggle. Do I have a problem with the Doctor killing in self defence? Depends how it's done. I'd certainly not blame him for the vines at the end - it's a trap which the other guys choose to walk into, because they have decided to murder the people hiding behind it. Similarly, the laser beam: the Doctor spots someone in horrible pain and danger, rescues them, and on that basis makes a split decision that the other people there must be villains. It's not unreasonable, is it? Fantastic split decisions are such a Six-like thing...I also like the idea not just that the situation is so desperate it calls for desperate choices, but that Varos simply rubs off on people. Though that's interpretation, not text.

All in all, what a corker! It's concept alone marks it as standout Doctor Who, a concept fabulously expressed. It could have been done differently, but not objectively better. Its controversies demand it be watched and discussed. And even if you take beef with both of these, the atmosphere and production deserves high praise.

Random thoughts:

The Sixth Doctor era is just great for practical makeup effects - the Borad, the dog-creature from Mindwarp, the half-vervoid in Vervoids. And here, bird-Peri is truly excellently horrific.

What animals would other companions be turned into?Or the Doctor?

I wonder if RTD remembers Varos fondly? I am thinking in particular of the finance plot (see End of the World, the Slitheen e.t.c.) and for moisturising Sil.

Question: Vengeance for what?