Hey Aggy…how’s it going?
Peladon is debating joining the Galactic Federation and King Peladon (David Troughton) finds himself in the difficult position of wooing his people to join. A predictions that Aggedor, the Royal Beast of Peladon, might return at times of doom leads to fears when the beast is reported in the tunnels of Peladon. The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) find themselves mistaken for the Earth delegation and must uncover the mystery of the Royal Beast of Peladon before the chances for peace are dashed forever!
Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon aired during the ninth season of the long running BBC series. Following Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks, it in four parts from January 29, 1972 to February 19, 1972. Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon was collected as part of The Jon Pertwee Years as Story #61.
Hey, I’m an Ice Warrior, but I’m just misunderstood…
Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon is almost a trick episode. While it is initially set up as a monster episode with Aggedor becomes really an episode of political intrigue. I like the political intrigue, but I’m a sucker for a good monster episode of Doctor Who…you do have at least the monster of Aggedor.
There are a few interesting twists in the series. I like the Ice Warriors in this entry of Doctor Who are almost a red herring. The Ice Warriors have always been villains, but here they are just caught up in the plans of Hepesh (Geoffrey Toones). Another fun bit of casting is David Troughton (the son of the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton) who previously appeared as a character in Doctor Who: The War Games.
Oh Aggedor…what big claws you have
I will say that the episode featured one of the aspects of Jo Grant that I didn’t like as her character progressed. In the course of the episode she “falls” for King Peladon and debates staying with him. Jo is constantly falling for people that she and the Doctor meet and her fleeting interests lead to her departure down the line…it isn’t a very appealing behavior of the companion and makes her departure in Doctor Who: The Green Death (Story #69) not very romantic or realistic.
I really like Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, but this isn’t one of my favorite episodes. What is interesting about this serial is that a later Tom Baker serial revisits the world later in Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon (Story #73). Watching Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon with the follow-up adventure involving Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen is a rather fun experiment that I wish the series would do more often (aka visiting characters further down their timeline when little time has passed for the main characters). Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon was followed by Doctor Who: The Sea Devils.
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Preceded By:
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks (Story #61)
Followed By:
