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The Curse of Peladon
I’ve recently bought a Doctor Who boxed set containing both stories set on Peladon, the first is a creepy atmospheric story, in which The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) & Jo(Katy Manning) arrive on the desolate planet of Peladon during a galactic conference, and soon find themselves becoming embroiled in a game of political intrigue.

Among the other Delegates present are The King of Peladon and a motley assortment of aliens including The Ice Warriors & a Hermaphrodite Hexapod named Alpha Centauri.

The conference is taking place to enable Peladon to join the Federation, However not everyone is happy about this and the Doctor soon suspects that someone is trying to sabotage the conference by citing an ancient legend of a fearsome monster which will bring about death and destruction if displeased. At first everyone thinks this is a load of superstitious nonsense, but then people start dying….

Monster of Peladon
The second story is a creepy and atmospheric six-part episode in which the Doctor (John Pertwee) and his companion Sarah Jane (Elizabeth Sladon) return to the planet of Peladon some fifty years after the first visit & find a troubled planet ruled by the late King’s daughter Queen Talira (Nina Thomas) who rather reminds me of Rogue with that hair

The place is in the middle of a war and is in turmoil, the Federation is desperate to mine a mineral which is found only on Peladon, but someone or something is preventing this by terrorizing the miners. Being very superstitious, they suspect it is the Spirit of the legendary Aggador, who is very unhappy at having his sacred mountain desecrated.

The Doctor however is convinced that there is a more rational explanation so he intervenes in order to placate the unhappy miners, who want to mount an armed rebellion. At first he suspects Chancellor Ortron (Frank Gatliff) who is controlling the Queen and seems to be hell-bent on causing more trouble, but then he discovers an old enemy lurking in the caves….
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The Masque of Mandragora
The next classic Doctor Who episode to be released on DVD is The Masque of Mandragora in which the Doctor (Tom Baker) unwittingly brings back something rather unpleasant from outer space, and when he lands on 14th Century Earth it escapes, takes over the first person it meets & proceeds to run amok….

The second part of David Tennant’s exciting final outing as Dr Who, sees the President of the Time Lords (Timothy Dalton), look to Earth for their salvation in order to halt the Time War, having realised Dr Who and The Doctor are still alive.

Meanwhile back on Earth The Master has put his latest evil plan in motion and The Doctor & Wilf are being held prisoner, but help comes from an unlikely source, much to the Master’s annoyance. The Doctor & The Master soon realise that somehow The Time Lords have managed to escape from the Time War and they are planning something much worse

So it’s up to The Doctor who is faced with an impossible choice whilst trying to save Earth, and after Poignant final scenes featuring appearances by all his former companions, makes the ultimate sacrifice…

But don’t worry Doctor Who will return with new Doctor Matt Smith & his (rather hot) companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) sometime during 2010

I am a big fan of Doctor Who, and now that the Festive Season is over for another year & things are a little less manic, I have finally managed to watch the first part of David Tennant’s final two-part episode as Doctor Who. Entitled “The End of Time”, It sees The Doctor being summoned to the planet of The Oood, who are having disturbing visions about the return of the evil Master (John Simm) and events which could bring about the end of time itself.

Meanwhile there are those who are determined to bring The Master back to life at any cost (hmmm that’s probably not a good idea) and a Billionaire named Naismith has also acquired an alien device known as The Immortality Gate, which has the power to make people immortal & undo damage on whole planets. He wants The Master’s help to get it working again, needless to say the Master co-operates with the intention of using it for his own evil purposes

Back on Earth Wilfred (Bernard Cribbins) somehow knows something sinister is about to happen and is desperately searching for the Doctor to seeks his help, hoping he will save the human race and stop whatever is going on before it is too late…

The forthcoming Doctor Who special The Waters of Mars is ‘one of the scariest’ according to star David Tennant. It sees the Timelord arrive on Mars in 2059 and battle terrifying zombie like aliens.

Viewers will see the Doctor meet the first human colony of people In time honoured tradition the transformation scenes are sure to send children rushing to the back of the sofa.

The episode, which will broadcast on BBC1 on November 15, also shows him facing a moral dilemma about whether to condemn people to their fate or save them and ultimately change the future.

Lindsay Duncan stars as Adelaide, commander of the colony. Tennant, 38, said the special was ‘probably one of the scariest’ yet. He added: ‘It tells a different story. It is a long time into the episode before the Doctor takes control. We expect him to know what to do and take control earlier. It is a long time before he does it.’ Russell T Davies dismissed the suggestion the drama could be too scary for children, and insisted that it was still aimed primarily at the family audience.

He said: ‘It’s a very intelligent story. Six year olds will be able to follow it. The is the sort of challenge you should give them.

The Waters of Mars will be followed by two final episodes over the Christmas period
which will see him battle arch enemy The Master, played by John Simm.

Audiences will also see him reunited with Donna Noble, played by comic actress
Catherine Tate before he regenerates.

Tennant, who announced he was quitting the show a year ago, is being replaced by
Matt Smith, 27.

He will make a brief appearance in the final special before featuring in the fifth
series next year.

Tennant has admitted he is ‘jealous’ of Smith, who is the youngest actor to have
played the character.

He explained: ‘I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey and nerve-wracking – I’m jealous that he’s going through that now, but it couldn’t happen to a nicer chap. ‘I’m looking forward to not knowing what happens next. I’m looking forward to being a viewer again.’

He added that he had to keep a ’stiff upper lip’ while filming his final scenes.

‘It was very emotional saying cheerio. There is lots of scenes in the final episode that are very sad, and were very sad to play.’

Steven Moffat, who is taking over from Russell T Davies running the popular series, has already hailed Smith as the best Time Lord yet.

The Doctor (Colin Baker) & his incredibly hot companion Peri (Nicola Bryant), who wore a succession of increasingly skimpy outfits during her time with the Doctor – It’s a wonder he didn’t get distracted & start doing interesting things with his sonic screwdriver, lol….erm…yeah I’m…er…digressing a bit.

Anyway they are lured to London in 1985 by an alien distress signal, so go to investigate and find themselves in the midst of an attempted bank robbery where the criminals are hoping to enter a bank vault from the sewers underneath. However they soon find something altogether more sinister lurking in the sewers as well….

Very creepy & atmospheric episode from Dr Who’s classic gothic period which used to have people like me watching it from behind the sofa, lol. The Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion Leela (Louise Jameson) find themselves drawn to a supposedly haunted priory on Earth, where the find a chap named Dr Fendalmann (Dennis Lill) conducting experiments on a mysterious ancient skull which is far older than any previously found human skull.

They then discover sinister goings on involving a secret cult who worship a mythical creature that feeds on peoples souls….

I am a big fan of old Dr Who episodes, especially those I had to watch as a youngster from behind the sofa. This episode starts with The Doctor being drawn back to his home planet of Gallifrey by visions of the present Chancellor being Assassinated, and finds himself being charged with the crime himself!

The Doctor soon finds himself in an alternate reality fighting for his life against an old adversary who it turns out brought him back to Gallifrey in order to get rid of him for good….

This is the third disc in the Beneath the Surface boxed -set which I have been watching throughout the week. It sees The Doctor (Peter Davison) Turlough & Tegan (Janet Fielding) visiting Earth in the near future, and finding themselves under attack & forced to make an emergency landing deep in the ocean at Seabase Four.

Things then go from bad to worse when Seabase Four comes under attack from both The Sea Devils and The Silurians, who are both understandably upset by what happened the last time they tried to broker a peace between themselves & Mankind, and are out for revenge…

I thought this story lacked the emotional depth of the other two stories, and There was was little attempt made at creating atmosphere, drama or suspense consequently it is not quite the classic that the other two are. Mind you the special effects were better (apart from the Myrka lol) and I still really enjoyed it.

I was also interested to learn that after 2009 David Tennant would no longer be playing the Doctor, various forums are abuzz with rumours about who may be taking over the roll. I reckon Richard E. Grant would be great

“I demand to have some b…”
“EX-TER-MI-NATE!”
“Scrubbers!”
“EX-TER-MI-NATE!”

This is another Classic DR Who story I’ve watched. Broadcast in 1972 it starts when The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) visit The Master (Roger Delgado) who has been imprisoned on an island prison run by Govonor Trenchard (Clive Morton) and appears to be a reformed character.

Then The Doctor learns that the Royal Navy has had a number of strange sinkings centred round a nearby abandoned fort, so he and Jo go to investigate. and learn of a colony of intelligent Prehistoric Reptillian creatures living under the sea…

This story has echoes of The Silurian story, being as it deals with a race of Ancient Reptilian Creatures living on Earth, and Roger Delgado makes a suitably charismatic villian as the Master.

I am in the process of watching a Dr WHo DVD boxed set called Beneath

the Surface. It contains three classic episodes – The Silurians, The Sea Devils & Warriors of the Deep. So far I have ony seen The Silurians.

This story takes place at Wenley Moor Research Establishment – an underground Atomic Research Centre built into a cave system. It is run by Dr Lawrence & contains a Proton Accelerator. They are trying to discover a way to produce cheap safe atomic energy for all, and are developing a new type of reactor which will convert nuclear energy directly intoelectrical power.

There have been an alarming number of accidents, power failures & deaths at the establishment and The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and his assistant Liz Smith are called to investigate. They discover a colony of intelligent prehistoric reptillian humanoid creatures known as Silurians living in the caves, who are trying to wipe out the human race…