The Monster of Peladon Part Six

The one where the Doctor uses Aggedor to save the day...

The monster of Peladon doesn't really feature very much in The Monster of Peladon, does it? I mean, if you take the monster to mean Aggedor, the real Aggedor only appears in two brief scenes in the entire story, while its "spirit" isn't Aggedor at all, but a statue. Of course, the real monster of Peladon was probably Ettis, seeing as he was much more bloodthirsty and crazed than Aggedor ever was.

The Doctor uses Eckersley's matter projector to project an image of Aggedor outside of the refinery so that the heat ray can destroy the encroaching Ice Warriors. Amusingly, as soon as he sees his two pals disintegrated by the heat ray, Sskel scarpers like a frightened rabbit!

Despite their greater number, the Ice Warriors don't look as impressive as they have before. The costumes seem to be cobbled together from different designs and sizes from their previous appearances (one costume has a head distinctly too big for its body, for instance), and what I can't understand is why the Ice Warriors of 1974 seem infinitely less animated than their 1967 precursors. The Martian costumes designed by Martin Baugh were much more flexible around the mouth than those seen here. We could see Bernard Bresslaw move Varga's rubbery mouth when he spoke, for instance, but when Sskel speaks here, Sonny Caldinez fails to make anything even twitch. It makes the Ice Warriors less real, and more like walking fibreglass costumes.

The Doctor continues to use the Aggedor projection to pick off the Martians, although it's not clear how he knows where to project at any given time. He says that there are preset coordinates for just about everywhere in the citadel, but that doesn't explain how he knows where and when to project Aggedor when the miners are faced with the Ice Warriors.

It's typical of the story as a whole, really. It's nowhere near as well written or plotted as The Curse of Peladon, which was intelligent and fun. The Monster of Peladon is neither of these things, it's just a dull, repetitive, uninspired runaround. The amount of times I've seen a character use one of those flaming torch switches to open a secret door, for instance... It's one of those lifeless stories where guards patrol up and down in very small spaces, and where villains express satisfaction with "Excellent!"

Eckersley goes completely rogue by the end, grabbing Queen Thalira as a hostage to provide safe passage to his spaceship on the far side of Mount Mageshra. The Doctor swaps the spirit of Aggedor for the real thing by getting the creature to hunt down the villain, but it's such a shame that writer Brian Hayles kills Aggedor off at the end. Somehow, that doesn't seem fair.

Elisabeth Sladen shines in this episode when Sarah believes the Doctor to be dead (for the second time in as many episodes). Her slow, despondent journey to the refinery to see the Doctor's "body" is played with fearful resignation, topped off by a lovely shot by director Lennie Mayne of the distraught Sarah looking at the Doctor's "body" through the hole in the refinery door before she goes in. It's a nice touch that it's Sarah's tears which bring the Doctor back round (he put himself into sensory withdrawal). "Tears?" says the Doctor, bemused. The same thing happens again at the end of the next story - and the Third Doctor's tenure - when Sarah weeps over her friend's body, and he croaks: "A tear, Sarah Jane?"

With Azaxyr and his warriors defeated, Galaxy 5 gives in all too easily and negotiates a peace treaty with the Federation. Many people have died on Peladon, but now things are getting back on course. Thalira finds herself in need of a chancellor, but the Doctor politely turns down the offer, suggesting Gebek for the role instead. Thalira balks at this, saying Gebek is "only a miner" and has no title, but of course, as the Doctor states: "It's the man that counts, your majesty. You can always give him a title." And so, while many things on Peladon have changed, it seems the divide between the common people and the nobility remains. At least for now...

The Monster of Peladon is a boring, bland, uninspired runaround of a story with a plot that could barely fill four episodes, never mind six. It's hard to see how it could be in anybody's top ten Pertwee stories, simply because it lacks almost everything that marks the era out as special. Sladen shines brightest, but poor Pertwee seems adrift amid the dross, perhaps thankful that his time is nearly up...

First broadcast: April 27th, 1974

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Elisabeth Sladen gives Sarah's loss of the Doctor great weight.
The Bad: Galaxy 5 gives in terribly easily. More could have been made of the Federation's troubles with Galaxy 5.
Overall score for episode: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 2.8 out of 10, making this by far my worst Doctor Who story to date - by some distance)

"Now listen to me" tally: 34
Neck-rub tally: 16

NEXT TIME: Planet of the Spiders...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-monster-of-peladon.html

The Monster of Peladon is available on BBC DVD as part of the Peladon Tales box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Peladon-Tales-Monster/dp/B002SZQC70