#aggedor

[doctorwhogirlie]

Doctor Who - Aggedor

[6-and-7]

Hues of June 2

Time Ram: PEXIT

Doctor Who gets political! No, don't Leave; Remain listening for rat-skin epaulets, Ice Warrior Helen Mirren, and Ed Sheeran whipping his lute out as the Eleventh Doctor and Clara encounter the Curse of Peladon. Can our heroes uncover the saboteur among the delegates? Why does Hepesh Farage hate the Greens? Does Aggedor do the Agga-do? In this time of uncertainty, you can be sure of one thing; Pexit means Pexit -- whatever that means.

Alt. version under the cut

[reachingforthevoid]

Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon

I rewatched this serial on 10 February 2023. It’s been a long while since I last watched it, and I do get it a little muddled up with its sequel…

We begin the tale during a dark and stormy night on an alien world looking to join the Galactic Federation, but there’s a quarrel between two older guys. The one on the side of the king is killed by a beast, Aggedor. I love Aggedor. Haroon haroon haroon. 

The TARDIS arrives with a bored, then worried Jo. Given her experiences so far, I don’t blame her. She and the Doctor have to leave because the TARDIS slips off a cliff. Oops. The TARDIS does that rather a lot, which I’d never appreciated until now. 

Once inside a huge castle, our heroes wander about and see the Ice Warriors. They look amazing in colour, and I’m pleased to see the Ice Lord is wearing a sparkly cloak. The Doctor is a bit worried by their presence, which is fair enough. 

There are other aliens gathered on what little we see of the planet, a group delegation from the Galactic Federation. The Doctor jumps into the fray of the negotiations very quickly, almost as though he’s done this before… The delegates are great. Content warning: the Doctor tells Jo that Alpha Centauri’s pronouns are “it/its”, which was a bit dodgy even in 1972. Still, I say a qualified "yay" for Doctor Who showing a species that confounded twentieth century human expectations of binarised gender roles!

This serial has it all: romance, fights, politics, skulduggery, aliens, secret tunnels, jokes, and a wee misunderstood beastie… Of course, it also has sexism, and the humanoid characters are devoid of much diversity. Not that we really see all that many of them. Still, it’s nice to have a disabled character as the king’s champion. We’re also back to scantily clad extras, and King Peladon’s naked thighs are a statement.

[aardwolfpack]

It may look like a high school team mascot, but it’s actually Aggedor, the Royal Beast of Peladon.

[cleowho]

“...like the lion house at the zoo.”

The Monster of Peladon- season 11 - 1974

[kcdahippie]

I forgot how silly Aggedor looked. Thanks goodness for Venusian lullabies lolol

[reachingforthevoid]

Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon

Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon

I rewatched this serial on 25 February 2023. Of the two Peladon stories, this was the one that I saw several times on repeat during the 1970s in Australia. It’s been a wee while since I last watched it. Haroon haroon haroon.

We return to the planet of Peladon, last seen by contemporary audiences about two years earlier and by me fifteen days ago. Of course, the Doctor hasn’t quite got the landing right. Some fifty years has gone by since he and Jo got pally with King Peladon and the planet joined the Galactic Federation. King Peladon’s daughter, Thalira, is on the throne and there’s unrest among the miners. Alpha Centauri is a familiar giant eye on a green stalk with six arms but disappointingly, the Doctor has now taken to using he/him pronouns rather stridently. The Doctor is also wont to exaggerate his past friendships…

There’s loads of politics in this serial, much of which involving the miners would have been familiar to audiences in 1974. The gist of the economic arguments strike a chord now, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The seeds of destructive impatience in revolutionary movements is shown, too. Sarah introduces “women’s lib” to the queen, by word and deed. Then there’s the intergalactic politics, with skulduggery and treason aplenty, and a brutal invasion by the Ice Warriors using the excuse of war for threatening extreme violence. The Doctor takes that as a teaching moment about resistance to such brutality, and a little later he charmingly reminds Sarah that they should help their new friends rather than dash off.

[leviathan0999]