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Script to Screen: Vengeance on Varos

By Jon Preddle

Writer Philip Martin submitted the initial idea for Vengeance on Varos in 1982, after watching Peter Davison's first season. The storyline, called Domain, featured the then-current line-up of the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. Although the scripts for Season 20 had all been commissioned, the storyline was accepted by script editor Eric Saward for possible inclusion in a later season. Saward added the characters of Arak and Etta to the story in order to provide a 'voice' for the unseen populace of the planet.

Over the next two years the scripts were adapted to accommodate changes in the series, including a new Doctor and companions. The story, now titled Planet of Fear, was apparently one of two serials considered as the second story of Season 22, the other being The Song of the Space Whale by Pat Mills. Planet of Fear was selected, and retitled Vengeance on Varos in order to avoid confusion with the previous season's story Planet of Fire. It was at this time that it was restructured into two 45 minute episodes.

The following transcribed segments are derived mostly from a video recording of the first edit, which over-ran by more than 16 minutes. The rehearsal scripts closely follow this first edit version and there are only a few scenes in the script which do not appear on the videotape. Conversely, the tape contains several scenes not in the script. There are also scenes in the final product which differ from the scripts.

Martin's 1988 novelisation appears to be based upon the rehearsal scripts rather than the televised version. The additional scenes on videotape which are not in the scripts do not feature in the book either. I have indicated the relevant page numbers for those scenes that can be identified.

A time-coded copy of the first edit, given to fan Ian Levine by director Ron Jones, is believed to be the only surviving record of this extra material, since the BBC erased their own copies as a standard practice. Although Levine offered BBC Video the use of these recordings for an extended video release, they opted instead to issue the transmitted version. No doubt their decision was influenced by the presence of the time-code counter throughout the recording.

Some of the cut or extended scenes (complete with time-coding) feature on the 2002 DVD release. These are noted accordingly.

Duration Timings:

 TVTapeExtra
Part One44'42"53'42"9'00"
Part Two44'43"52'00"7'17"

PART ONE

The first cut comes during Arak and Etta's first scene. After Arak's comment that Jondar is 'only acting':

ETTA: Yeah.
ARAK: My ration ready?
ETTA: Yeah. (SHE DOESN'T MOVE)
ARAK: I'll get it myself.
ETTA: Yeah.

{Novel, page 3}

The first scene in the TARDIS is much longer than on TV and offers some continuity references to the previous serial, Attack of the Cybermen. After the Doctor's line 'That was an unfortunate accident':

PERI: Before each and every unfortunate accident you have said in a loud, confident voice: 'That's it' and to be honest, Doc, I am getting tired of clearing up the mess or being thrown around the TARDIS like the teddy bear of some psychotic baby.
DOCTOR: Have you finished. Perpugilliam?
PERI: For the moment.
DOCTOR: It's a good thing I like you.
PERI: At the moment the feeling isn't mutual.
DOCTOR: What more can I do? I've cleared up as you requested. I've stabilized the chameleon circuit.
PERI: So now what will we materialise as?
DOCTOR: A police box. I think.
PERI: Better than a pyramid or Nelson's column.
DOCTOR: We have never materialised as Nelson's column!
PERI: We did as a pyramid, on the frozen plains of Ewan Nine remember?
DOCTOR: It's a good thing I'm a tolerant man, because sometimes you push me too far. (HE WALKS TOWARDS THE INNER DOORS)
PERI: You're the most inconsistent and intolerant man I've ever met.
DOCTOR: (STOPPING) Intolerant? Intolerant? Intolerant?! Me, intolerant?
PERI: Then why are you shouting?
DOCTOR: Because... (THE TARDIS SUDDENLY JUDDERS) Because there's something wrong. (HE EXAMINES THE CONSOLE).
PERI: What?
DOCTOR: Shhh. There's something amiss in the power transmission units.
PERI: Still? After all the work you've done?
DOCTOR: It's the one area I didn't check.
PERI: Oh, great. Aren't there emergency power circuits or something?
DOCTOR: Yes... but it seems as if that function is about to become defunct too.
PERI: Great. Well, do something, don't shilly-shally, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Trouble is, Peri, we're faced with a conundrum wrapped up in a dilemma.
PERI: What exactly does that mean?
DOCTOR: We may well be stuck in a limbo of time and space.
PERI: (HORRIFIED) For how long?
DOCTOR: Eternity...

{Novel, page 8-9}
{This scene features on the DVD}

The end of the first scene with Sil and the Governor in his office is cut. After Sil reminds the Governor that the impending vote may result in his obliteration:

CHIEF: He is right, sir.
GOVERNOR: I am not afraid to die. My family have served and perished at the will of the people... now if it is my turn, so be it (He sits at his desk. and looks up at the tissue destructor above his head).

{This scene features on the DVD}

The next scene in the Governor's office, which comes after the TARDIS scene which ends with the Doctor reflecting on using up his regenerations until they are all spent:

(THE CHIEF ENTERS)
CHIEF: I'm sorry. Sil refuses to increase his offer...
GOVERNOR: I have to appear before Viewpop soon, propose further austerities, food dole, work-feed cuts... they won't accept it... the vote against me will be overwhelming. We know what that will do. (HE GLANCES UP AT THE DESTRUCTOR)
CHIEF: The Constitution requires that Governors who fail to please the majority must suffer. It is the price of failure.
GOVERNOR: Even unto death. I wish I had something to offer the people of Varos... something to give them hope for.
CHIEF: (QUIETLY) Bend the truth a little... imply you expect to squeeze a few million extra credits out of the Galatron negotiations... and if you don't, well, fools have short memories...
(TECHNICIAN BAX ENTERS)
BAX: You must make ready for the broadcast, sir...
GOVERNOR: Yes... yes... (HE READIES HIMSELF, AND THE CAMERAS ACTIVATE). Good evening...

{This scene features on the DVD}

After the Governor tells the people of Jondar's forthcoming execution, there is a scene on the videotape (and on TV) where guard Rondel tells Areta of the execution, which is not in the script. This scene appears to have been included to provide additional information about the origins of Varos as a prison planet.

The very next scene which is cut from the videotape does not appear in the script:

(QUILLAM ENTERS THE COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE).
QUILLAM: Bax!
BAX: Sir.
QUILLAM: The idea for the random laser obliteration. Did that come from you?
BAX: Yes, Mr Quillam.
QUILLAM: Well done. A new variation of execution is always welcome.
BAX: Thank you, sir.
QUILLAM: I'll bear you in mind when my rehabilitation section is reorganised.
BAX: Thank you, sir. I'd welcome a chance to work with you in prison research.
(THE CHIEF COMES INTO VIEW)
QUILLAM: Ah, Chief, what of the seditionist's woman? Does the Governor require shots of her witnessing her husband's obliteration?
CHIEF: He didn't ask for them.
QUILLAM: No sense of theatre.
CHIEF: Shall I order it?
QUILLAM: Oh, no, no. I have other delights in store for that lady.

{This scene features on the DVD}

After the next TARDIS scene, there is a later scene with Areta. This time she is being interrogated by Quillam. This scene is not in the script.

When the TARDIS lands, the first part of the console room scene has been trimmed:

PERI: We're back in the middle ages, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No... the latter half of the 23rd century. Ah, who's this come to welcome us?

{Novel, page 21}

[The last sentence is all that appears on TV, and comes at the point of the cliffhanger forming the end of Part One in the 25 minute version. At this point the videotape has run for 30 minutes]

After the Doctor meets Jondar and starts to find a way to free the prisoner, there is a scene with Arak and Etta that is cut:

ARAK: That's better - a bit of action! Go on, jump on his throat, quick!

{Novel, page 25}

The next cut is only ten seconds. The TARDIS has been brought to the Communications Room and a guard is trying to open it. The scene ends on TV where the Governor orders them to 'keep trying to open it'. The videotape continues as the guard focuses the laser beam on the TARDIS doors.

{Novel, page 49}

The final scene cut from Part One comes during the Doctor's collapse in the 'desert'. Arak and Etta are watching this:

ARAK: We got anything to drink?

{Novel, page 57}

PART TWO

After the infamous acid bath sequence, we lose a further Arak and Etta scene:

ARAK: Fix ... fix! Boo - rubbish ... don't believe it!
ETTA: That's real acid!
ARAK: Never!

{Novel, page 73-74}

The Doctor's meeting with Quillam is shortened in the TV version. The longer version shows him wandering the corridors, dodging guards

{Novel, page 79-80}

The next cut comes at the beginning of the longest scene in the serial (on TV it lasts 5'55", but the tape runs a full 7'48"). Curiously the cut segment is a vital sequence which adds to the plot and particularly Jondar's motives, so its removal is somewhat bizarre (although - Jason Connery's less than convincing performance may have been part of the reason for the removal):

(THE DOCTOR, JONDAR AND ARETA ARE CONFINED TO A BARRED CAGE OVERLOOKING THE GALLOWS PLATFORM)
DOCTOR: Yes, all very traditional... the whole ghastly ritual to be played out.
JONDAR: An execution... four nooses.
DOCTOR: No need to ask who they're for...
JONDAR: But there's only three of us.
ARETA: A spare. They're very thorough.
DOCTOR: The fourth noose for Peri is a more likely explanation. But why isn't she in here with us?
JONDAR: Plenty of other prisoners the authorities would be happy to rid themselves of.
DOCTOR: Why are they so anxious to eliminate you?
JONDAR: Because I was curious. Varos is airless. We live in artificial domes scattered about the surface of the planet. Movement between domes, as you can imagine, is impossible without official permission.
ARETA: Most Varosians live in poverty. They work in the mines or in the video recordings division peddling real life death scenes from the peoples Dome of Punishment and Correction.
JONDAR: I used to maintain the surface shuttle cars. One day I was required to deliver the cars to the Dome where the Chief Officer lives... I was never allowed in... security was excessive, even for Varos. My curiosity became too much. I hid inside a car... went inside to where the elite live... Luxury, richness, wealth. I didn't see much but enough to know that a giant deception had been played against all of our people apart from the favoured... the very favoured few. I was noticed there... I pretended I'd seen nothing.
ARETA: Their suspicion that perhaps he had was enough to bring him to the Dome of Punishment as fodder for their displays of cruelty and violence.
JONDAR: Areta is my wife so they condemned her too...
DOCTOR: Without trial?
JONDAR: Secret trial.
ARETA: It's the same thing.

The scene continues as on TV with the arrival of the execution squad and the man who 'gets all the priest parts' [This is actually a scripted line, and not a Colin Baker ad-lib!]

{Novel, page 87-89}
{This scene features on the DVD}

The end of the Gallows scene is cut too. After the Governor's line that he has been released form accepting Sil's terms:

(SIL BEGINS TO SPLUTTER, AND GETS OVER-EXCITED. HIS VOICE TRANSLATOR BOX SUDDENLY EXPLODES)
DOCTOR: (TO JONDAR) I do enjoy a cool debate, don't you?
GOVERNOR: (TO CHIEF) Have a new trans-communicator brought from his ship. Stop the transfiguration experiment on the women. Then I will decide who is truthful and a friend. Who is enemy and must die.

{Novel, page 96}

The beginning of the very next scene is also cut:

(PERI AND ARETA ARE BEING STRAPPED TO THE TRANSFIGURATION TABLE BY QUILLAM AND HIS GUARDS. THEY ARE TOTALLY COVERED IN A SILVER FOIL CLOTH. QUILLAM THEN WHIPS THE CLOTH OFF, AND LEANS OVER PERI)
QUILLAM: Preparation complete. To your posts.
(THE MEN LEAVE THE ROOM)

The scene continues on TV as the processing starts to transform the women.

{Novel, page 98}
{This scene features on the DVD}

The next scene after Peri and Areta have been saved from transmutation is cut:

(THE VIDEO SCREEN CUTS OFF AND SHOWS RANDOM SEQUENCES FROM THE DOME)
ARAK: What is going on? Boring scenes for hours, now this. Someone wants shooting.
ETTA: They know what they're doing.
ARAK: They don't know what's what any more than you or that Governor do. Rubbish. Gibberish. You'd watch anything, you would.
ETTA: I wouldn't watch you. [She laughs]

{Novel, page 108}
{This scene features on the DVD}

The Doctor, Jondar and Areta have made their way deeper into the Dome. The end of this scene is cut, as the picture starts to turn green. The Doctor comments they are facing a 'dangerous ordeal':

(They continue down the green corridor)
DOCTOR: Watch for any camera lights activating, that .will be the first warning we may have of danger.

The scene after Arak has used Etta's voting box as well as his own to vote "NO" has been cut:

(Sil is outraged at Maldak's damage to the cell destructor).
SIL: What incompetence has occurred now?
(BOTH QUILLAM AND THE CHIEF DEPART)

The cut scene continues later in sequence, coming after the Doctor and company's near fall into the acid pit:

(THE CHIEF AND QUILLAM IN THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE).
CHIEF: The guard released them.
QUILLAM: If the Governor and his woman can convert a member of the Senior Guard they must be persuasive indeed.
CHIEF: We must find them... kill them at whatever cost.

The scene continues on TV as they return to Sil.

{Novel, page 124}

The lengthy scene in the poisonous vine arena differs considerably in the script to that which appears on the tape and TV version. The scene may have been expanded during rehearsals to 'spice' up the action a bit. It is this 'low impact' script version that appears in the novel:

(THE GUARD'S BUGGY CARRYING QUILLAM AND THE CHIEF BEARS DOWN ON THE DOCTOR, JONDAR AND ARETA. THEY ARE ALMOST UPON THE GROUP WHEN QUILLAM REALISES THE DANGER OF THE VINES)
QUILLAM: Stop! Halt! No... stop!
(THE BUGGY DRIVES STRAIGHT INTO THE VINES. A TENDRIL WRAPS ITSELF AROUND QUILLAM'S NECK AND PULLS HIM FROM THE CAR. THE OTHER OCCUPANTS TOO ARE TOUCHED BY THE POISON, THE LAST ONE TO SUCCUMB BEING THE CHIEF WHO ALMOST REACHES THE DOCTOR BEFORE HE FALLS. THE DOCTOR MOTIONS TO THE OTHERS AND THEY CONTINUE THEIR SLOW PROGRESS. AS THEY DO, PERI, THE GOVERNOR AND MALDAK ARRIVE AND ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE VINES).
GOVERNOR: There's no other way.
PERI: Doctor!

The scene continues as on TV, as the Doctor is reunited with Peri.

{Novel, page 131-133}

The next scene with Sil is also considerably different (and shorter) than on the tape, and was probably expanded during rehearsals to make a more satisfactory 'wrap-up' scene than the script offered. This scene, not the TV version, also appears in the book:

(SIL SITS BEFORE A VDU UNIT)
SIL: I recommend invasion of the planet Varos to protect our interests... immediately!
(ON THE SCREEN APPEARS: 'Request Denied. Your Suspension Apparent. You Return Thoros-Beta Immediately.' SIL SPLUTTERS WITH ANGER. HE LOOKS AT HIS ATTENDANTS)
SIL: Fools on the Executive Council have no nerve. We will ignore their insult of the summons and take our skills to work for Amorb or anyone else who will dare to struggle to win total profit! Prepare my ship. We blast off immediately.
(The Governor and his guards enter)
GOVERNOR: I think not, Sil.

{Novel, page 131}

In the script this line flows directly into the final Arak and Etta scene as they realise they are free. It is this scene that ends the transmitted version. However the tape contains one more scene which is not scripted, but which does appear in the book:

(THE DOCTOR AND PERI ARE BACK IN THE TARDIS, THE DOCTOR CHECKS THE CONSOLE)
DOCTOR: The orthoginal readings haven't altered. Good! Splendid new elements of linings on the orbital transitions thanks to the Governor's generous supply of Zeiton 7. Still, now that the whole of Varos knows it's more precious than gold you can understand their generosity, I suppose.
PERI: Doctor, you're sure the TARDIS will function properly?
DOCTOR: Oh. Yes, absolutely. Disappointed?
PERI: You think I'm crazy?
DOCTOR: You all right?
PERI: Apart from the residual side-effects of fowl-pest, I feel fine.
DOCTOR: As long as you stay away from millet and cuttlefish.

{Novel, page 136}
{This scene features on the DVD}

References:
The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor
DWB 58, 107
DWB Compendium
DWM 125, 144

This item appeared in TSV 41 (October 1994).

Index nodes: Script to Screen, Vengeance on Varos