I just finished wrestling with my home wifi network, and now that I have it beaten into submission I really want to just go to bed. Especially because I know that tomorrow is going to be a very long day, work-wise. So I am going to keep today's commentary brief.

Yes, I watched the back half of Vengeance on Varos. Yes, I liked it. Let's talk about that.

Vengeance on Varos - Part 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The big thing I failed to mention yesterday was the character of Sil - a disgusting SlugLizard representative from the Galatron Mining Corporation who, in collaboration with the Chief Officer, is shorting Varos on the price of Zeiton-7 in order to enrich himself. He does a whole lot of gloating, and has a foul laughter that involves flicking his tongue rapidly in a very unsettling and off-putting manner. There is also a bit in the final act where he has one of his handlers moisturize him with a water bottle, which made me wonder if he was the inspiration for the similar bit with Cassandra in the Ninth & Tenth Doctor eras.

It's the squirmy, maggoty tail that really sells it

The other thing going on throughout the story is a pair of husband-and-wife characters named Arak and Etta who act as a kind of Greek Chorus to the story. They never interact directly with the main characters, they simply sit in their home watching the government broadcasts of torture and provide commentary. Actor Stephen Yardley, who previously appeared in Genesis of the Daleks as one of the mutants that saves Sarah Jane Smith, is particularly good in the role of Arak and brings a real charm to the story. Unfortunately, with that name all I can think of is a DC comic book from the 80's that I really loved for inexplicable reasons, called Arak: Son of Thunder, about a Native American warrior who is captured by Vikings and brought to Europe in the Middle Ages. Which has nothing to do with anything about this story, except that now I have a hankering to dig up some old copies of that comic and re-read them.

The 80's weren't all about New Wave and big hair

So anyway, back to Varos. The plot has a really fascinating construction, with the Governor being selected by lottery and forced to serve until he loses four consecutive votes from the general populace watching and voting on their Big Brother style televisions. The system is specifically designed to put each Governor in a hopeless position, unable to solve any real problems because no solution will ever be supported by the majority of people. Thus the Governor becomes the scapegoat for everything that is wrong, with the Chief Officer and the Security Officer reap endless benefits while being protected from the wrath of the people.

In the end, of course, the Doctor does a Very Clever Thing. The Chief Officer and Security Officer are both killed, Sil is humiliated and abandoned by his own people, and the Governor introduces a new era of freedom to his people. A freedom which viewers Arak and Etta have no idea what to do with. The Doctor is rewarded with a generous supply of Zeiton-7, and he and Peri carry on to their next adventure.

Colin Baker is rock solid in this story, and absolutely on top of his game. I have definitely come around to him in rapid time. If only he hadn't been saddled with that ridiculous costume and that awful first story, one wonders what he could have done with the role. As for Nicola Bryant's Peri, I would just like to say: if they were going to keep dressing her up in that particular kind of shirt, with her particular assets, the producers really should have been a bit kinder to her and kept the studio from getting too cold. I'm just sayin'.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Sixth
Companion(s): Peri
Episode(s): Vengeance on Varos - Part 2
Steps Walked: 7,535 today, 2,248,731 total
Distance Walked: 4.12 miles today, 1,157.81 miles total
Weight: 246.22 lbs (five day moving average), net change -61.08 lbs