By David Parkinson
Writer: Brian Hayles
Director: Lennie Mayne
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, David Troughton, Geoffrey Toone, Alan Bennion.
I'm going to liken this to a Political Thriller, mixed with a bit of Scooby Doo. A Planet wishing to join the Galactic Federation, only for some force to try and stop this from happening. The force is Aggedor, a creature who is said to protect the King of Peladon. But the force behind the force, shown throughout the serial as Hepesh, high priest of Peladon, has a twist to it, which I'll explain later.
Basically, the Doctor whisks Jo away from a night out with Mike Yates and goes on a joy ride, which ends being a trip to Peladon. There, he faces rough winds, and low and behold, the loss of his model Tardis down a model hill. Yes, a very obvious model shot, but it wouldn't be Doctor Who without one. Then they find their way into the building where the Delegates are meeting and stumble upon an Ice Warrior. First seen in the aptly titled, The Ice Warriors, the Ice Warriors are, in my opinion, great. Pity the only real reference to them in the Modern series is in the superb Waters of Mars, and even then it's just a name call. This is really the only time where the Ice Warriors are shown as Allies to the Doctor, rather then enemies, as in their next appearance, rather fortunately in the sequel to this episode, the Monster of Peladon, they're back to being the antagonists of the serial.
Also among the Delegates are squeaky hermaphrodite Alpha Centauri and Paper Mâché cast off Arcturus, who seems to have a green fountain inside of him, and it also seems that he got speaking lessons from a Dalek. The Doctor is mistaken to be the Earth delegate, and Jo is introduced as Princess Josephine. As the princess, it's natural King Peladon, played by Patrick Troughton's son (!) should repeatedly come onto her. Still, with a costume like that, who wouldn't he come onto.
It soon becomes apparent that someone is out to get the delegates killed. It's a priest, someone who should shy away from Violence and murder and all that stuff. Hepesh is basically the George to Peladon's Lennie. Not saying that Peladon is mentally disabled. And that only works if George is corrupt. Anyhow, we're lead to believe Hepesh is basically acting alone, using the Kings manservant to do his dirty work. But, at the end of episode 3, it's revealed Arcturus was in on it the whole time. He tries to shoot Pertwee, only to be killed by Ssorg, the Ice Warrior. Basically, he wanted to mine Peladon to death. It's a shame his people decided to do it then, if they'd waited 50 years they'd be able to do it much easier. Hepesh then tries to use Aggedor to kill the Doctor, only for Aggedor to turn on his master and savage him to death.
The Doctor and Jo want to stay for the coronation of Peladon, but the real Earth delegate arrives and they slip away, But not before the Doctor realizes how they arrived: The Time lords needed the situation to be sorted, and they used their man in time and space to do it. Also before this, Peladon proposes to Jo, how declines and runs back to her man, the disfigured looking Mike Yates.
The sort of religious views and the political views looked upon in this episode really drew me into it. However, saying that, it tends to lag sometimes and, to be honest, Arcturus is just plain annoying.
You'll love
- The Ice Warriors
- The chemistry between Peladon and Jo
- Alpha Centauri is somewhat lovable
You'll Hate
- Episode Four isn't the strongest of episodes
- Arcturus
Rating: 3.9/5
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