309 The Curse of Peladon: Episode Two

EPISODE: The Curse of Peladon: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 309
STORY NUMBER: 061
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 05 February 1972
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Lennie Mayne
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 11 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Peladon Tales: Curse of Peladon & Monster of Peladon
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"It is written, his coming shall be full or terror and darkness. His cry shall be heard in the night, and death shall walk in the land of Peladon!"

The Doctor spots the falling statue and saves the delegates with Hepesh blaming the incident on the spirit of Aggedor, the royal beast. Jo sneaks away during a throne room conference and discovers evidence that the Ice Warriors may have been responsible for the incident. Arcturus is attacked in his quarters and is found by the Doctor with a vital component of his life support system missing. After the Doctor saves his life the component is recovered by Jo from the Ice Warriors' quarters. Grun, the King's champion, leads the Doctor into the tunnels where he wanders into the shrine to Aggedor and is sentenced to death for trespassing on holy ground.

This episode is really about pointing the finger of suspicion at The Ice Warriors as being behind events playing very much on our, and the Doctor's, previous experience of them.

JO: Well? What is it?
DOCTOR: It's an electronic key. Used for opening doors by identifying the bearer electronically. Probably used for their spaceship.
JO: Whose spaceship?
DOCTOR: Well, the Ice Warriors of course. It's made from trisilicate, which can only be found on the planet Mars.
JO: So you think that it was Ssorg who made those footprints on the balcony?
DOCTOR: Yes, I think it's highly likely.
JO: Wasn't he in the throne room with us?
DOCTOR: I'm not sure. Well, you managed to slip away without anybody noticing, remember?
JO: Yes. But what would they be after?
DOCTOR: Well, the last time that I encountered them, Jo, they were trying to colonise the planet Earth, and Peladon is very like Earth.
JO: Hmm. But they say they're here for the same reason as the other delegates. Peace.
DOCTOR: Do they. Well, believe me, I know the Ice Warriors, Jo. They're a savage and a warlike race. No, among the delegates, only Ssorg's strength could have shifted that statue.

Despite this they plead their innocence to Jo, who they have caught searching their quarters:

IZLYR: Sit down, Princess. Why did you try to escape?
JO: I was frightened. Can you blame me?
IZLYR: So, Princess, you believe that we tried to kill Arcturus.
JO: Well if you didn't, why was the missing servo-unit in your room?
IZLYR: Perhaps you brought it here as part of your scheme to trap us.
JO: But that's just not true! I. One of you must have tried to kill Arcturus.
IZLYR: Nobody tried to kill him.
JO: What?
IZLYR: To destroy Arcturus, the helium regenerator must be deactivated.
JO: What about the unit?
IZLYR: Merely sensor equipment. Disconnecting that only produces metabolic coma.
JO: So it couldn't be fatal?
IZLYR: Only uncomfortable.
JO: I'm sorry if I might have misjudged you, but the Doctor did say you were a race of warriors.
IZLYR: We were once, but now we reject violence except in self-defence.
JO: What about Ssorg's gun? This is supposed to be a peaceful mission.
IZLYR: Unfortunately, in order to preserve peace, it is necessary to survive.
JO: Well, if you didn't do it, who did? Who could benefit by it?
IZLYR: Perhaps the Doctor will be able to explain.

But do we believe them?

Both Izlyr and Ssorg are played by actors who have been in previous Ice Warrior stories and return for Monster of Peladon.

Alan Bennion made his Doctor Who debut in Seeds of Death as the Ice Lord Slaar. He's back every time the show needs an Ice Lord appearing as Izlyr here in The Curse of Peladon and Azaxyr in The Monster of Peladon.

Sonny Caldinez started in Doctor Who playing Kemel in Evil of the Daleks and then Turoc in The Ice Warriors returning as an unnamed warrior in Seeds of Death, Ssorg in Curse of Peladon and Sskel in Monster of Peladon. You can also see him in Roger Moore James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun as Kra, Hawaii Five-O as Code #42 in Nine Dragons, Raiders of the Lost Ark as the Mean Mongolian, Neverwhere as the Market man in Knightsbridge and The Fifth Element as Emperor Kodar Japhet.

Ssorg's voice is provided, uncredited, by series producer and equity card holder Barry Letts.

Inside the Alpha Centauri costume is regular stunt man Stuart Fell. This is his first credited appearance having previous been a UNIT soldier & Auton in Terror of the Autons, UNIT staff member & a photographer in The Mind of Evil and a UNIT Soldier & Axon in The Claws of Axos. He returns as a Guard, Sailor & Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, filmed before this story, a Functionary in Carnival of Monsters, Alpha Centauri in The Monster of Peladon, the Tramp in Planet of the Spiders part two who the Doctor drives the hovercraft over, a Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a Wirrn Larvae in The Ark in Space part two & Wirrn Operator in The Ark in Space, Double for Styre in The Sontaran Experiment part one, The Kraal in The Android Invasion part three, the Monster in The Brain of Morbius, Forking peasant / Guard / Acolyte in The Masque of Mandragora, a Policeman, Coolie & the Giant Rat in Talons of Weng Chiang, a Guard in The Sun Makers, a Sontaran in The Invasion of Time, a Shrivenzale in the Ribos Operation, Roga in State of Decay, a Castrovalvan Warrior in Castrovalva, a masked villager in The Visitation and a Cyberman in The Five Doctors plus he did stunts in Terror of the Autons, was fight arranger in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, more stunts in The Ribos Operation & Full Circle and served as fight arranger again in State of Decay. In Blake's 7 he was Dortmunn in Mission to Destiny, a Subterron in Project Avalon, a Goth Warrior in The Keeper, a Sarran in Aftermath, a Labourer in The Harvest of Kyros, a Guard in City at the Edge of the World, a Federation Trooper in Rumours of Death, a Guard in Moloch, a Gunman in Death-Watch, a Link in Terminal & Rescue and a Hommik Warrior in Power plus he was the stunt coordinator for Project Avalon, The Keeper, Aftermath, Volcano, The Harvest of Kyros, City at the Edge of the World, Rumours of Death, Moloch, Death-Watch, Terminal, Rescue & Power. He plays a man in the Doomwatch episode Spectre at the Feast. He's in The Empire Strikes Back as a Snowtrooper and does stunts in Return of the Jedi. He also does stunt work on the Roger Moore James Bond films For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy & A View to a Kill. And so much more.

Meanwhile the voice of Alpha Centauri is provided by Ysanne Churchman who also returns in the same role in The Monster of Peladon then voices some of the eponymous monsters in the Planet of the Spiders before returning in the new series episode Empress of Mars as Alpha Centauri's voice after a 40 year absence!. She's most famous for voicing Grace Archer, the character killed off in the Radio Soap Opera the night ITV was launched.

The only members of the cast playing non humans not to return for Monster of Peladon are those involved with Arcturus:

Inside Arcturus is experienced Dalek Operator Murphy Grumbar. He was first a Dalek, credited as Peter Murphy, in The Daleks & The Dalek Invasion of Earth, then as Murphy Grumbar he's Dalek in The Space Museum, Mechanoid in The Chase, a Dalek in The Evil of the Daleks and a Dalek in Day of the Daleks, He returns as a Gell Guard in The Three Doctors, a functionary in Carnival of Monsters, a Dalek in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks and, as Murphy Grunbar, in Death to the Daleks.

Terry Bale, providing Arcturus' voice who'd previously been a Soldier in the Reign of Terror. He was in Doomwatch as Tom Walsh in Public Enemy and The Sweeney as the Minicab Operator in Hit and Run.

Curse of Peladon has two notable technical achievements. It's the first studio bound Pertwee story with no location filming: In fact the only previous studio bound Pertwee episode is the Silurians episode 4. There's only one other studio bound Pertwee, this story's sequel Monster of Peladon. Beyond the two Peladon stories and the aforementioned Silurians episode 4, the following Pertwee episodes are the only other ones confined to the studio:

The Mutants 6
Time Monster 5
Frontier in Space 1, 2 & 4
Planet of the Daleks 1-4 & 6
Death to the Daleks 4
Planet of the Daleks 3-6

Conversely the first Pertwee story features 100% location filming due to a strike at the BBC.

Curse of Peladon is also notable for being the first Doctor Who story shown out of it's filming order. After the first story of the season, Day of the Daleks, was completed the Sea Devils was made, which is broadcast next, followed by this story, then the Mutants, the Time Monster and finally Carnival of Monsters, which would be held over as the second story of the show's tenth anniversary season.