Last year, I was a media student who had to do an audience project. So I chose Doctor Who and sat my sample audience down in front of Vengeance in Varos. I suppose I should explain my choice, which will also shed some light on the kind of questions I asked. Basically, it gave me something to write about- it was made with an anti-violent message, yet some people had complained it was too violent. However, that is irrelevant to this article! I simply want to share some of the comments made by my audience- two fans, two haters of the program and the other eight were somewhere in between. I have numbered each of them and added their gender. Any further identification would see me murdered. (ie. 6-F means the sixth person, who was female).
Firstly, for those who don't know what this story is about, I'll let them enlighten you:
"Bad guys blackmailing the Governor into selling the mining rights. Jason
Connery spoke out for the Governor and was put in jail." (7-M)
"Trying to sell Zeiton-7 to another planet and people trying to change the
planet from violent rulers."(11-M)
And they got an hour and a half out of that? However, I felt that it was best summed up by 2-F:
Sean Connery's son and a woman kept voting about whether a man should
be killed and Doctor Who came down in a telephone box to save another
man.
Let's make it clear (also from 2-F) just what Zeiton-7 was and how important it was to the
storyline:
A piece of metal. Very.
And just to make it quite clear that the new film isn't the only time romance has entered the
Doctor's life:
...it was the reason Doctor Who and mate visited the planet.
(9-M)
Unless, of course, that was mate in the "Pal" sense of the word... Now, we shall leave the
comprehension questions and se what a mainly non-fan audience made of the violence. Should it
be of interest? Those who felt it wasn't violent were seven to the five who felt it was. 4-F pointed
out that:
...you thought there was going to be more violent than there was. The
executions weren't really seen.
12-F was adamant that it could not be "...because the good ones did not die." However, 2-F was
indignant and to the question was it too violent? answered:
Yes, because they kept killing people by torture and it was supposed to be
a PG.
The rating makes all the difference... 3-F agreed. She thought the violence was necessary as:
...that was what the planet was about and the Doctor and Peri had to sort out but they didn't have to make it so violent.
And was it glorified at all?
On the planet Varos it was glorified for their T.V. but for the BBC, I don't
think it was...(5-F)
4F reported this failure on the BBC's part gleefully: It attempted to but didn't work very well as you could tell from the setting it was fiction.
I think this could be considered a general no:
It seemed very far-fetched and therefore funny(7-M)
It was extremely boring.(10-F)
Now on to a particularly amusing part. I asked them to list which characters were the goodies and baddies. A simple matter, you think? A-ha, no! Each character was renamed, so here is the new, improved V on V cast list:
SIL (or SILL, WINDOW SILL, REPTILE, SLUG and THE SLIMEY THING)
HIS HENCHMEN (or TWO MEN DRESSED LIKE GLADIATORS)
QUILLAM (or THE MAN WITH THE MASK or THE MAN WITH THE SCAR)
CHIEF OFFICER (or CHIEF HENCHMAN, CHIEF, THE BALD MAN SECOND IN LINE
TO THE GOVERNOR , CHIEF BADDIE and MAN WITH NO HAIR)
GUARDS (or - if you want to keep it short- BLACK COSTUME MEN WITH ANTI-
HALLUCINATION HELMETS ON. The word had slipped 3F's mind)
GOVERNOR (or MARTIN JARVIS CHARACTER or THE VOTING MAN)
JONDAR (or JOHNDA, SEAN CONNERY'S SON, THE REBEL, JASON CONNERY,
JASON CON and JOMDAR)
ARETA (or ERETA, THE REBEL'S wife- very popular, that one- or RETTA)
ARAK (or nothing!)
ETTA (or WOMAN WHO TALKS LIKE A CLEANING LADY)
And who were the baddies and goodies? Unsurprisingly, the Governor and the neutral Etta and
Arak caused some problems. What was surprising was when Jondar (typical Doctor Who rebel
goodie) was listed as a villain. This was 7-M who approved of the democratic voting system
Varos had. If Jondar went against it, he was a baddie. Sil was condemned unanimously, mostly
for being greedy. 8F was sympathetically:
Unsure if Guards were genuine baddies perhaps they just followed orders.
Etta had 6-F convinced she was a goodie, while 5F was equally adamant she was a baddie
because:
she seemed brainwashed into believing everything she was told by the
Governor.
Back to violence again (sorry) and this time, was the Doctor violent? Nearly unanimous no here.
...the Dr. tends to only be violent when he is being threatened OR in order
to help somebody else. The villains on the other hand just caused deaths for
the sake of it...(5-F)
2-F's answer to this one must be compared with her earlier comment on violence- yes, go back
and look at it!
Well, the Doctor wasn't violent, only the man tied up was and when he
kicked the baddie it was so fake I had to laugh. They could improve on
that. The baddie who fell in the acid bath was thick because he pulled
his mate in as well and the acid never turned red.
The lone dissenting voice was 3F with the point that:
...if the Doctor was being violent then that would set a bad example
to children who love the Doctor and might try to copy things he does.
A pertinent comment. Please watch what your children are making their bubble bath with...
And all the Varosians talked so much about death etc. because, poor things, it's all they have to
talk about. Of course, alternatively, it may be because: "Their brain is obviously warped." (10-F)
or
Because they're obsessed with killing and torture. They were brainwashed by
the voting man.(2-F)
And now, what was the point of it all?
Good triumphs over evil- with Dr. Who's help!(7-M)
It doesn't pay to be greedy. Good will win.(8-F)
(And that one was addressed at you, Sil. Now a message for the Governor:)
Don't be forced into anything by other people pressurizing you.(5-F)
However, our two anti-Who commentators were on form:
I couldn't follow it because it held no interest for me
whatsoever.(10-F)
and:
... it's all make-believe and spacey and very science-fiction. It was made
to annoy people like me.(2-F)
Now on to all the general comments... The first other matter to discuss is Peri. Irritation
abounded in this audience:
I...thought the American girl was over-acting and she annoyed me with squeals
of "Doctor, Doctor"... [she] was wearing tacky blue shorts and T-shirt.(2-F)
Peri was a bit stereotypical- i.e. "not very bright female sidekick" there
only to add a bit of glamour.(6-F)
Did not like Peri-s voice- Dr Who is British and in the past has always
had a British assistant. Did the BBC make this story with a view to
selling it in the USA?(9-M)
Peri didn't appear to be very useful in helping the Doctor.(11-M)
But, Peri fans, don't cry till you've heard the defense:
I liked Peri she is really nice but I think that she acted a bit more
stupid than she has ever done before.(1-F)
I liked Peri because she got the Doctor motivated. She made good
expressions.(3-F)
I think that with Dr Who, nearly all of the female characters are put down
(excepting Ace and some of the villains) and unless you know this fact Peri
would appear thick. Yet at one point she gets the Doctor out of his depression
mood in order for him to sort out the TARDIS.(5-F)
Relax, she has already been severely reprimanded and refused to recognize that this was her
writing...
In contrast to the general annoyance at Peri's accent, 8-F complained that the program was "anti- American". I think this is a reference to the Doctor's correction of Peri's pronunciation of "z" and not another insult.
But what about the Doctor? Colin Baker's supposedly violent, callous Doctor or this particular
point in time.. He certainly got well and truly criticised by 2-F:
Dr Who was wearing the most ridiculous coat and waistcoat... I can't
imagine why Dr Who had a ball of string in his pocket which managed
to kill three men.
But, worse still, "The Doctor was a wimp." declared 10-F.
However, praise for him follows:
The Doctor made me laugh because he made mad dashes everywhere and
ran about all the time. I like the way he always made things better and
doesn't appear to be frightened of anything.(3-F)
Colin Baker is my least favourite of the Doctors and so I was a bit
disappointed when I realised he was the Dr yet I enjoyed this film
with Colin Baker more than some of the others.(5-F)
What of the program itself? Well, the praise is boring, but it does exist. Here are the three main
critics:
Rather racist as the two black people in the film were sidekicks of the
baddie Sil.(8-F)
It was a stupid film that had no point to it. I don't like Doctor Who,
never have and never will... It's a very depressing film and I wouldn't
recommend it.(2-F)
And here's a remark for all of us to consider:
I am surprised that anyone can make up such rubbish...and cannot
for the life of me understand anyone wanting to watch Dr Who for
enjoyment.(10-F)
9-M confessed to being psychic:
Some of the script was poor- lines could be predicted before being
said.
Just two thoughts to leave you with:
I still think the Daleks should have got into the storyline somehow!(5-F)
Life must be very hard for them and I don't know why they don't land
their space-ship and live on earth in an institution ( I wouldn't want
them on the streets, we have enough queer people around).(2-F)
It turns out she thought she was watching Star-Trek....
Vicky Jewitt
ED: Thanks to Vicky and her test subjects for their rather amusing responses. It's amazing how odd some of them are!
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