The Monster of Peladon (TV story)

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I assure you, we are an amiable and peace-loving race...Alpha Centauri

Synopsis

The TARDIS returns to Peladon some fifty years after the Doctor's last visit. The planet is now ruled by Queen Thalira - daughter of the late King Peladon - with advice from Chancellor Ortron. The Doctor and Sarah are arrested by Ortron for trespassing on sacred ground but their names are cleared by Alpha Centauri, now Galactic Federation ambassador to Peladon.

Plot

The Doctor brings Sarah to the Citadel of Peladon to introduce her to his friend the King, but accidentally arrives fifty years later to find his daughter Queen Thalira on the throne. They find a very tense situation between the Galactic Federation, Pel miners, and Pel nobility. The Federation is at war with Galaxy Five, and desperately requires Trisilicate for the war effort. The miners feel exploited, their way of life having not improved in the half-century since Peladon joined the Federation. Leadership of the miners is divided between the centrist Gebek and the hotheaded Ettis. Tensions rise further when the image of Aggedor begins to appear at random, attacking and killing miners. Chancellor Ortron takes this as a sign that their deity is displeased with alien intrusion in the affairs of Peladon.

Ettis convinces the miners to strike and seizes a Federation armory, while Gebek appeals for calm and negotiation. The Doctor suspects that someone is creating the appearances of Aggedor in order to further destabilize Trisilicate production, but finds himself at odds with both the miners and Ortron, having only his old friend Alpha Centauri, and Thalira's recollection of her father's stories of the Doctor's earlier assistance for support. Ortron has the Doctor and Sarah thrown into a pit to face the real Aggedor, but the Doctor calms the great beast with his Venusian lullaby as he did fifty years earlier. Sarah urges Thalira to stand up for herself against the male-dominated nobility.

Eckersley, an Earthling overseeing the Trisilicate production, calls in a Federation security force to restore order. The security force are Ice Warriors, led by Azaxyr, who utilize harsh means to force the miners to work on pain of death, and ruthlessly kill several miners. This however unifies the miners and nobility against the Ice Warriors. The isolated Ettis becomes crazed and attempts to blow up the Citadel, at the cost of his own life. Azaxyr uses the attack as an excuse to impose martial law, killing Ortron as he attempts to flee.

Through the Doctor and Sarah's investigation, Eckersley and Azaxyr are revealed as Galaxy Five operatives, hoping to turn the tide of the war by controlling the Trisilicate supply. The control mechanism of the fake Aggedor apparitions is used against the Ice Warriors. The real Aggedor appears and kills Eckersley as he attempts to attack Thalira, but unfortunately expires in the process. Their gambit on Peladon defeated, Galaxy Five sues for peace. Thalira and her new chancellor Gebek commit themselves to a new beginning for Peladon, while the Doctor and Sarah slip away.

Cast

Crew

References

Story Notes

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 9.2 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 6.8 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 7.4 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 7.2 million viewers
  • Part 5 - 7.5 million viewers
  • Part 6 - 8.1 million viewers

Myths

  • Azaxyr is an 'Ice Lord'. (The term is never used)

Filming Locations

  • Five days at the Ealing Television Film Studios from January 14th to 18th 1974 filming footage set in the mines.
  • Two day session in BBC Television Centre Studio 8 from January 28th and Tuesday the 29th 1974 filming footage set in the temple and the pit.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • In The Curse of Peladon, the Doctor says that trisilicate can only be found on the planet Mars. The Doctor believed what he said but was wrong
  • Lip reading the Doctor at the end of episode one results in the great line 'What the bloody hell is it?'. Actually, he appears to be saying, 'What the blazes is it?'.
  • In episode four we get a clear look at stunt double Terry Walsh when, as the Doctor, he throws Ettis. This has happened many times throughout Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor.
  • In episode six the hole in the door vanishes along with the Aggedor statue.
  • When Aggedor dies Nick Hobbs's skin shows as the trousers detach from the boots.
  • The mines apparently have central heating. The Galactic Federation had the technology to do so.
  • In episode one the Doctor opens a secret door which nearly knocks him over. If it's a secret door, he probably can't predict how it'll open.
  • Sarah tries not to burst out laughing.
  • In Seeds of Death the Ice Warriors skin was immune to bullets but now a simple sword can kill them. A recurring element in science fiction is shields that stop fast moving objects, such as bullets, but not slow moving objects, like a sword. Other instances of this include Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" and Frank Herbert's "Dune".

Continuity

DVD, Video and Other Releases

DVD Release This episode will be released on DVD in January 2010 along with The Curse of Peladon.

Novelisation

Monster of Peladon novel.jpg
Main article: Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon

External Links

Template:Season 11

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