The Tour’s cap-itude laden campaign through the Trial of a Time Lord season stops this weeks with the cap addition of Terror of the Vervoids. Easily the most traditional of stories in this otherwise odd season, the story not only had the familiar design of a whodunnit set aboard a space (ocean) liner, it also saw a continuation of the trend that the ‘trial’ elements which otherwise derailed The Mysterious Planet became less intrusive.
And while it all makes sense within the ‘future adventure’ premise of this Trial story, Melanie is simply thrust upon the viewers full force. If there was a plan for an introduction story for Mel outside of the Trial we’ll never know.
As for the story itself, it’s all a big ‘meh.’ Nothing cringe-worthy, all things considered, but also nothing of a memorable quality either. BTW if you thought the recent news about the casting of Diana Rigg was the first time stars from The Avengers appeared in Doctor Who, guess again. Honor Blackman (Professor Lasky in this story) appeared opposite Steed between 1962 and 1964, and Gareth Hunt appeared in Planet of the Spiders before showing up in The New Avengers two years later (and yes we know this is a lot of Avengers geekery).
This week’s cap addition from Terror of the Vervoids is another pure addition for the Tour. No guessing now about what next week’s cap addition will be.
