The Prisoner of Peladon is our second visit to the planet in just under two years. Following on from The Bride of Peladon (2008) we have a story that is a who-dunnit. This story is written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright who have a track record of writing great stories. The Project series (Twilight in 2001 and Lazarus in 2003) and also The Church and the Crown (2002) were obviously full cast stories so it was always going to be nice to see how they handle a companion chronicle.
Set sometime after The Green Death (1973), when Lady Jo of TARDIS has left this story sees quite a development of the events that went on in the Curse of Peladon (1972). Peladon is now part of the Federation and in now allowing refugee Ice Warriors. But things are not going as well as they could be. The tensions that are rising could have been taken out of today’s news headlines.
The speech that King Peladon gave to the Doctor about needing someone echoes the one that Donna Noble made to the 10th Doctor in The Runaway Bride (2006). It’s a point that was never raised during the classic series which is quite an obvious one. It seemed an obvious point as the Doctor that we get in this story isn’t quite the same Doctor that we know. He seemed to be very laid back and not taking things as seriously as he normally would. Its not easy to say whether he is still pining for Jo or whether he’s just having an off day but its definetly not the 3rd Doctor we know.
David Troughton was brilliant in this story. Its hard to believe that it had been 37 years since he played Peladon but he made it seem like months not years. The only issue I have was that the voice of Alpha Centuri which was just Troughton doing a high pitched voice. There was no treatment to it which would have made it sound better. The revelation that Princess of the Ice Warriors had been held captive on Peladon without the King’s knowledge did slightly devalue him in my opinion and just showed him as a weak leader. It was a shock to know that Alpha Centuri could be so deceptive but elevated that character above a pantomime horse. Nicholas Briggs did a good job as the Ice Warriors. It was interesting how he did several different versions of the voices. I like how they
This was a good story from Scott and Wright. They wrote a story that was structured to go one way in solving who committed the murders and then change it halfway through and find out the person who had been kept prisoner. Nicola Bryant did a great job in her first story as director of the Doctor Who range (She directed some of the UNIT stories a few years ago). She managed to keep the feeling of the original Peladon stories and weave that way into the stories. Hopefully she will be able to direct some of the regular releases in future.
At the end of the day, the Prisoner of Peladon is a gem of a story. Its got a nice story, strong characters and more importantly the sound effects and music to create the Peladon that we saw all those years ago. This credit goes to Toby Hrycek-Robinson.
Set sometime after The Green Death (1973), when Lady Jo of TARDIS has left this story sees quite a development of the events that went on in the Curse of Peladon (1972). Peladon is now part of the Federation and in now allowing refugee Ice Warriors. But things are not going as well as they could be. The tensions that are rising could have been taken out of today’s news headlines.
The speech that King Peladon gave to the Doctor about needing someone echoes the one that Donna Noble made to the 10th Doctor in The Runaway Bride (2006). It’s a point that was never raised during the classic series which is quite an obvious one. It seemed an obvious point as the Doctor that we get in this story isn’t quite the same Doctor that we know. He seemed to be very laid back and not taking things as seriously as he normally would. Its not easy to say whether he is still pining for Jo or whether he’s just having an off day but its definetly not the 3rd Doctor we know.
David Troughton was brilliant in this story. Its hard to believe that it had been 37 years since he played Peladon but he made it seem like months not years. The only issue I have was that the voice of Alpha Centuri which was just Troughton doing a high pitched voice. There was no treatment to it which would have made it sound better. The revelation that Princess of the Ice Warriors had been held captive on Peladon without the King’s knowledge did slightly devalue him in my opinion and just showed him as a weak leader. It was a shock to know that Alpha Centuri could be so deceptive but elevated that character above a pantomime horse. Nicholas Briggs did a good job as the Ice Warriors. It was interesting how he did several different versions of the voices. I like how they
This was a good story from Scott and Wright. They wrote a story that was structured to go one way in solving who committed the murders and then change it halfway through and find out the person who had been kept prisoner. Nicola Bryant did a great job in her first story as director of the Doctor Who range (She directed some of the UNIT stories a few years ago). She managed to keep the feeling of the original Peladon stories and weave that way into the stories. Hopefully she will be able to direct some of the regular releases in future.
At the end of the day, the Prisoner of Peladon is a gem of a story. Its got a nice story, strong characters and more importantly the sound effects and music to create the Peladon that we saw all those years ago. This credit goes to Toby Hrycek-Robinson.
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