Day 190 — July 9th 2021
The Monster of Peladon Parts Five and Six
The Monster of Peladon — Part Five
We’ve not discussed the episode blurbs on BritBox for a while, so let’s have a look at them again today, shall we? Part One of this story does what it says on the tin; ‘The Doctor visits the planet peladon for the first time in fifty years’. Following the reveal of the Ice Warriors at the end of Part Three, the next episode is summed up well enough; ‘The Ice Warriors take control of Peladon and the Doctor must find a way to stop them’. That one flirts with the idea of giving things away, but it doesn’t spoil much.
The blurb for this episode though? ‘Commander Azaxyr and his Ice Warriors are revealed as traitors, in league with Galaxy 5’. Oh thanks for that, BritBox! It really made the surprise revelation that the Commander was operating outside of the Federation hit home! I’m not really complaining — I’d guessed who the real paymasters were — but it does seem odd to give that away like this. I can’t help feeling they may have been better off with the brief synopsis from the Radio Times in 1974; ‘The Doctor and Sarah discover the secret of the monster. But their discovery comes too late — the Ice Warriors have them trapped…’
While I’m on the subject of the Radio Times, I’ve been meaning to mention for ages that the episode listings in this period are each accompanied by a small black and white illustration. A lot of the ones between Seasons Eight and Ten were by Frank Bellamy — who’s work I’ve already praised on this blog — but the ones for Season Eleven are provided by Peter Brooks (no relation), who I wasn’t familiar with before the last week or so. His illustrations are gorgeous (including some particularly striking art of Doctor Who, Sarah and the Brigadier to promote The Time Warrior), but my favourite one of all the little episode images so far went along with Part Two of this story, in the form of a lovely little Alpha Centauri.
You get the sense that Brian Hyles is going all out to try and make this return to Peladon feel more epic than the original adventure we had here. At the end of Part Four they blew up Ettis, who looked sure to be a recurring thorn in Doctor Who’s side for the entire story, and now they’ve gone and killed Ortron as well. It’s like these characters were set up as minor obstacles for Doctor Who before Azaxyr could really take charge and pose a bigger threat.
And it’s working! This story started off a bit dull and confusing, but all these episodes on and I’m finding lots to enjoy. It’s still not an out-and-out classic — this episode’s a 6/10 — but it’s certainly faring better than I’d expected, though lower than The Curse of Peladon did, which I think might be a reverse from my last marathon.
I quite like that we’ve started seeding in hints about Doctor Who’s impending death during this episode. Sarah Jane is convinced that her friend has been killed in an explosion, and she gives him a rather beautiful little eulogy;
Sarah: ‘I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe that he’s dead. You see, he was the most alive person I ever met.’
She even goes on to foreshadow his own dying words from the end of the next story, telling Ortron that Doctor Who would never give up; ‘when there’s life…’. The public will have had a few months to get used to the idea that Pertwee was vacating the role (his departure was announced the day before Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part Five and Tom Baker was revealed as his replacement exactly one week later — one of the quickest turnarounds the show has ever done), but it’s still going to be a big moment. Pertwee had been with the series longer than either of his predecessors, so it feels only right that they should be preparing to ease the audience into the idea of him dying.
The Monster of Peladon — Part Six
For some reason I’ve a distinct recollection of being annoyed by this episode during my last marathon — specifically about the sequence where Sarah thinks Doctor Who has died… but I can’t for the life of me remember why it annoyed me! Certainly it’s not had the same effect this time around — I’ve found it incredibly moving to watch. I’ve been really tempted to go back and see what I wrote in 2014 when I last saw this one, but I’m being strict about not comparing notes (or scores) until the end of the year. I don’t want to accidentally influence myself.
I think what’s especially effective is that Sarah doesn’t believe her friend has died. She’s already been through that rodeo once since arriving on Peladon, and she’s not going to be tricked again. But then… oh lord he does look dead doesn’t he? It’s the perfect chance to really show off what a brilliant actress Elisabeth Sladen is — her look of sorrow when she first catches sight of the screen is so genuine, and there’s a beautiful shot later on with Sarah Jane framed in the destroyed doorway to the Refinery which is so emotional. You really feel for her, and I can only assume they were trying to trick the audience into thinking this was the end for Pertwee’s Doctor Who, six weeks early.
And then… he wakes up! Hah! Oh, it’s brilliant moment when he snaps his eyes open and Sarah jumps back in surprise. Once again it highlights Sladen’s skill as an actress, and the whole scene manages to swing wildly from being incredibly emotional to riotously funny in an instant.
Doctor Who: ‘Tears? Anyone would think you thought I was dead.’
Sarah: ‘Well, of course I did! You looked dead!’
I’ve been singing the praises of Pertwee and Sladen as a pairing ever since their first episode together, but oh God they’re good, aren’t they? Watching them play out this scene together makes me appreciate just how incredible they are, and it makes me suspect that they’re one of the best pairings the series has ever given us. I really liked Jo, and Katy Manning, but this is in a whole new league. I’m looking forward to reaching Tom Baker in a few days, but I’m gutted that it means cutting short this team. It got so bad earlier that I actually considered listening to The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space just for some more Pertwee/Sladen episodes. Don’t worry, I resisted the urge. Their reputation, and the fact that it would royally muck up the schedule, put paid to the idea.
As for the rest of the episode… eh, it’s fine? I quite like that the main story ends eight minutes before the episode does, so Eckersley gets the chance to have a last minute Plan B in kidnapping the Queen. The defeat of the Ice Warriors comes a little quick but it also feels earned — there’s a great moment when Eckersley is confronted by a cave strewn with bodies and forced to contemplate the price of his actions which feels oddly mature for Doctor Who.
Two final things to note here, and only because I’ve been meaning to mention them for days and never find the right opportunity. The effects for the Refinery Security System look fantastic — we’ve had lots of moments like this lately, between the effect of the BOSS headphones in The Green Death and the materialisation effect from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and it’s something the programme has become really adept at. I love, too, that there’s different levels of the effect depending on the intensity of the power. It’s something tiny, but more than you’d usually get.
Along the same lines, we’ve got the now familiar ‘pinch’ effect for the Ice Warrior’s guns, and I don’t think it’s ever been executed better than it is in this story. It’s more precise than ever before, and you never realise that you’re looking at a sheet of Mirrorlon — The Mutants could stand to learn from this how it’s done…!
As much as I’ve loved our two regulars in this one, and appreciated the emotional depth of the episode, I think we’re ending on a 6/10. It’s nowhere near as bad as I was worrying from Episode One, and I’ve appreciated watching it as opposed to just doing the Narrated Soundtrack. And with that we’re at the end of another Doctor Who’s era as we move into Pertwee’s final story…
