science

Terror of the Vervoids

Terror of the Vervoids is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Terror of the Vervoids rather than just read about it. In short: Terror of the Vervoids is the third serial of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord which encompasses the whole of the 23rd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 22 November 1986.

Key takeaways

Terror of the Vervoids belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Terror of the Vervoids to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Terror of the Vervoids from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Terror of the Vervoids is the third serial of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord which encompasses the whole of the 23rd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 22 November 1986. The title Terror of the Vervoids is never used on screen and was first used in relation to these episodes for the 1987 novelisation, with the four episodes that comprise the season being referred to as The Trial of a Time Lord Parts Nine to Twelve. This serial is the first appearance of Bonnie Langford as the companion Mel Bush. In the serial, the alien time traveller the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is put on trial by his people, the Time Lords, and is accused of meddling in the affairs of other worlds. Much of the story consists of video testimony presented by the Doctor, his own defence, of his own future where the last of a race of plants called Vervoids on board a spaceliner in 2986 plot to wipe out all animal life on board for their own survival.

Plot At the courtroom, the Doctor takes to the stand in his defence and uses the Matrix to show the Time Lords his tale of events of how he saved everyone on board the freighter, Hyperion III. On board the Hyperion III, Communication Officer Edwardes is incapacitated by an unseen person, who then sends a distress call to a nearby ship: the TARDIS. The Doctor and his new companion, Mel Bush, follow the message to the freighter, where they meet a trio of scientists: Professor Lasky and her colleagues Bruchner and Doland. The group is guarding a shipment of Demeter seeds and some large flower pods. Mel is investigating the guarded plant area when Edwardes finds her. While opening the door for Mel, Edwardes is electrocuted.

While investigating, The Doctor and Mel find a half-human, half-plant hybrid strapped to a table. The creature implores them to stop Lasky, but Lasky, Bruchner and Doland sedate her. Doland tells the time travellers that the creature is his assistant, Ruth Baxter. During their experiments involving cross-fertilisation, pollen penetrated a scratch in Ruth's thumb, causing the resulting plant maturing process to partially transform her human body. They are taking her to Earth in the hope that they can reverse the infection. It is revealed that human-kind is being killed by plant-like creatures called Vervoids, the creatures that came out of the pods when Edwardes was electrocuted. Bruchner goes to the bridge and forces Travers and the pilot to leave, then changes the course of the Hyperion to head into the black hole of Tartarus, planning to destroy the ship, and kill the Vervoids. The Doctor, Lasky and Travers attempt to break into the bridge, but the Vervoids have filled it with marsh gas. Bruchner is killed by the gas, but the ship is still heading into the black hole. Security Officer Rudge summons two Mogarian crew members, as they can breathe in the poisonous atmosphere. They direct the ship away from the black hole, but when it is safe, Rudge and the Mogarians hijack the ship. Rudge tells the Doctor that the Mogarians are trying to regain the supply of metals stored in the vault. Rudge is taking the hijacking as a means of securing a "more comfortable retirement." The Doctor, Mel, Travers and Lasky meet to discuss the Vervoids. The Doctor reveals that the Vervoids hate 'animal-kind' and kill for survival. Lasky vows to help destroy the creatures. The Doctor has an idea that vionesium, the rare metal taken from Mogar stored in the ship's vault, would accelerate the Vervoids' life-cycle towards its natural end. Travers lowers the lighting and heating in the ship, forcing the Vervoids back to their lair, where the Doctor and Mel are waiting. They deploy the metal against the Vervoids, which causes the creatures' leaf-covered bodies to die. Having saved the survivors, the Doctor and Mel depart in the TARDIS. Back in the courtroom, upon viewing these events in the Matrix, the Valeyard considers the Doctor's destruction of the Vervoids as genocide, and pleads for the Time Lords to seek the death penalty against the Doctor.

Production

Cast notes Honor Blackman later played Anahita in the Fifth Doctor audio drama The Children of Seth. Arthur Hewlett previously appeared in the Fourth Doctor story State of Decay.

Commercial releases

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Pip and Jane Baker, was published by Target Books in September 1987.

Home media Terror of the Vervoids was released on VHS as part of the three-tape The Trial of a Time Lord set in October 1993. It was released on DVD in September 2008, again boxed with the other three stories of Season 23, and was released individually as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in Issue 131 on 8 January 2014. Season 23 was released on Blu-ray on 23 September 2019; the release contained the broadcast version of the story, an extended cut of all four episodes and a "standalone edition".

References

External links

Terror of the Vervoids at BBC Online (archived from the original in 2019)

Terror of the Vervoids on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki

Target novelisation Terror of the Vervoids title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database On Target – Terror of the Vervoids

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Terror of the Vervoids

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Terror of the Vervoids claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Terror of the Vervoids before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Terror of the Vervoids ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Terror of the Vervoids

In research: Terror of the Vervoids appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Terror of the Vervoids in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Terror of the Vervoids is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1986 British television episodes, Fiction about black holes, Sixth Doctor serials, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Terror of the Vervoids outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Terror of the Vervoids in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Terror of the Vervoids means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Terror of the Vervoids out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Terror of the Vervoids in simple terms?

Why does Terror of the Vervoids matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Terror of the Vervoids?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Terror of the Vervoids.