‘THE CURSE OF PELADON’

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A Trip to Peladon with the Third Doctor and Jo

It’s time to talk about the second story in Season 9 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, and it’s of course ‘The Curse of Peladon’, a four-part story by Brian Hayles. This is where the Peladon saga of ‘Doctor Who’ begins. Trust me, there are more Peladon stories to check out beyond the TV series. 🙂

Back in January 2010, I purchased the ‘Peladon Tales’ DVD box set, which featured two stories starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. The DVD box set included ‘The Curse of Peladon’ and ‘The Monster of Peladon’. Of course, both stories take place on the same planet in different generations.

It’s amazing to look back on those times, as I purchased the DVD box set before I met Sarah Sutton at conventions, which began for me with ‘Fifth Element’ in February 2010. I was still learning aspects of ‘Doctor Who’ fandom even after the original Russell T. Davies era ended at the start of January. 🙂

I enjoyed checking out the ‘Peladon Tales’ DVD box set very much. With both stories by Brian Hayles, they featured some intriguing scenarios with socio-political atmospheres throughout them. They’re arguably the most politically-charged ‘Doctor Who’ adventures ever featured in the Jon Pertwee era.

For all the criticisms laid against the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era and the neo-Russell T. Davies era for being too politically correct or ‘woke’ (I hate that word), it’s astonishing that people forget the original ‘Doctor Who’ TV show, particularly in Jon Pertwee’s era, had politically-charged TV tales.

Brian Hayles is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’. He was the original writer of ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ and he wrote ‘The Smugglers’, both starring William Hartnell. He also did two stories with Patrick Troughton that featured his creations – the Ice Warriors – including ‘The Ice Warriors’ and ‘The Seeds of Death’.

Those four stories were penned in the 1960s. And of course, it’d be remiss of me not to mention that Brian Hayles would later write ‘The Moon Stallion’, starring Sarah Sutton as Diana Purwell. Brian Hayles was an accomplished author at the time he did ‘The Curse of Peladon’ in Jon Pertwee’s era. 🙂

And of course, the two Peladon TV stories feature the Ice Warriors, since Brian Hayles created them. It’s intriguing to note that ‘The Curse of Peladon’ was the first story to showcase the Ice Warriors in colour compared to when they were seen in black-and-white in the two Patrick Troughton era tales.

It’s also intriguing to note that one of the Peladon stories features the Ice Warriors as the good guys whilst the other Peladon story has them as the baddies. This does provide a level of complexity to the Ice Warriors. They aren’t stomping vicious monsters anymore, as depicted in the 1960s stories. 🙂

As I’ve established, the Peladon saga has continued to expand beyond the two TV stories. This includes Big Finish audios like ‘The Bride of Peladon’ with Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor as well as a collection of ‘Peladon’ stories, featuring a variety of characters, which was released in January 2022.

Peladon has also appeared in a ‘Doctor Who’ book called ‘Legacy’, featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Benny. And Peladon has found its way into the Divergent Wordsmiths stories, including ‘The Ghosts of Peladon’, featuring the Sixth Doctor, Peri and Frobisher. Peladon must be very popular. 😀

Who knows? Maybe Peladon will return in a future ‘Doctor Who’ story in the new TV series era. I’d like to think so, since the Peladon tales do reflect the times of our society. I’m surprised there isn’t a tale called ‘The Brexit of Peladon’ made lately. I’ll get into what I mean by that later in this review. 🙂

‘The Curse of Peladon’ is of course the Doctor’s first visit to the planet. I don’t think Big Finish has done audio stories set on Peladon featuring the First and Second Doctors. At least, I hope not. That would make things confusing in ‘Doctor Who’ continuity terms, which I know has been broken a lot.

The story has Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor joined by Katy Manning as Jo Grant. ‘The Curse of Peladon’ is the first story in Season 9 to take place not on the planet Earth. U.N.I.T. doesn’t feature in the story and there’s no sign of the Brigadier, Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton in the tale.

Some are likely to be confused as to why the Doctor is able to travel to Peladon, since technically he’s still exiled to Earth. He thinks he’s managed to get the TARDIS working again, but of course, it’s revealed that he has been sent on a mission by the Time Lords, presumably to assist Peladon’s crisis.

This is a story trend in Jon Pertwee’s era that began with ‘Colony In Space’ in Season 8. Producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks were trying a variety of ways to get the Doctor off the planet Earth, and having him being sent on missions by the Time Lords is one of the ways to do that.

When available in the ‘Peladon Tales’ DVD box set, ‘The Curse of Peladon’ was released on a 1-disc DVD set. The case seems to apply for ‘The Curse of Peladon’ in the Season 9 Blu-ray box set, as the story is released on 1 disc as opposed to ‘Day of the Daleks’, which was released on 2 discs in the set.

In ‘The Curse of Peladon’, the TARDIS arrives on the titular planet during a test flight. Understandably, the Doctor is convinced he’s got the TARDIS working again. Jo however is keen on returning to Earth so she can go out on a date with Mike Yates – ‘a night out on the town’, in fact. 😀

When they realise the TARDIS is about to topple over – Oh dear, the Doctor’s done that thing with landing the TARDIS close to the edge of a cliff, as he did in ‘The Romans’ – the Doctor and Jo manage to get out just in time. It also turns out that it’s very stormy whenever you’re on the planet Peladon.

Seriously, both in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ and ‘The Monster of Peladon’, there are storms happening all the time. It’s a relief that the king’s castle, which is where most of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ takes place, is able to stand up to the billowing storm, especially when it’s persistent once you go outside.

Once the Doctor and Jo have exited the TARDIS, the dear blue box goes toppling off the cliff and tumbles all the way down to the ground below. I must say, for a 1972 TV budget, the model shots of the TARDIS arriving on Peladon to eventually collapsing down from the edge of the cliff are excellent.

Jo is anxious about the TARDIS, but the Doctor reassures her that the ship is indestructible. They soon climb up the cliff in order to find a way inside. Jo isn’t exactly dressed for climbing, since she was ‘dolled up’ for her date with Mike Yates. Although, her ‘dolled up’ look gives her the advantage.

Eventually, the Doctor and Jo find themselves getting inside the castle of Peladon through a tunnel system. They come across some Ice Warriors, but it turns out they’re not the aggressive Martians that the Doctor encountered in the previous two TV stories when he was Patrick Troughton’s Doctor.

The Doctor and Jo are caught by Peladon guards and are brought into the throne room where King Peladon sits. Our heroes are mistaken for being representatives from the planet Earth for the Galactic Federation council. Well, the Doctor is mistaken for being an Earth delegate for the council.

Jo is mistaken for being a princess from the planet Earth – Princess Josephine of TARDIS, in fact. See? There’s an advantage to having Jo ‘dolled up’ in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. She’s even dressed up to look like a princess, which works in her and the Doctor’s favour when meeting King Peladon and the others. 🙂

As the Doctor and Jo interact more with King Peladon and the others, it transpires that Peladon is on their way to join the Galactic Federation. I know it’s not called the United Federation of Planets in ‘Star Trek’ terms, but the concept is quite similar when the two feature a multitude of alien species.

Unfortunately, Peladon is a planet considered ‘savage’ by certain members of the Federation, not helped by the fact that some of their customs are rooted in superstition. Can King Peladon convince the Federation delegates the planet Peladon is worthy to be considered entry into the Federation? 😐

At the time this story was transmitted from January to February in 1972, ‘The Curse of Peladon’ reflected certain aspects of the period and atmosphere occurring in the 1970s. Most notably, it was reflecting the time when the UK was in the process of joining the European Economic Community. 🙂

The EEC for short. This is what we now known as the European Union – the EU for short. Back then, the UK would join the EU in January 1973, a year after ‘The Curse of Peladon’ was transmitted on TV. How ironic times have changed since then, as, at the time of this review, the UK isn’t an EU member.

The UK left the EU at the end of January in the year 2020. This is what I meant by “I’m surprised there isn’t a tale called ‘The Brexit of Peladon’ made lately”, since it would be intriguing to see a story of how Peladon would decide to leave the Galactic Federation. Or maybe it won’t come to that.

Again, I’m basing this on what I’ve seen in the TV series stories of Peladon, since I’ve yet to check out more of the audio stories beyond ‘The Bride of Peladon’. But it’s fascinating back then how there was much tension and indecision for the UK to join the EU when they’d been mostly independent. 🙂

I don’t know if this is something that Brian Hayles had in mind when he wrote ‘The Curse of Peladon’ for TV. It’s unlikely he predicted that the UK would join the EU in 1973, as he presumably wrote the scripts for ‘The Curse of Peladon’ in 1971 before the story itself got transmitted on BBC TV in 1972. 🙂

Despite that, it helped audiences to engage with the story, especially when connecting with what was happening in the real world. I mean, more for the adults rather than the kids. I don’t think kids would get this kind of thing when watching ‘Doctor Who’ on TV, as they want to see the monsters. 🙂

As depicted in the story, Peladon is a world full of semi-medieval proportions as well as containing a gothic atmosphere. The fact that it’s always stormy on Peladon is a bit of a giveaway, but it’s fascinating to see how this world is depicted, especially in its process to join the Galactic Federation.

The process is troublesome and fraught with difficulties, especially when there are those who are unwilling to break away from old traditions like Hepesh, the High Priest of Peladon. It’s a bit unfortunate though that the population of Peladon is somewhat limited to those inside the castle. 😐

Yes, you have the Peladon guards as well as King Peladon, Hepesh and the ill-fated Chancellor Torbis, but we don’t get to see the reactions of the normal folk of Peladon. I mean, wouldn’t they have a say about what’s happening with Peladon about to join the Galactic Federation compared to the king? 😐

I know that’s a minor thing to harp upon and granted, we don’t get enough time to explore the world of Peladon in its debut in the classic TV series. But like ‘The Keeper of Traken’, I wonder what continents and societies there are beyond the royal premises, since that’d be interesting to explore.

Despite the gothic atmosphere, there’s still colour to the world of Peladon. I mean, it’s fortunate we can see greens, blues, yellows and red when we’re inside the castle. Thankfully, we can enjoy the colourful aspects of the castle’s interior compared to the dark broodier interior of the tunnel system.

The story’s director happens to be Lennie Mayne, who make his first contribution to the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, I believe. He later directed three more ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories – ‘The Three Doctors’, the aforementioned Peladon TV sequel ‘The Monster of Peladon’ and he directed ‘The Hand of Fear’.

I enjoyed Terrance Dicks’ story in ‘The Peladon Saga – Part One’ behind-the-scenes making-of documentary where he recalled the director Lennie Mayne telling Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning to react with “Holy flaming cow!” to the Ice Warriors before they ended up saying those words instead. 😀

Jon Pertwee is excellent as the Third Doctor in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. He delivers a superb performance in this adventure. I quite like how he takes on the role of Earth’s ambassador when he’s mistaken for it by King Peladon, Hepesh and the Galactic Federation members in ‘Episode One’.

I also like how the Doctor has a good relationship with Jo Grant in this story. This is especially when he and Jo are inside the TARDIS upon arriving on Peladon as well as when climbing up the mountain to get into the castle. Without U.N.I.T., we can all focus on the Doctor and Jo as the main characters.

Halfway through the story, the Doctor is accused for committing sacrilege upon entering the shrine of Aggedor, after having been in the tunnel system by the King’s Champion – Grun. Jon Pertwee’s Doctor has to fight for his life when he duels to the death with Grun in ‘Episode Three’ of the story. 🙂

I like it when the Doctor uses a device to put Ethel – Uh, I’m sorry – Aggedor in a sleep-like trance. As he does this, the Doctor sings what he calls a Venusian Lullaby to calm Aggedor down. Apparently, Jon Pertwee sings the Venusian Lullaby to the tune of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, which is nice.

Katy Manning is lovely as Jo Grant in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. I like how she gets mistaken for being a princess from Earth, and I’m sure that’s the case for a lot of ‘Doctor Who’ girls who get to dress up as princesses. I mean, Clara Oswald got to dress like Maid Marian in ‘Robot of Sherwood’. 🙂

Jo plays the part of being an Earth princess very well in this story, especially when Hepesh questions the Doctor on whether she’s of royal blood or not. It’s good that a story like this depicts Jo as being resourceful instead of being considered dim-witted and scatter-brained in her Season 8 TV stories. 🙂

I enjoyed the relationship that Jo has with David Troughton’s character – King Peladon – in the story. There is a sense of semi-romance going on between Jo and King Peladon, especially when they meet each other for the first time, but there’s an added sense of realism once they’re interacting together.

It’s not altogether soppy love, since King Peladon tries to ask Jo to get through to the Galactic Federation council that Peladon is worthy of membership, but she’s determined to stay neutral. Also, the decisions made in having the Doctor put to trial via combat tests her relationship with him.

David Troughton guest stars as King Peladon in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. And yes, David is one of four sons of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. Another son is Michael Troughton. Both have played their father’s Doctor in some form as well as characters in the TV show.

Before ‘The Curse of Peladon’, David Troughton guest starred in two ‘Doctor Who’ stories in his dad’s era, including ‘The Enemy of the World’ and ‘The War Games’. He later played Professor Hobbes in the new TV series episode ‘Midnight’ and has starred in Big Finish audios over the years. 🙂

He’s also been in ‘The Stranger’ BBV series with Colin Baker and has been in ‘A Very Peculiar Practice’ with Peter Davison. I like David Troughton’s performance as King Peladon, as he plays a young and quite inexperienced ruler who wishes for his homeworld to join the Galactic Federation. 🙂

There are times where he can be weak-willed, even when it comes to the Doctor’s life about to be threatened with death. It’s interesting that he’s half-Peladonian and half-human, since his mother was human. Hmm. I wonder if Brian Hayles nicked that character trait off Mr. Spock in ‘Star Trek’. 😀

Geoffrey Toone guest stars Hepesh, the High Priest of Peladon in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I’ve seen Geoffrey Toone in episodes of the ITV series ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ where he played Lord Bittlesham, Bingo’s uncle. And I’ve discovered he played Temmosus in the 1965 film ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’. 🙂

I didn’t realise he played Temmosus in ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ until now, but then again, he didn’t last long when the Daleks killed him. And his voice wasn’t pronounced in that film compared to his appearance in ‘The Curse of Peladon’, which would match in how he sounds in ‘Jeeves & Wooster’. 🙂

In ‘The Curse of Peladon’, Hepesh is against the planet Peladon joining the Galactic Federation, as he believes it’ll be the ruin of his homeworld and ‘the curse of Aggedor’ will be brought upon them. Hepesh has very strong religious beliefs in Aggedor and doesn’t share in King Peladon’s idyllic future.

It’s intriguing Hepesh is considered the main villain of this ‘Doctor Who’ story, as what he’s doing isn’t based on pure evil intent, but with a determination to maintain the way of things that are done on Peladon. He claims he doesn’t wish for the Doctor’s death and he provides him a map of escape.

With Peladon about to join the Galactic Federation, it gives the ‘Doctor Who’ production team to bring a variety of aliens that represent the diversity of such a Federation in the future. It’s not just the Peladonians that are featured in this tale, as there are three more alien species appearing in this.

Like I said, the Ice Warriors that appear in this ‘Doctor Who’ story happen to be the good guys, which is a very fascinating change from how they appeared in the first two ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories they were in where they were actually the bad guys. They still breathe heavily and noisily though. 😀

There are two Ice Warrior delegates from the planet Mars on behalf of the Galactic Federation on Peladon. There’s Alan Bennion as Izlyr, an Ice Lord, who’s in charge of the Martian group. Alan Bennion previously portrayed the Ice Lord Slaar in ‘The Seeds of Death’, who was one of the baddies.

There’s Sonny Caldinez as Ssorg, who is Izlyr’s sub-delegate in their visit to Peladon. Like Alan Bennion, Sonny Caldinez has played Ice Warriors before, where he played Turoc in ‘The Ice Warriors’ and simply an Ice Warrior in ‘The Seeds of Death’. He also played Kemel in ‘The Evil of the Daleks’. 🙂

I like how Izlyr’s character is presented, since he’s someone who speaks with reason and isn’t so aggressive, despite having a raspy voice. 😀 Ssorg is more subservient compared to Izlyr and doesn’t have as many lines as Izlyr. When Ssorg does speak however, his voice is quite raspier than Izlyr’s. 😀

In ‘The Curse of Peladon’, there’s a one-eyed alien called Alpha Centauri, who is performed by Stuart Fell (a regular stuntman on ‘Doctor Who’) and is voiced by the late Ysanne Churchman. You could easily be led to believe that this is Mike’s brother from ‘Monsters Inc.’, especially when he’s green. 🙂

Mike: Would you listen to this? Blame it on the little guy, how original. He must have read the schedule wrong with his one eye!

But that’s nothing compared to the voice that Alpha Centauri actually has in the TV story. As Timelord007 agrees me in my original review of the story, which had him in hysterics, Alpha Centauri can be very grating on the ears with his high-pitched voice and hysteria. I still stand by the remark. 🙂

I found Sarah Sutton and everyone else’s reactions in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item on ‘The Curse of Peladon’ hilarious to watch when they heard Alpha Centauri speak for the first time. I’m sure Stuart Fell performed in his normal voice in the suit, and Ysanne Churchman’s voice was added afterwards.

I don’t mind Alpha Centauri as a character in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, but it’s difficult to take him seriously, especially with that high-pitched voice and the giant eye he has. 😀 It’s fortunate that Alpha Centauri had a curtain to cover himself up in the tale, since…according to Mr. Terrance Dicks…

And it would be remiss of me to mention that Alpha Centauri would return in future Peladon stories, both on TV and audio, and he briefly appeared at the end of the new TV series episode ‘Empress of Mars’. I’m amazed Alpha Centauri returned at all in the series, despite the very odd creative choices.

There’s also a Galactic Federation delegate called Arcturus, who is performed by Murphy Grumbar and is voiced by Terry Bale. It can be quite hard to make him out at times, but Arcturus appears to be a skull-like alien who is being kept inside a box as his life support system, which is pretty unusual.

Thankfully, Arcturus’ voice is tolerable compared to Alpha Centauri’s, but it’s quite a twist when it turns out that he’s not as sincere a peace negotiator as he claims to be. Hints are sort-of provided along the way, especially when he demonstrates the ability to open fire and destroy a Peladon vase.

I mean, come on! Was that really necessary? You didn’t need to disintegrate a well-crafted Peladonian vase to prove your point. There is a point where a component from his life-support system gets taken out and the alarm goes off with the Doctor and Jo alerted to his critical condition.

But when the Doctor and Grum fight each other and the Doctor spares Grum’s life in ‘Episode Three’, Arcturus is about to open fire before Ssorg kills him. I must admit, I was a bit confused by how that cliffhanger ending was presented in ‘Episode Three’, but it gets explained in ‘Episode Four’.

The story’s guest cast also includes Henry Gilbert as Chancellor Torbis, who is keen about the planet Peladon joining the Galactic Federation compared to Hepesh. Unfortunately, Torbis is killed off pretty early in ‘Episode One’ of the story, especially when Aggedor attacks him in one of the corridors.

There’s also Gordon St. Clair as Grun, who doesn’t say very much in this ‘Doctor Who’ story ( 😀 ) and is the King’s Champion. It’s interesting how he starts off being league with Hepesh to sabotage the negotiations between Peladon and the Galactic Federation before he assists the Doctor in the story.

The story also features Nick Hobbs as Aggedor, the furry creature on the planet Peladon that lurks in the tunnel system and attacks people at Hepesh’s call. Apparently, Aggedor is a creature in Peladon’s religion and legends, as exemplified by how Hepesh keeps repeating ‘the curse of Aggedor’ at times.

I like Aggedor when he turns out not to be so scary a monster as first implied in ‘Episode One’. It helps when the Doctor sings him a Venusian lullaby to tame him. My Dad likes Aggedor whenever he sees him, and he often calls him ‘Ethel’, who was the chimp in the ‘Laurel & Hardy’ film ‘The Chimp’.

Ollie: Come on, Ethel.

Or is it chimpanzee? Or perhaps it doesn’t really matter. Or does it?

Aaron: Well, certainly to other chimpanzees. Ha, ha.

I mean, you can’t deny it. Aggedor does look like Ethel on screen. I found it funny when Ethel, sorry, Aggedor, seemed very attached to the Doctor by the story’s end. He went for a cuddle and a bear hug before the Doctor calmed him down. My Dad easily calls Aggedor ‘Ethel’ when we watch that scene. 😀

I think there’s more than one Aggedor creature on the planet Peladon and it’s intriguing how Hepesh uses the creature to stir fear in people’s hearts, especially when attempting to stop his homeworld joining the Galactic Federation. It’s unfortunate that he ended up being killed by Aggedor in the tale.

The ‘trial by combat’ fight scene between the Doctor and Grun is quite tense to watch, especially Grun instantly starts attacking the Doctor, following their bowing and the ropes being pulled up when in the pit. Mind you, there are occasions where you can see it’s not Jon Pertwee fighting Grun.

In close-up shots, yes, it is Jon Pertwee fighting. But when you see the Doctor fighting Grun in the distance or when he’s not looking at the camera, it’s Terry Walsh, the fight arranger, who’s doing the fight scenes. I liked it when the Doctor spared Grun’s life when he managed to get the upper hand. 🙂

It’s also nice how Grun sides more with the Doctor in ‘Episode Four’, especially when they meet each other in the tunnel system and Grun explains to him by drawing ‘H’ in the ground that Hepesh attacked him. Despite being the King’s Champion, Grun is easily scared when searching for Aggedor.

I like how the story concludes with the Doctor and Jo delighted to see the TARDIS safe and sound, having been dragged up from the valley where they collapsed. They decided to stay for Peladon’s coronation, and it’s here that the Doctor realises that it was the Time Lord who sent him to Peladon.

As the Doctor leads Aggedor off to his enclosure, King Peladon enters to ask Jo for an answer to his proposal of marriage. Yes, beforehand, Peladon requested Jo marry him, in spite of the fact that the Doctor had been put on trial by combat in ‘Episode Three’. Jo was unable to answer him at the time.

I like how Jo tells Peladon that she can’t marry him since she’s not really a princess. Peladon tells he that it doesn’t matter and still has feelings for her. It’s astonishing and quite sweet how even in the short amount of time they spend together, the semi-romance between Peladon and Jo is endearing.

Jo at least gives Peladon a kiss before he leaves his coronation. I prefer how the romance between Peladon and Jo is handled compared to how it’s done in the Target novelization, which I found disappointing. I liked the Doctor’s scene with Jo where she’s reflecting on declining to marry the King.

As the Doctor and Jo head off to the throne room, they come across an embarrassing visitor – Wendy Danvers as Amazonia, who is the real Earth delegate, and she’s interacting with Izlyr, Ssorg and Alpha Centauri. I’m amazed it took her so long to get to Peladon, since she appears in ‘Episode Four’.

Maybe the Time Lords had something to do with her delay in order to ensure the Doctor achieved his mission. As is, the Doctor and Jo decide to slip away in the TARDIS and watch another coronation instead. Perhaps they’ll go and see the coronation of Queen Victoria. Who knows? We don’t see it. 😦

By the way, it’s typical when the real Earth delegate Amazonia asks, “Doctor? What Doctor? Doctor who?” I mean, I know it’s common enough to put that joke in a ‘Doctor Who’ story now and again, but even by today’s standards, I wonder how many people would have rolled their eyes at that joke.

Once the Doctor and Jo are inside, Amazonia, Alpha Centauri, Izlyr and Ssorg enter to see the TARDIS in the delegates’ conference room. Izlyr goes, “What is that?” and the TARDIS dematerialises, causing Amazonia to be open-mouthed and speechless. I know I shouldn’t use this joke, but, well… 🙂

Mrs. Flood: Never seen a TARDIS before?

I found it funny when watching the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item how Sarah Sutton mimicked Izlyr’s “What is that?” in that pronounced way. I also enjoyed it when Sarah mimicked Alpha Centauri’s high-pitched tones in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item. Sophie Aldred’s mimicking of Alpha Centauri is very amusing too.

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was ‘The Peladon Saga – Part One’ making-of documentary with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, the ‘Warriors of Mars’ documentary about the Ice Warriors, the ‘Jon and Katy’ featurette that focuses on Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo being a TARDIS duo, a storyboard comparison, a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, and an audio commentary with Katy Manning, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks and production assistant Chris D’Oyly-John, moderated by Toby Hadoke. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy, a photo gallery of the story, and PDF materials, including ‘BBC Enterprises Sales Literature’ and a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story. There was also a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Masque of Mandragora’, starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen.

On Disc 3 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 9’ Blu-ray, ‘The Peladon Saga – Part One’ making-of documentary, the ‘Jon and Katy’ featurette, the storyboard comparison, the dual mono sound audio mix option, and the DVD audio commentary can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery of the story have been updated for 2023 on the Blu-ray. Sadly, the ‘Warriors of Mars’ documentary isn’t included on Disc 3 of the Season 9 Blu-ray box set.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘The Curse of Peladon’ with Katy Manning (Jo) and director Michael E. Briant as well as Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There are film sequences from ‘Episode Three’ of the story, BBC trailers and continuity announcements for the story and ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged Target audiobook, read by Jon Pertwee. There are also the DVD versions of ‘Episodes One to Four’ of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ to enjoy, which are presented in standard definition.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ (I believe the ‘BBC Enterprises Sales Literature’ for ‘The Curse of Peladon’ is included on Disc 1 of the Season 9 Blu-ray box set – the ‘Day of the Daleks’ Blu-ray disc), there are production documents, four camera scripts, visual effects design, drawings and storyboards, and writer Brian Hayles’ notes. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

I’ve found ‘The Curse of Peladon’ a lovely story to be featured in Jon Pertwee’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. It features some terrific performances from Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant, and it’s interesting how the Doctor gets to visit Peladon for the first time in the TV show itself.

I greatly enjoyed the atmosphere featured throughout this ‘Doctor Who’ story and there’s an engaging plot to be gripped into. The guest cast is equally superb with the likes of David Troughton as King Peladon and Geoffrey Toone as Hepesh. The range of alien species is equally good in this too.

Admittedly, Alpha Centauri can be quite a handful to get to grips with, particularly with his high-pitched voice that’s out-of-place. But I enjoyed the Ice Warriors featured in this story and how they happened to be good guys in this. It was also fun seeing Ethel…Aggedor being featured in this tale. 🙂

Of course, the Doctor would return to Peladon at some point in its future. There’s the audio story called ‘The Prisoner of Peladon’ that takes place before ‘The Monster of Peladon’ next. At this point in time though, the Doctor and Jo are about to make a return to Earth to confront some deadly foes. 🙂

‘The Curse of Peladon’ rating – 8/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE CURSE OF PELADON’ (BOOK)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Spirit of Aggedor Lives in Book

How does a Peladon story in book form compare to TV form? 😐

I’ve read and listened to ‘Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon’ by Brian Hayles. It has been an enjoyable read and listen. I found it interesting to discover the world of Peladon in book form and found the descriptive detail and character development in the story rather mesmerising to uncover.

The Peladon stories of ‘Doctor Who’ are unique in their own right, especially the TV ones from the Jon Pertwee era. ‘The Curse of Peladon’ itself was one of the attempts by the production team of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks to get the Doctor out off his Earth exile in order to be travelling again.

Brian Hayles created a unique world full of alien and fantasy proportions that can also be considered medieval in their own right, especially when introducing the world of Peladon and its people. It can also be considered a tale reflective of the times in the 1970s when the UK considered joining the EEC (EU as it is now).

The Target novelization of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ was published in 1975, three years after the story was transmitted on TV in 1972. The Target novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’ had barely started in the 1970s and were already getting into full swing and becoming popular for those who wanted to rediscover the tales.

‘The Curse of Peladon’ novelization isn’t the first time I’ve come across a book involving Brian Hayles’ writing. The first time I encountered Brian Hayles’ writing in book form was ‘The Moon Stallion’ novelization. I enjoyed that novelization very much and I expected the same style of writing for this.

Reading and listening to the Target novelization of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ is different compared to reading and listening to ‘The Moon Stallion’ novelization. Apart from it being not a ‘Doctor Who’ novelization, I felt invested in ‘The Moon Stallion’ book due to being a Sarah Sutton fan and I loved its TV counterpart.

I didn’t feel the same way as I did with ‘The Curse of Peladon’ novelization. Not because I didn’t find it uninteresting. Far from it! I enjoyed many of the character interactions featured from the TV story in book form. It’s just it was a challenge to absorb everything featured in each chapter of the novel.

The chapters themselves are quite lengthy and whilst reading the novelization with the audiobook, I tended to drift when there was plenty of descriptive detail going on. Thankfully, I was able to reimmerse myself back into the book when some character dialogue, drama and interaction occurred.

Going back to the descriptive detail given by Brian Hayles in terms of setting up scenes, it isn’t bad as I seem to imply. Again, far from it! I found how incredible Brian Hayles took the time to make the story visual as possible for the readers who thought they’d never watch the story on TV again.

The book copy of the Target novelization I purchased from Amazon is the 1975 edition. I’m glad I got the original 1975 edition of the novelization, although my copy was rather tatty and weather-beaten. Thankfully the book copy I had didn’t break up as I read it with the audiobook, as I’d feared.

The book is divided into 11 chapters. The first chapter is quite short whilst the remaining chapters tended to be lengthy. The first three chapters cover the first episode of the story, whilst the fourth and fifth covered the second, the seventh and eight covered the third, and nine to eleven the fourth.

The audiobook is read by David Troughton, who played King Peladon in the TV story as well as being one of the sons of Patrick Troughton. I enjoyed David Troughton’s reading of the novelization in the audiobook. His voice has changed over the years and is no longer the youthful one he had in the TV tale.

David Troughton’s voice has become richer over the years. Whilst he can’t recreate his youthful voice for young King Peladon, he’s able to do a strong voice for Hepesh, almost sounding like the original actor Geoffrey Toone. I don’t think he does exact voices for the Third Doctor and Jo though.

I enjoyed it when David Troughton did the voices for the Ice Warriors, including Izlyr and Ssorg. I actually did think that Nicholas Briggs might have been brought in to do the voices of the Ice Warriors in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ audiobook, but David Troughton does an amazing job with making their hissing sounds.

I also really enjoyed it when David Troughton was voicing Alpha Centauri with the voice synthesizer to distort it. It almost sounds like how Ysanne Churchman would have voiced the character in the TV version, but instead of being grating, it was wonderfully refreshing and entertaining to listen to.

The voice for Arcturus given by David Troughton with the voice synthesizer is also pretty good too. I didn’t think that Arcturus would have sounded logical and machine-like as the book implied, but somehow it makes sense, especially when the tale builds him up to be revealed as one of the villains.

So, what differences can be found in the Target novelization compared to the TV counterpart? Well, not much really. The story is exactly the same as it is from the TV version in book version. It’s just there’s more descriptive detail and perhaps extra character dialogue and enhancement on the lines.

There are a few little changes in the book version from the TV version though. For example, there’s the original idea of Alpha Centauri being able to change colour to reflect his mood. That was intriguing to discover and it’s interesting that it got dropped from the televised version of the story.

Mind you, I can appreciate and understand why it was dropped. It would’ve probably been expensive and time-consuming to make Alpha Centauri being able to glow and change colour to reflect his mood. Also, it wasn’t really essential the story and it’s for the best that it did get dropped.

There’s a new scene where Jo tries to convince Grun to not fight the Doctor before they go into the ‘trial by combat’ in the ‘Episode Three’ section. I’m not sure if this was an actual scene deleted from the original TV scripts or if it was one included by Brian Hayles for the novelization. I guess the former.

This leads me to a little dissatisfaction in how Jo is portrayed in the book compared to the TV version. It might be the way David Troughton’s playing it, but Jo often comes across as angry and rather insulting to the Federation delegates when things don’t go her way regarding the Doctor.

The same case also applies to Jo with King Peladon, as she comes across as very angry and even says he makes ‘stupid orders’ when offering the Doctor to fight in the ‘trial by combat’ instead of freeing him. I know Jo was upset in the TV version, but she wouldn’t go to that point of openly insulting Peladon in anger.

By the way, there are nice illustrations of the story in the Target novelization by Alan Willow. I’ve seen illustrations of this kind before in early ‘Doctor Who’ novelizations, such as ‘Doctor Who and the Cybermen’ and ‘Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters’. This is especially for the Jon Pertwee TV tales.

There’s also a new scene where Peladon makes a deal with the spirit of Aggedor, just before the Doctor is about to his ‘trial by combat’ with Grun and before Hepesh enters. This was interesting to discover in the book and intriguing how Peladon is determined to change his home’s barbaric ways.

Another disappointment I came across in the book is that the Doctor doesn’t sing the Venusian lullaby to hypnotise Aggedor, or at least the lyrics aren’t provided in the book. I’m not sure if the lyrics were improvised by Jon Pertwee in the story’s making, but clearly Brian Hayles didn’t care for those lyrics.

The book’s conclusion omitted the farewell scene between Jo and King Peladon as well as the Doctor having Aggedor (or ‘Ethel’) cuddling up to him. 😀 I think it would’ve been better if we had a twelfth chapter dedicated to the closing moments of the story rather than have it crammed with the climax.

Interestingly, the actual lady Earth delegate meant to attend the committee for Peladon joining the Galactic Federation has a name – Amazonia. She’s not named in both TV and book versions. Not sure why she wasn’t named. Mind you, my main concern is “Why was she late attending the conference?”

‘Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon’ is a pretty decent Target novelization by Brian Hayles. I wouldn’t call it an outstanding novelization of a ‘Doctor Who’ TV story, but I enjoyed reading and listening to it. David Troughton is also very good as the narrator for the story in the audiobook.

I preferred my reading and listening experience of ‘The Moon Stallion’ novelization compared to ‘The Curse of Peladon’ novelization. I enjoyed my listening experience with the audiobook read by Sarah Sutton. Otherwise, ‘The Curse of Peladon’ novelization/audiobook has been enjoyable and I’m pleased I read and heard it.

‘Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon’ (Book) rating – 7/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE CURSE OF PELADON’ (AUDIO)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Spirit of Aggedor Lives Again in Audio

I didn’t expect to check out these abridged audiobooks of ‘Doctor Who’ novelizations so soon. 🙂

Before the audiobook for ‘The Curse of Peladon’ Target novelization read by David Troughton happened in May 2013, there was an audiobook read by Jon Pertwee, released in July 1995. The Jon Pertwee audiobook however is an abridged reading compared to the David Troughton unabridged one.

I must admit, it’s been a while since I’ve checked out the original Target novelization by Brian Hayles as well as the David Troughton audiobook in 2018. I assume the abridged audiobook mostly follows what was in Brian Hayles’ novelization apart from omitting many certain sections in the story overall.

The abridged audiobook was released on a cassette tape, divided into two sides – Side A and Side B. I decided to check out the abridged audiobook twice, since it’s available in ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’, which I’ve listened to on Audible, and it’s also available in the Season 9 Blu-ray box set. 🙂

It was intriguing to check out the audiobook twice, as it’s listed as one track on Audible whereas on Disc 3 of the Season 9 Blu-ray box set, it’s divided into two items with Side A on one item and Side B on the other. I knew when to break whilst I listened to the abridged audiobook read by Jon Pertwee.

Essentially, the first two episodes of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ are on Side A and the last two episodes are on Side B. That made sense to me, especially as I tend to see ‘Doctor Who’ stories like that with the first two episodes on one day and the next two episodes on the next, unless the story is longer. 🙂

Intriguingly, ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook contains incidental music from ‘Warriors of the Deep’, which I found unusual. It’s also bizarre when the abridged audiobook starts with the 1970s Jon Pertwee era theme music and ends with the 1980s Peter Davison era theme music. 😐

I suppose it fits considering the BBC radio stories ‘The Paradise of Death’ and ‘The Ghosts of N-Space’ had the Peter Davison era theme music instead of the Jon Pertwee era theme music. Either way, I wouldn’t have had 1980s theme music and 1980s theme music for the abridged audiobook. 😐

This happens to be the first time I’ve heard Jon Pertwee being a narrator for a ‘Doctor Who’ audiobook. I enjoyed his reading of ‘The Curse of Peladon’ and there’s no denying his enthusiasm for ‘Doctor Who’ continues to shine in the audiobook, especially as he did this before he died in 1996. 😦

Having done comedy and ‘Worzel Gummidge’, Jon Pertwee is able to provide a variety of voices for some of the characters featured in the story. Some are better than others. I don’t think he gets Jo’s voice right and I’m not sure about Izylr’s, but I did enjoy his voices for Alpha Centauri and Arcturus. 🙂

Because this is an abridged audiobook reading, there are noticeable things that aren’t included from the original novelization by Brian Hayles. This includes Jo being angry and aggressive towards King Peladon and saying that he makes ‘stupid orders’. I found that disconcerting in the 2013 audiobook.

I’m relieved Jon Pertwee didn’t read that in the abridged audiobook of the novelization, but then, the semi-romance between Jo and King Peladon is noticeably absent compared to what’s in the original novelization and the TV story. Perhaps it was decided it wasn’t an important plot element. 😐

At least Jon Pertwee gets to add something new in the abridged audiobook that wasn’t in the original novelization by Brian Hayles. Apparently, he included the opening lyric of the Venusian lullaby when the Doctor was taming Aggedor in Peladon’s tunnel system, which I was very pleased to hear.

I do have to wonder if the Venusian lullaby was something that Jon Pertwee included in the TV story compared to it not being included in the Target novelization by Brian Hayles. Perhaps Jon Pertwee persuaded the producer of the abridged audiobook to include the Venusian lullaby’s opening lyric. 🙂

I imagine ‘The Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook would have been something for kids to listen to in a car or on a cassette player at home. It puts me in mind of the days when I used to enjoy listening to ‘Mr. Men’, ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and several Disney cassette tapes as I grew up in the 1990s.

The ‘Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon’ abridged audiobook reading by Jon Pertwee has been enjoyable to listen to. I wouldn’t say it’s something I would listen to again and again, but I’m glad I heard it on ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’ via Audible and Disc 3 of the Season 9 Blu-ray box set.

Jon Pertwee’s enthusiasm shines throughout the audiobook. Despite some of the voices he provides for the characters not matching with their TV counterparts, it’s good he was able to do this for ‘Doctor Who’ fans and listeners to enjoy. I look forward to checking out more of these abridged audiobooks.

‘Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon’ (Audio) rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Third Doctor was ‘Verdigris’ (Book) For Jo was ‘Verdigris’ (Book)	The next story For the Third Doctor is ‘Spoilsport’ (ST) For Jo is ‘Spoilsport’ (ST)
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