The Curse of Peladon (TV story)

"Klokleda partha mennin klatch, haroon haroon haroon..."

- The Doctor

Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo make a test flight in the TARDIS and arrive on the planet Peladon. Seeking shelter, they enter the citadel of the soon-to-be-crowned King Peladon, where the Doctor is mistaken for a human dignitary summoned to act as Chairman of a committee assessing an application by the planet to join the Galactic Federation.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * King Peladon - David Troughton
 * High Priest Hepesh - Geoffrey Toone
 * Chancellor Torbis - Henry Gilbert
 * Delegate Izlyr - Alan Bennion
 * Sub-delegate Ssorg - Sonny Caldinez
 * Delegate Alpha Centauri - Stuart Fell
 * Voice of Alpha Centauri - Ysanne Churchman
 * Delegate Arcturus - Murphy Grumbar
 * Voice of Arcturus - Terry Bale
 * Grun - Gordon St. Clair
 * Aggedor - Nick Hobbs
 * Guard Captain - George Giles
 * Amazonia - Wendy Danvers

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Ros Anderson
 * Costumes - Barbara Lane
 * Designer - Gloria Clayton
 * Fight Arranger - Terry Walsh, PROFILE
 * Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton, Peter Sargent
 * Film Editor - Michael Sha-Dyan
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Sylvia James
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Production Assistant - Chris D'Oyly-John
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Howard King
 * Studio Sound - Tony Millier
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Bernard Wilkie, Ian Scoones

Story Notes

 * Working titles for this story included: The Curse and then Curse Of The Peladons.
 * Jon Pertwee sings the Venusian Lullaby to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".
 * This story was an allegory of the UK's accession to the Common Market - a highly topical issue at the time of its original transmission.
 * David Troughton, playing King Peladon, shared a flat with future Doctor Colin Baker at this time. Three decades later, Troughton would again guest star in DW: Midnight.

Ratings

 * Episode One - 10.3 million viewers
 * Episode Two - 11 million viewers
 * Episode Three - 7.8 million viewers
 * Episode Four - 8.4 million viewers

Myths

 * The natives of the planet Peladon are called Pels. (They are not called by this name here.)
 * Izlyr is an Ice Lord. (Although he is referred to as a Lord, the term 'Ice Lord' is never used.)

Filming Locations

 * BBC Television Centre (Puppet Theatre and Studio 4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * How and when exactly did the Doctor find out that Hepesh had obtained his live Aggedor specimen from a 'high mountain', as he explains to the surviving delegates at the start of episode 4? It was a logical assumption.  After all, the animal had to have come from somewhere and then been trained.


 * The Doctor is nearly hit by the swinging secret passage door in episode one. If it's a secret door, he probably couldn't predict how it would open.


 * Jo's hair straightens when she climbs back into the citadel.


 * Why don't the delegates use Arcturus' radio?


 * There's only one bed in the Ice Warriors quarters. Perhaps only the senior warrior is allowed to sleep while the other must stay awake to guard him.


 * If Centauri's a hexapod, how does it walk?


 * The delegates from Alpha Centauri and Arcturus are not called by name or by what they call their own planets but by the Earth designations for their star systems. But the Doctor is not called "Earth" and Izlyr is not called "Mars". The King is the only one who is actually named after his planet.


 * The corpse of High Priest Hepesh is visibly breathing.

Continuity

 * There are three sequels; DW: The Monster of Peladon (which is a sequel to this story), BFA: The Bride of Peladon (which follows chronologically) and NA: Legacy (which follows on from all chronologically).
 * The Ice Warriors previously appeared in DW: The Ice Warriors and DW: The Seeds of Death (in both cases the antagonists).
 * The Doctor previously uttered his Venusian Lullaby in DW: The Dæmons. In the 1990s, a novel, Venusian Lullaby would be named after this song; the melody of the song is that of the Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", which would later be featured in the 2008 special DW: The Next Doctor.
 * PDA: The Face of the Enemy occurs co-current with the events of this story.
 * This is only the second serial to feature a TARDIS flight since DW: Colony in Space.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon

Released:


 * UK August 1993
 * Australia November 1993
 * US September 1995

DVD Release
 * This will be released in January 2010 along with The Monster of Peladon.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon


 * Novelised as Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon in 1975 by Brian Hayles.