OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 374
STORY NUMBER: 073
TRANSMITTED: 20 April 1974
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Lennie Mayne
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Peladon Tales: Curse of Peladon & Monster of Peladon
Episode Format: 625 video
Azaxyr orders Eckersley to deactivate the mine's ventilation system forcing the miners to the surface and reduce the temperature so the Warriors can return to the mines. The Doctor has survived the explosion and finds his way to Gebek telling him of the explosion and Ettis' death. Azaxyr puts the entire planet under martial jaw. Trapped in the throne room Thalira, Ortron, Alpha Centauri & Sarah stage an escape but Ortron is killed saving his queen from Sskel's gun and she is recaptured. Alpha Centauri sends a distress call. Sarah use the communication room systems and finds that Eckersley has been colluding with Azaxyr and both are agents of Galaxy Five. Eckersley uses his Aggedor apparition to force the miners from the mine. Sarah discovers the Doctor is alive and goes to the mine to join him at the refinery where the Doctor breaks in. Alpha Centauri reveals Eckersley & Azaxyr's true loyalties to Thalira but lets slip that the Doctor is alive and Sskel is sent to destroy him. The Ice Warriors burn through the refinery door to get to the Doctor, Sarah & Gebek....
That's not a bad episode: put everyone in danger and have the Ice Warriors loom menacingly. There's not a lot else to it apart from the revelation that Eckersley & Azaxyr are working for Galaxy Five. I liked what they did with Ice Warriors in Curse of Peladon by confounding the Doctor's expectation by making them good but Azaxyr's band of Ice Warriors are renegades wanting a return to the glory days of old.
I think I spot our regular guests the UFO control panels in the refinery again!
Doctor Who is famed for it's Monsters but the word Monster turns up in just three of the 156 stories feature the word MONSTER in their title:
The Time Monster
Carnival of Monsters
The Monster of Peladon
You'd expect a few more than that.....
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