Day 629: Vengeance on Varos Part 1

After the heavy action violence of Attack of the Cybermen, we get a different sort of violence in Vengeance on Varos. This violence has thoughts and ideas behind it, instead of just happening mindlessly and to please the average punter. But in a way, it's meant to be pleasing to the average punter.

The story is about a society where they have developed an interesting way of keeping the public under control. They are forced to watch television every single day, which mainly consists of torture of the rebels who dare to fight against the system, with occasional executions if they are lucky. They are, however, granted the right to vote. This happens when the planet's governor presents policies to them. If they like them, then the governor gets a chance to implement them. If not, then the governor is himself tortured for their failings, and it is quite clear that if they don't please the public enough then the torture will become too much to handle and the governor will die.

It's all very obviously a commentary on modern society. This story puts forward the notion that all that people really want is senseless violence, and that this is the ideal method to keep the populace under control. This is easily reflected in the viewing habits of audiences at the time, and indeed today, where mindless violence will nearly always triumph over sensitive dramas. Indeed, this is a truth that can be seen all the way back in ancient times, where Romans would have sacrifices and gladiator battles to entertain the masses, the only difference between then and now is that there is somewhat less death that occurs now, and it's all confined to screens, be they television, cinema or on mobile.

 It's an interesting theme for the story to have, in particular at a time when Doctor Who could easily be accused of going down the same route, with action stories like Earthshock or Resurrection of the Daleks being key highlights of the past couple of series. Still, this sort of writing from Philip Martin (a new writer to the series) shows great promise and makes me somewhat keen to watch the conclusion to Vengeance on Varos.