The Sea Devils

6 Episodes
Aired between 26th February 1972 and 1st April 1972

Written by Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Michael Bryant

Synopsis

The Story begins with the Doctor and Jo visiting their old adversary, the Master who's been imprisoned on a maximum security facility on a remote island.  The island is well guarded and on the assurance of the governor - Colonel Trenchard, the cell block is monitored via CCTV, and all the guards are immune to hypnosis.  The beaches are even mined!

The Doctor seems to pity the Master but is still wary of him when he claims to be reformed, especially as he refuses to reveal the location of his own TARDIS.

As the Doctor and Jo leave, Colonel Trenchard mentions the mysterious sinking of local ships in passing.

Once they're gone, Trenchard visits the Master, panicking about the Doctor's visit and claiming that UNIT might have discovered their plans.  The Master is nonchalant about everything except the fact that Trenchard put the Doctor onto the trail of the ships.

The Master is indeed right to be concerned as the Doctor slips away from Jo and pays a local fisherman a tenner to use his boat and visit the local top secret naval base: HMS Seaspite.  As soon as he runs ashore, he sees one of the wrecked boats and investigates only to be confronted by a unit of armed sailors.  They take him to the base's commander, Captain John Hart when he points out that the boat has scorch marks on the underside of it, indicating a laser of some sort.

Not long after the Doctor meets Captain Hart, Jo turns up on a motorbike she borrowed from the same sailor. Hart tells the Doctor and Jo that the ships have been going down near an old sea fort that the navy have recently restored and converted into a sonar testing station.

Despite revealing this, Hart is reluctant to accept the Doctor's help in the investigation and shows them the door.

The Doctor decides to visit the fort with Jo.

As they arrive, the two sailors stationed at the fort are attacked by some kind of reptilian sea creature.  As they explore, the sea creatures destroy the Doctor's boat and begin hunting them.

Jo and the Doctor are assaulted by the half mad remaining sailor, who says he saw "Sea Devils".  The Doctor and Jo manage to sedate him and go to radio Hart but find that it's been disabled.  Using his scientific knowledge, the Doctor reckons he can turn the radio into a transmitter.  As he goes to get some equipment, he encounters the Sea Devil in the fort.

It tries to shoot the Doctor but he escapes and wires up some electricity to the steel door frame. As the Sea Devil attempts to break into the dorm where the Doctor, Jo and the sailor hole up, the power is switched on and shocks the creature, causing it to flee back into the sea with fear.  This allows the Doctor time to jerry rig the radio and call for help.

In a matter of minutes, an air/sea rescue helicopter appears and brings them back to shore.

Back at HMS Seaspite, the Doctor and Jo try to convince Captain Hart of the Sea Devil's existence and ask him to contact UNIT.  As they are arguing, they're paid a visit by none other than Colonel Trenchard who turns up with a flimsy excuse that he's trying to organise a golf tournament with Captain Hart.

The reality is of course, that he's smuggled the master into the naval base using his doorless Citroen.  The Master, dressed up as a naval officer goes to the stores, knocks out the quartermaster and steals some electronic equipment.

As Colonel Trenchard leaves Hart's office, Jo spots the Master swanning about the base and warns Hart and the Doctor.  Trenchard leaves with the master back in his boot just as the alarms sound.  The Doctor rushes off with Jo back to the island prison and confronts Trenchard about the Master's sighting.  Trenchard refutes it, stating that the Master's been in his cell all along, and shows them him on CCTV as proof.  The Doctor asks to see the Master and Trenchard goes off to ask for clearance.

As the CCTV is switched off, the Master knocks out one of the guards and steals his knife.  He then tells an anxious Trenchard to send the Doctor down to see him.

As Trenchard and the Master are formulating their plan, the Doctor sends Jo away to contact UNIT whilst he tries to uncover more of their plans.  Trenchard returns and invites the Doctor to go and see the Master.  When he complies, the Master pulls a gun on him.  The lightning reflexes of the Doctor allow him to escape and indeed disarm the Master, who then grabs a sword from the wall outside.  The pair begin a fencing match, with the Doctor proving that he's the better of the two.

Thinking he's defeated, the Doctor turns his back on the Master, who pulls out the knife and throws it.  He's such a crap shot though that even that misses.  Trenchard arrives and arrests the Doctor on trumped up charges, and gives orders to his guards to capture Jo.

As Jo plays hide and seek on the island with the prison guards, the Master explains to the Doctor that he found out about the Sea Devil's from the Time Lord files he stole.

He intends to use them to conquer the planet.  Trenchard knows none of this, of course.  He believe's they're doing some kind of secret mission to uncover enemy agents of the crown.

The Doctor is taken to another cell whilst the Master uses the components he stole to create a device capable of summoning and controlling the Sea Devil's.

Jo turns up and manages to sneak into the Doctor's cell, freeing him from his handcuffs and helping him escape.

They both rush to the beach, but are confronted by a bunch of guards as well as Trenchard and the Master.

The Master sees it as a perfect opportunity to use his device and summons a Sea Devil from the waters.

The Sea Devil attacks the guards, killing them all and then turns towards the Doctor and Jo.  The pair are forced to make their way through the minefield, with the help of the Doctor's trusty Sonic Screwdriver that bleeps when mines are near.

As the Sea Devil comes after them, the Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver to activate the mines behind them, wounding the creature and sending it scurrying back into the sea.



Meanwhile, at HMS Seaspite, Captain Hart decides that the Doctor and Jo's warnings are serious enough to warrant further investigation.  He sends a submarine crew to come the depths near the sea fort and report anything suspicious.  It's naturally not long before the submarine is attacked by the Sea Devils and it looses power, becoming stranded on the sea bed.

Back at the prison, the Master returns to his cell and begins modifying the device to summon multiple Sea Devil's.

Trenchard becomes inconsolable at the thought of working with the creatures.  The Master ultimately summons a bunch of them to invade the prison and kill all the guards, including Trenchard.

The Doctor and Jo get back to Seaspite and chastise Hart for sending the submarine down.  The Doctor decides he's dealing with creatures similar to the Silurians and he must try and talk to them to arrange a peaceful resolution to all of this.

Despite Jo's protests, he convinces Captain Hart to take him out to sea on a ship with a diving bell.  He goes down alone and is taken by the Sea Devils.

Despite Jo fearing he's dead, the Doctor is taken to the Sea Devil's base, where he gets an audience with the leader of the Sea Devils.

Even though the Master turns up and tries to convince the creatures  that the Doctor means to double cross them, the Doctor succeeds in getting the Sea Devils to agree to talk with the humans about co-existing.

As negotiations are ongoing, Captain Hart and Jo go back to the base, where they are met by Mr Walker, Parliamentary Private Secretary, who's been sent to the base to help deal with the Sea Devils in line with official Government policy, i.e. blow them up.  He orders that the naval ships in the area drop tons of depth charges into the area and smash the Sea Devil's base.  Jo protests, insisting that the Doctor could be alive.  Captain Hart echoes her sentiment, stating that the submarine crew could as well.  Walker doesn't listen and forces the order through.

The Doctor just gets the Sea Devils to agree to the negotiations as the depth charges pound the base.  The leader becomes angry and orders the Doctor to be taken away and killed.  Once he's out of the picture, the Master works his magic, convincing the leader to send up some of the bodies and debris to "fake" the fact that the base has been destroyed, then they can plan a retaliation against humanity.

What the Master didn't count on, is the fact that the Doctor escapes during the explosions and manages to obtain one of the Sea Devils guns.  He soon finds a prison block and discovers that the submarine crew were captured and brought onboard.  He frees them and together they flee back to the submarine, killing the Sea Devil guarding it (much to the Doctor's annoyance).

They power up the sub and try to get out of the underwater harbour, but the Sea Devil leader stops them by activating a force field over the entrance.

The Doctor convinces the sub Captain that he has to fire torpedoes into the base in the hopes of disabling the force field. They do this, despite the considerable risk of blowing themselves up.  It pays off and the sub breaks free, returning to HMS Seaspite.

The Master consoles the leader of the Sea Devil's and assures them that it won't do the humans any good, as he proposes an immediate attack on HMS Seaspite itself.

The Doctor storms into Hart's office and demands to know what idiot sent down the depth charges.  He confronts Walker with the events and convinces him that they can't take any more aggressive action until the Doctor has had a chance to go back down there and negotiate with the Sea Devils.  Again, despite Jo's protests to the contrary, the Doctor heads off to go down in the diving bell once more.  On their way, the Doctor, Jo and Captain Hart are confronted by a Sea Devil that's stormed the base!

He belts it with some Venusian Karate, but is ultimately overpowered and the group are captured.

The officers are all held prisoner in Hart's office, and once he's recovered, the Doctor is taken to see the Master who offers him his life in return for helping him perfect a device that will awaken all the Sea Devil's across the world.  The Doctor has little choice but to comply.

As the Doctor and the Master get to work, Captain Hart helps Jo escape through the ventilation shaft.

She quickly finds the Doctor and arranges to free Hart and Mr Walker once the Doctor has created a distraction.  Sure enough, when the Doctor finishes work on the device, he switches it on and all the Sea Devil's reel in agony at the high pitched noise it creates.  Jo rushes into Hart's office and they escape, but Mr Walker is afraid and stays behind.

The Master shuts off the machine and the Doctor coyly apologises, saying that he put the leads in wrong.  The Doctor, the Master and the leader of the Sea Devils all head off towards the sea, only to find that Hart and Jo have tootled off in a hovercraft and returned again with a bunch of armed sailors.  A gun fight begins and the humans manage to recapture the base, killing most of the Sea Devils.

The Doctor tells the sailor who saves him to watch the Master carefully and then rushes off to find Jo.  The Master seizes the opportunity and hypnotises said sailor.

The Doctor does catch up with Jo and Hart, but soon sees the Master fleeing with the device.  He races after him on some kind of mini speedboat before the Master grounds himself ashore once more.  The Doctor grabs him but soon realises they're surrounded by Sea Devils.

Finally freed from imprisonment, Mr Walker becomes irrational and demands that the Sea Devil base is hit with nuclear strikes.

The Sea Devils take the Doctor and the Master back to their base and take the device from them, locking them both in prison so they can use it for their own gain.

The Doctor doesn't seem too upset by this, and reveals to the Master that he "reversed the polarity of the neutron flow", meaning that it will overload and blow up.  He also says that he's booby trapped the ignition switch so that it will self destruct if they try to turn it off.  The Master is forced to help the Doctor to escape using the Sonic Screwdriver and they both get to the surface using a pair of diving suits.  The pair of them are rescued by the hovercraft just as the Sea Devil base blows up from the device.

After his rescue, the Master becomes suddenly ill and the hovercraft crew call for an ambulance on their arrival.  The Doctor gets out of the hovercraft and greets Jo and Captain Hart, only to discover that the man they bring out on the stretcher isn't the Master at all, but one of the crew who's been hypnotised and had a Master-like mask put on him.

The Master waves from the controls of the Hovercraft and leaves.

Trivia

• This story was actually filmed before the Curse of Peladon, in order to take advantage of the October weather (as opposed to filming it out at sea in Nov / Dec).  The gamble paid off and the weather was good to them

• The Sea Devil's came about as a concept when Barry Letts looked back on how well the liason with the RAF had been during The Mind of Evil.  With both him and Pertwee having served in the Navy during WW2, he decided to try and convince the Navy to get in on the action.  As it happened, Prince Charles had just left active service and they wanted something to boost their profile, so they jumped at the chance!

• The Doctor's sonic screwdriver had a bit of a redesign and was specially made for this story

• Some of the film sequences proved a bit tricky as many of the crew got sea sick and Roger Delgado wasn't particularly fond of water.  Despite this, they did an admirable job.

• If you've read the write up for Day of the Daleks, you'll not be surprised to know that the mini speedboat chase was used on a whim by Pertwee who saw them and thought they were cool

• The Navy didn't want any actors touching the AA gun, but the actor who played Captain Hart looked so much like an officer, that the Navy staff mistook him for one and let him go on it!  Michael Bryant jumped at the chance and filmed him, using it in the final episode

• Sadly, this is last time the Havoc stunt team were used on Doctor Who

• Not long after this story went on air, the Production Team were visited by the Ministry of Defence.  The government it seems were very interested to know how the Doctor Who crew had got access to top secret plans for the Polaris nuclear submarine that was being tested at the time.  In actual fact, the special effects crew decided that the standard submarine kit they'd bought from Woolworths wanted a bit of an overhaul and added a new propeller that just happened to have the precise number of blades on it that the Polaris sub had!

What worked

• Right off the bat, the soundtrack is unlike anything heard before or since.  It's weird and beautiful all at the same time.  Even 50 years on, you'll still be listening to it in with the same wonder.

• The Sea Devils themselves are actually pretty good monsters.  It's hard to believe that only one story previous we were having to make do with Alpha Centauri!

• The amount of filming this story has gives the impression that it's almost like a feature film

• In the same vein, the amount of Navy hardware makes it feel like there's a lot more budget than what there actually is

• Its also nice to see Jo's relationship with the Doctor developing.  He's clearly more of a father figure now than a work colleague

• The bit with the clangers is always amusing too and reminds us not to take it too seriously

What didn't work

• Even calling the Silurians the Eocenes was still factually wrong

• The helicopter changes colour between shots.

• Why order a massive nuclear strike on an island a hairs breadth away from England?

• How exactly do the Navy get away with all the speedboats and hovercraft just sitting on the beach without getting pinched?

• Why does the Master laugh at the Doctor's death sentence when he reveals later he needed him alive after all?

Overall Feelings
For generations after the making of the Sea Devils, this was a story that people would point to and say this is what Doctor Who in the 1970's was all about.  Even I'm happy to say that I got to see this story in 1986 and as a seven year old, I basked in all its cheesy glory.

Perhaps more so than the Silurians, this story has serious flaws in it, and just as in a lot of the previous season, would have no doubt worked a little better without the inclusion of the Master to muddy the waters so to speak.  But as fans, we don't watch it or appreciate it for its brilliance in plot.  There's nothing here that's not been done before in that sense.  What we do appreciate it for is everything else that does make it unique.

Michael Bryant spent far too much money on the filmed shots and had to save money, so he asked the Radiophonic workshop to do all the soundtrack.  The result is unlike anything we've ever heard in 2016, so imagine how weird it would have been in 1972.

Similarly, the coercion of the Royal Navy meant that this story could go well beyond the boundaries of its budget and deliver shipboard shenanigans that have been hitherto unavailable.  The sets are dark and gloomy and look great (with the exception of the sea devil base).

So, although people point at the Sea Devils and say this was what Doctor Who was about, I point at it and say this is what it could and probably should have been like, with the proper budget and minds behind it.

Rating

10 out of 10!

Sorry, I know it's flawed in plot and logic, but there's so much more here that makes me want to forgive it

Rewatchability Factor

9 out of 10

there's a few scenes in it to pad it out to 6 episodes, otherwise I'd give it a 10 on this as well

Watch this if you liked...

• Fury from the Deep

• Doctor Who and the Silurians

• Warriors of the Deep

• Cold War (Doctor Who, Series 7)

Consulting the Matrix

Who do you prefer?  Sea Devils or Silurians?

The Curse of Peladon

4 Episodes
Aired between 29th January 1972 and 19th February 1972

Written by Brian Hayles
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Lennie Mayne

Synopsis

Peladon is a distant planet with ancient medieval like customs.  One dark and stormy night, the King of Peladon summons his Chancellor, Torbis, and his High Priest, Hepesh to discuss with them the impending meeting to discuss whether Peladon should be allowed to enter the Galactic Federation.

Torbis is forward thinking and openly welcomes the chance to be in the Federation, but Hepesh is cynical, warning the King that the Federation will see them as little more than savages and will seek to exploit Peladon and mine it's minerals for their own good.  He emphasises his view by warning the King that his actions might just bring the curse of Peladon around them.

The King, who has been brought up to adulthood by both Torbis and Hepesh following the deaths of his father (the previous King) and his earth mother, is clearly torn between the two views.  He ultimately chooses to side with Torbis.

The old Torbis grows tired of listening to Hepesh's negative ranting and storms out, only to be killed in the darkened hallway by some strange bear-like beast.

Thinking he might have finally fixed the TARDIS and wrestled it from under Time Lord control, the Doctor takes Jo out for a spin, despite her protests that she was all ready to go for a night out with Captain Yates.

They materialise on the side of a mountain, just below the castle of Peladon.

As the Doctor and Jo step out of the TARDIS, the balance of weight shifts, sending it crashing down the mountainside.  Jo is distraught at the thought of it, but the Doctor reassures her that it's indestructible; the only problem is  how to get to it.

He notices the castle above them and decides that they need to go there to ask for help retrieving the time machine. They climb for a good while up the perilous cliff face, braving the storm and eventually find a tunnel.

In the castle, the Federation delegates arrive: the giant eyeballed Alpha Centauri,

the head in a bowl known as Arcturus,

and the Ice Warriors, namely the Ice Lord Izlyr and his guard Ssorg.

They quickly learn of Torbis' strange death and become concerned.  King Peladon assures them that the matter is an internal affair and they're doing everything they can to look into it.

The Doctor and Jo travel through the cavernous tunnels, mindful of the roaring echos of some beast in there with them, until they pass a strange shrine and emerge in the castle.

The Doctor sees Ssorg and assumes the Ice Warriors are up to no good.  They are captured shortly afterwards by the castle guards.

In the throne room, Hepesh begins ranting about the curse of Peladon again, saying that the King's actions will anger their deity - Aggedor, and bring his fury upon them.  There is even a prophecy starting with the arrival of a stranger... at that point the Doctor and Jo are shown into the throne room.
Izlyr mistakes them for the Earth delegates, also members of the Federation.  The Doctor thinks quick and confirms that he's a delegate and Jo is a princess sent as an observer (because only females of royal blood are allowed into the throne room).

King Peladon welcomes them and brings them up to speed.  The Doctor quickly learns that Hepesh believes that Torbis was killed by the spirit of Aggedor.  This sparks a lot of debate, which allows the King's mute bodyguard, Grun, to sneak away and loosen a statue of Aggedor outside the throne room.
The Doctor calls the squabbling delegates to order and suggests they retire from the throne room and discuss elsewhere.  On their way out, Grun drops the statue on them, nearly killing Izlyr if it wasn't for the Doctor's lightning reactions.  Hepesh blames the spirit of Aggedor again.  The delegates clearly see that their own lives are in danger and want to call off the conference, but King Peladon pleads with them to reconsider.

Whilst everyone else is distracted, Jo takes her leave and sneaks up to where the statue fell, finding a large set of footprints and a small device lying on the floor.  She sneaks back just as the decision is reached for the delegates to retire and talk.

As everyone leaves, King Peladon asks Jo to stay behind.  He tells her about his human mother and highlights the struggles he's had growing up alone and trying to bring Peladon out of the dark ages.

He asks her to carry his favour to the other delegates which gets Jo really annoyed, probably because he came on a bit strong and she thought he was after something else.

In the shrine of Aggedor, Grun secretly comes to meet with Hepesh, who tells the mute to kill the Doctor because he's getting in the way.

Jo returns to the Doctor, and tells him what she found at the statue.  She says she wants to get off Peladon, but the Doctor is still suspicious of the Ice Warriors.  They suddenly hear alarm bells ringing and rush off to find the cause, ultimately discovering Arcturus in his room dying as an element of his intensive care machinery has been removed.  The Doctor works fast and bypasses the missing component, stabilizing Arcturus just as the Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri turn up.

Hepesh once more blames the curse of Peladon, saying it was Aggedor, but the Doctor dismisses it as mumbo jumbo, instead accusing Izlyr of the sabotage.  The Ice Lord gets offended and counter accuses the Doctor.  All this arguing allows Jo to once again slip away.  She heads to the Ice Warrior's room and searches it, easily finding the missing component but gets discovered by Ssorg.  The Ice Warrior denies any involvement and keeps her prisoner until Izlyr returns.

Unfortunately, as Arcturus returns to normal, he says he didn't see who was responsible.  As they all retire once more, Grun motions to the Doctor, asking him to follow.  He leads the Doctor into the tunnels and abandons him to the approaching roars of Aggedor.

Jo climbs out of her window and tries to find the Doctor, but instead runs into Aggedor!  She flees and encounters the Ice Warriors again, who don't believe her story.  It turns out that the Ice Warriors really aren't bad guys at all.

They've rejected their violent history and left Mars to become proud members of the Galactic Federation.  Izlyr is also trying to figure out who the saboteur is.  He says it's interesting that Arcturus was never in danger.  He's discovered that there was a fail safe switch on his machine.

Back in the tunnels, the Doctor makes his way through until he gets back to the shrine, where Hepesh arrives and has him arrested for trespassing.

The Doctor is taken to the throne room and everyone is summoned back.  Once gathered, Hepesh tells them that no one but the High Priest is allowed in the shrine of Aggedor under penalty of death therefore the Doctor must die.

The Doctor protests, explaining about the tunnel system that led him there.  It's clear that King Peladon is unaware of them, but Hepesh tells them all that the Doctor is lying.  King Peladon says he's no option but to pass sentence, but Jo convinces him to take the only other alternative: trial by combat to the death.  The Doctor accepts only to find that he'll be fighting Grun.

The Doctor is taken away and everyone but Jo leaves.  She begs King Peladon to overturn the rule but he cannot.  She's amazed and disgusted that he follows up this conversation by proposing to her, seemingly for mutual benefit and helping bring Peladon out of the dark ages.

Whilst the Doctor is held prisoner, Hepesh gives him one final chance to leave the planet, he will leave the cell door open along with a map of the tunnels to escape back to his TARDIS that Hepesh has had recovered.  The Doctor has figured out by now that the Ice Warriors have nothing to do with the sabotage and asks Hepesh why he's done all this.  Hepesh admits that he's afraid of the Federation's influence.  The Doctor tries to reason with him, pointing out that he can't possibly take on the whole Federation alone.  Hepesh becomes passionate and lets it slip that he does have powerful allies ready to help him.

Jo meets with Alpha Centauri, Arcturus and Izlyr to ask them to stop the trial.

They point out that as delegates, they must remain neutral to local customs and practices.  Jo storms off and Izlyr goes after her, telling her that despite this, he is willing the help the Doctor as a return for him saving his life from the statue falling.  Arcturus overhears this conversation and skulks away.

That night, the Doctor decides to take Hepesh up on the offer and sneaks out of his cell, going through the tunnels where he encounters Aggedor.  He uses a spinning mirror and a light to hypnotize the beast, singing a Venusian lullaby as he does so.

Jo goes to see the Doctor and finds him gone.  She goes into the tunnels and sees Aggedor.  Panicking, she scares the beast away, drawing admonishment from the Doctor who says that he was just starting to get through to it.  Despite Jo's protests, the Doctor returns the castle and tries to tell everyone again about the tunnels and the real Aggedor hiding in them.  Hepesh rants and raves, demanding that the Doctor be taken straight to the pit.

The King reluctantly nods in agreement and he is taken away to the combat pit and lower down into it with Grun.  The two fight for a good while with all manner of weapons and unarmed.

Eventually, the Doctor comes out victorious but refuses to kill Grun.  At that instant Arcturus and Ssorg draw their weapons and fire.

Ssorg is faster on the trigger and kills Arcturus, causing Hepesh to flee into the tunnels.

It comes to light that Hepesh was working with Arcturus, being the one who sabotaged his intensive care machine to throw them off the scent.  It seems that Arcturus is a planet of low mineral wealth whilst Peladon is rich in it, so they came to a deal to keep the corrupt and exploitative Federation at bay and his own planet would make a separate treaty.  King Peladon asks the delegates to help him convince the rest of his people and avoid civil war, as his men track down Hepesh.

Grun takes his manipulation personally and goes into the tunnels to find the High Priest.  He does indeed find Hepesh in there, gathering a group of loyal guards.  Grun attacks them but is overpowered and left for Aggedor to deal with whilst they stage a coup.

Because Arcturus is dead, this matter is still internal to Peladon and the other delegates have a hard time convincing Alpha Centauri to back a motion to bend galactic law and interfere.  When they finally achieve this, they go to radio their respective fleets only to find that the radio's been sabotaged by Arcturus prior to his death.

The Doctor goes back into the tunnels to find Aggedor and discovers Grun.  He teams up with the mute guard and together they go off to find the creature.

Back in the castle, Hepesh sneaks in his force of soldiers and overpowers the rest, staging a successful coup and putting King Peladon under arrest.

The Doctor and Grun find Aggedor once more.  This time, the Doctor is able to successfully hypnotise Aggedor and he leads the beast back into the castle.

In the throne room, Hepesh puts the King under the threat of death unless the Federation delegates agree to leave immediately.  The Doctor arrives with Aggedor and tells Hepesh it's over.  Hepesh tries to command the beast to kill the Doctor, but Aggedor turns on him instead, killing him and leaving King Peladon without any mentors.

The traitorous guards all become terrified at the embodiment of their deity and drop their weapons.

Kind Peladon is devastated at the deaths of those who raised him, and it looks like he might slaughter the traitors in retribution but he tells them that they will go unpunished and the events will be struck from their histories as they finally move forward to become part of the Galactic Federation.

Perhaps a couple of days later, the Doctor and Jo have the TARDIS brought up into the castle.  The Doctor explains to her that he doesn't think they came here by accident after all and that the Time Lords still have control over his ship.  They joke that Aggedor has grown too fond of the Doctor and won't leave his side now.

As the Doctor leaves to take Aggedor back to his cage, Jo is visited by King Peladon on the eve of his official coronation.  He asks Jo to stay and marry him, but she says she can't and anyway, she's not even a real princess.

He smiles and says it doesn't even matter.  They kiss but are interrupted by the Doctor.  Peladon leaves to take his place among his people and the Doctor and Jo intend to watch the ceremony, but luckily see the true Earth Delegate arriving, having awkward conversations with Izlyr and Alpha Centauri.

The Doctor and Jo make themselves scarce and run into the TARDIS as the delegates come to find them.  They all watch in stunned silence as the TARDIS dematerialises in front of their very eyes.

Trivia

• It is pretty well known that this story was made as a parody on the UK entering the common market,  It was a debate of considerable importance around that time.

• This story marks the welcome return of Patrick Troughton's son, David.  See The War Games and Enemy of the World for his other appearances. 

• This story also sees the arrival of wet behind the ears visual effects technician Matt Irvine.  He would go on to do much loved work on the show for decades to come.  His first job here was to make the tiny TARDIS model with the flashing light.

• When Director Lennie Mayne first set eyes on Alpha Centauri, supposedly he looked astonished at the visual effects team and yelled that it looked like a f****ng pr**k!  They scurried away and tried to develop the creature a little more, bringing it back with a shower curtain around it.  Mayne shook his head and said "now it lucks like a pr**k in a cape!

• That wasn't the end of his crude outbursts.  When filming the end sequence of Aggedor arriving in the throne room, he wasn't happy with the cast's reactions.  He told them they should be surprised to the point where they would yell Holy F****ng Cow!  As they got ready for the next take, Pertwee conspired with the cast and as Aggedor turned up, they all in unison cheekily cried out "Holy F****g Cow!

• Although the torches and low lights were great effects, the production team did get their hands slapped for it because the soot smeared all over the lighting rigs in the studio and they had to be taken down and cleaned at considerable cost to the show

• And speaking of darkness, the continuity announcers had to give recaps of the shows previous episodes at the beginning of each transmission because there were scheduled power cuts going on across Britain in response to miners strikes.  (See The Green Death for more on this.)

• Finally, if you watch the beginning interior TARDIS scene, you'll notice that the Doctor is rather fixated on the console.  That's because the crew as a joke put a pornographic picture on the console to try and put him off his lines!

What worked

• This is one of the few classic Who stories that had its dark tones lit perfectly.  The production team often battled with lighting engineers to make sets "dark and gloomy" but this one definitely worked

• The film sequence of climbing the cliff and the fighting pit worked really well

• The chance that Katy Manning was given for some real dialogue

• The Ice Warriors were also quite good and it's nice to finally see them in colour

• I liked the political overtones of the episode, with complex reasons to stay out of stuff needing to be overcome

• I also liked the true relationship you can see that's been formed between Jo and the Doctor.  She really would do anything for him

• The return of "Klokleda Partha Menin Klatch, Naroon, Naroon, Naroon"

What didn't work

• Alpha Centauri

• Arcturus (although I really liked him in a naff but lovable sort of way)

• Peladon's ignorance of the tunnels

• The reasoning behind Hepesh's plans

• Arcturus' suicidal attempt to kill the Doctor

• Aggedor 

• The fact that it's called Curse of Peladon when there's not really a curse

Overall Feelings

The thing that I take away from the Curse of Peladon is that it comes across as a far better episode than it deserves to be.  You don't have to look far to find things wrong with it, starting most obviously with a certain one eyed alien.  But remember, this was the 1970's so I'm not going to just judge it on visual effects alone.  The problems do run deeper.

Throughout the first episode, Hepesh makes a big deal of the curse of Peladon, but when they explain it, they make it out like the curse is Aggedor coming to protect the King....how's that a curse?  Going on from that, Hepesh suffers from Dalekitis where one scene he wants to kill the Doctor, and the next he doesn't.  Some of the aliens are suspect too, I mean, was Arcturus so arrogant that he thought he could easily kill the Doctor in one shot, turn, and take care of the Ice Warriors before anyone could stop him?  How would he explain it all to the Federation?

Perhaps the biggest faux pas this story shows is the argument between the Doctor and Hepesh about the existence of hidden tunnels beneath the castle.  Why not just say, come with me and I'll show you them, right now.  Not that Peladon needs to.  I mean, how does he know about the shrine at all if it's within the tunnels, and come to think of it, how can you grow up in that castle and not discover those tunnels?

Rant aside, I think there are things this story does that push boundaries in a way that has been missing for some time.  We get a myriad of aliens in the mix, even the natives of Peladon have different hairstyles to denote that they're not quite human.  Alpha Centauri isn't male or female and yet no one in this 1972 time is encouraged  to be repulsed by it, much the opposite in fact.  And obviously, the expectations of the Ice Warriors are totally subverted.

The lighting is great too as we discussed, the film sequences of the cliff side are great too.

But perhaps the best part about this story is that it isn't really about the Doctor.  Jo comes into her own and gets some juicy dialogue to go at.  The bits where the Doctor would tell her she's being stupid and explain everything are in part taken over by Izlyr, but he encourages her to come around to his way of thinking.

In summary, this is a decent story not because of the plot or the visuals, but because it catches us off guard with a fairly adult approach to plot and character development.

Rating

8 out of 10

Rewatchability Factor

6 out of 10

Watch this if you liked...

• The Ice Warriors

• The Seeds of Death

• The Monster of Peladon

• The Kings Demons

• The Hound of the Baskerville's

• Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo

Consulting the Matrix

Which was your favourite delegate?