BF 104: The Bride of Peladon

[SiHart]

Ours arrived just in time for a big car journey tomorrow. Sometimes I think we're as cursed as the benighted planet of Peladon.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

The Bride of Peladon certainly ties up a few loose ends! Parts 1-3 weren't bad at all, they captured the feel of the Peladon stories well and there were some excellent Alpha Centauri jokes, even though the character only seemed to be in it for comic relief this time round. All the voices were recreated faithfully, even if Ageddor was rather obviously Nick Briggs going 'Raaowr!' There's an exciting space-ship crash, intrigue and plotting, traitors and backstabbing and mysterious forces at work.

But then there's the big reveal and the horrifying pun 'A Botanist who really knows her An-ions' and its downhill all the way.

SPOILER!!!!!!! *************************

Good grief, Sekhmet the Undead! The Doctor should have used the time controller from the TARDIS to sort him out.

[Stuart Wallis]

Does Nick do anything other than roar when he's not Daleking?

[Rob McCow]

Yes, Nick was the Ice Lord Ixxylr too. And a guard. Whatever happened to Dan Hogarth?

Bride of Peladon was a lot of fun. Poor old Erimem, though! I was just getting to like her, too.

[SiHart]

Spoilers!

Thinking about it now, the way that Erimem was written out has to be the poorest departure since Leela sort of held hands a bit with Andred. There wasn't any indication that it was coming other than us in the know being aware it was her last story. In many ways she'd have been better written out with Dracula.
She's gone and I can't pretend I'm going to miss her. Sorry!

The story itself was fine, though the revelation of the enemy took it away from traditional Peladon adventure territory into something else entirely, and I'm not sure that it was necessarily a good idea. To do a sequel to one story may be fine, but two is overegging the pudding and the sweetness of nostalgia soon starts to rot your teeth.
However, the revelation made me laugh because of my little joke at the end of part 1 of Magical History Tour.


Si xx

[Simon R]

They could stick this in the inevitable "Peladon" DVD boxed set.

Or up their chuffs.

[Si Hunt]

I'll post my comments when I've finished it later, but just one gripe:

Why have pointless 10 second pre-credit sequences mid disc? If you listen an episode at a time it makes it nearly impossible to find your place again when you go to listen to Episodes 2 and 4.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Perhaps they should drop the cliffhangers altogether? Although that might open us up to having 75 minute dirge episodes where nothing much happens. Ooo, it's a tough choice!

[Lissa]

Yes - the pre-titles bit is a bad thing when trying to join the tracks in iTunes. It is fine if someone has submitted the track info but on a brand new release it is vexing.

It vexes me.

Which is proof.

[Si Hunt]

I actually quite enjoyed this one. I agree with what Si said - suddenly turning this into a "Pyramids of Mars" re-tread was fun, but kind of made the story into something else. It didn't help that characters like the Ice Lord, Alpha Centurai and the Arcturan villain were suddenly sidelined at this point too. None of them ended up playing much of a part in the plot.

But if this was two great stories glued together, they were both good ones. The Peladon recreation was enjoyable even to me (I'm not a huge fan of either story on TV) as was the ressurection of a female relation of Sutekh. Who'd have thought that our own humble audio adventures would have mentioned Sehkmet the Undead 6 months before Big Finish featured her though? As fate transpired I'd already picked up on Si's reference and written another reference to the lost Osiran into the forthcoming story I'm script-editing, "The Paradise Machine". Perhaps I should take it out now it's gone from being one of our running gags to an actual continuity reference.

The stuff with the four princesses was at least more convincing than the Time Control from the TARDIS sorting things out in "Pyramids", if Erimem's departure was so unconvincing as to appear to be an actual homage to crap romances in TV Doctor Who. But hoorah for Jane Goddard's hilarious anecdote in the extras about researching Alpha Centurai's giggle: "Rob came home and told me it was in her first scene, right after I'd had to sit through the whole wretched story!".

Si.

[SiHart]

I enjoyed it to Si, despite all all the things I complained about- I still just feel that all the Osiran stuff belonged in another play, and felt a little tacked on to this one really.

Still the good points were Jane Goddard's spot on recreation of Alpha Centurai, even if the character was only used for comic relief and cheap eye gags. It was a good cast overall, expecially the mighty Phylidda Law who was superb as Belladonna and Jenny Agguter was suitably chilling as the villainess.

I'm not sure about BF's "Everybody leaves" companion departures. It didn't really ring true in either of the two recent companion leaves stories, perhaps more so with Davison. It didn't seem quite in character for his Doctor, even at the departure of Erimem (who he'd forgotten about earlier!), as he was quite upset when his other ones left him.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I didn't think Agguter had quite enough gravitas to be an Osiran. She was okay, but perhaps they needed to modulate down the voice a bit? She just sounded like any old female villain, not an ancient God.

Si.

[SiHart]

I think they were trying to emulate the hushed menacing tones of Gabriel Wolfe, but it didn't quite suceed, did it?

Si xx

[Dirk Gently]

I forgot to add my thoughts on this, such as they are.
This was OK but nothing special. The story was interesting enough but not outstanding in any department. The 'Ghost of the Prince's Mother' obviously to me wasn't anything of the sort so that had no surprise or suspense.

It tells you something when I enjoyed the CD extras more than the play.

[Stuart Wallis]

Just as it was starting to be a decent Peladon story, we suddenly get a spin-off of Pyramids Of Mars. Which was quite exciting in its way, though I couldn't help thinking we've hadthe last of the Osirans in Pyramids and The Sands Of Time as well. Leave that to one side and it wasn't a bad ending after a slowish first half.

At last a bit of excitement involving Erimem! I thought she was done for, and that for me was the highlight of the play - and not just because it meant the end of her for good. Actually the way she was written out was more or less exactly like Leela's; going off and marrying someone she hadn't known five minutes. After all the drama of the previous few minutes, that was a massive anti-climax.

And Phylidda Law was excellent.

[Dirk Gently]

...though I couldn't help thinking we've had the last of the Osirans in Pyramids and The Sands Of Time as well.

Well, there are always the last of something around...until you find another one! Timelords anyone?

[Stuart Wallis]

Get them up on eBay and see what happens!

[stuartdg]

I enjoyed this a lot plenty of atmosphere and authenticity and while the Osiran plotline felt out of place it didn't really detract from the story and added credibility for Erimem's departure.Good stuff all round