Post by Kestrel on May 24, 2023 12:39:54 GMT
Probably should've listened to this one back when the (fantastic) Peladon boxset came out last year. Oh well.
You know, in retrospect, it's kind of weird that we've got two major characters here with the name as their planet. It's very Vegeta, son of King Vegeta, ruler of Planet Vegeta.
....
Anyway.... I really liked this story. King Peladon is a Great POV character as someone with a past history (and kinda-sorta future) with the Doctor, in a position where he can't really afford to take the more passive role usually afforded to secondary characters. He is king, yeah? So his growing frustration with the Doctor makes a lot of sense, even as it echoes that scene from the show where the 10th Doctor and Rose were lectured by Queen Victoria.
And I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel considerably out-of-place seeing such a similar "the-reason-you-suck" speech being delivered to the 3rd Doctor. I mean, he's hardly approaching this mystery with anywhere near the same level of frivolity as 10 and Rose -- rather, he comes across as more of a Sherlock Holmes type. Not terribly sociable, but hyper competent.
It's just something that... doesn't really work for me. Maybe with another incarnation it'd play better to my ears? I dunno. I kinda feel like the 3rd Doctor is the one incarnation short of the War Doctor least likely to incite that kind of reaction. Not that the dressing-down was undeserved, just a poor fit.
....
But rest of the story? It's pretty great. And the Doctor's off-screen departure, presumably missing King Peladon's apology, maybe helps explain why he didn't come around to Peladon very often after that. Maaaaaybe. If you tilt your head a bit. And squint.
Alpha Centauri in a more active role is lovely to see, but the main thing for me here? Ice Warriors in a non-Villainous role. It sucks how rare this is! I wanna hear more about the Revolution, and the refugees, and the exile. I want to see Martian culture depicted as a rich tapestry, a history spanning brutal origins to more benign futures. I wanna see Doctor Who do to the Ice Warriors what Star Trek (well, mostly DS9) did to the Klingons!
(and ditto for the Silurians.)
....
Anyway, those are my immediate post-listening thoughts. Have any of y'all listened to The Prisoner of Peladon lately, or remember it well enough to weigh in? What did you think of it?
You know, in retrospect, it's kind of weird that we've got two major characters here with the name as their planet. It's very Vegeta, son of King Vegeta, ruler of Planet Vegeta.
....
Anyway.... I really liked this story. King Peladon is a Great POV character as someone with a past history (and kinda-sorta future) with the Doctor, in a position where he can't really afford to take the more passive role usually afforded to secondary characters. He is king, yeah? So his growing frustration with the Doctor makes a lot of sense, even as it echoes that scene from the show where the 10th Doctor and Rose were lectured by Queen Victoria.
And I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel considerably out-of-place seeing such a similar "the-reason-you-suck" speech being delivered to the 3rd Doctor. I mean, he's hardly approaching this mystery with anywhere near the same level of frivolity as 10 and Rose -- rather, he comes across as more of a Sherlock Holmes type. Not terribly sociable, but hyper competent.
It's just something that... doesn't really work for me. Maybe with another incarnation it'd play better to my ears? I dunno. I kinda feel like the 3rd Doctor is the one incarnation short of the War Doctor least likely to incite that kind of reaction. Not that the dressing-down was undeserved, just a poor fit.
....
But rest of the story? It's pretty great. And the Doctor's off-screen departure, presumably missing King Peladon's apology, maybe helps explain why he didn't come around to Peladon very often after that. Maaaaaybe. If you tilt your head a bit. And squint.
Alpha Centauri in a more active role is lovely to see, but the main thing for me here? Ice Warriors in a non-Villainous role. It sucks how rare this is! I wanna hear more about the Revolution, and the refugees, and the exile. I want to see Martian culture depicted as a rich tapestry, a history spanning brutal origins to more benign futures. I wanna see Doctor Who do to the Ice Warriors what Star Trek (well, mostly DS9) did to the Klingons!
(and ditto for the Silurians.)
....
Anyway, those are my immediate post-listening thoughts. Have any of y'all listened to The Prisoner of Peladon lately, or remember it well enough to weigh in? What did you think of it?
