N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
Well, this was much better than I remembered.
To be fair, that’s not saying much, because I barely recollected anything about it in the first place. Maybe it’s the return of Alpha Centauri, or the continued excellence of the Doctor’s pairing with Sarah Jane, or that Queen Thalira is quite cute (my daughter said so, so it must be true), but I enjoyed The Monster of Peladon much more than the six episodes of tedium I’d vaguely recalled it being.
“It’s another rotten gloomy old tunnel.”
Sarah Jane, The Monster of Peladon:
Part One
True, it is what you might call a slow burner – even the Doctor has a bit of snooze late-on (not the first Ice Warrior-induced nap he’s had). The miners’ hairdos are a bit silly, Thalira is almost as dippy as her father and there’s no hiding the fact that Terry Walsh really does look nothing like Jon Pertwee. (Instead, director Lennie Mayne chooses boldly to showcase the resemblance in the Doctor’s fight scene with Ettis.)
But the return of the Ice Warriors is a welcome twist to the plot, even if Azaxyr’s special helmet makes him go all Judge Dredd (“I am the law!”) and Skel does suddenly develop an un-Martian-like nimble fleet-of-foot at the sight of Aggedor (in stark contrast with his usual lumbering gait).
“There’s nothing only about being a girl, your Majesty.”
Sarah Jane, The Monster of Peladon:
Part Three
And Sarah Jane is of course excellent, counselling the queen in much the same way that Jo advised her father (minus the romantic sub-plot, unless A LOT ended up on the cutting-room floor).
Given that its predecessor was about Peladon’s entry into the Federation EU, I’ll not draw parallels with how, in this follow-up, it’s apparent that in the intervening years its inhabitants have been misled into thinking a peaceful union of sovereign states is a bad thing.
The Doctor’s line to the queen – that she must convince her people that ‘the Federation means a better way of life for everybody, not just for a few nobles at court’ – struck a chord with this modern viewer at least, living at a time where it seems unfortunately to have been an argument that has been lost. On Peladon, however, thanks to the Doctor and Sarah Jane’s efforts, they have for the time being escaped the self-serving lies of already-wealthy opportunists happy to create division in pursuit of a quick buck.
I do wonder though, had Brian Hayles lived to write a twenty-first century sequel, what he would have made of my forecast of a Pelexit on Peladon? Would we have seen some loathsome jumped-up Peladonian politician posing in a gold elevator with Mavic Chen?
I digress.
Sadly, I couldn’t persuade my daughter to draw a picture of Alpha Centauri for me.
"It's so obvious that this story is set on Peladon because of the name. I think the title should have been different."
"Alpha Centauri and the Ice Warriors finally return."
Son of UT Rating: 7/10
