The richness of the
atmospheric setting aids the story no end. The medieval look of Citadel of
Peladon is superbly realised, and the set design is amazing. It gives the whole
story a rich feel of believability. And the costume design too is extremely
rich and colourful. And another area where the story also shines is the
brilliant array of aliens that we see in this story. Alpha Centauri is just
incredibly voiced by Ysanne Churchman. The panic she injects into her childlike
voice makes you totally love Alpha and root for the Hermaphrodite Hexapod every
time! Arcturus looks really good too, and the sacred Beast of Peladon, Aggedor
himself has a reliably eerie roar and Ive always thought he looked really good.
Nick Hobbs is perfect to portray the quite short but ferocious beast.
David Troughton is
extremely good as King Peladon too, one must admit that. He gives the role just
the right mix of naiveté and yet he manages to make you really feel for the
fate of his planet. David of course has now become a fantastic and respected
actor, and here is one of his earliest shining moments. King Peladon is a very
strong character indeed and feels totally authentic and credible as the leader
of a benighted and troubled medieval world.
Geoffrey Toone is
absolutely sublime as the deviant Hepesh. He injects real spice and venom into
the role so that he is instantly memorable and three-dimensional character. He
portrays the fear of a man of the old school fearing the future of his planet
in the Galactic federation very well indeed. And his death is moving, and that
Geoffrey manages to make you feel sorry for the character in his final moments
is testament to what a brilliant actor he is in this story.
The fight scene between
the Doctor and Grun too is extremely well done. The confines of the small pit
making it feel very tense and claustrophobic indeed. This is much better
realised than the later fight between the Doctor and Ettis in the sequel story.
I also like the development of Grun, as he goes from being trusty sidekick to
Hepesh to realising how misguided Hepesh is towards the end of the story.
This is also a very good
story for Jo. In fact, I would probably state that Katy Manning gets about the
best piece of story ever within this story. The King is clearly drawn to her,
and she beautifully plays her stoic No no stance to him. Some of the scenes
between them are really well done and charged. Perhaps she has reached the
height of her powers as the charming and brilliant companion she truly is here.
Sadly, though for me that
is where the good points of the story end. I just can’t find a terribly huge
amount of great moments to pick out from this story. I find great swathes of
the story are just laden with too much talk and not really a great deal of
action. Just to have the characters spending a good deal of the time squabbling
and doing nothing much else makes some scenes rather bland and tedious. Perhaps
the best episode for this reason is the first past, where the Doctor and Jo's
perilous climb up the Mount Mageshra is a well shot scene and a bit of good
edge of your seat stuff. But once they get into the citadel the story for me
just becomes far too talky and theatrical. I am just not a fan of stand around
talking drama. But the story does also improve in its final episode, where
Hepesh storms the throne room and the guard’s riot. The showdown with Aggedor
is memorable and well executed too. Just a shame about the episodes in between.
Ah, one more good thing
though is the characterisation of the Ice warriors in the story. It’s
fascinating to have them here portrayed as the good guys. It gives their race
more interesting flare, and it’s a great snippet of Martian development. The
best alien races are ones that are shades of grey, so you never know if in
their next appearance whether they will be good or bad! This does make them
more believable as an alien civilisation. And the Ice Warriors always look
extremely impressive. A truly marvellous piece of design work. And they work
well against the medieval backdrop with their nobility and Warrior stance.
If only there could have
been a touch more action in this story, it might have helped me like it a lot
more than I do, I think. However, I must admit that this story does grow on me
with every re-watch. It does have plenty of good moments, it’s just some scenes
get very stilted and protracted I feel along the way. But it is still
nonetheless a very competent and well made story, and the production just looks
beautiful. Peladon truly convinces as a planet, and some of the acting is of a
very high calibre as I have mentioned already. But as for me and mine I do
think the sequel story, though even being two parts longer, does hold itself
together better and has better action than this tale. But The Curse of Peladon
is still nowhere near in any way shape or form of being a failure. Just for me
not one of the best Jon Pertwee stories.
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