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 | Reviews for The Monster of Peladon |
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| Works better in the audio format |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 10 December 2010 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
The Monster of Peladon works in the visual medium well, despite the stack of flaws evident throughout the six episode tenure of the story.
But one can hear how good a tale this is even more so in the audio format. Afore there are no visuals to go by, therefore you can just relax and listen to the story unfold.
The Monster of Peladon works very well indeed within the audio format I think, and Elizabeth gives assured and snappy linking narration, and she doesnt sound bored doing it either.
So that rather woeful fight scene and Max Faulkners rebirth within ten minutes and the door that melts then reforms again then melts once more arent evident at all whilst being played
out here when just listening to the story. And one cannot escape the fact that Ralph Watson gives one of the best performances of a support actor during this story.
This story is renowned it appears for being tedious and slow. No, the pace is realistic and there is plenty of action along the way. But this miners strike satire works well in audio because there are long bouts of speech, which seem fitted well for audio. What I also like is the new scene actually included in Episode One, a nice little treat for the die hard Who fan to get their teeth into.
And once again I will say that the portrayal of the Ice Warriors here is the best of the four original tales to feature them in the original series. Alan Bennion steps up a notch of villainy and severity here with Azaxyr in particular.
Frank Gatliff too is a voice that stands out within the audio format, his voice booms through the speakers. And I still have nothing but smiles for the wonderful Nina Thomas as that hopeless and hapless Queen Thalira. Rex Robinson too makes a strong appearance as Gebek. Yes, all the characters here really do make the script come alive. And Ian gives a rather subtle, but very convincing portrayal of that Idiot Eckersley. And Ysanne Churchman gives that oh so memorable voice to Alpha Centauri, with a bit more high pitched whining and concern this time I feel.
And doesnt the third Doctor have a rough time of it within this tale? Thrown into a pit, thrown in jail, beaten up severely, and then just to add to all these insults nearly gets his brain scrambled at the end. With all this happening to just the central character how can the story be labelled boring?! I dont have the answer to that one.
And another thing I dont agree with is the notion that the Miner's plight doesnt manifest itself very well in the script. What are all those fights then? What is the attack on the armoury? What is that absolute hotheaded Ettis all about?! I dont think feelings could be expressed any higher within a story than it is here in this story.
So one cant see that despite the fact that this story had a lower budget than the earlier Curse, it works far better for me.
The acting on the whole is very strong, and the vocal inflection by most of the cast is very strong indeed, which too makes it a suitable tale to listen to simply in the audio format, as Ive said.
The only bad thing here is the pathetically short interview with Liz Sladen. There is no point doing an interview this short, we get no detail on anything hardly at all!!
I for one am glad that the BBC made this story. It has stood the test of time in both the visual and audio formats. And this comes particularly recommended from me in this audio release.
