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.
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 attacked by an unseen creature. Before he dies, he 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.
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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link
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