Doctor Who: 5 Best & 5 Worst Creature Designs From The Original Series
Worst Creature no 4: The Vervoids (Terror of the Vervoids)
Vervoid. Its not the best name scriptwriters Pip and Jane Baker could have come up with; something that sounds like a tin of Heinz no one's brave enough to try isn't the way to go when naming your uber-scary alien villain. Vervoid soup with a hint of basil. Yum. Its not the best of starts, but add this to the metaphorical boiling pot: evil anthropomorphic plants overthrowing a spaceliner in a plot to take revenge on humanity for throwing them on compost heaps and cooking them in stews. In this episode we witness weeds gone baaad. Okay, thats not so strange when you think about all the other crazy stuff Doctor Whos concocted over the years, and its bold quirkiness is something Ive always admired about the Colin Baker era (even if Sil was a bit much). What Im not happy about is their appearance. They look plantlike enough, but theres just something vaguely rude about them. They lose some of their credibility and as a result end up bringing the episode down despite being the key plot element. Terror of the Vervoids seems like a bit of an exaggeration. Perhaps Mild embarrassment of the people who encountered the Vervoids would be a better title, though not as catching, Ill agree. I wonder what Vervoid soup would taste like? Ill bet it isnt suitable for vegetarians.