The Curse of Peladon - Episode 1

As I start watching ‘The Curse of Peladon’, I’m going to start off with a couple of stats. The first is that this is the first time that we have had two four part stories back to back for the first time since The Underwater Menace and The Moonbase back in season four. It’s also the first appearance of the Ice Warriors since ‘The Seeds of Death’ 71 episodes ago. They don’t appear until the half way mark and I love how the moment they first appear it seems to imply that he’s up to no good with even the Doctor using the term “no good”. Sadly they are made friendlier than they were during the Troughton era and this is a shame and it’s the beginning of the softer side of the Ice Warriors.

The first thing we see is an excellent model of the castle of Peladon. It is just a cardboard cut out but it’s still a rather good model. We get some good scenes when the Doctor and Jo arrive as it looks like it’s a substantial sized set and with the thunder and lightning effects, we get a nice idea that we’re not going to get any location scenes. I like that this story has an isolated feel to it as it seems to hark back to the base under siege stories of the Troughton era and at the same time it’s a who-dunnit.

At the time this was transmitted (January/February 1972), the UK was debating whether to join the EEC and it seems like a very apt time to try and use this in a sci-fi setting. Peladon is about the join the Galactic Federation which is dividing opinion.

King Peladon is played by David Troughton who returns after last appearing in ‘The War Games’ and is also Patrick Troughton’s son. The character of the King is a tortured soul who is conflicted between wanting the best for his people not wanting to bring misfortune to Peladon. Hepesh instantly shows that he’s not someone that is to be trusted and this starts from the very beginning. He’s spouting all this nonsense about Agador. Alpha Centuri is a character that might look a bit silly but in 1972 it would have been fine so its fine in 2014. Arcturus doesn’t look much better as it’s a head in a jar with some green slim and disco lights around its head. The sound modulator used for its voice seems to be left over from ‘Day of the Daleks’.

The cliffhanger is a rather good one with a statue of Agador about to come crashing down on some of the delegates. As an opening episode it seems like this would have been a better season opener than Day of the Daleks but I have always thought that this was a better Peladon story than the sequel we get soon. I feel better about this season now we have had this opening episode. The opening episode introduces some good characters and a story that looks like its going to be a lot better than I have previously given it credit for in the past.