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The Monster of Peladon
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Jon Pertwee
The Monster of Peladon
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Synopsis


Sarah Confronts Ortron in the Temple of Aggedor
Sarah Confronts Ortron in the Temple of Aggedor
 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 factions 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...

Source: BBC VHS Video


General Information

Season: Eleven
Production Code: YYY
Story Number: 73
Episode Numbers:370 - 375
Number of Episodes: 6
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Working Titles: "Return to Peladon"
Production Dates: January - February 1974
Broadcast Started: 23 March 1974
Broadcast Finished: 27 April 1974
Colour Status: Colour
Studio: Ealing Television Film Studios and BBC Television Centre (TC6 and TC8)
Location: None
Writer:Brian Hayles
Director:Lennie Mayne
Producer:Barry Letts
Script Editor:Terrance Dicks
Editor:William Symon
Production Assistant:Marcia Wheeler
Production Unit Manager:George Gallacio
Assistant Floor Manager:Roselyn Parker
Designer:Gloria Clayton
Costume Designer:Barbara Kidd
Make-Up Designer:Elisabeth Moss
Cameraman:Keith Hopper
Lighting:Ralph Walton
Visual Effects:Peter Day
Fights Arranged By:Terry Walsh
Incidental Music:Dudley Simpson
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Dick Mills
Studio Sounds:Tony Millier
Title Sequence:Bernard Lodge
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Ice Warriors Originally Created By: Brian Hayles
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)
Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) Additional Cast: Nina Thomas (Thalira), Donald Gee (Eckersley), Frank Gatliff (Ortron), Rex Robinson (Gebek), Alan Bennion (Azaxyr), Sonny Caldinez (Sskel), Ralph Watson (Ettis), Ysanne Churchman (Voice of Alpha Centauri), Stuart Fell (Body of Alpha Centauri), Gerald Taylor (Vega Nexos), Graeme Eton (Preba), Michael Crane (Blor), Terry Walsh (Guard Captain), Nick Hobbs (Aggedor), Roy Evans (Miner), Max Faulkner (Miner)Setting: Planet Peladon Villain: The Ice Warriors

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
370Part 123 March 197424'59"9.2PAL 2" colour videotape
371Part 230 March 197423'26"6.8PAL 2" colour videotape
372Part 306 April 197424'47"7.4PAL 2" colour videotape
373Part 413 April 197424'50"7.2PAL 2" colour videotape
374Part 520 April 197423'56"7.5PAL 2" colour videotape
375Part 627 April 197423'48"8.1PAL 2" colour videotape

Total Duration 2 Hours 26 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.7
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)57.36%  (Position = 135 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)54.69% Lower (Position = 179 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)56.78% Higher (Position = 216 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 23 out of 24


Archives


 All six episodes exist as PAL 2" colour videotapes.



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Notes


This story is a sequel to the popular 1972 story "The Curse of Peladon". "The Monster of Peladon" however, was a rather unsuccessful analogy to the miners' strikes plaguing Britain in the early 1970s.

Several carryover items were brought into this story to give the same look and feel as the earlier adventure – Producer Barry Letts made a conscious effort to reassemble as much of the crew of "The Curse of Peladon" as possible. Most notably, Lennie Mayne returned as director, having also helmed "The Three Doctors" in between. Many of the sets, props and costumes from the earlier Peladon story were also reused (including Alpha Centauri, Aggedor and Ice Warrior costumes), resulting in tight continuity between the two stories.

Stuart Fell and Ysanne Churchman returned to give life to Alpha Centauri again, while Alan Bennion and Sonny Caldinez returned to play different, more malevolent Ice Warriors (returning them to the villain status they held in Brian Hayles' first two stories featuring Ice Warriors which had been lost in the earlier Peladon story).

This story is set fifty years later than "The Curse of Peladon". The original outline for "The Monster of Peladon" had events following on only a short time after the previous story and included King Peladon and Ortron.

The character played by Roy Evans is credited as 'Miner' on-screen, but is named as Rima in the dialogue.

Even though this is the last televised story set on Peladon the Seventh Doctor would return there in the Virgin Books' The New Adventures story "Legacy" (originally entitled "The Legacy of Peladon") written by Gary Russell. The Fifth Doctor also returns to this world in the Big Finish Productions audio story "The Bride of Peladon".

This is last on-screen appearance of the Ice Warriors (an appearance later in the show, during Season Twenty Three had been planned, but that season was aborted during the 1986 hiatus and their appearance in the story, alternatively entitled "Planet of Storms" or "Mission to Magnus", never took place). A novelisation of "Mission to Magnus" was released by Target Books in 1990, as the third volume of its Missing Episodes series, and as an audio version, starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor) and Nicola Bryant (as his companion Peri), by Big Finish Productions in 2010 as part of their "Lost Stories" range. The Ice Warriors also appeared in other Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio stories ("Red Dawn", "Frozen Time", "The Bride of Peladon", "The Judgement of Isskar" and "Prisoner of Peladon" as well as Bernice Summerfield encountering them in the Professor Bernice Summerfield story "The Dance of the Dead"). They have also appeared in various Virgin Books' The New Adventures stories ("Legacy", "Theatre of War", "Happy Endings", "GodEngine" and "The Dying Days").

Having written five previous stories for the show ("The Celestial Toymaker", "The Smugglers", "The Ice Warriors", "The Seeds of Death" and "The Curse of Peladon") "The Monster of Peladon" would become Brian Hayles' last Doctor Who story. He made further submissions to the production office which went unproduced, and continued writing novelisations for Target's line of Doctor Who books. Brian Hayles also scripted a number of films and television programmes, including the supernatural children's drama The Moon Stallion, as well as the radio series The Archers. Sadly Brian Hayles died in October 1978.

Trisilicate, which is mined on Peladon, is a vital component of circuits and heat shields. It was been revealed in the commentary, that accompanied the January 2010 DVD release, that the name of this mineral was named ‘Trisilicate’ because Barry Letts saw it listed on the back of a tube of Boots Toothpaste as one of the ingredients.

The Doctor is heard to repeat the lullaby to calm Aggedor that he first used in "The Curse of Peladon".

The Doctor uses a pen light (also seen in various First Doctor stories, including "An Unearthly Child" and "The Edge of Destruction").

Despite the fact that Izlyr (from "The Curse of Peladon") explained that the Ice warriors have renounced their warlike ways, there still exists, it seems, some renegade break-away groups, including those led by Azaxyr, that still yearn for warfare.

Look out for the fight scene in Part Four which has an obvious shot of Terry Walsh doubling for Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.

Sarah Jane Smith refers to these events in The Sarah Jane Adventures story "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith".



First and Last

The Firsts:

 George Gallacio's first involvement in the show as Production Unit Manager.


The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

 The last Doctor Who story written by Brian Hayles.

 The last on-screen appearance of the Ice Warriors.

 The last of two stories that The Doctor visits the planet Peladon.


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Story Images

Show Text
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri with Eckersley
Alpha Centauri with Eckersley
Sarah in Trouble
Sarah in Trouble
Queen Thalira Counseled by Ortron
Queen Thalira Counseled by Ortron
 
Ice Lord Azaxyr
Ice Lord Azaxyr
Sarah Confronts Ortron in the Temple of Aggedor
Sarah Confronts Ortron in the Temple of Aggedor
Gebek in the Mines
Gebek in the Mines
Sarah, Eckersley and Alpha Centauri
Sarah, Eckersley and Alpha Centauri
 
Sarah
Sarah
Queen Thalira
Queen Thalira
Sarah with Alpha Centauri and Azaxyr
Sarah with Alpha Centauri and Azaxyr
The Doctor and Gebek
The Doctor and Gebek




Quote of the Story


 'There is nothing "only" about being a miner, your Majesty, any more than there was about being a girl.'

Sarah Jane Smith



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
VHS
The Monster of PeladonJanuary 1996BBCV 5781Colin HowardDouble cassette release
Audio
CD
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume Two - New Beginnings 1970-1980May 2005WMSF 6024-2Music and sound effects
Audio
CD
The Monster of PeladonMarch 2008Photo-montageNarrated by by Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) Double CD Release Includes a bonus interview with Elisabeth Sladen
Video
DVD
The Monster of PeladonJanuary 2010BBCDVD 2744Photo-montagePart of the "Peladon Tales" box set along with "The Curse of Peladon"
Audio
CD
Classic TV Adventures - Collection OneApril 2017Photo-montagePart of the "Classic TV Adventures Collection One" Box Set Narrated by by Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)


In Print

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)PublisherAuthorCover ArtRemarks
Novel
Novel
Doctor Who and the Monster of PeladonDecember 1980Target No. 43Terrance DicksSteve KyteISBN: 0-426-20132-9
Novel
Novel
The Monster of PeladonJune 1992Target No. 43Terrance DicksAlister PearsonVirgin new cover reprint.
ISBN: 0-426-20132-9
CD
CD
The Monster of PeladonMarch 2020Target No. 43Terrance DicksSteve KyteAudio version of the Target Novel read by Jon Curshaw
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Issue 73
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 94 (Released: November 1984)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 216 (Released: August 1994)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 340 (Released: March 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 341 (Released: March 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 489 (Released: September 2015)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 125 (Released: October 2013)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companion

 
Jon Pertwee
The Third Doctor

   

 
Elisabeth Sladen
Sarah Jane Smith
 
   




On Release

VHS Video Cover
VHS Video Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Audio - Volume 2: New Beginnings
Audio - Volume 2: New Beginnings

BBC
AUDIO
Soundtrack CD Cover
Soundtrack CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
   
Classic TV Adventures Collection One CD Cover
Classic TV Adventures Collection One CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO



In Print

Target Book Cover
Target Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Reprinted Virgin Book Cover
Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

Virgin
NOVEL
Target Audio CD Cover
Target Audio CD Cover

BBC
CD
   


Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 73
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 73

CMS
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 94
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 94

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 216
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 216

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 340
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 340

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 341
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 341

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 489
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 489

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 125
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 125

GE Fabbri


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