Terror of the Vervoids
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| 146 - Terror of the Vervoids | |
| Doctor | Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor) |
|---|---|
| Writer | Pip and Jane Baker |
| Director | Chris Clough |
| Script Editor | Eric Saward |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | 7C-1 |
| Series | Season 23 |
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | November 1–November 22, 1986 |
| Preceded by | The Trial of a Time Lord : Mindwarp |
| Followed by | The Trial of a Time Lord : The Ultimate Foe |
| IMDb profile | |
Terror of the Vervoids is the title commonly used for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from November 1 to November 22, 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, comprising the whole of the 23rd season. This serial is the first appearance of Bonnie Langford as the companion Melanie Bush.
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[edit] Synopsis
It is now the Doctor's chance to provide evidence for his defence. He produces the events on the Hyperion III to the trial, but has the Valeyard managed to corrupt the Matrix to show events in a different light?
An undercover agent working aboard the space liner Hyperion III contacts the Doctor and asks for assistance to help crack the case of a group of scientists carrying out experiments with mixing human DNA with plant based life. The Doctor and his companion Mel respond, only to find that the Captain of the liner is an old friend and that their contact has been killed. While Mel searches for clues as to the perpetrator of the crime, the Doctor takes the opportunity to lose a little weight in the Hyperion III gym ...
[edit] Plot
- After a recess in the trial for the Doctor to grieve for the death of Peri, he proceeds to present evidence for his defence. He chooses to show future events on the galactic liner Hyperion III, ferrying a cargo of precious metals from the planet Mogar to Earth in the year 2986. The Doctor says that not all the passengers will survive the journey, as one of them is a murderer…
An angry female professor Lasky complains that her luggage has been lost, until security officer Rudge tells her she has misread her room number. An elderly man thinks he recognises a fellow passenger as Hallett, an investigator he had met on the plant Stella Stora. The passenger denies ever having been to that planet, and that his name is Grenville. Lasky and her colleague Bruchner overhears the encounter and look alarmed that Grenville might be an investigator. Lasky demands that her colleague Bruchner goes and checks the seals on the Isolation Chamber immediately. Grenville is seen sneaking about and putting on a protective suit and entering a Hydroponics Centre. The Hyperion III blasts off into space.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor's companion Mel is forcing the Doctor to perform a rigorous exercise regime and making him drink carrot juice, to his great disgust.
Edwardes, the communications officer of the Hyperion, detects an unidentified craft in the same vicinity of space. Suddenly he is attacked from behind by an unseen figure who injects him with a syringe. The figure appears to send a message. In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Mel pick up a Mayday message beamed specifically at the time machine, and responding, they materialise on board the Hyperion. The Doctor tells Mel he can sense evil on the ship and proposes to immediately depart, but Hyperion guards arrive and seize them.
Edwardes reports to his commanding officers Rudge and Commodore Travers. As none of the machinery was damaged they realise the assailant's goal was to send out a message. When the Doctor and Mel are brought before Travers, the Doctor recognises him from a previous encounter — an occasion of mayhem and intrigue — calling him Captain "Tonker" Travers. Travers corrects him over his rank before saying that it was not he or any member of his crew who had sent the mayday signal. Travers tells Rudge not to police the Time Lord too carefully; if he gives the Doctor enough rope, he will discover the culprit for them.
In the Hydroponics Centre there are row after row of plant pods. A Mogarian concealed in its atmospheric suit is seen putting silver Demeter seeds into a petri dish and departing with them. In the Lounge, the Doctor and Mel make plans to investigate the mystery of the message. A Mogarian observes them silently from a balcony. While the Doctor asks for a passenger list, Mel goes snooping off around the passenger decks. She arrives in the ship gymnasium where she sees Lasky. As Mel starts an exercise routine, Doland arrives and informs Lasky that someone has broken into the Hydroponics centre, and together they rush off. On her headphones, Mel hears someone speak to her but when she looks around cannot find who it was.
Rudge gives the Doctor the passenger list, hoping that he will recognise a name, find the culprit and depart quickly. Unfortunately for him, the Doctor recognises none of the names. Mel arrives in the lounge and tells the Doctor that someone has arranged to meet him in cabin 6. The suspicious Doctor refuses to take on the role of a judas goat.
Lasky and Doland go to the Hydroponics centre, where they see the signs of forced entry, and that Demeter seeds are gone. Mel goes on her own to cabin 6; when someone approaches, she tenses but it is only the Doctor. They find the silver Demeter seeds and a single shoe in the cabin. Rudge contacts Travers to inform him there has been an accident in the waste disposal unit. Travers arrives to see that someone has been murdered by being thrown into the unit. All that remains of the victim is a single shoe, partner to that found in cabin 6. Rudge tells them that it was a mineralogist named Grenville.
The Doctor and Mel go to the gymnasium, where the Doctor reaches the conclusion that there is nothing further that either he or Mel can do. As he wallows in the gym, Mel departs to investigate the hydroponics centre alone.
- The Doctor interrupts the Matrix evidence, to say he does not remember this happening when he reviewed the scenes in preparing the defence. He claims there have been changes. He tells the Inquisitor he thinks he is being manipulated, causing the Valeyard to furiously rebut the possibility that the Matrix could lie. They continue to view the extract…
Mel enters the cargo hold, where she meets Edwardes. After challenging her about her intentions, he agrees to go with her to the hydroponics centre. He informs her that only low spectrum light is used in the hydroponics centre to keep the plants dormant. As he reaches to push aside the plastic curtain at the entrance to the centre, a massive jolt of electricity shoots through his body electrocuting him, and as Mel screams, something is seen emerging from one of the pods…
Two guards arrive at the scene, and Mel tells them that Edwardes is dead. One of the guards leads Mel away, but as the other guard examines Edwardes' corpse, something looms over him.
- The Valeyard stops the extract and tells him that but for luck, it could have been Mel that was killed. The Inquisitor tells the Doctor that he could have prevented her going to the cargo hold alone, instead he appeared to encourage her. The Doctor replies that when he viewed the Matrix earlier, that it is not what happened. The Doctor allows the extract to continue, as it is the only way to find out who is manipulating him.
Doland emerges from the Isolation Room with a broken plate of food, and tells the guard that it was just an accident. The Doctor is summoned to the bridge. There, Travers is questioning Mel about the death of Edwardes. A medical team contact Rudge to tell him they cannot locate Edwardes' body, or the other guard. A Mogarian is seen lurking in the hydroponics centre where he picks up a leaf. Shortly afterwards Doland and Bruchner arrive to see all the pods have been opened. Brooks looks on in horror asking Doland if he realises what has been unleashed…
The Doctor and Mel ask Professor Lasky about the Demeter seeds. When she sees them, she immediately accuses the Doctor of being a thief, but Mel tells her that they found the seeds in cabin 6. The seeds will increase a crop yield by three-fold and can even grow in deserts. Travers enters the lounge to inform the passengers that the Hyperion has made a slight course correction bringing their ETA forward by 72 hours. Three Mogarians address him asking if that means they will be travelling through a sector containing the black hole of Tartarus. Travers confirms that this is the case, but they will be well within safety margins. Shortly afterwards, as one of the Mogarians is drinking a cup of tea, he stands up choking, before collapsing. The Doctor tries to remove the face plate of the protective suit, but Travers and Rudge hold him back — Mogarians cannot breathe oxygen. The Doctor informs them that it is not in fact a Mogarian at all, and when they allow him to remove the face plate, he is proved correct. It is actually Grenville from cabin 6, whom they had thought already murdered in the waste disposal unit. The Doctor recognises the man, his name is not Grenville, it is Hallett. The Doctor says that Hallett had staged his own death because he had been recognised. He had probably been sent to the Hyperion on an investigation on one of the other passengers. Rudge asks how the Doctor knew that dead man was not a Mogarian.
- The Valeyard halts the extract and also asks the Doctor how he knew that. Replaying the scene where the Mogarians spoke to Travers concerning the black hole, the Doctor reveals that when the third Mogarian speaks, he does not switch on his translator before speaking.
The Doctor and Mel go to the hydroponics centre to examine the empty burst pods. Meanwhile Lasky, Bruchner, and Doland discuss whether they should reveal the possible danger the crew is in, but Lasky and Doland are keen to keep their scientific discoveries secret for as long as possible. Alone in his cabin, the elderly man Mr Kimber is attacked and killed by a plant creature. Mel and the Doctor pass the Isolation Room and see Lasky leaving. Wondering what the thrematologist would be doing in there, the Doctor deliberately sets off a fire alarm to distract the guard. Grabbing masks, he and Mel enter the room where they find a hideous half-human, half-plant hybrid strapped to a table…
The female creature sits up and implores the Doctor and Mel to stop Lasky, but immediately Lasky, Bruchner and Doland arrive and sedate her. Doland reveals that the creature is his lab assistant Ruth Baxter who is being returned to Earth in the hope of reverting her condition. During an experiment, a speck of pollen had landed in a cut on her arm causing her to mutate into her present form.
A group of humanoid plant creatures is seen gathering together the various dead bodies. Two of them attack another guard in the corridors.
In the hydroponics centre, Bruchner begins destroying his notes. Doland sees him and goes to fetch Lasky. As she goes off to try to calm Bruchner down, Mel asks Doland what was in the pods. He tells that they contained giant fruit. He departs, and Mel hears a noise in the air conditioning ducts. She uses the gym equipment to amplify the sound and hears the plant monsters discussing how they will hunt down all the humans on the ship. As she hears this, she is attacked from behind by an unseen assailant. Her unconscious body is dumped in a waste disposal trolley filled with used gym towels. The Doctor enters the gym and hears the recording made by Mel, including her scream when she was attacked. Meanwhile the trolley containing Mel is being wheeled towards the pulveriser. The Doctor runs to the pulveriser seconds before the trolley was about to be thrown in. Upon rescuing her, the Doctor tells her, "Don't throw in the towel, Mel."
As Mel investigates the stewardess Janet's quarters, the Doctor is seen in the communications room with an axe destroying the communications equipment.
- The Doctor stops the extract to deny smashing the equipment, and again insists the Matrix showing false evidence…
Bruchner and Lasky argue about his destruction of the notes. He hits her knocking her out and runs off. He attacks a guard and grabs his gun. After seeing a plant monster in the ducting, he goes to the bridge and at gun-point demands Travers leaves the bridge. He changes the course of the Hyperion straight towards the eye of the black hole…
As the ship shakes from the turbulence of the black hole, the vervoids, fearing their own destruction proceed towards the bridge. The Doctor uses a heat lance to break onto the bridge, but it is filled with marsh gas. Rudge summons the two Mogarians who are able to breathe the poisonous atmosphere from within their suits. They manage to regain control of their ship and direct it away from the black hole. However, as soon as it is safe, Rudge addresses Travers at gun point telling him that he and the Mogarians are taking over the ship.
Mel manages to get to the lounge ahead of Rudge and she informs Doland and Janet of the hijacking. Rudge tells the Doctor that the Mogarians are seeking to return the consignment of precious metals, considering them to have been stolen from their home planet. For himself, Rudge is seeking a more comfortable financial future. However, the Doctor does not believe that he is the murderer. On the bridge the two Mogarians are attacked by an unknown assailant who throws liquid oxygen at them killing them. Mel sneaks through the air ducts to let the Doctor know there will be an attack on the lounge. He tells her it is too dangerous and that they should attack the bridge instead. There, they find the dead Mogarians, and take the face plates to prove to Rudge they are dead. Doland smashes the gun from Rudge's hands. He runs off into the corridors but is waylaid by Vervoids who attack and kill him.
Searching Doland's cabin, the Doctor finds him and tells him that he has narrowed the suspects down to either him or Lasky. Mel meanwhile is searching Lasky's gym locker, but Lasky finds her and tells her that she does not have the tape. Doland takes the Doctor to the hydroponics centre. As the Doctor forces open a drawer looking for the tape of the Vervoids, Doland removes it from his pocket. Tossing it to the Doctor, he picks up a gun. He admits the murders, he says he did it because of the huge enormous economic power of the Vervoids — they could be used as slave labour in factories. The gun however was emptied of power and Travers arrives to arrest Doland. However, as he is being taken to the Brig, he runs off, but is attacked by Vervoids and killed.
The Doctor tells Travers and Lasky that the Vervoids want to destroy all animal life. Travers asks the Doctor to help him destroy the Vervoids.
- The Doctor presents this as evidence that he was not meddling in affairs, that he had been asked to help out in the situation, which the Inquisitor accepts, but the Valeyard says they should see the final outcome of events…
In the hydroponics centre, Lasky says that there is not enough pesticide to kill all the vervoids — they made sure to destroy all supplies. She goes out to try to reason with the monsters but they surround her telling her that all animal life is their enemy, including her, upon which they kill her. The Doctor and Mel find the pile of corpses — Mel is horrified, but the Doctor tells her it is only the Vervoid equivalent of a compost heap. The Doctor sees a light and gives him an idea. Going to the bridge, he asks Travers if he can access the vionesium metal from the consignment. It is similar to magnesium, in that on exposure to oxygenated air it releases carbon dioxide and intense bright light. Together those would accelerate the Vervoids through their life-cycle to death. Travers lowers the lighting and heating throughout the ship forcing the Vervoids back to their lair, where the Doctor is waiting with the Vionesium. The Vervoids are about to attack Mel, but he deploys the metal and the intense light kills all the Vervoids. Having saved the survivors of the crew, the Doctor and Mel depart in the TARDIS.
- The Inquisitor asks the Doctor if any of the Vervoids survive, and he informs her that none did, not even a leaf. Seizing on this, the Valeyard accuses the Doctor of breaking article 7 of Gallifreyan law — he has committed genocide.
[edit] Cast
- The Doctor — Colin Baker
- Melanie — Bonnie Langford
- The Inquisitor — Lynda Bellingham
- The Valeyard — Michael Jayston
- Professor Sarah Lasky — Honor Blackman
- Doland — Malcolm Tierney
- Bruchner — David Allister
- Commodore Travers — Michael Craig
- Rudge — Denys Hawthorne
- Janet — Yolande Palfrey
- Kimber — Arthur Hewlett
- Atza — Sam Howard
- Grenville/Enzu — Tony Scoggo
- Ortezo — Leon Davis
- Edwardes — Simon Slater
- Mutant/Ruth Baxter — Barbara Ward
- First Vervoid — Peppi Borza
- Second Vervoid — Bob Appleby
- Duty Officer — Mike Mungarvan
- Guard/First Guard — Hugh Beverton
- Second Guard — Martin Weedon
[edit] Continuity
- The new companion "Mel" is introduced without the then typical "meeting" story, as this evidence is supposed to take place in the Doctor's future, after he has already met Mel.
- This is also the only "real" story in which we get to see Colin Baker's Doctor alongside Mel in a typical adventure, as in the following two episodes she is a visitor from his future and in all the following ones she is paired opposite Baker's replacement, Sylvester McCoy.
- Despite references to them having met before, the Doctor has never been shown to meet Commodore Travers on screen before this. The Commodore's nickname — "Tonker" — was suggested by Colin Baker [citation needed] on the actual set as a simple way of showing the Doctor's suggested prior familiarity with the character — the script called for the Doctor to refer to him simply as "Commodore".
[edit] Production
- This story segment of Trial was originally supposed to be written by Peter J. Hammond, creator of the cult science fiction series Sapphire & Steel. Hammond's story outline, titled Paradise Five, was liked by script editor Eric Saward but disliked by producer John Nathan-Turner, who rejected it and commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to do the segment instead.[1] Hammond later wrote an episode of the Doctor Who spin-off drama, Torchwood, titled Small Worlds.
- As no individual title was used onscreen or on the final scripts for this story, there has been some confusion over how to refer to the story. It was initially commissioned with the title of The Ultimate Foe. However this title was later given to the novelisation of the 13th and 14th parts of the season. Writers Pip and Jane Baker repeatedly referred to the story as The Vervoids in subsequent interviews, as have other production team members, but this title does not appear to exist on any contemporary documentation [1]. When Target Books published Pip and Jane Baker's novelisation, it was under the title of Terror of the Vervoids, which is now generally used to refer to the story (see The Ultimate Foe and Doctor Who story title controversy).
- This serial marked the last time the BBC Radiophonic Workshop provided a music score for the series.
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Pip and Jane Baker, was published by Target Books in September 1987.
[edit] Outside references
- Designed as a typical Agatha Christie murder mystery, except set on a space liner, the actual structures of the story (and its leanings towards humour) are more reminiscent of the series during its Season 17 run in 1979. In the first episode, Professor Lasky is briefly seen reading a copy of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Terror of the Vervoids episode guide on the BBC website
- Terror of the Vervoids at the The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
- Terror of the Tervoids at Outpost Gallifrey
[edit] Reviews
- Terror of the Vervoids reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Terror of the Vervoids reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
