Big Gay Longcat reviews Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon Part Five

The Terry Walsh era of Doctor Who doesn't last any longer than the cliffhanger reprise, as the Doctor turns back into Jon Pertwee - a Time Lord regenerative trick that would not be used again until David Tennant's Doctor in Journey's End.

Having seen the explosion on Azaxyr's TV set, Sarah thinks the Doctor has been killed, although she tells Queen Thalira

"I still can't believe it. I can't believe that he's dead. You see, he was the most alive person I ever met."

They are both being held prisoner in the throne room, along with Ortron and Alpha Centauri. Sarah has a plan to escape, and at this point hasn't been in enough stories to realise what a cliché the old get-the-queen-to-pretend-to-be-ill-to-fool-the-guard plan is. When the lone Ice Warrior guard comes in, Sarah gives him a shove and then yells for them all to run. Things go wrong when Ortron gets pewed and goes

The queen stays behind with him, so only Sarah and Alpha Centauri get away. It is unusual for such a main character as Ortron to be killed off like that, especially considering his antagonism with the Doctor earlier in the story, and then he didn't even get to share a scene with the Doctor after his partial redemption, i.e. when he sided with the goodys.

The Doctor meets up with Gebek and they go to try to thwart Azaxyr's latest plan. He has made Eckersley turn off the "ventilation system" for all the mines, so the miners won't have the air they need. The ventilation system is controlled from "the refinery" which makes it sound more sophisticated than the mine has been shown to be - this story can't make up its mind if the mine is technologically advanced or not, and seems to switch between them as required by the plot.

The Doctor and Gebek overhear, while simultaneously Sarah and Alpha Centauri (and the viewers at home) see on their TV, Azaxyr and Eckersley plotting together, which confirms what we have already suspected known for some time - they are both baddys. Alpha Centauri exclaims

"They are both traitors!"

The traitors are worried that their ventilation system plan is taking too long, so Eckersley wants to use the Aggedor pewpewpew SFX to "smoke them out." 

He dramatically pulls back a curtain to reveal a statue of Aggedor that we hadn't been paying any attention to up until now. He activates the controls, which makes the statue disappear, then a moment later it appears and pews a miner, before returning to its original position. This panics the other miners, then Eckersley does the same thing again and this time pews a few of the soldiers.

Azaxyr and Eckersley then leave the room, with one Ice Warrior remaining to guard the door. When Sarah comes in and acts as a distraction, Gebek hits the Ice Warrior on the hed with a rock (it's super effective). The Doctor is then free to do some sabotage before Azaxyr and Eckersley come back.

Azaxyr and Eckersley go to the throne room, where Alpha Centauri tells the queen the truth about their treachery. But it turns out that Alpha Centauri has a big mouth as well as a big eyeball, going on to let slip that the Doctor and Sarah are both alive and on the loose at the refinery. Azaxyr sends an Ice Warrior to go there and "destroy" the Doctor.

At the refinery, the Doctor turns the ventilation system back on. He is just examining the controls for the Aggedor statue when Sarah says

"Something's burning... Doctor, look!"

The Ice Warrior is attempting a classic slow-cutting through the door. Oh good, it feels like it's been ages since we last had one of those.

Alpha Centauri's big mouth must be contagious, since soon Eckersley is spouting exposition about why he and Azaxyr are W-wording for Galaxy Five:

Eckersley: "It's simply a matter of business, ambassador. I'll get a percentage of all the Trisilicate mined on Peladon, just to make me the richest and the most powerful man in the galaxy."

Queen Thalira: "Most powerful?"

Eckersley: "Yes, your majesty. When the Ice Warriors have won, I shall be ruler of Earth."

Alpha Centauri: "And what of Commander Azaxyr?"

Eckersley: "No, it's only military glory he's after."

Alpha Centauri: "But the Ice Warriors have been loyal members of the Federation for many years."

Eckersley: "Azaxyr's head of some kind of breakaway group. He wants to return to the good old days of death or glory."

More Ice Warriors arrive at the refinery door to help with the classic slow-cutting. the Doctor is still fiddling with the controls of the Aggedor statue, while Sarah and Gebek stand around trying to make the scene more dramatic by shouting:

Sarah: "Hurry, Doctor! There's a whole crowd of them out there now!"

Gebek: "They'll be through any minute, Doctor!"

Crash-zoom to the hole in the door - cliffhanger!