The Curse of Peladon - Episode 4

At the end of the previous episode, the Doctor was in a fight for his life and only because Arcturus has been killed. It’s amazing that this manages to stop the fight. Arcturus is revealed to be the one that is in collusion with Hepesh. This would seem to suggest that things would be wrapped up pretty quickly but Hepesh doesn’t hang around and instead seems to turn his plans into a cout de ta. There seems to be a massive improvement in the number of soldiers and this leads to a good fight sequence in the main chamber.

Hepesh has been good in this episode and its seems a shame that after some patchy moments, he comes good at the end of the story. It’s good how he does seem to show some compassion by not wanting the King to be hurt. It does seem quite fiting that he’s killed by Agador who he has been using as a pet for many years. His death scene is quite sad and that’s due to the good performance from Geoffrey Toone (Hepesh) and David Troughton. I know that I haven’t been particularly fond of King Peladon buts that nothing to do with Troughton’s acting but merely how the character has been written.

I like how they make several references to the Doctor and Jo still being representatives of Earth. The moment when they ask Jo to use her ship to communicate with others, the look on her face is quite priceless. The very last shot is of the Doctor and Jo leaving as they discover that they have been rumbled when the real earth delegate turns up. I think that the episode is a vast improvement and whilst the story over the four parts wasn’t the strongest, it was helped by the fact that things seemed to be moving quite quick. The performances from Hepesh, the Doctor and Jo help maintain my interest. It’s not a terrible story by any means but I think that it needed something else to help elevate it above its current standing in Doctor Who opinion.