Terror of the Vervoids (TV story)

This was the third evidence provided at the Trial of a Time Lord

Synopsis
The distraught Doctor gives the court his evidence for the defence. He chooses an incident from his own future, in which he and his companion Mel arrive on the space liner Hyperion III in response to a distress call. There they battle against and ultimately destroy a hostile race of alien plants, the Vervoids, while also helping to thwart a mutiny by the ship's security officer, Rudge.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Mel - Bonnie Langford
 * The Valeyard - Michael Jayston
 * The Inquisitor - Lynda Bellingham
 * Professor Lasky - Honor Blackman
 * Commodore Travers - Michael Craig
 * Rudge - Denys Hawthorne
 * Janet - Yolande Palfrey
 * Doland - Malcolm Tierney
 * Bruchner - David Allister
 * Grenville / Enzu - Tony Scoggo
 * Kimber - Arthur Hewlett
 * Edwardes - Simon Slater
 * Atza - Sam Howard
 * Ortezo - Leon Davis
 * Guard/First Guard - Hugh Beverton
 * Duty Officer - Mike Mungarvan
 * Second Guard - Martin Weedon
 * Mutant / Ruth Baxter - Barbara Ward
 * First Vervoid - Peppi Borza
 * Second Vervoid - Bob Appleby

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Karen Little
 * Costumes - Andrew Rose
 * Designer - Dinah Walker
 * Incidental Music - Malcolm Clarke
 * Make-Up - Shaunna Harrison
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Jane Wellesley
 * Production Associate - June Collins, Jenny Doe
 * Script Editor - Eric Saward
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Don Babbage
 * Studio Sound - Brian Clark
 * Theme Arrangement - Dominic Glynn
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Kevin Molloy

Planets

 * Mogar is a planet in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.
 * Between Mogar and Earth lies the Black hole of Tartarus.
 * Stella Stora suffered from grain shortages around 2983.

Races and Species

 * Vervoids were created on Mogar by Lasky to be a workforce to replace robots.

Story Notes

 * This is the first appearance of Bonnie Langford as Mel, who recieves no introductory story, and indeed no explanation of how she came to travel with the Doctor.
 * Working titles for this story include: The Ultimate Foe and The Vervoids.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 5.2 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 4.6 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 5.3 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 5.3 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Location Filming
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Lasky has been into room 6, not finding her luggage there, because her key is actually for room 9. So how did she get in?


 * The Vervoids wear tracksuits and trainers (wilting and climbing through the tunnel in the final episode).


 * If the Vervoids are genetically engineered, why create them with lethal stings?


 * Why don't the Mogarians notice a major change in character in one of their number?


 * Why does the Captain state that the ship is hi-jack proof, even though it has been hi-jacked by Brookner?


 * This story would seem to wholly contradict the Tenth Doctor's stance against "spoilers" evidenced in Silence in the Library. There, his future self has instructed River Song not to disclose the contents of her diary to an earlier version of himself.  Here, he quite happily trundles through the Matrix in order to select an event from his future involving a companion he hasn't even met yet. He could possibly delete some of his memory, this could also explain inconsistencies in 'The Three Doctors','The Five Doctors' and 'The Two Doctors'.

Continuity

 * Mel meets the Doctor for the 'first time' in PDA: Business Unusual.

DVD and Video Releases
DVD release
 * Due for release in The Trial of a Time Lord boxset on the 18th August along with the other parts of the story.

Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids

Released:


 * UK October 1993 (Released with the other Trial of the Timelord stories in a Tardis-shaped tin with a random picture of one of the (then) seven Doctors on the base)
 * US October 1993 (Same as the UK release except packed in a cardboard box in honor of Doctor Who's 30th anniversary)
 * Australia October 1993

Novelisation

 * Main article: Terror of the Vervoids (novelisation)


 * Novelised by Pip and Jane Baker in 1988.