Vengeance on Varos

"They love to shout and applaud as fools like us walk towards certain death."

Writer: Philip Martin
Format: Novel
Released: June 1988
Series: Target 106

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

'Bad shifted his camera into a big close-up that brought the Doctor's waxen face so close that it filled the screen. Not a muscle twitched nor was a tremor of breath evident. 'He's dead, sir.''

In need of Zeiton-7 to repair the TARDIS, the Doctor and Peri travel to the planet Varos. A former prison for the criminally insane, Varos is now ruled by the descendants of the guards. The population is kept in check and entertained by broadcasts of torture and execution from the Punishment Dome - where the TARDIS lands.

Soon the Doctor and Peri, together with rebel fugitives Jander and Areta, find themselves trying to escape the Dome's traps and challenges - all on live television.

Can the Doctor and Peri escape the Punishment Dome, and help the Governor ensure the people of Varos get a fair deal for their Zeiton-7?

Verdict

Vengeance on Varos was a terrific little read! I have once again been making full use of the library resources at my disposal and this has been a Target novelisation I have been wanting to read for quite some time. It's not because I love the story (I am a fan, though) but because I wanted to see if it seemed as violent in prose as it appeared on television. I do think the reactions towards this serial are somewhat overboard and whilst it did test the boundaries, it was something different and I liked that. It still had the same feel here but one thing I did notice was that the quality of Sil couldn't quite be demonstrated in the novel without actually hearing that maniacal laughter. I thought the characterisation of the Sixth Doctor was excellent with Colin Baker's likeness well captured and I also thought the writing of Peri was very good as well. The pair worked well together here and despite the Doctor's recent regeneration still causing some qualms, it wasn't on the level of the preceding stories. The setting of Varos was great and I thought the concept of people being forced to watch television in which people fled for the lives and were sometimes executed was horrifying. It's really no wonder that this was a former prison planet. I liked that the inhabitants were now the descendants of the former guards a lot and I thought Etta and Arak were superb stars of the story with them just simply watching events unfold. That provided an intriguing perspective into the lives of the Varosians and it was humorous when they disagreed on the votes concerning the Governor. The development of his character was good to see and I liked how he ended up being the good guy and wanted to see Varos turned into a libertarian state. The Doctor approved of that but the likes of Quillam and the Chief Officer would have to meet their horrendous demise before that would be the case. The myth of the Safe Zone was intriguing and it was good that it actually led to the outside and a jungle of poison ivy, or something along those lines that the Doctor didn't quite want to explain. Peri's reaction to witnessing what she thought was the Doctor's corpse was good and frightening and I really liked how it seemed that he was dead. Death on Varos was entertainment and that's a disturbing concept but it worked well in selling how bad this place really was. The Governor, along with Maldak, saw that things would change though in an entertaining climatic chase and I thought it was superb that Etta and Arak didn't really know what to do now that they had freedom. It was like nothing they had before but it signalled change on Varos. The TARDIS was replenished with the Zeiton-7 it needed and Sil was left at the mercy of Lord Kiv, a character we'd come to meet in the future which was a neat addition to the story. Overall, a great novelisation!

Rating: 8/10