Image Credit: Big Finish (Fair Use)

Image Description: The cover of the Peladon boxset

By James Ashworth

Just over 51 years ago, the Doctor dropped in on a planet which was full of political debate, environmental issues, and conflict over international relations. He wasn’t visiting the UK in the 2020s, but instead travelling to the eponymous planet making its debut in The Curse of Peladon. Since then, it’s featured in a sequel episode, and a variety of spin-off media, but little of late save a brief nod in Empress of Mars. Rectifying that in 2022 was Big Finish, releasing a four-story boxset spanning the planet’s history. 

To start off with, it’s worth addressing one of the goals that the creatives involved in the project stated in the included interviews – Peladon is pitched as Big Finish’s answer to The Crown. And to put it bluntly, it does not succeed on that score. The Crown examines the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, looking at historical events and societal change across decades. In itself, this isn’t a bad idea for a series of Big Finish boxsets, with each monarch getting a set of four stories which lead into events in their successor’s reign. Peladon does not do this, with each monarch getting one story with tenuous links to what comes next. Instead, audiences should be prepared for a series of essentially standalone stories, albeit with a common direction in mind. 

That common direction is the theme of environmentalism, examining how ongoing trisilicate mining is damaging the climate and ecosystems of the planet. This harks back to the parallels drawn in the original Peladon stories between the planet’s political climate and its contemporary in 1970s Britain. 

That said, don’t expect too much of it in the boxset’s first story, The Ordeal of Peladon – or much else besides. To put it simply, Ordeal isn’t a good story and lives up to its name. It’s very deliberately plotted as a set-up episode for the boxset, and spends most of its runtime holding position for its guest star to arrive. What plot exists is either eminently guessable within the first few minutes, or so mired in cliché that it’s hard not to know where the story is going – what could possibly happen to the diplomat on his final mission, for instance? While the cast give it their best, they’re not helped by some unusual decisions, such as keeping King Peladon very much the same character as in Curse despite decades having passed. Without the ability for major change, it drags the story down further, and makes The Crown an even weaker point of comparison.

The boxset steps things up a bit with The Poison of Peladon, which is much more in the vein of a traditional Peladon story. There’s political intrigue, secret passages and the odd fight or two as River Song helps Queen Thalira deal with a succession crisis. As writer, Lizzie Hopley successfully manages to create a Peladon story that feels like a direct successor to the TV adventures while also feeling suitably modern. It’s very enjoyable as the mysteries gradually unfurl, while flirting between River Song and Alpha Centauri is also a highlight. The only real issue with it is the missed opportunity to make Queen Thalira a more morally grey character by having her involved with a scheme to save her own people by enslaving a group of aliens to improve the environment. In the end, the monarch is absolved of any and all blame, setting up a common thread throughout the boxset where opportunities to debate the merits of Peladon’s royals are largely ignored. 

There is something of an exception to this in The Death of Peladon, the boxset’s third story, where the royals are something of an antagonist to the Sixth Doctor and Mel. While one of them is generally obstructive and annoying, the other, Queen Minaris, suffers from a general malaise that manifests as a persistent headache. While polluted water is elsewhere used in the story as a cause of sickness, no direct link is ever made to the Queen’s illness – which seems something of a missed opportunity. The story itself is fine, but there’s very little to remark on save it beginning to spin the wheels for Peladon’s ace in the hole.

That ace is The Truth of Peladon, the final part of the boxset. It’s a much smaller affair than the others, consisting of just four actors who generally engage in one-on-one conversations. However, its ambition is so much vaster. Unlike the previous stories, where the environment and political climate have generally been incidental to the overall plot, The Truth of Peladon actually engages with them. Tim Foley doesn’t present a twee approach to the climate or biodiversity crisis, but instead brings his pen to bear with a full-blown volley against the inaction of politicians and the failure of systems to deal with them with any pace. He takes a Dickens-esque approach to Peladon as the planet verges on the edge of catastrophe, and the outstanding cast of Paul McGann, Meera Syal, Jason Watkins and Nicholas Briggs bring it vividly to life. Also, the Eighth Doctor sings an Aggedor lullaby – you’re welcome.

Peladon can be summed up by the handy mnemonic – bad, trad, ad(equate) and rad. Its even-numbered stories are definitely the highlights, and go some way to making the boxset as a whole worth it. While it’s a shame that Peladon doesn’t really explore the Brexit parallels the planet could offer (perhaps by continuing along the lines set by the Virgin New Adventure Legacy), its environmental discussions are an important warning about the dangers our own world could face in the coming decades.

Print copies of Tides 49 are, at time of publication, available to buy through this link