"Vengeance on Varos" takes a while to get going, and suffers from the sixth Doctor's often shockingly selfish, callous behavior and even disregard for the life of others. He shows no remorse for his acts of violence, which is particularly at odds with both the character of the Doctor and this story itself, a grim parody of TV viewing, particularly in Britain (punched-in appreciation figures etc.), and an attack on the 'video nasties' which were gaining popularity at the time. The story is well ahead of its time in depicting 'reality television' however, and has even more resonance now than it did in the eighties, and is a better-executed story than Russel T. Davies' "Bad Wolf" saga.
"Vengeance on Varos" is an intelligent and well-scripted story courtesy of Philip Martin, but it's not much fun to watch, honestly. It's enjoyable the same way any serious, dark drama is, but "Doctor Who" without fun isn't really "Doctor Who". While there are some great lines here, there are too few witty exchanges, and much of the dialogue is of an expository nature.
Still, "Vengeance on Varos" achieves its goals, and is grimly comic when it comes to the TV viewing scenes, as well as brutally effective in its most violent and darkest scenes (the acid bath is an unnecessary inclusion, however). The guest actors are superb, especially Nabil Shaban as Sil, and Colin Baker is excellent here. The Sixth Doctor is an interesting experiment, and absolutely terrific when written well, but there are real issues of characterization here which don't fit with what we've seen before and after from other Doctors. Furthermore, the Sixth Doctor is at a real disadvantage when it comes to television stories due to his clothes, which would be, I suppose, somewhat acceptable in stories of a lighter, more cartoonish nature (they've never annoyed me in, say, "Mark of the Rani"), but when you're going for real, gritty drama as much of season 22 does, it just looks ridiculous.
Due to its vicious attack on the 'video nasty' culture, its often grimly funny parody of TV viewing, and the interesting politics on Varos as well as the excellent design work (although the S&M aspects could and should have been toned down, intentional or not!) and acting, "Vengeance on Varos" is one of the more successful Colin Baker stories. While I am not as critical of Colin Baker or his time spent in the role as some others, there was a real lack of proper creative vision at this point, and "Vengeance on Varos" is one of the few stories to escape relatively unscathed.
7.5/10