The Monster of Peladon - Episode 2

I wrote when watching the previous episode that I was more confident about this story. Oh what a difference one episode makes. That’s because any confidence has all but gone, this is largely down to the fact that for a while at the beginning of the episode nothing seems to happen. There’s a bit of excitement with trying to get the Doctor out of the holed up cave but after that the Doctor does very little apart from running around. It’s nearly twelve minutes before the Queen appears and considering she’s suppose to be one of the most important supporting characters in the story it’s surprising that she’s effectively reduced to cameo status.

There’s a nice bit of mystery when Sarah Jane encounters a frosty window with a figure walking behind it. Sadly though that mystery isn’t mentioned again which is a surprise considering there is time for this to be looked at in this episode. I think that Elisabeth Sladen has a better time in this episode but that’s only because the only thing that Pertwee does is the escaping from the cave of doom at the beginning of the episode.

This is going to be a shorter review than normal for the simple reason that I really cant think of anything to say. The central performances were fine and Alpha Centauri was one of the few highlights in this episode. I’m not very keen on this episode because nothing of any worth really happens. There was nothing that grabbed my attention and apart from occasional moments, this was a pretty forgettable episode and I think the next four episodes are going to be a struggle to get through. I am struggling to come up with any positives.