Death Imminent… Oh, sorry… Never mind!

It struck me that Gwen and Peri experienced similarly dubious life-threatening assaults, in Cyberwoman and Vengeance on Varos, respectively.

In the latter, while the Varosians struggle to deal with the Doctor, they send Peri and a rebel off to undergo weird DNA regression therapy that brings out the inner animal in those treated. Peri promptly starts a steady, uncomfortable transformation into a bird – feathers and all. However, the Doctor manages to stop the process at the last moment and the significant changes simply fade away, leaving Peri weakened, confused, but ultimately unharmed. Odd, considering the maniacal scientist responsible for the experiment seemed so darn certain the procedure had gone too far to stop.

For Gwen, the impending danger came in the form of enforced cyber-conversion. The cyberwoman dispatches Owen with a slap and then forces Gwen into the cyber-convertor. Gwen screams as electricity courses through the frame and then the automated cyber-conversion module above her opens up to reveal various whirling blades and slashing scalpels. Whirl, slash, whirl, slash… the machine hangs there for an age, apparently getting no closer to Gwen from the looks of the long shots, until finally Jack manages to get Toshiko to shut down the main power. Whirl, slash, whirl, slash… whirl, stop. Considering the speed of cyber-conversion seen during the attack on Torchwood in London, this machine must have been in need of a service or something. Gwen would have been screaming for hours before the darn blades even got close to cutting her up…

Really, if you’re going to expose people to impending peril or permanent transformation into a budgie, at least make the danger seem real.

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