The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Monster Of Peladon
The Monster Of Peladon: Part One (23/03/14)
YAY! We're back on Peladon and there's more shit going down! It's fifty years later and King Peladon's daughter, Thalira, is on the Throne accompanied by her slightly-less-psycho-than-the-last-one High Priest, Ortron, along with Alpha Centauri.
The Galactic Federation is at war with Galaxy 5 and have a mining expert (Vega Nexos - a weird bird/satyr creature) and Human Eckersley overseeing mining for Trisilicate (which is basically very rare but essential for everything). Someone obviously doesn't want them doing this, as an image of Aggedor keeps appearing and vaporising people, including Vega Nexos and several Pel miners (who all have badger-Afros for want of a better description).
Anyhow, after being caught in the temple of Aggedor, mistaken for spy-assassins, brought before the Queen, acquitted due to Alpha Centauri's intervention and witnessing an unplanned (by the Pel mining leader, at least) uprising by the miners, the Doctor and Queen's champion, Grun, went off to investigate where the vengeful 'Spirit Of Aggedor' was last seen, where the miner rebels blew them up - but only a moment after the 'Spirit Of Aggedor' turned up and vaporised Grun.
Pretty fast moving and quite good, though somehow not as tight as its predecessor. Still, rather good and better written than the last story (obviously!). It remains to be seen if this story stays as good. Mt Pertwee is also wearing a rather fetching emerald velvet jacket and pastel green frill-fronted shirt. Better than Sarah's rather drab patterned jumper and brown leather jacket. Unlike Jo's trendy fashions, they seem to be moulding her style on Suzi Quatro (more rocky as opposed to Glam) but with the emphasis on brown. It's a nice contrast, but isn't hugely flattering. Anyhow, that's by the by. Optimistic about next week!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Two (30/03/14)
Well, this one's not as fast moving or exciting as 'Curse...' was. Radical Miner Ettis organised a second raid on the ammunitions store with information stupidly provided by the Doctor in a throwaway comment which has resulted in loony priest Ortron to believe Sarah and the Doctor are helping the Miners' rebellion and thrown them both down a pit to be confronted by Aggedor - but we all know that the Doctor can tame the Aggedor beasts so that wasn't much of a cliffhanger, really.
Meanwhile, Miners' 'Union' leader Gebek ((as this is clearly a parody of the Miners' strikes of the early 70s) has been arrested, Alpha Centauri has been annoying, Queen Thalira has been lispy and ineffective, and Sarah saw someone in the armoury which Eckersley has flatly denied can be possible. I don't trust Eckersley, but that could be because he looks a bit like Gene Wilder from 'Willy Wanker's Chocolate Factory' and I never liked that fucker!
There's not really that much else to say! It's not as interesting as 'Curse...' or as well paced. None of the characters are as interesting and, worse, it's only the second episode and the plot is crawling! The subject matter is more serious than 'Death To The Daleks', but even though the writing is tighter at least you could shake your head and chuckle at Terry Nation's pitiful effort. Last week we established that someone was trying to prevent the mining from happening by faking supernatural attacks by Aggedor. This week I just wish they'd advance the plot! A definite low point. I think perhaps we were better off with the Doctor stuck on Earth!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Three (06/04/14)
Again, not the greatest episode, but at least the plot is evolving - although most of it this week was about people getting sidetracked. The Doctor calmed Aggedor by singing to him (like before) and, having survived trial-by-monster, the Doctor and Sarah had a chat with the Queen. The Doctor arranged to contact Gebek and get him to meet Queen Thalira in secret, then Sarah had a word with HRH about 'Women's Lib' (in a very sledgehammer scene, but never mind). Eckersley persuaded Alpha Centauri to call in the Federation troops as back up, but then Ettis stole the mining Sonic Lance and set it up across from the Citadel.
Ortron heard the Doctor say he was going to contact Gebek and thus locked him up. When Sarah found out she went off to free him but met Gebek on his way to meet the Queen. He told her to go back while he freed the Doctor, then he and the Doctor went off to investigate the Armoury which the Doctor and Sarah think is being used by whoever is making the fake Aggedor appear and kill people as a hiding place.
Meanwhile, Ortron met the Miners and persuaded them to stop striking for a bit so that the Federation troops would think everything was okay and sod off (an idea that Sarah came up with). However, having negotiated that successfully, an image of Aggedor appeared, killed a miner and caused a panic.
Meanwhile, Eckersley, Sarah and Alpha Centauri were watching everything on the CCTV in the mines (!) and clocked the Doctor fiddling with the Armoury alarm. Switching it off, the door opened and an Ice Warrior was there! I reckon Eckersley knows something about it and that he and the Ice Warrior are responsible for the killings, but that's because the script and direction aren't being subtle about it.
So, still rather dull, but a it more happened. Meanwhile, it's Eurovision Night (40 years ago) so I'll be watching that later! Got a sneaky suspicion I should keep my eye on the Swedes!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Four (13/04/14)
A slightly better episode this week, but still quite confused. The Ice Warriors have arrived (although they've apparently been there all along, hiding in the Refinery) and pushed the plot along. With Commander Azaxyr and his Second, Sskel, demanding the mining of Trisilicate recommences else they start killing hostages or blast the planet from space, Ortron and Gebek have joined forces against the Federation. The Doctor has twigged that Azaxyr is working outside the Federation, though, and told Alpha Centauri, but he/she can't do anything as Azaxyr has put a radio block on the planet.
Meanwhile, Ettis has gone loopy after a failed attack on the palace resulted in his miners being killed by the Ice Warriors, so he's gone across to the mountain opposite the Citadel where he has the Sonic Lance set to blow the Citadel up.
The Doctor, Gebek and Ortron arranged a coup, relying on the fact that the mines are air conditioned (!?!) to overheat the Martian guards and during the fighting, the Doctor, Sarah and Gebek learnt of Ettis' plan so the Doctor went off to stop him. Then Sarah was caught by Azaxyr who revealed he'd scanned the planet and located the Sonic Lance and set it to self-destruct if it was used.
Luckily, the cave Ettis set it up in also had CCTV so Sarah, Azaxyr, Sskel and Alpha Centauri were able to watch the ensuing fight between Ettis and the Doctor's very-obvious stunt double. Ettis beat the Doctor and turned on the Sonic Lance resulting in a mild explosion.
Not great, all in all, but the best episode for a few weeks! And this series got off to such a good start! Oh well.
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Five (20/04/14)
Better this week, but still not the greatest story ever. The Doctor, obviously, wasn't killed and headed back to the Refinery, meeting Gebek on the way. The Ice Warriors locked Sarah and Alpha Centauri in the throne room with Queen Thalira and Ortron where they arranged an escape. Ortron, however, was killed and Thalira stayed behind to say that Sarah and Alpha Centauri had gone into the mines.
Azaxyr and Eckersley, who is a traitor working with Azaxyr (who's leader of a rebel group of Ice Warriors harking back to their days of war and conquest), went back down to the Refinery where they'd switched off the Air Conditioning in the mines, and started flushing out the Pel miners and guards using Eckersley's 'Statue Of Aggedor' (which he's been matter transporting to various places and killing people with its heat ray).
Sarah and Alpha Centauri watched and listened on the CCTV station while the Doctor listened at the Refinery door! Sarah saw him and went off to join him, then Azaxyr and Eckersley went back to the palace, caught Alpha Centauri, went to the throne room (where Alpha Centauri told the Queen about the plot), threatened the Queen, then threatened Alpha Centauri who revealed that the Doctor was still alive and at the Refinery, and sent Sskel down to burn through the locked door to get to the Doctor, Sarah and Gebek (that was the cliffhanger).
Eckersley seems a bit dim. He's smart enough to be involved and work as a plant but thinks when the Ice Warriors succeed in taking over Peladon and all that, he's going to be Ruler of Earth. Er... probably not, mate.
Thalira was better this week with more to do and a stronger character. If only she'd been like this from the start, and not just an excuse for Sarah to make a vaguely feminist speech! Not awful, but I'll be glad when it's over.
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Six (27/04/14)
Well, what can I say about that? The Doctor used Eckersley's Aggedor device to kill loads of Ice Warriors while Gebek arranged an attack on the Citadel. Eckersley used the defence system on the Doctor to scramble his mind but he stayed in the Refinery using the Aggedor device till he had to shut down his nervous system to stop being killed.
Sarah threatened Eckersley with a gun but since both assumed the Doctor was dead she let him disarm her and scarper. If it'd been Jo, I reckon she'd at the very least have shot him if she even thought he'd killed the Doctor, but hey ho. The Miners stormed the throne room (oddly, one miner was killed twice within five minutes and he wasn't even an extra as both times he had lines!) and, rather wonderfully, Azaxyr was killed by an extra!
While Alpha Centauri contacted the Federation, Sarah went down to the Doctor and found out he was still alive, but Eckersley took Queen Thalira as a hostage to use to get to his escape shuttle. Hearing of this, the Doctor got Aggedor to track them down and, having found them, Aggedor killed Eckersley but was shot dead in the process. Can't help feeling if he hadn't grabbed Thalira, Eckersley might've escaped, but (again) hey ho. Finally, Galaxy Five agreed to negotiate since Azaxyr and Eckersley's plan failed, Thalira offered Gebek position as Ortron's replacement and the Doctor took Sarah home.
On the whole, this story was incredibly dull. I'm not sure whether that makes it better or worse than 'Death To The Daleks'. Maybe if it had been a four parter it may have been better, but it wasn't. Either way, I'm not warming to Sarah Jane Smith much. Hopefully, next week we'll be back on Earth again with the Brigadier, Benton and UNIT! Fingers crossed!
YAY! We're back on Peladon and there's more shit going down! It's fifty years later and King Peladon's daughter, Thalira, is on the Throne accompanied by her slightly-less-psycho-than-the-last-one High Priest, Ortron, along with Alpha Centauri.
The Galactic Federation is at war with Galaxy 5 and have a mining expert (Vega Nexos - a weird bird/satyr creature) and Human Eckersley overseeing mining for Trisilicate (which is basically very rare but essential for everything). Someone obviously doesn't want them doing this, as an image of Aggedor keeps appearing and vaporising people, including Vega Nexos and several Pel miners (who all have badger-Afros for want of a better description).
Anyhow, after being caught in the temple of Aggedor, mistaken for spy-assassins, brought before the Queen, acquitted due to Alpha Centauri's intervention and witnessing an unplanned (by the Pel mining leader, at least) uprising by the miners, the Doctor and Queen's champion, Grun, went off to investigate where the vengeful 'Spirit Of Aggedor' was last seen, where the miner rebels blew them up - but only a moment after the 'Spirit Of Aggedor' turned up and vaporised Grun.
Pretty fast moving and quite good, though somehow not as tight as its predecessor. Still, rather good and better written than the last story (obviously!). It remains to be seen if this story stays as good. Mt Pertwee is also wearing a rather fetching emerald velvet jacket and pastel green frill-fronted shirt. Better than Sarah's rather drab patterned jumper and brown leather jacket. Unlike Jo's trendy fashions, they seem to be moulding her style on Suzi Quatro (more rocky as opposed to Glam) but with the emphasis on brown. It's a nice contrast, but isn't hugely flattering. Anyhow, that's by the by. Optimistic about next week!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Two (30/03/14)
Well, this one's not as fast moving or exciting as 'Curse...' was. Radical Miner Ettis organised a second raid on the ammunitions store with information stupidly provided by the Doctor in a throwaway comment which has resulted in loony priest Ortron to believe Sarah and the Doctor are helping the Miners' rebellion and thrown them both down a pit to be confronted by Aggedor - but we all know that the Doctor can tame the Aggedor beasts so that wasn't much of a cliffhanger, really.
Meanwhile, Miners' 'Union' leader Gebek ((as this is clearly a parody of the Miners' strikes of the early 70s) has been arrested, Alpha Centauri has been annoying, Queen Thalira has been lispy and ineffective, and Sarah saw someone in the armoury which Eckersley has flatly denied can be possible. I don't trust Eckersley, but that could be because he looks a bit like Gene Wilder from 'Willy Wanker's Chocolate Factory' and I never liked that fucker!
There's not really that much else to say! It's not as interesting as 'Curse...' or as well paced. None of the characters are as interesting and, worse, it's only the second episode and the plot is crawling! The subject matter is more serious than 'Death To The Daleks', but even though the writing is tighter at least you could shake your head and chuckle at Terry Nation's pitiful effort. Last week we established that someone was trying to prevent the mining from happening by faking supernatural attacks by Aggedor. This week I just wish they'd advance the plot! A definite low point. I think perhaps we were better off with the Doctor stuck on Earth!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Three (06/04/14)
Again, not the greatest episode, but at least the plot is evolving - although most of it this week was about people getting sidetracked. The Doctor calmed Aggedor by singing to him (like before) and, having survived trial-by-monster, the Doctor and Sarah had a chat with the Queen. The Doctor arranged to contact Gebek and get him to meet Queen Thalira in secret, then Sarah had a word with HRH about 'Women's Lib' (in a very sledgehammer scene, but never mind). Eckersley persuaded Alpha Centauri to call in the Federation troops as back up, but then Ettis stole the mining Sonic Lance and set it up across from the Citadel.
Ortron heard the Doctor say he was going to contact Gebek and thus locked him up. When Sarah found out she went off to free him but met Gebek on his way to meet the Queen. He told her to go back while he freed the Doctor, then he and the Doctor went off to investigate the Armoury which the Doctor and Sarah think is being used by whoever is making the fake Aggedor appear and kill people as a hiding place.
Meanwhile, Ortron met the Miners and persuaded them to stop striking for a bit so that the Federation troops would think everything was okay and sod off (an idea that Sarah came up with). However, having negotiated that successfully, an image of Aggedor appeared, killed a miner and caused a panic.
Meanwhile, Eckersley, Sarah and Alpha Centauri were watching everything on the CCTV in the mines (!) and clocked the Doctor fiddling with the Armoury alarm. Switching it off, the door opened and an Ice Warrior was there! I reckon Eckersley knows something about it and that he and the Ice Warrior are responsible for the killings, but that's because the script and direction aren't being subtle about it.
So, still rather dull, but a it more happened. Meanwhile, it's Eurovision Night (40 years ago) so I'll be watching that later! Got a sneaky suspicion I should keep my eye on the Swedes!
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Four (13/04/14)
A slightly better episode this week, but still quite confused. The Ice Warriors have arrived (although they've apparently been there all along, hiding in the Refinery) and pushed the plot along. With Commander Azaxyr and his Second, Sskel, demanding the mining of Trisilicate recommences else they start killing hostages or blast the planet from space, Ortron and Gebek have joined forces against the Federation. The Doctor has twigged that Azaxyr is working outside the Federation, though, and told Alpha Centauri, but he/she can't do anything as Azaxyr has put a radio block on the planet.
Meanwhile, Ettis has gone loopy after a failed attack on the palace resulted in his miners being killed by the Ice Warriors, so he's gone across to the mountain opposite the Citadel where he has the Sonic Lance set to blow the Citadel up.
The Doctor, Gebek and Ortron arranged a coup, relying on the fact that the mines are air conditioned (!?!) to overheat the Martian guards and during the fighting, the Doctor, Sarah and Gebek learnt of Ettis' plan so the Doctor went off to stop him. Then Sarah was caught by Azaxyr who revealed he'd scanned the planet and located the Sonic Lance and set it to self-destruct if it was used.
Luckily, the cave Ettis set it up in also had CCTV so Sarah, Azaxyr, Sskel and Alpha Centauri were able to watch the ensuing fight between Ettis and the Doctor's very-obvious stunt double. Ettis beat the Doctor and turned on the Sonic Lance resulting in a mild explosion.
Not great, all in all, but the best episode for a few weeks! And this series got off to such a good start! Oh well.
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Five (20/04/14)
Better this week, but still not the greatest story ever. The Doctor, obviously, wasn't killed and headed back to the Refinery, meeting Gebek on the way. The Ice Warriors locked Sarah and Alpha Centauri in the throne room with Queen Thalira and Ortron where they arranged an escape. Ortron, however, was killed and Thalira stayed behind to say that Sarah and Alpha Centauri had gone into the mines.
Azaxyr and Eckersley, who is a traitor working with Azaxyr (who's leader of a rebel group of Ice Warriors harking back to their days of war and conquest), went back down to the Refinery where they'd switched off the Air Conditioning in the mines, and started flushing out the Pel miners and guards using Eckersley's 'Statue Of Aggedor' (which he's been matter transporting to various places and killing people with its heat ray).
Sarah and Alpha Centauri watched and listened on the CCTV station while the Doctor listened at the Refinery door! Sarah saw him and went off to join him, then Azaxyr and Eckersley went back to the palace, caught Alpha Centauri, went to the throne room (where Alpha Centauri told the Queen about the plot), threatened the Queen, then threatened Alpha Centauri who revealed that the Doctor was still alive and at the Refinery, and sent Sskel down to burn through the locked door to get to the Doctor, Sarah and Gebek (that was the cliffhanger).
Eckersley seems a bit dim. He's smart enough to be involved and work as a plant but thinks when the Ice Warriors succeed in taking over Peladon and all that, he's going to be Ruler of Earth. Er... probably not, mate.
Thalira was better this week with more to do and a stronger character. If only she'd been like this from the start, and not just an excuse for Sarah to make a vaguely feminist speech! Not awful, but I'll be glad when it's over.
The Monster Of Peladon: Part Six (27/04/14)
Well, what can I say about that? The Doctor used Eckersley's Aggedor device to kill loads of Ice Warriors while Gebek arranged an attack on the Citadel. Eckersley used the defence system on the Doctor to scramble his mind but he stayed in the Refinery using the Aggedor device till he had to shut down his nervous system to stop being killed.
Sarah threatened Eckersley with a gun but since both assumed the Doctor was dead she let him disarm her and scarper. If it'd been Jo, I reckon she'd at the very least have shot him if she even thought he'd killed the Doctor, but hey ho. The Miners stormed the throne room (oddly, one miner was killed twice within five minutes and he wasn't even an extra as both times he had lines!) and, rather wonderfully, Azaxyr was killed by an extra!
While Alpha Centauri contacted the Federation, Sarah went down to the Doctor and found out he was still alive, but Eckersley took Queen Thalira as a hostage to use to get to his escape shuttle. Hearing of this, the Doctor got Aggedor to track them down and, having found them, Aggedor killed Eckersley but was shot dead in the process. Can't help feeling if he hadn't grabbed Thalira, Eckersley might've escaped, but (again) hey ho. Finally, Galaxy Five agreed to negotiate since Azaxyr and Eckersley's plan failed, Thalira offered Gebek position as Ortron's replacement and the Doctor took Sarah home.
On the whole, this story was incredibly dull. I'm not sure whether that makes it better or worse than 'Death To The Daleks'. Maybe if it had been a four parter it may have been better, but it wasn't. Either way, I'm not warming to Sarah Jane Smith much. Hopefully, next week we'll be back on Earth again with the Brigadier, Benton and UNIT! Fingers crossed!
This isn't a patch on Curse, needless to say, and it's the most obvious of the "this is Jon's last season so let's surround him with familiar things (and actors)" thing they deliberately did as a sort of extended send-off/bereavement counselling session following the departure of Katy Manning and the loss of Roger Delgado. And I agree it's never going to make even a shortlist of Most Exciting Story. But for all that I still like it - as I said in reviewing the novelisation, it's a rare case of an actual sequel where, however successfully or otherwise, they actually add to what came before. And having reintroduced the Ice Warriors as surprise good guys in the earlier story, it's satisfying (initially at least) to have them back as baddies. A lot more could have been done with the story as a whole though, which is why it will always be an also-ran.
ReplyDeleteIt does amount to a great deal of nothing much stretched over six episodes, pretty much the opposite of the first Peladon story. I can't hate it, but it does contribute to the feeling that Pertwee's final season is his weakest. It's great to see Alpha Centauri again, and Grun (albeit briefly) and I do like the fact that the Ice Warriors make a return, but perhaps introducing the villainous Azaxyr earlier, then a faction of Martians representing the Federation would have given the serial a more interesting slant, pitting Ice Warrior against Ice Warrior. It would have been a damn sight more interesting than having people wandering aimlessly round the mines for five episodes, air conditioned or not!
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