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Vengeance on Varos is an early Sixth Doctor story, infamous for really annoying Mary Whitehouse because of its level of violence. Mary patently missed the point that the theme of the story WAS television violence and how it had perverted democracy on Varos. Personally, I disliked Sil. He gave me the creeps. But it doesn’t stop this being a very interestingly crafted story that holds up a science fiction mirror to life. 10/10
Commentary Commentary is by Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nabil Shaban. It begins well with Colin and Nicola joking about Jason Connery half naked as a fascinating start to the episode. Nabil then joins in and they discuss Mary Whitehouse complaining about this particular series. Nabil admits to being completely castigated by Whitehouse and they conclude that condemnation by her is as good as an Oscar. This is a sign of things to come. The three of them thoroughly enjoy reminiscing about their time on the series. Nabil has a sharp sense of humour which goes well with Colin’s own wit. Nicola is something of the straight man to them both. Colin Baker is wonderfully enthusiastic about his time as The Doctor, even though he is so often criticised. He has kept the flame burning for many years and really enjoys doing the DVD commentaries. His contribution to Arc of Infinity is a real treat. But this one is good, too. 10/10
Extras
6/10 Extended and deleted scenes are quite extensive. A lot of cuts were made to fit the time. Many of them add understanding of the story. It would be interesting to see an extended version with these cuts placed back in the story. 10/10
9/10 Outtakes were sometimes funny, sometimes just daft. Outtakes are unusual on classic Doctor Who DVDs, so this makes for an interesting sequence. 9/10 Gallery is that annoying version with a grey TARDIS wall background and a button to press to switch from one picture to the next. The pictures themselves were good, but I much prefer the other format of full size pictures with a piece of backing music. 7/10 A good story, a great commentary, but no making of documentary which slightly spoils the extras.
9 out of 10
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Trailers
– two very short ones announce that Doctor Who is on in fifteen
minutes. I really don’t know why they bothered including them
on the DVD. There is almost no point to them.
Behind
the Scenes is one of those sequences showing how tiresomely repetitive
filming is. It’s of interest to media studies students and those
really interested in the minutiae of Doctor Who. Actually, that’s
me on both counts, so I was happy.
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