Mel Was the First 'Impossible Girl' in Doctor Who
Mel Was the First 'Impossible Girl' in Doctor Who
Terror of the Vervoids is one of the most notable Sixth Doctor stories, but is it over- or underrated?
Plot Summary
To prove he isn’t a meddler, the Doctor shows the Time Lords a future where he defended a space liner from a species of lethal plant creatures… by killing every last one of them.
Notable for:
First appearance of Mel
Third story in the Trial of a Time Lord arc (season 23)
Commissioned as The Ultimate Foe (title later used for the last 2 episodes of the Trial arc). Working title was just The Vervoids and “Terror of” was added for the Target novel.
Story was submitted as a replacement for another script, "Attack from the Mind" by David Halliwell, set on the planet Penelope. Other drafts submitted were "The Last Adventure" by Christopher H. Bidmead and "Paradise 5" by P.J. Hammond, which later became an audio story.
Honor Blackman (Professor Lasky) famously played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.
The Agatha Christie novel Murder on the Orient Express is briefly seen in the passenger lounge.
Pip Baker apparently came up with the Vervoids after reading in a journal that plants have feelings.
The Vervoids were named after the vervain, a genus of semi-woody flowering plants also known as the verbena.
Marks the last time Colin Baker is seen in the TARDIS interior
Script Editor Eric Saward resigned around this time, as he didn’t like the scripts. JNT took over his duties and Saward isn’t credited onscreen. Saward gave a scathing interview to Starlog, contributing to a pessimistic feeling on set since there was no guarantee Doctor Who would come back from hiatus.
Chris Clough cast dancers as the Vervoids so they’d move more gracefully. Bonnie Langford, a veteran of the stage, knew many of them.
The Doctor notably had met Commodore Travers before, making reference to an untelevised adventure.
Pete commentary:
The structure of Terror of the Vervoids (the Trial scenes aside) is obvious from the starting gun: The Doctor cues up an murder mystery with his narration, setting the stage for the whodunnit. It’s a fun idea — shoehorning an Agatha Christie novel into a Doctor Who story.
The problem is that a traditional Doctor Who story needs a monster, and in that case, well, the monster did it. Terror of the Vervoids is ultimately two stories: a mildly interesting sci-fi murder mystery, complete with aliens with manual translators and secret test subjects in guarded rooms, and a “monster of the week” plot with the novel idea of having the monster be a form of plant life.
The thing is, as the threat from the Vervoids grows, you wonder why the hell anyone even cares anymore who the murderer is. The Doctor seems to understand the threat — warning Mel to get out of the air ducts because of how dangerous it is — yet he’s not flapping his arms and yelling, “There’s flipping monster loose on this ship! Stop everything and deal with it!”
The Vervoids also throw a wrench in the works of the whodunnit that’s never addressed properly. As people start to disappear, no one suspects they were also killed by the murderer. I guess they’re just missing, they don’t count?
The gymnasium on the Hyperion III is hilariously primitive compared to tech in 2024. Audio headsets look like they’re stolen from telemarketers, the exercise bikes seem like torture devices, and track suits are not sleek at all. The way the music is controlled from a booth seems retro, but actually isn’t all that different from gyms today. That is, if you show up with nothing of your own, you can just use the gym music. But generally it’s all very retro.
Speaking of retro, Mel and the Doctor’s perms really hit you in the first scene, but you quickly get used to them.
Bonnie Langford is a scream queen in her first adventure, with no fewer than 5 screams (once while wearing a mask!). It’s kind of surprising how RTD didn’t even do a single scream in Mel’s subsequent appearances in S1 and The Giggle. She’s damn good at it.
Nice detail that “future” Colin has a yellow cravat. Kind of wish they’d used a yellow one in Empire of Death when Mel fondly remembers the Sixth Doctor, but what are you gonna do?
The script is a little too clever at times. I have to respect Pip and Jane Baker for trying, and sometimes it works (“Came to a pretty unpleasant end, though”), though much of dialogue, esp. with Travers, feels forced (“I found myself involved in a web of mayhem and intrigue”). The Mel-Lasky exchange (where the Doctor can’t get a word in edgewise) would have been more painful, but Baker and Blackman sell it.
The banter between the Doctor and Mel is hit or miss. All the talk of “On with the Motley” kind of works, but you also feel Langford and Baker figuring out their relationship when they’re trying to portray it as if they really know each other. It could have been worse — this one was shot after The Ultimate Foe.
Generally, though, Bonnie Langford shines in her debut. She brings a friendly enthusiasm that mixes nicely with Colin Baker’s (now more muted) arrogance. She looks great in her ‘80s jumpsuit, and is hands-down the best screamer in Doctor Who history. In contrast to Peri, she’s also less bratty, which is a refreshing change (no offense to Nicola Bryant).
Bruckner is really OTT. I would have rather seen a more gradual progression with his character, since you wonder why he never spoke up before.
Why don’t the scientists do one centimeter of thought about the setup in the hold? If you really don’t want the Vervoid shucks exposed to light maybe… put a blanket over them??
Credit: The Black Archive Love that the Mogarians are into Galaga! (Maybe Centipede would have been more apt?).
Boy does the Hyperion III has big air vents.
The way the Doctor misdirects the guard at the end of episode 2 is quite good, very Doctor-ish.
The Vervoid full reveal in episode 3 is really underwhelming. “Here are the bad guys!” Even if you don’t want to make it a cliffhanger, at least make it a moment. Take a cue from the Cybermen, guys.
The guard that’s suddenly confronted by Vervoids at the vent — why doesn’t he shoot them? These monsters are about to grab and kill you, and your first instinct is to call for help? Just shoot ‘em dude!
The scene where the Mogarian knocks the tray from Janet feels like it needed another take. It looks REALLY deliberate, but then he says “sorry,” and she’s OK with it. But he just comes across as a dick, not clumsy.
The “fake” Matrix scenes are really interesting, esp. The one with the Doctor standing over the smashed communications room.
Holy cow is the “giant fruit” explanation garbage. I get that it’s supposed to be, but I would rather Mel have been more pointed about not believing him.
Rudge’s motive is super boring, but I guess it makes sense if vionesium is somehow worth a lot of money. Those lamps must be very expensive!
Once the Vervoids say they’re going to kill Lasky, you’d think she’d defend herself.
Most of the guest cast is forgettable, but the ladies are stellar:
Honor Blackman nails her performance as the tough-as-nails Professor Lasky — her every line has curt edge to it, and she has a great introduction, getting testy with Janet about her cabin/luggage. She’s harsh, but you never think of her as mean.
And Yolande Palfrey is pitch-perfect as Janet, the stewardess (though it would be flight attendant today). She’s the sweet to Lasky’s salt — so much so you think she might be the murderer, to the extent you care.
The idea of the Vervoids is cool, and I also like the design. (All the chatter about the design resembling genitals feels a bit exaggerated.) As a nerd, I wish there had been a little more on exactly how the Vervoids can exist without being rooted to soil, but generally a cool idea.
They also could have used a few words on why Vervoids are equipped with both poison thorns that kill nearly instantaneously as well as the ability to spew marsh gas out of their “mouths.” Doland has designs to use them as slaves, but their abilities strongly suggest Lasky (who led the team and presumably had the most say in their design) had ambitions to sell these things to the military.
Let’s spend a minute on the central conflict they highlight at the end. Does the animal-vs-plant “kill or be killed” thing even work? From a zoomed-out civilizational perspective, yes. The idea that animals are necessarily the enemy of all plant life because we consume them directly or indirectly is kind of cool. But, really, isn’t the definition of civilization the choice not to kill, at least today? The Vervoids are a new species, and they clearly haven’t read a lot of philosophy, but if they’re sentient, shouldn’t they also have to ability to choose?
At the same time, I also have sympathy for the other side of the argument: that the stakes are just too damn high. The Vervoids are lethal, have the stated aim to kill all animal kind, they’re engineered (not evolved), and there seems to be no way to limit their spread, should they reach fertile soil. If there’s an exception to the genocide rule, this is probably it.
“A brief history of Mel” is an interesting take from The Discontinuity Guide: that this adventure is obviously from the Doctor’s future. After he and Mel leave in The Ultimate Foe, he eventually drops her off with “her” Doctor, has some solo adventures for a while (or perhaps this is when his Big Finish adventures take place), then meets her for, from her perspective, the first time. Gary Russell ultimately followed closely to this idea with Business Unusual, the novel which depicts their first meeting.
One thing I think the Discontinuity Guide gets wrong is the criticism of the courtroom scenes. I think they’re really good! The Doctor finally gets the upper hand on the Valeyard, and not by just making fun of him. He outwits him as he goes and ultimately wins his case, despite the “altered” bits of the Matrix. Speaking of those altered bits — they’re a great idea/twist to everything; something we might have thought was too confusing in 1986 but is a delicious extra icing to an already pretty engaging story.
There’s a short story by Colin Baker that fills in a gap between Mindwarp and Terror of the Vervoids. The Doctor confers with some kind of assistant in the Matrix, she reveals that the Valeyard is the one working against him and will adapt the evidence to make him look guilty of genocide, despite there being an “original” ending to the adventure that has the Doctor creating a way to breed Vervoids without their lethal and savage qualities. The assistant promises to help him prove his innocence as long as he selects the Vervoid adventure to prove his case, but the whole thing is orchestrated by the Valeyard. The Doctor’s memory of this is wiped.
What is with Gallifreyan law? Not only are your future actions acceptable evidence, which is kind of fascinating, but you can also swap out charges mid-trial? Never mind the meddling charge — now you’re on trial for genocide! That said, it makes for a cool cliffhanger at the very end. Grace really wanted to know what happens next!
The novel doesn’t do a lot to flesh much out, but there is a little bit extra on Lasky’s background, which providing some justification for her really dumb move of talking to the Vervoids — that she had a deep connection with her mother, who used to talk to plants.
The novel also mentioned vionesium a couple of times earlier — showing that tiny bits of it are used in things like lamps — so it’s not as much of a deus ex machina.
What did Pete’s family think?
Grace enjoyed it, thought the Vervoids were cool, and liked the whodunnit structure. She did not like the Season 23 title sequence. She was absolutely taken with the trial scenes, though, and really, really wanted to know what happened next.
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Summer! Plants! There may be a Thin Ice connection: Mel loses it at the inhumanity of the Vervoids, but the Doctor, more removed, gets it. Also got me to check what color the cravat was in Empire of Death.
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Whose evil plot?
Doland: Let’s assume Doland somehow avoids being killed by the Vervoids and gets them to Earth. It seems they’d pretty quickly multiply and destroy humanity. Or maybe he thought of that? Maybe he’d hold out actually landing on Earth until he had control over the situation somehow.
Vervoids: I guess you’d have to wonder: would they simply kill everybody on board? Are they intelligent enough to fly the ship? Is Earth security any good at all? (i.e. would they not check anything and let the ship land?) If they win, though, it’s all over for animal kind.
The Valeyard: It did!
Where's the Clara splinter? She may have designed the retro gym or the man-size air vents on the Hyperion III. Or she’s the sad human-Vervoid hybrid, there to arouse suspicions on the scientist team earlier than they would have emerged on their own.
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Leafy Dalek-Hayter hybrid. Could have been better, but the interesting concept and whodunnit structure (if not the actual plot) are intriguing. And the trial bits in this one are underrated.
Chris commentary:
Either one of the worst Doctor Who stories in history, or we're looking at the headcanon revelation that SUTEKH CREATED MEL. There is no middle ground!
This is where I started to part ways with the show. For my money age 12, there was no worse companion possible than Bonnie Langford. And giving her no backstory was one of the worst decisions JNT ever made. Plus … I was actually grieving Peri, and actually had hope that this story could be another Earthshock.
The Vervoids are the best thing here, and that's saying something.
Why would the Doctor pick a story that points out he's getting a little chubby?
Moreover, why would this show want to pay attention to what the Doctor eats? Is this picking up where the Two Doctors left off with the vegetarian thing? And if Vervoid genocide is a thing … are Time Lords carnivores?
God, the script fairly reeks of writers trying to be clever instead of clear.
If the Valeyard has manipulated the story with an AI fake … couldn't he have done it earlier in the story and saved the jurors (and us) a snoozefest?
Four Questions to Doomsday - Chris
Why did the Randomizer take us here? It knows I'm on a plant-based diet, and in particular that I'm drinking lemon verbena tea. It knows I have so many problems with Mel. It hates me … OR! It really wants us to pay attention to the Empire of Death reveal. Is Mel the first Sue?
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Then … plant robots everywhere? Wouldn't that make for a better more sustainable society? If we're already eating plants, surely we're cool with them working for us in other ways?
Where's the Clara splinter? Preserving some species of Vervoid somewhere so the Doctor didn't actually do a genocide.
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Considered recusing myself with a fixed point in time, but this is Hayter through and through. Pip and Jane Baker are tackling huge concepts here, but they don't have the skill to bring the audience with them at any point.