A pointless, over-long and worn-out sequel to The Curse of Peladon does nothing to improve on the previous Peladon adventure.
Story: 2
Brian Hayles' Peladon sequel is a tiresome copy of the first one, only two episodes longer. It revolves around the same mysteries, with bleaker copies of the same characters and a real-life 70s mining drama as the inspiration.
This story never takes off properly. It's slow, filled with padding and lacks the tension and drama from the first Peladon story. It's not made any better by the appearance of the Ice Warriors halfway through since Hayles doesn't do anything new or interesting with them.
The biggest problem is the lack of any new or interesting concepts to discover during this adventure. Most of it is just a retelling of Curse and the rest is a rehash of other typical story elements on Doctor Who. It's a story designed to save money and time but not designed to be entertaining for the viewers.
Acting: 5
Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen are great as always, but they don't work together as well as Pertwee did with Katy manning on The Curse of Peladon.
Donald Gee puts in a pretty good performance and Ysanne Churchman is as iconic as ever as the voice of Alpha Centauri, but the rest of the guest cast doesn't convince me particularly. Nina Thomas is annoyingly childish and Frank Gatliff tries to be Hepesh from The Curse of Peladon but fails to reach his intensity.
The Doctor: 4
The Doctor is his familiar self here, eager to return to Peladon and to put things right. He's not quite as great here as in Curse, though.
The Companions: 5
Once again, Sarah proves her worth by defending women's rights and coming up with pretty good ideas. She doesn't carry as much weight in this story as the two first stories in Season 11 but is better used than in Death to the Daleks.
The Monster/Villain: 2
The Ice Warriors appear for the final time on Classic Who, and won't return until Cold War (2013). By now, Hayles has worn them out totally. They aren't interesting or even particularly honourable.
Eckersley doesn't make for a very engaging or villainous villain. He lacks the energy and the persona, despite a fine performance.
Production: 6
The production is just fine, with the story staying true to the look and feel of the first Peladon story. The director and designer from Curse return for Monster, so that keeps the visual side of both stories nice in line. The minder's hairpieces are outrageously overdone, however.
Pacing: 1
This is one of the slowest six-parters the series has ever seen. It's painfully slow and boring.
Atmosphere: 3
Watching a political drama based around real-world issues from mid-70s England isn't particularly exciting, This serial lacks tension, excitement and high stakes. Aggedor isn't scary, the Ice Warriors aren't interesting and Ortron isn't menacing.
Impact: 0
Brian Hayles killed off the Ice Warriors for 39 years and did little to improve Peladon, the Doctor or Sarah.
Replay Value: 0
This one's a miss. Not worth a rewatch.
Random Observations:
Donald Gee looks so much like Tom Baker that the Doctor must have been inspired by Eckersley during his regeneration.
I will never forgive Brian Hayles for copying the wonderful King's Champion Grun from The Curse of Peladon for this story, creating the equally mute but much less likeable Queen's Champion Blor. It's Grun for me anytime!
During the fight scene between the Doctor and Ettis in Episode 4, you can see the face and wig of Jon Pertwee's regular stuntman Terry Walsh, as he throws Ettis over his shoulder.
The scene at the end of Episode 6, with Sarah mentioning "when there's life..." nicely echoes the Third Doctor's regeneration in the next story, Planet of the Spiders.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-06-22T06:11:46Z
A pointless, over-long and worn-out sequel to The Curse of Peladon does nothing to improve on the previous Peladon adventure.
Story: 2
Brian Hayles' Peladon sequel is a tiresome copy of the first one, only two episodes longer. It revolves around the same mysteries, with bleaker copies of the same characters and a real-life 70s mining drama as the inspiration.
This story never takes off properly. It's slow, filled with padding and lacks the tension and drama from the first Peladon story. It's not made any better by the appearance of the Ice Warriors halfway through since Hayles doesn't do anything new or interesting with them.
The biggest problem is the lack of any new or interesting concepts to discover during this adventure. Most of it is just a retelling of Curse and the rest is a rehash of other typical story elements on Doctor Who. It's a story designed to save money and time but not designed to be entertaining for the viewers.
Acting: 5
Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen are great as always, but they don't work together as well as Pertwee did with Katy manning on The Curse of Peladon.
Donald Gee puts in a pretty good performance and Ysanne Churchman is as iconic as ever as the voice of Alpha Centauri, but the rest of the guest cast doesn't convince me particularly. Nina Thomas is annoyingly childish and Frank Gatliff tries to be Hepesh from The Curse of Peladon but fails to reach his intensity.
The Doctor: 4
The Doctor is his familiar self here, eager to return to Peladon and to put things right. He's not quite as great here as in Curse, though.
The Companions: 5
Once again, Sarah proves her worth by defending women's rights and coming up with pretty good ideas. She doesn't carry as much weight in this story as the two first stories in Season 11 but is better used than in Death to the Daleks.
The Monster/Villain: 2
The Ice Warriors appear for the final time on Classic Who, and won't return until Cold War (2013). By now, Hayles has worn them out totally. They aren't interesting or even particularly honourable.
Eckersley doesn't make for a very engaging or villainous villain. He lacks the energy and the persona, despite a fine performance.
Production: 6
The production is just fine, with the story staying true to the look and feel of the first Peladon story. The director and designer from Curse return for Monster, so that keeps the visual side of both stories nice in line. The minder's hairpieces are outrageously overdone, however.
Pacing: 1
This is one of the slowest six-parters the series has ever seen. It's painfully slow and boring.
Atmosphere: 3
Watching a political drama based around real-world issues from mid-70s England isn't particularly exciting, This serial lacks tension, excitement and high stakes. Aggedor isn't scary, the Ice Warriors aren't interesting and Ortron isn't menacing.
Impact: 0
Brian Hayles killed off the Ice Warriors for 39 years and did little to improve Peladon, the Doctor or Sarah.
Replay Value: 0
This one's a miss. Not worth a rewatch.
Random Observations:
Donald Gee looks so much like Tom Baker that the Doctor must have been inspired by Eckersley during his regeneration.
I will never forgive Brian Hayles for copying the wonderful King's Champion Grun from The Curse of Peladon for this story, creating the equally mute but much less likeable Queen's Champion Blor. It's Grun for me anytime!
During the fight scene between the Doctor and Ettis in Episode 4, you can see the face and wig of Jon Pertwee's regular stuntman Terry Walsh, as he throws Ettis over his shoulder.
The scene at the end of Episode 6, with Sarah mentioning "when there's life..." nicely echoes the Third Doctor's regeneration in the next story, Planet of the Spiders.
Score: 28/120