A return to a troubled realm for the Doctor. Photo composition art by Lee Johnson for the Doctor Who - The Complete History partwork series.
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Sarah to the medieval planet Peladon, some half a century after the Time Lord's first visit. now under the benign influence of the Galactic Federation, the Pel nobles enjoy new riches and new technology.
But the Federation is at war with Galaxy Five, and Peladon has taken on a new tactical importance; it is rich in the rare mineral trisilicate, which is vital to the war effort. the Pel miners, however, are in revolt. For too long they have been overworked and taken for granted by the Federation and the Pel royalty. They believe that Federation machinery has awoken the spirit of the legendary Aggedor, who is now slaughtering aliens and unbelievers. As open rebellion erupts, the Federation sends in a hard-line military taskforce - Commander Azaxyr and his ice warriors
The Doctor and Sarah must not only act as peace-keepers between the warring fractions but also discover the truth behind the 'spirit'. They soon learn that the Galactic Federation has been infiltrated by traitors and spies, determined to destroy the alliance from within...
Official BBC Video VHS story synopsis sleeve notes - November 1995.
With the original The Curse of Peladon having been so well received by the public it was a no-brainer to the Who production team that they should attempt a sequel with Pertwee's final season, and one that would make further use of the prior story's already created sets, costumes and monsters from 1971/72, especially the impressive Ice Warriors costume and their new Ice Lord leader. The end result - The Monster of Peladon - is sadly not quite as good sequel-wise, primarily because the story is just too long at six episodes (especially linked to the plotting of the Pel miners' struggles, characters who look visually bizarre to general audiences with their unique afro hair styles) when a tight-to-the-bone four-parter would have been much more effective and welcome. Still, it's great to see the formidable Ice Warriors return once more before disappearing from Classic Whodom forever, and especially back to their original bad guys status. Tom Baker look-a-like Donald Gee, as mining expert Eckersley, is a solid stand-out with his character's shades of grey attitude that gets darker as the story goes on, whilst Alpha Centaur is as dizzyingly delightful as ever (thanks to Ysanne Churchman's voicing, clearly relishing such a fun role). And the ferocious but cute Aggedor (once more inhabited by stuntman Nick Hobbs) makes an appealing final impression on younger viewers. It's the monster scenes in the story that I primarily remember the most from the story's original transmission, notably the moments where the captured Doctor and Sarah are pushed into the pit to encounter Aggedor, and the arrival of the Ice Warriors with their subsequent subterranean conflicts against the resident miners.
Pertwee and a group of set visitors to the BBC meet Aggedor!
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