The Curse of Peladon is the best of the two Peladon stories. The story is set on Peladon which is about to join the Galactic Federation, at the time of broadcast (January/February 1972), the UK was about to join the European Union so this story was a bit closer to home for viewers at the time than it would be considered now. There are people on Peladon who don’t want this to happen and hatch a plan where they try and spook the delegates into leaving and abandoning the plans. The Doctor is mistakened as the Earth Delegate (don’t you just hate when that happens!). Something that is never really made clear is what does Peladon have than the Galactic Federation want or what can Peladon offer that the Federation doesn’t have? Peladon is quite a primitive planet in many respects with not a lot to offer. Maybe I’m missing something.
This is quite a good story for Katy Manning. As the ‘princess’ she has the attention of the King she also is the voice of reason to the other aliens. This doesn’t really happen in any other story to this degree. The relationship between Katy Manning and Jon Pertwee is something I like to talk about when I am reviewing a Third Doctor story because its so good. Jon Pertwee gets to do his heroic acting at several points in this story especially when he has to fight the King’s Champion and there it’s a wonderful scene and it shows why the Third Doctor is unlike anything that came before or since. Peladon is played by David Troughton who is the son of Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. This was his second appearance in Doctor Who, he appeared in The War Games (1969) and would play Professor Hobbes in Midnight (2008). He puts in another good performance as a young and at times unsure King. The fact that he was smitten with Jo was particularly normal (see Planet of the Daleks) and gave something different to the drama of the story. Geoffrey Toone is very good as Hepesh because he is someone who is meant to guide the King but ultimately manipulates (or tries to) the King. His death is well played by Toone because at no point did I dislike the character too much.
I quite like the idea that the Ice Warriors are perceived to have evil intent in the early part of the first episode because it plays along the message of never judge a book by its cover. Once their integrity had been established it was a chase to find out who had been behind it all. It was obvious to me that it was Hepesh but it wasn’t because he wanted power but I think it was that he was scared. That is why his death despite how he might have deserved it was very sad and it was helped by David Troughton. Alpha Centauri is one of the funniest creations in Doctor Who. The voice is of Ysanne Churchman and it’s a little bit of comedy in an otherwise dramatic setting. Arcturus is another good creation, ok the head is slightly iffy and it’s not the most mobile creation but its role in the story and the voice of Terry Bale made the character stand out.
The Curse of Peladon is a good story even on its own. The idea that someone is trying to prevent something they don’t approve of from happening isn’t original but in this story it’s well done and superbly acted. The brief yet impressive ‘exterior’ sequences help create an alien atmosphere. When people talk about their favourite Doctor Who stories or even favourite Third Doctor stories its not very often that The Curse of Peladon comes up (certainly not in my discussions) which is a shame because it’s a neat little story that ticks every conceivable box that a Doctor Who fan would want. It’s just a shame that when it was released on DVD, it was released along with Monster which isn’t as good.
This is quite a good story for Katy Manning. As the ‘princess’ she has the attention of the King she also is the voice of reason to the other aliens. This doesn’t really happen in any other story to this degree. The relationship between Katy Manning and Jon Pertwee is something I like to talk about when I am reviewing a Third Doctor story because its so good. Jon Pertwee gets to do his heroic acting at several points in this story especially when he has to fight the King’s Champion and there it’s a wonderful scene and it shows why the Third Doctor is unlike anything that came before or since. Peladon is played by David Troughton who is the son of Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. This was his second appearance in Doctor Who, he appeared in The War Games (1969) and would play Professor Hobbes in Midnight (2008). He puts in another good performance as a young and at times unsure King. The fact that he was smitten with Jo was particularly normal (see Planet of the Daleks) and gave something different to the drama of the story. Geoffrey Toone is very good as Hepesh because he is someone who is meant to guide the King but ultimately manipulates (or tries to) the King. His death is well played by Toone because at no point did I dislike the character too much.
I quite like the idea that the Ice Warriors are perceived to have evil intent in the early part of the first episode because it plays along the message of never judge a book by its cover. Once their integrity had been established it was a chase to find out who had been behind it all. It was obvious to me that it was Hepesh but it wasn’t because he wanted power but I think it was that he was scared. That is why his death despite how he might have deserved it was very sad and it was helped by David Troughton. Alpha Centauri is one of the funniest creations in Doctor Who. The voice is of Ysanne Churchman and it’s a little bit of comedy in an otherwise dramatic setting. Arcturus is another good creation, ok the head is slightly iffy and it’s not the most mobile creation but its role in the story and the voice of Terry Bale made the character stand out.
The Curse of Peladon is a good story even on its own. The idea that someone is trying to prevent something they don’t approve of from happening isn’t original but in this story it’s well done and superbly acted. The brief yet impressive ‘exterior’ sequences help create an alien atmosphere. When people talk about their favourite Doctor Who stories or even favourite Third Doctor stories its not very often that The Curse of Peladon comes up (certainly not in my discussions) which is a shame because it’s a neat little story that ticks every conceivable box that a Doctor Who fan would want. It’s just a shame that when it was released on DVD, it was released along with Monster which isn’t as good.
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