Vengeance on Varos

Varos.  A planet ruled by fear and increasing poverty.  As its inhabitants cower by their video screens, gleaning their meager entertainment from public executions scheduled within the mysterious Punishment Dome, the ruling officers enjoy a life of luxury, fat on their profits from the planet’s major export-the rare substance, Zyton-7.  It is into this hellhole which the Doctor and Peri must go, as Zyton-7 is the only cure for the ailing TARDIS’ transpower system.  Without it their future is bleak, yet obtaining it could prove fatal…

• "Vengeance on Varos" was the second story in Colin Baker's first season.

• Season 22 had a slightly different episodic format than the rest of the series.   Episodes were 45 minutes long (effectively making two shorter episodes into one longer episode).  It was felt that longer episodes could foster better story writing.   However, the format was abandoned after this season and the series went back to the traditional 23 minutes/episode format.

• "Vengeance on Varos" introduces the popular villain Sil who would later return again in the season long story "The Trial of a Time Lord."

• "Vengeance on Varos" was criticized at the time of  its original transmission for the very thing that the story was criticizing itself, mindless violence on television.

• Watch for the humorous subplot involving the characters of Etta and Erak (played by Shelia Reed and Stephen Yardley).  The two characters were added to the story at the request of script editor Eric Saward.

• Martin Jarvis (Governor) made his debut on Who in the Hartnell story "The Web Planet" while also appearing in the 1974 Jon Pertwee story "Invasion of the Dinosaurs."

• This story is also available on DVD with bonus material included.