Friday, March 25, 2022

The Trial of a Time Lord Part Twelve


The one where the Doctor is accused of genocide...

This is the point at which The Trial of a Time Lord equals The Daleks' Master Plan for length. The Hartnell epic called it quits at 12 episodes, but even if you include that elusive prelude Mission to the Unknown, Season 23 trumps it by one episode. The difference between the two epics is that the earlier is one rambling story, while the later is three separate stories linked by a fourth overarching theme. I seem to recall I thought The Daleks' Master Plan began to sag toward the end, whereas part 12 of The Trial of a Time Lord goes at quite a lick.

As marsh gas spews from the Vervoids and fills the bridge with a toxic atmosphere, I find myself asking: Why? I'm not very clear on why the Vervoids suddenly begin farting methane derivative from their mouths. I decided it was something to do with the increasing proximity of the Hyperion III to the Black Hole, which was somehow messing with the Vervoids' organic make-up, but when I read the synopsis on TARDIS Wiki afterwards, it seems the Vervoids are doing it on purpose, as a means of attack. Once they learn Bruchner's plan for total destruction of their species, they take to emitting marsh gas to kill the humans. Not quite as threatening as Mr Oak and Mr Quill, but I get the idea. I just don't think it comes across very well on screen.

Part 12 is an episode of revelations as we learn more about different characters and their motivations. It comes as quite a surprise that security officer Rudge is in cahoots with the Mogarians to hijack the Hyperion III. It explains why they were being so bolshie with him in part 11, but while I understand the Mogarians' motivation - to reclaim what they see as stolen metals from their home planet - I'm not so clear on Rudge's modus operandi.

Rudge seems to have a problem with the way his career panned out, this being his final voyage before retirement. He tells Travers: "All my life, someone like you has been patronising me, treating me with contempt. Well, I'd welcome the opportunity of settling the score." OK, so Rudge doesn't like being patronised or demeaned, that's fair enough. And if he's had an entire career of being looked down upon, I can imagine that would turn you sour. But when the action moves to the lounge, Lasky claims Rudge's motivation is "greed", to which Rudge replies: "Not completely. Pride as well. After this voyage I was being written off as a has-been and put out to grass. So I decided to arrange a more comfortable retirement."

This infers Rudge was not retiring willingly, but I struggle to make his reference to greed and pride fit his motivation, which remains unclear. What exactly does he want? What will make him better off in retirement? There's no mention of obtaining money or riches. How does turning into a murderous criminal preserve his pride? Whatever Rudge's plan is, how does he expect to get away with it and enjoy a peaceful, comfortable retirement? Maybe it was lost in the edit, but as far as what's said on screen, Rudge comes across as a rebel without a cause, a man without a plan.

Amusingly, Rudge is very easily overcome when Mel bursts into the lounge, and Doland distracts him by showing him the face plates of the murdered Mogarians. Rudge scarpers, but doesn't last long before he's accosted by the marauding Vervoids in the corridor. In fact, the Vervoids are pretty merciless in this episode, killing almost everybody they find, wiping out the threat of "animal kind" in an attempt to protect their own species. They even kill off an extra who appeared in one scene pushing a trolley in part 11 - that's how thorough they are!

Another character who shows their true colours is Doland, who is exposed by the Doctor as the murderer. It was he who attempted to kill Mel by chucking her in the pulveriser, he who stole the recording of the Vervoids chatting in the pipes, and he who murdered the Mogarians by throwing acid at them ("What are you doing here? We did not request refreshments"). Doland also does that very Agatha Christie thing of getting the full truth out in a grand explanation for the viewers' benefit, demanding that the Doctor identifies and explains every action and motivation he had.

Listening in is Commodore Travers, who has Doland arrested. But also listening in is a Vervoid, who overhears that Doland was planning to exploit the Vervoids as slaves back on Earth. On his way to the brig, Doland is surrounded by vengeful Vervoids, who offer him the sucker of friendship - and a poisonous dart in the palm! A fitting demise.

So how to stop the Vervoids before the Hyperion III reaches Earth? The Doctor's solution is to utilise a deux ex machina, something that has not so much been hiding in plain sight as hiding in Pip and Jane Baker's heads until the moment it's needed. At no point before part 12 is the fact the Hyperion III has a cargo of vionesium aboard been mentioned, and it just so happens that the metal vionesium, when exposed to oxygen, accelerates photosynthesis and can effectively age the Vervoids to death. The leafy liquidators will suffer four seasons in one day. 

I remember a similar plot twist in Warriors of the Deep when the Doctor used hexachromite to defeat the Silurians and Sea Devils, but at least writer Johnny Byrne bothered to mention hexachromite and its lethal effect on marine life in part 1, instead of just parachuting it into the script at the end when needed - as has happened here.

The Doctor and Mel succeed in ageing the Vervoids to death by exposing them to vionesium, and the effect of the creatures dying is really nicely done. We see their previously verdant green bodies turn to lifeless autumnal browns, then their bodies decompose until all that is left are dead leaves on the breeze. And with that, an entirely new, and very chatty, species is wiped out...

Ramblings:
  • Director Chris Clough employs some nice flourishes in the convincing way he shows the Hyperion III going through turbulence as it's dragged closer to the Black Hole. The actors do "falling around acting" well, and there's lots of camera judder and characters clinging on for dear life to convince. I also like Clough's use of a red negative effect when the vionesium is exploding, making the Vervoids appear occasionally demonic.
  • Mel discovers the communications room trashed (presumably by Doland, and not the Doctor, although this is never resolved) and says they are completely cut off. But what about the TARDIS, Mel? It's very convenient to overlook the fact the TARDIS gives access to communications.
  • I wish we hadn't seen what the Mogarians look like beneath their face plates because they're really disappointing! They're just gold-skinned humanoids with grilles for mouths, like disco versions of the Orderlies from The Power of Three. I think the Mogarians looked better in my imagination, and should have stayed there!
  • The Doctor appropriates Rudge's "phaser", terminology more associated with the Star Trek universe. But while phasers were also mentioned in the 'Mindwarp' episodes, neither is the first on-screen mention of a phaser in Doctor Who. That goes to The Horns of Nimon, in which the Fourth Doctor complains about always meeting people "pointing guns or phasers or blasters" at him.
  • The death of Professor Lasky is needlessly dumb. She is a fool to believe the Vervoids would not harm her, especially after identifying them as plant creatures opposed to all "animal kind". And if Lasky is anything, she's not a fool. It's a rubbish end for Honor Blackman, who's been largely wasted. She could have done so much more with a better written role, but as it stands, she's reduced to mere stunt casting.
  • I do like the Doctor gently comforting Mel when she realises the full horror of the human compost heap. Clutching his sobbing friend close to his chest, this is the version of the Sixth Doctor everybody must prefer, and the one we all wish had been there from the start. In this one scene, Colin Baker perfects his Doctor. It's just a shame this the best we see of it.
  • Candidate for worst line ever spoken in Doctor Who: "If you've finished with my tracksuit?"
There's a trad final scene with the Doctor and Mel saying goodbye to the few surviving crew outside the TARDIS. Travers is grateful of the Doctor's help, but hopes not to bump into him again, while innocent little Janet shakes Mel's hand and expects to see her and the Doctor again. That just shows what a lovely person Janet is. She has no idea that Mel had it in for her in part 11, suspecting her of murder and theft!

The Doctor and Mel bundle aboard the TARDIS, and as it dematerialises we hear the Time Lord's booming rendition of On With the Motley, from Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. This aria famously refers to the "tragic clown", smiling on the outside, but crying within - a fitting notion for the clownishly dressed Sixth Doctor, and surely a much better "final scene" for this incarnation than the one we get in part 14.

The evidence complete, attention returns to the courtroom, where the Doctor puts his big spatterdashed foot in it by admitting that, due to his actions, every last Vervoid was destroyed. The smirking, vengeful Valeyard reminds the Inquisitor of Article 7 of Gallifreyan Law - the Doctor has destroyed a complete species. "The charge must now be genocide!" spits the prosecutor (crash-zoom on Doctor's face).

While it is possible for a prosecutor to add new charges mid-trial if there's sufficient evidence, it's highly unusual, and demonstrates just how hellbent on the Doctor's downfall the Valeyard is. What exactly has he got against our hero? Mind you, it was a bit dense of the Doctor to present, as his best evidence, a story in which he ends up committing genocide, and 90% of the characters get bumped off!

It might be timely to remind readers at this point that, despite the Valeyard suggesting the inquiry be elevated to a trial at the end of part 1, the Inquisitor still hasn't agreed to that. Nevertheless, everybody is acting as if this is a trial, when in fact nobody's ever confirmed that. Remember the Inquisitor's words in part 2: "What the Valeyard wants and what the court decides are two entirely different things." It was left there, and at no point since has the court decided to make the inquiry a trial. Just sayin'...

The episodes known as 'Terror of the Vervoids' are a breath of fresh air in a largely stagnant era of Doctor Who. The story is certainly not revolutionary or even particularly ambitious. It's a traditional, workmanlike Doctor Who yarn, with intrigue, monsters and a good few twists and turns. It's nothing outstanding, but within the context of the greater season - and the era as a whole - it's definitely a bit special. And Mel - who goes off with the Doctor at the end, into the tumescent world of Big Finish - has been a refreshing addition to the canon. I'll miss her...

First broadcast: November 22nd, 1986

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Doctor comforting Mel after seeing the human compost heap is the pinnacle of this Doctor's hard-earned rehabilitation.
The Bad: The defeat of the Vervoids comes far too quickly and easily.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (Terror of the Vervoids average: 7.8 out of 10)


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