Poll: Rate & Review Vengeance On Varos

[Peri-Peri]

This weeks story sees us return to the Sixth Doctor in his third outing in the season 22 story Vengeance On Varos.

Seeking the rare mineral Zeiton-7 to repair his TARDIS, the Doctor arrives on Varos, a world where political prisoners and their guards are both subjected to sadistic tortures and executions which the colony's inhabitants view and vote on through interactive television. Accused of being alien infiltrators helping the colony's rebel factions, the Doctor and Peri find themselves the latest unwilling subjects in this most extreme form of reality TV.

Vengeance on Varos was the second story of Season 22 of Doctor Who. It introduced the alien Sil.

The next story is to be posted on Sunday March 4th.

[Saber]

Good to see another Sixth Doctor story come out. Seems like forever since the last one.

[Roranicus]

I didn't really know anything about this story before I watched it yesterday. I didn't even realise I owned the DVD. God knws when I got it, but I'd certainly never watched it. I have to admit, I tend to go into a lot of the Sixth Doctor stories with low expectations. I usually enjoy the ones I watch, but there is such a negative vibe around his time on the show hat I never know quite what to expect. I think though that that leaves more room to be impressed, which I was with this story. It wasn't the best I had ever seen, but I did find it better than a lot of the stories I have seen that are more highly regarded. It had it's faults. Some of the acting was a bit wooden, but some of it was brilliant, so that balanced out. I thought the reality TV angle was really good, especially given how much air time is eaten up by it these days and it was good to have the two people who were voting and bickering all the time essentially taking the role of the viewer. What did surprise me was just how dark the story got. I don't think it suffered for it, but I wasn't expecting it. It was particularly grim in some parts and was bordering close to uncomfortable at times, but just managed to stay the right side of it for me. I'm giving it a 4.

[Roranicus]

Edit: I was about to complain the poll wasn't working, but it was just my laptop acting up.

[Twisted-Sister]

I haven't watched this story in ages. I'll see if I can get it done tonight or tomorrow.

[Saber]

I'm giving this a 4. It gets a bit of a mixed reaction in fandom but I think it's a good story and Baker is at his best in it. As Roranicus said, it get's quite dark in places, but I think season 22 was probably the darkest that the show ever went and it certainly wasn't limited to this story. One of the more popular aspects, Sil, is probably what I like least. I was never much of a fan of the character. He used to freak me out as a kid though, so that is probably why.

[Exterminate]

Just a three from me. It's not a bad story, but there are other Sixth Doctor stories that I like more. It had some cool concepts though.

[Vampyros Adric]

I loved Colin Baker's Doctor, right from the outset - I thought he really portrayed an alien being with alien morals and ideas superbly (whether or not it was intentional, this was a theme picked up by Christopher Ecclestone and part of the reason he was so successful). This story was a hugely far sighted attempt to satirise the excesses of television (and written in 1984 presaged some of the more dreadful freak shows that we get on our TVs now). I thought the casting was superb - Martin Jarvis, Stephen Yardley, Jason Connery and Nabil Shaban were all fabulous in support of Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. I went with a 5, partly because my 12 year old self was genuinely scared by some of the genetic experimentation ideas and partly because I thought this was a great story!

[Peri-Peri]

I've gone with a 3. This is an interesting story and touches on some good themes but it's never been one of my favourites.

[Oh-Wise-One]

I've gone with a 4. I think 3.5 would have been fairer but I was nice and rounded up. I think in terms of a 'message' the story works well. It get's it's point across and is entertaining in doing so. A lot of the characters were written and acted well and it introduced a great new villain. It's not the most exciting story the show has ever done, but it's a strong one for the Sixth Doctor era.

[Aneurin]

I've sort of surprised myself and given this a 5. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it. I have to be honest I didn't have very high hopes but I really enjoyed it. There were a few scenes when it seemed to slow down a bit but for the most part it worked really well. I was quite impressed.

[Nyki]

I gave it a 3.  I suspect it may really have deserved a 4, as it had some interesting ideas, but for reasons I can't quite define, it's never really engaged me.  Just a personal thing, I think.  I certainly don't dislike it.

[Tardis-Console]

I've gone with a three as well. It wasn't a bad story but I wasn't that bothered with it. I've seen better, I've seen worse. There were a few bits I didn't really get, but I think that's probably down to how little of the Sixth Doctor stories I have seen. Some of the characters were pretty annoying and the writing was a bit dull but I did like the overall story and themes it tackled.

[Twisted-Sister]

This story gets a 4 from me. I think it's one of the better Sixth Doctor stories and for the most part shows him in a more positive way than many of the others do. There are a few problems with the pacing and some bits of dialogue could be better but I think the story is strong and often gets overlooked because of the stigma surrounding the Sixth Doctors era.

[Scott]

I've given it a 2/5. It just didn't work for me. Parts of it were quite interesting but overall it just doesn't engage me as much as other stories from the era.