Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon

"The spirit of Aggedor can move mountains!"

Writer: Brian Hayles

Format: Novel

Released: January 1975

Series: Target 13

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis 

Again, the terrifying cry rang out. The Doctor quickened his pace along the gloomy tunnels of the castle. Suddenly, from the darkness lumbered the mighty Aggedor, Royal Beast and Protector of the Kingdom of Peladon!

The Doctor fumbled in his pocket. Would the device work? As he trained the spinning mirror on the eyes of Aggedor, the terrible claws came closer and closer...

What is the secret behind the killings on the Planet of Peladon? Is Aggedor seeking revenge because the King of Peladon wants the kingdom to become a member of the Galactic Federation? Will the Doctor escape the claws of Aggedor and discover the truth? 

Verdict 

Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon was an excellent novelisation of the classic Third Doctor serial! This was a brilliant story and it’s one that has really grown on me as I’ve rewatched the serial and now read the book. It will be over a decade now since my first viewing of the televised story and I remember being bitterly disappointed by the use of the Ice Warriors and them not being the enemies. Now I’ve grown to accept that not all Ice Warriors are evil and have bad intentions, I could more appreciate their role as part of the Galactic Federation here. I think Peladon is a sublime setting and following on from the Big Finish series based on the planet last year, we really know a lot about it now and that definitely helped with my appreciation of it here. The politics that come with the planet Peladon are excellent and that started off superbly here. I’m a massive fan of a political story and with this just being the opener, it’s really fun to read this knowing what we know of Peladon’s future. King Peladon of Peladon is a fine character and I really enjoyed the relationship he built with Jo. He even proposed to her but she was less willing when the basis for that marriage would be purely political allegiance. Of course, the arrival of the Doctor and Jo was an unusual one as the TARDIS landed on the side of a mountain and fell below once Jo managed to escape! That was good and I appreciated the unique nature of the arrival, along with the predicament of the safety of the TARDIS being nonexistent in the adventure. It’s usually always there as something to fall back on but that wasn’t the case here and the climb up to the tunnels leading to some sort of civilisation was entertaining. Jo was hardly impressed to find they weren’t on Earth after the Doctor promised to get them back in time for her date with Mike Yates. Jo falling back on some of the military lingo she’d picked up at UNIT throughout the story was good fun as she took on the role of a princess of royal blood. She had to display some semblance of rank and I thought she performed admirably. The Doctor posing as the Earth official as part of the delegation for the Galactic Federation was good stuff and the TARDIS falling off the mountain helped explain why they had no credentials. Tradition on Peladon is obviously important and that being presented here was done brilliantly. I thought things were really fleshed out in prose with Hepesh in particular standing out as the High Priest of Aggedor. The spirit of Aggedor lived on in a big way through the priest and that felt slightly weird given what we saw in the form of the hairy beast. It was a ravager but didn’t seem to be on the level associated with worship and to base a society around! Hepesh tricked the Doctor into being sentenced to death thanks to the secret tunnel system that led to the sacred ground where the Doctor gazed upon the great Aggedor. King Peladon considered the Doctor a friend but his hands were tied by tradition and that was something Jo tried to appeal to him about. He was the King so why couldn’t he break with the precedents of law? I thought the other delegates were presented in a fun way and whilst I did remember that it was Arcturus as the one flanking Hepesh, it seemed obvious that we were leading that way. One thing that I found fascinating was the presentation of Alpha Centauri. I’ve always considered the character to be female so to have Centauri presented as either male or neutral was just odd. I did like thought that she was said to have changed colours as her mood altered. That was fun and I’ll be intrigued to see if that is retained in the sequel novelisation. The ending is built to very well and I thought the conclusion was pretty brilliant. Hepesh tries to take control and the Federation delegates are seriously deliberating any involvement in potential civil war, but then the Doctor is able to use his rhythmic tune to have it calm down. The fact Aggedor swipes down Hepesh to death seemed like a fitting end and I loved how upset Peladon was by the occurrence given that he was a fatherly figure. Despite everything, he just wanted Peladon to be bettered. The quick getaway by the Doctor and Jo after the real Earth delegate arrives is amusing, and it’s nice to know in the end that the Ice Warriors helped the Doctor from a death sentence and from civil war breaking out on Peladon. Overall, a fantastic novelisation!

Rating: 9/10