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I left you last time with the impression
that I don’t like Alpha Centauri. Well, I don’t but "his" fast and
squeaky "Thank you Eckersley but you are still a traitor" is a fine bit
of comedy.
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How many times does Sarah Jane convince
herself that the Doctor is dead? She spends most of the time in mourning
only to repeatedly find out he’s alive. You’d think eventually she’d
consider the possibility that he might be all right. Or just really
badly injured. Possibly disfigured.
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They refer to Eckersley’s "Patent alarm
system". I wonder if he’s literally patented his alarm system. If he
has, you’d think he’d stop being traitorous and enjoy the massive piles
of cash his disco-security device would’ve earned him. Imagine branches
of HMV which have that going off whenever someone tries to half-inch the
new Robbie Williams CD.
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The Doctor says that Eckersley’s machine
sends "an image" of Aggedor to kill people. If its only an image why
does the statue disappear?
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And don’t the statue’s paws make it look
like Alan Partridge going "grr" after Tony LeMesma has hypnotised him?
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The transfer machine has the word "Transfer"
on it. Which means the Doctor was wrong about the image thing. I’m
confused.
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During the peasants’ revolt, the rabble can
do nothing except wave their tools and shout "RAHHH". Except for one
occasion when they have to be quiet so they wave their tools and whisper
"RAHHH".
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When the rabble storm the throne room there
is a wonderful bit of confusion from an Ice Warrior. He looks around in
panic as if he’s just realised there are lots of people starring at him
and hasn’t got any clothes on.
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When Eckersley makes his escape at the end,
why does he bother kidnapping the Queen? His two options were to sneak
away in the confusion and escape in his secret space ship or go back to
the throne room, tell Alpha about his space ship, kidnap the Queen and
ensure that the whole of Peladon was looking for him. Nice choice.
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Lis Sladen has a really good two and a half
hours. Her facial expressions when she thinks Eckersley is going to
shoot her in the back of the head are actual proper acting.
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"A tear?" is one of the iconic bits of
Pertwee’s era. I didn’t know until now that it was from Monster of
Peladon. I assumed it was from something… um… you know… better.
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The Pels are very protective of Aggedor and
treat disrespect towards their god very harshly. Except when the Doctor
uses it as a sniffer dog. That’s fine apparently.
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As is getting god killed. That’s fine too.
The Peladonian equivalent of Richard Dawkins must’ve been grinning from
badger-coloured-sideburn to badger-coloured-sideburn when he heard the
news.
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The Doctor says of the citadel of Peladon,
"it’s one of the most interesting…" You’ll note he can’t bring himself
to finish the sentence.
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The miners of Peladon have surprisingly good
grammar. "He slew one of us" says an ignorant maggot ridden peasant.
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If "coccyx" was really banned, how did they
get away with "grey around the tentacles"?
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During the first Alpha Centauri scene, Lis
Sladen ends up at the back of the shot. With no lines to distract her
and a phallic green alien in front of her she has a look of "What am I
doing here?" on her face.
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The story in part revolves around Gebek
having the respect of the common man. Yes, he’s so respected that twice
in 30 minutes he gives his miners instructions which they promptly
ignore as soon as he’s gone.
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Gebek says he doesn’t know how to use the
sonic lance. He adds that he’ll learn. Eight seconds later he’s blown a
perfect hole in the wall. If only Microsoft could make such intuitive
user interfaces.
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Why is there a full Federation armoury on a
planet with two Federation representatives, neither of whom carries a
weapon?
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And why, with only two Federation people on
the planet, did they build two technology packed rooms? They pretty much
shared out the functions at random and there is quite a walk between
them. It’s almost as if Eckersley expected a passing adventurer to get
control of one of them and was ready for a battle of wits.
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I love it when Pertwee gets out of trouble
by singing or doing that magic trick where he makes a coin disappear.
Hartnell shouted his way out of trouble, Troughton worried his way out
of trouble and Pertwee pretends he’s doing a children’s party. All Tom
Baker ever did was grin.
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Is anyone else faintly embarrassed at how
easily the Doctor falls into Autron’s trap when told he is confined to
the citadel?
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Autron says Sarah is "only a female" and
Alpha says she "is of little consequence". Well, do we watch "The Alpha
and Autron Adventures" nearly 35 years later? I don’t think we do.
