Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories : Part 54 - Terror of the Vervoids

 54: Terror of the Vervoids 

Not all rude and amusingly shaped vegetation appeared on That's Life! 

The Vervoids are the rudest joke in Doctor Who history, hidden in plain sight. Although not hidden from the eyes of WH Smith who almost refused to sell the copy of DWM which featured a Vervoid on the cover! In a recent edition, a member of the production team admitted that they were deliberately designed to look like erm... the way they did! 

The origins of the Vervoids came after Pip Baker read in a scientific journal that plants have feelings. As Sarah Jane once said "I've heard of flower power but this is ridiculous!" While their appearance is a very traditional man in a monster suit, there is at least some thought in their movement. The actors playing them were all dancers, some of whom had worked with incoming companion, Bonnie Langford, much to her delight! 

Bonnie's casting drew an uproar among fans including the unofficial continuity adviser, who threw his toys out of the pram and vowed to not having anything to do with the producer ever again. Watching in 1986, I missed Peri, however watching now, Mel is a breath of fresh air in that she's a companion who actually wants to be with the Doctor, unlike Tegan or Peri. Bonnie's performance is slightly theatrical but wonderfully upbeat and charming, reminding me somewhat of Katy Manning's Jo Grant. 

This script, the third of the Trial season came after the great schism between producer John Nathan Turner and script editor Eric Saward. Without Saward's influence, the Doctor and companion actually seem to like each other and the Doctor also likes other people. Colin Baker is, in my opinion a much undervalued Doctor and here the abrasiveness is turned down a notch and it works. Had we not had Colin unceremoniously dumped by Michael Grade at the end of the season, who knows how he would have developed on television? Yes I know Big Finish have rehabilitated the character, and I adore Sylvester McCoy, but I can't help wondering what a Season 24 with Colin would have been like? 

Vervoids is largely regarded as the better segment of the Trial season. Mysterious Planet is fine but there's a distinct whiff of recycling the plot of the Krotons to it. Mindwarp is a mess, summed up by the fact that neither the writer nor script editor could give a straight answer to the lead actor about the motivation of the Doctor, passing the buck with "he wrote that bit, not me!" 

Vervoids has the whodunnit plot (spoiler: Who didn't do it!) and a cast clearly having fun with Pip and Jane Baker's distinctly dramatic diologue. The studio bound production has a quintessential Who-ness about it - complete with CSO fringing on the passenger lounge and flight deck. After the grimness of Thoros Beta and that ending, this feels like traditional "meat and potatoes" Doctor Who, even with the occasional interludes by the trial sequences. Part nine's cliffhanger is the best of the season, mainly because it's not a crashing close up of poor Colin Baker looking determined/ scared /surprised /defiant / in agony/ surprised again /determined /gas masked / annoyed or screaming on a beach! Kudos too for Bonnie screaming in the right key to match the sting on the end title music. 

Again, my inclusion for this is nostalgia but also it gives us a glimpse of a Saward-less Sixth Doctor - a clever, charming but no-nonsense Time Lord who does what he does best - saving the day! Even if the Valeyard does twist his victory into being a case of genocide. But seriously who'd want a plant in their garden that looks like that? 

Next Time: It's Better to be Ambitious than Playing Safe!