The Monster of Peladon - Episode 4

This is the episode where traditionally in a six part adventure, the narrative changes slightly and there is a renewed freshness to the story. This is also the case here as the Ice Warriors enter the story after briefly appearing in the previous episode’s cliffhanger. We get proper Ice Warrior involvement in this episode with Azaxyr playing the role of detective in the early stages of this episode when he tries to figure out what is going on. He doesn’t waste time in laying down the law to the Queen when he basically says that the miners should go back to work or the Federation will come in and do it for them. I have commented how the Ice Warriors were basically watered down after ‘The Seeds of Death’ and this was based mainly on ‘Curse of the Peladon’ and also this story but watching this episode, it’s clear that this isn’t really the case because the Ice Warriors and Azaxyr in particular are anything but good.

I noticed in this episode that Bert from ‘The Green Death’ has made a full recovery and found himself mining. Although by the time I noticed this his involvement is somewhat reduced after being stabbed. The problem with the headgear that the miners have to wear is that they all look the same, there is no distinguishing features so it takes a fair amount of effort to spot Rex Robinson or Roy Evans. The two people that aren’t suffering from this problem are Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen because both are really good in this episode with Pertwee just edging it and I base that largely on the early scene with Azaxyr and also that the fact the Doctor is the only one that Gebek trusts so his importance is increased. There is a moment when Sarah Jane considers leaving Peladon which doesnt seem like a Sarah Jane thing to do. I don’t know why but it just didn’t seem right and I think that its only purpose it to remind us that they cant just leave because it would be difficult to find it.

I think that the only thing that let this episode down is the cliffhanger which despite a good build up just didn’t have quite the punch that the final shot should have. That said this is the second episode running which has been good and my optimism has been restored somewhat and I look forward to the final two episodes which didn’t seem possible during episode two. I think that the inclusion of the Ice Warriors has done exactly the thing that was needed and it seems that writer Brian Hayles was breathing a huge sigh of relief when he could bring them in cause he was back on familiar territory.