The Monster of Peladon - Episode 6

Today is the final episode of the penultimate story of Jon Pertwee’s reign as the Doctor. It is his 122^nd episode as the timelord which means he overtakes Patrick Troughton into second place. This is Elisabeth Sladen’s 20^th episode which means she overtakes Jackie Lane (19) and this is the 150^th episode to be have Terrance Dicks as a Script Editor. With the facts over with that means that I can talk about this episode which after being a bit of a rollercoaster in terms on consistency needs to end on a good note.

The way that the threat from the cliffhanger is dealt with is quite a tense moment. I know that the Doctor will save the situation but its still a good moment. The part where the Doctor is trying to carry on despite what Eckersley is doing is a good moment for the Doctor because obviously I know that he has one more story left in him. On a side note, don’t you think that Eckersley looks a bit like Tom Baker. Maybe he’s a version of ‘The Watcher’ that went rogue.

The Queen suffers from not having much to do in this episode apart from sitting in her chair. She does get a bit of excitement when Eckersley uses her as a hostage when he’s trying to flee at the end but apart from that the problems with the character restrict what she can do. Throughout the six episodes, Nina Thomas has done her best and at all times has given the character a dignity that helped sell the idea that she was playing the King’s daughter.

The Ice Warriors are thwarted at the half way point so the last half of the episode sees Eckersley as the main threat. This is the episode where Eckersley becomes a more convincing baddie than he seemed in the previous episode. The fact he is killed by Aggedor is perhaps the best way that he could have departed the show. Had he died via some rocks falling or tripping over something then it would have ruined it somewhat but as it is the death was spot on.

The final scene where the Queen says goodbye to the Doctor and Sarah Jane was a nice departure scene as part of me wanted the Doctor to become the Queen’s Chancellor but instead does a nice thing of suggesting Gebbek which was a good way for the story of Peladon to end. There is a moment at the very end when the Doctor has one last look at Peladon before closing the TARDIS door which seemed to be a slight nod to the fact that the end has been prepared for. The episode did what it needed to do and did it well and my opinion of this serial has changed. Ok so a couple of episodes aren’t quite as good but overall the story is a good one and now we are about to enter the final stage of the Pertwee era. The serial works well because the characters were good, the Ice Warriors were effectively used and the writing and directing were both fine. A good story overall.