Who Review: Terror of the Vervoids

The Doctor’s trial on Gallifrey continues, and this time it’s the Doctor’s turn to produce evidence. To show the assembled Time Lords that his “interference” has been beneficial, even life-saving, to planets throughout the galaxy, he shares a sequence from his future. The Doctor and new traveling companion, Mel, respond to a distress signal on board the space liner Hyperion III. The Commodore, an old acquaintance of the Doctor’s, denies sending the signal, but insists they stay on board while they find out who did. What could have been a pleasant rest on a luxury cruise ship takes a turn when the Doctor and Mel find mysterious silver seeds in one of the passenger’s cabins… and that passenger turns up dead. The seeds belong to Professor Lasky, who has a Hydroponic Center in the cargo hold containing large pods that need to be monitored. When Lasky is informed that someone has broken into her Hydroponic Center, the situation goes from bad to worse. A murderer on the ship might be the least of their concerns, as the pods become restless…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

It’s Agatha Christie on board a cruise liner in space, or maybe the Orient Express? Everyone’s a potential killer, so why not? “Vervoids” was written by the husband-wife team of Pip and Jane Baker, whose last contribution to the show was “Mark of the Rani.” I’m not a huge fan of their work, and by their standards, “Mark” wasn’t bad. “Vervoids” tries hard to be clever, but, to me, it tries too hard and falls short. The basic idea is that someone’s killing to profit off of the ship’s cargo and the professor’s experiments. Meanwhile, the pods are opening, and there are angry Vervoids on the loose. They’re upset because the humans have bred them specially for slave labor. Add to that, the long-standing grievance between plants and humans–we need them, but all we do is eat them and throw them on the compost–and you have sentient foliage out for revenge. I’m not sure why we needed to spend so much time on the murder plot, when it was only tangentially related to the Vervoid plot, and frankly, the Vervoid scheme is a lot deadlier and deserving of attention.

Having just lost Peri in the dramatic conclusion to the last story, “Mindwarp,” we are given a sudden introduction to the Doctor’s new companion. Because the Doctor’s evidence “sequence” takes place in the future, it is assumed the Doctor and Mel have been traveling for a little while already, so we don’t get all the back story we would usually have on a companion. Instead, we learn about Ms. Melanie Bush through the story. And, for the most part, this is well done, though we don’t learn much. She’s from Pease Pottage on Earth, and has a photographic memory and a fixation with exercise and healthy eating. She’s also bubbly, perky, and can scream. Very loudly.

Mel is portrayed by veteran British actress Bonnie Langford. Bonnie made her name on British television playing Violet Elizabeth Bott, a bratty young girl with a lisp, on the series “Just William.” In subsequent television appearances, Bonnie was always smiling and energetic, which leads me to think Mel was written for Bonnie. Those of us who knew Ms. Langford as the grinning dancer with the squeaky voice were very skeptical at her being cast as a Doctor Who companion. I, for one, was sure this was a sign no-one was taking the show seriously anymore. In retrospect, however, I think this was unfair to Bonnie. She is a very good actress, and I think she did as well as she could with the part given to her. They could have written Mel any way they wanted to, and Bonnie would have run with it. But they cast her as a pastiche, even a parody, of Bonnie Langford–so what else could she do than live up to all our worst fears? Mel is by far NOT my favorite companion. I think her character lacks depth and substance. But I lay the blame for that on the writers, not the actor.

Honor Blackman, “Pussy Galore” in the Bond movie “Goldfinger,” guest stars as the professor, and does a good job. Not because the part is anything special, but because she’s a good actress and knows how to give the part life.

The Vervoids… well… they are certainly different. Not in a good way. Very obviously extras in costume, whose movements remind me of the Zarbi, large insect creatures encountered by the First Doctor in “The Web Planet.” Except the Zarbi had better costumes. Granted, flower monsters are hard to do on a pittance of a budget. But the design is a little… unfortunate. Suffice it to say, if nothing else, they probably convinced young men to give abstinence a try.

There are some clever-for-the-time effects. Particularly the see-through Space Invaders game a couple of passengers are playing near the beginning of the story. Apart from the fact it’s Space Invaders, the effect ages quite well. It still looks impressive today. The sets are also nicely designed, even if the exercise room is a little sparse. I’m sure the BBC bar is better equipped.

Once again, the “Trial” courtroom scenes undercut the cliff hangers, since we know the Doctor survives. Even if the story is set in the future, the Doctor surely knows the outcome, otherwise he wouldn’t be showing it. This implies the Doctor lives to tell about it before it happens. The courtroom scenes could be relevant if it wasn’t for the fact they are logically confounding. For example, when the Doctor protests at things being shown that he knows didn’t happen, he concludes the Matrix has been altered. The Inquisitor asks the Doctor if he wishes to withdraw his testimony if the Matrix is unreliable, to which the Doctor responds in the negative, citing the fact that if he did, he would have no evidence, and what the Valeyard has presented against him would stand unchallenged. The Doctor would be found guilty without doubt. BUT, if the Matrix has been tampered with, then surely the Valeyard’s evidence would also be suspect since it too came from the Matrix. And if it isn’t suspect, then wouldn’t it be natural to conclude that the scales of justice have been forcibly tipped in his favor? Which, in any decent legal system, would lead to a mistrial. Surely the Doctor is innocent until proven guilty? As the only source of evidence in the case, the Matrix has to be beyond reproach, or it is worthless, and the Doctor walks away. Apparently, this is not the way it works. And then, at the end, the Valeyard suddenly decides the Doctor is not actually on trial for meddling, but for genocide, a much more serious crime. Since when does the prosecutor have the authority to change the entire nature of a case, based on new evidence? Either the Doctor is tried for meddling, or the case is dismissed and a new accusation of genocide introduced.

So the Doctor is now charged with the wanton destruction of an entire species. A charge somehow more serious than the previous one for which he was facing execution. *sigh* See what I mean?

No, I don’t think “Terror of the Vervoids” is must-see Who. It’s not the worst, and not a complete train wreck. In fact, some parts are not bad. But really, the only reason to watch “Vervoids” is because you’re watching the whole season.