Villengard Corporation
The Villengard Corporation, based on the planet Villengard, was the biggest weapons manufacturer in recorded history, (TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"]) home to the Weapon Factories of Villengard. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
Villengard supplied all sides in all conflicts for two centuries prior to 5087, including the Anglican Marines. (TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"])
Among the various products it sold in that century were sonic blasters, (TV: The Empty Child [+]Loading...["The Empty Child (TV story)"]) Villengard smartmines, vacuum drones, and Villengard Automated Ambulance Units. While engaged in combat situations, the Villengard Ambulances were connected to the Villengard Battle Computer and acted under the Villengard algorithm. (TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"])
History
51st century
At one point, the Villengard Corporation supposedly "ran out of money", and was unable to work further on the Villengard algorithm, ostensibly for this reason. However, as the Fifteenth Doctor would later deduce, the algorithm was designed to introduce the optimum number of casualties for their profit margins.
In fact, Anglican Marines were being sent out into battle with an imaginary enemy, and all resultant deaths in the battlefield were the result of actions taken by Villengard–produced military technology, controlled by the Villengard algorithm. This angered the Doctor, who sought to take their system down after becoming, himself, immobilised by one of their high-tech landmines on the planet Kastarion 3, on 5 October 5087.
Later that day, a holographic A.I. computer virus, built on the personality of John Francis Vater, now deceased, who died wanting to protect his daughter, Splice Alison Vater, managed to take hold of the algorithm, taking control, at least for a period of time. The virus then used that power to direct a Villengard Automated Ambulance Unit to save Ruby Sunday, instead of mostly executing those on the battlefield. (TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"]) By one account, the algorithm was entirely deactivated in the aftermath. (PROSE: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (feature)"])
At some point before Jack Harkness's native present in the 51st century, the Doctor destroyed the Weapon Factories of Villengard. (TV: The Doctor Dances [+]Loading...["The Doctor Dances (TV story)"]) An account which did not feature the Villengard Corporation indicated that this was done by the War Doctor. (COMIC: The Whole Thing's Bananas [+]Loading...["The Whole Thing's Bananas (comic story)"]) As a result, it later became a banana grove. (TV: The Doctor Dances [+]Loading...["The Doctor Dances (TV story)"], PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (novelisation)"], COMIC: The Whole Thing's Bananas [+]Loading...["The Whole Thing's Bananas (comic story)"])
Behind the scenes
The return of Villengard in TV: Boom [+]Loading...["Boom (TV story)"] is one of many references in that story to past Steven Moffat scripts, as this was Moffat's first script since his showrunner era ended in December 2017. Before this story, this was simply the name of a planet and a weapons factory, rather than explicitly the name of a singular corporation in charge of all the factories.
The story also introduced a significant change in the pronunciation of the word "Villengard", as a result of Ncuti Gatwa's line reading as the Fifteenth Doctor. Originally, Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor stressed the first syllable (so it sounded like VILL-en-gard), whereas Gatwa now began stressing the second syllable (Vil-LÉN-gard). Later, Steven Moffat would comment, "I approve. We all liked it so much we elected to keep it."[1]
Footnotes
- ↑ StevenWmoff (23 November 2024). And Ncuti rewrites how to pronounce Villengard. I like the new version, I approve. We all liked it so much we elected to keep it. #thoughtsandprayers. Twitter. Retrieved on 24 November 2024.
