The Monster of Peladon
50 years after his visit to Peladon with Jo, the Doctor returns with Sarah to find that the planet's membership in the Galactic Federation is not proving to be as fruitful as promised. The Federation is at war with the forces of Galaxy 5 and needs the mineral trisilicate for it's efforts, and it can be found in abundance on Peladon. Trouble is, the mining guild are effectively on strike and talking armed rebellion against the Queen and those in her court who get all the benefits of the Federation. The Queen herself is little more than a child, only ascending to the throne because Peladon had no son, and thus the real power is held by Chancellor Orton, who is also high priest. The situation is made worse when it appears that the spirit of Aggedor is on the loose attacking the miners who work with the Federation equipment, but the Doctor, having met Aggedor himself previously, suspects some kind of trickery. While Sarah talks womens' lib with the Queen, the situation worsens as the Ice Warriors arrive on the scene with their own agenda for Peladon, the trisilicate, and the Doctor.
Brilliant. A trip back to a previous setting to see how things have changed after the Doctor's presence all those years ago - brilliant! Peladon is still steeped in superstition where Aggedor is concerned, but unlike Hepesh before him, Ortron is loyal to the Federation and the duties that come with membership, although as soon as Aggedor is brought into the situation he gets edgy about where his loyalties lie. Queen Thalira is a cowed monarch, holding no real power until Sarah teaches her how to be gutsier, which will save her life in the end. Good old Alpha Centauri is back, twittering away as always and waving his tentacles at everyone. And those Ice Warriors... classic at last, the bad guys through and through; there are five different sculpts to the helmet this time to add variety to the ranks, although one looks like it is grinning foolishly the whole time. Their mouths do not move as easily as they did in their debut back in 1967, so they are lead by Commander Azaxyr, one of the most vocal and brutal Ice Warriors to date. My nephew, Parker, is a huge fan of the Ice Warriors and asked if he could sit in for this adventure, and he actually applauded when Azaxyr got his comuppance. THAT is what Doctor Who is all about if you ask me; the power to protray characters you can laugh with, miss when they're gone, or cheer when they are given their just desserts.
I found some of the production values disconcerting, though. The mines of Peladon are shot on video in the television studio for the most part, but for action sequences or pyrotechnics the sets were rebuilt in a film studio, which makes for some odd shifting between two different grades of picture quality for what is essentially the same location. Also a bit unsettling is the climax of episode 4 (there are 6 all told) where the Doctor disarms miner Ettis in a swordfight but the tide turns and the Doctor gets one of the most brutal on-screen beatings of the series; he is headbutted, run into a wall and punched out repeatedly. Sure, it's been said that the Doctor deals with violent people sometimes, and in the novel version of the story Terrance Dicks removes a lot of the beating from the text, but I noticed that Parker was distressed watching the hero getting the stuffing beaten out of him, much like vampire slayer Buffy taking a pasting from the Ubervamp in her final season. But again, the reaction is down to emotional connection; guys are beat up on TV all the time in other series or on UFC programs, or even in professional wrestling, but they're strangers to the casual viewer; after several years the Doctor has become a friend of the audience, and when anything happens to him, we all feel it.
So, a very good one in my opinion. And in Parker's. sadly it's the last time we'll see the Ice Warriors again. They only clocked up four appearances but managed to enshrine themselves in the top monsters list right along with the Daleks and the Cybermen. Here's to their return in the new series in 2007 (I hope - it's not even a rumour at this point but it would be a great idea...).
NEXT EPISODE : THE GHOSTS OF N-SPACE
Brilliant. A trip back to a previous setting to see how things have changed after the Doctor's presence all those years ago - brilliant! Peladon is still steeped in superstition where Aggedor is concerned, but unlike Hepesh before him, Ortron is loyal to the Federation and the duties that come with membership, although as soon as Aggedor is brought into the situation he gets edgy about where his loyalties lie. Queen Thalira is a cowed monarch, holding no real power until Sarah teaches her how to be gutsier, which will save her life in the end. Good old Alpha Centauri is back, twittering away as always and waving his tentacles at everyone. And those Ice Warriors... classic at last, the bad guys through and through; there are five different sculpts to the helmet this time to add variety to the ranks, although one looks like it is grinning foolishly the whole time. Their mouths do not move as easily as they did in their debut back in 1967, so they are lead by Commander Azaxyr, one of the most vocal and brutal Ice Warriors to date. My nephew, Parker, is a huge fan of the Ice Warriors and asked if he could sit in for this adventure, and he actually applauded when Azaxyr got his comuppance. THAT is what Doctor Who is all about if you ask me; the power to protray characters you can laugh with, miss when they're gone, or cheer when they are given their just desserts.
I found some of the production values disconcerting, though. The mines of Peladon are shot on video in the television studio for the most part, but for action sequences or pyrotechnics the sets were rebuilt in a film studio, which makes for some odd shifting between two different grades of picture quality for what is essentially the same location. Also a bit unsettling is the climax of episode 4 (there are 6 all told) where the Doctor disarms miner Ettis in a swordfight but the tide turns and the Doctor gets one of the most brutal on-screen beatings of the series; he is headbutted, run into a wall and punched out repeatedly. Sure, it's been said that the Doctor deals with violent people sometimes, and in the novel version of the story Terrance Dicks removes a lot of the beating from the text, but I noticed that Parker was distressed watching the hero getting the stuffing beaten out of him, much like vampire slayer Buffy taking a pasting from the Ubervamp in her final season. But again, the reaction is down to emotional connection; guys are beat up on TV all the time in other series or on UFC programs, or even in professional wrestling, but they're strangers to the casual viewer; after several years the Doctor has become a friend of the audience, and when anything happens to him, we all feel it.
So, a very good one in my opinion. And in Parker's. sadly it's the last time we'll see the Ice Warriors again. They only clocked up four appearances but managed to enshrine themselves in the top monsters list right along with the Daleks and the Cybermen. Here's to their return in the new series in 2007 (I hope - it's not even a rumour at this point but it would be a great idea...).
NEXT EPISODE : THE GHOSTS OF N-SPACE
Labels: Ice Warriors, Peladon, Sarah Jane Smith, The 3rd Doctor
posted by Sean Hoover @ 6:51 PM
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