The Curse of Peladon isn't a masterpiece, but its a welcome departure to an alien planet to give us a break from the UNIT set-up. As good as it is, it is nice to get a bit of variety.
I never really thought much of this one when I was younger but its grown on me. The plot is intriguing enough to remain interesting throughout. It was a big gamble to take baddies like the Ice Warriors and make them the good guys for a change. Fortunately it works and its a good surprise. What's more is we get not only Ice Warriors and the inhabitants of Peladon, but also more aliens. Alpha Centauri is... Intriguing. As is the head in the box Arcturus. At least the production team are successfully trying to give us aliens that look genuinely alien.
Speaking of the production: this is a real world that you can believe in. Its only a citadel, a few corridors and the tunnels but it is so well realised and so right. Nicely done and match this with a simply defined but well created culture, and Peladon is a real world. I'd have liked to have seen more of their culture outside the citadel but what we're given is enough. A real world with many similarities to our own: Its basically about the UK joining the EEC. Perhaps when Jodie becomes the Doctor we can have a sequel where Peladon votes to leave the Federation, but certain parts of the planet didn't and face being taken out against their will, thus causing civil war as they declare independence from the main part of Peladon?
Its Troughton! Troughton Jr that is. I really believe that Jo could fall in love with King Peladon which is nearly all down to the brilliance of David T. He clearly got his acting skills from his Dad, who I can't wait to turn up in The Three Doctors. Pertwee continues to excel meanwhile and I liked his fight scene with Grun (although I wonder why he didn't just stick his fingers on his chest like he does with Stahlman in Inferno).
Its not perfect, but it works well enough. And Aggedor is cute
. I'm surprised that they didn't have the Earth Ambassador at the end turn out to be the Master. They've kind of just slipped him into a lot of the recent Stories so it wouldn't have surprised me if they had gone that route and made it a 6 Parter.
I didn't like the sequel much the first time I saw it either but when I re-watched it in 2016 I liked it a lot. I look forward to it...