Vengeance on Varos (2001)

Commentary Highlights:

The note of lust which enters Nicola Bryant’s voice every time Jason Connery appears bare-chested, also Nabil Shaban’s down-to-earth approach (although I was surprised to hear him mention the Zarbi) which complements Colin Baker’s theatricality and puns. Bryant thus becomes the first person to record two commentaries, and it has to be said that this particular commentary is a nicely-balanced and good-humoured reunion with plenty of banter flying about.

I Didn’t Know That Before I Read The Information Text:

Martin Jarvis was apparently reading from an actual autocue when he recorded his speeches as the Governor.

Extras:

Some off-air recordings of the BBC1 trailers are nice to have, and it’s interesting that there are about ten minutes of extended and deleted scenes, which gives an idea of the amount of additional material available for some of the later stories. The behind-the-scenes featurette and out-takes are revealing in their own way- Martin Jarvis asks to do a scene again, which leads to Forbes Collins repeatedly fluffing and saying "accept" for "upset"- and both this and another scene set in the control room show the cast being fairly waspish towards the crew. There’s also an unsurprising photo gallery and a couple of continuity announcements.

The DVD release of ‘Vengeance on Varos’ is fairly notorious for the disappointing sales which it achieved in its first week of release, but that’s unfair to hold against it when you bear in mind that DVD was very much a novelty at the time and the average fan was probably still intent on completing their VHS collection. It was also the first Doctor Who DVD I ever owned, bought for me at Christmas 2001 to play on the DVD player I’d asked for. Continuing the principle of kicking off the range with a first release from each Doctor, what’s most apparent from this release is that the extras and commentary really do feel suited to the story and don’t really leave that much to be said- ‘Varos’ is probably the best-written of Colin Baker’s stories, but the contents of the disc don’t give the impression that anything more would be achieved by having, say, Philip Martin, Eric Saward or Martin Jarvis contributing. The commentary is entertaining and not burdened down in technical detail- Colin Baker comes across as a natural in terms of talking about the production in a witty and engaging way, while Nabil Shaban is equally funny but in a more earthy sense, and the addition of Nicola Bryant gives a bit more balance. Equally, the additional recorded material (running to nearly ten minutes with extended scenes) does in this case feel like a genuine addition to the story as broadcast, as it’s clear that character and establishing scenes were trimmed down to bring the episodes in under 45 minutes. So it’s far from a case of repackaging one of the more recent stories with a few perfunctory extras- the trailers and continuity give the impression that somebody actually went out and looked for additional content, and the end result does feel as if it does justice to the story. My own suspicion is that it’s been saddled with a reputation simply because it’s a Colin Baker story and came out at a time when DVDs weren’t as aggressively discounted as they are today, but it’s no bad package and certainly added to my appreciation of the story and how it was made.