The Curse of Peladon The Monster of Peladon Legacy

Big Finish Productions The Bride of Peladon

Written by	Eddie Robson
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2008

Starring Peter Davison

Synopsis: A mysterious voice, a missing girl and a murdered queen. The Royal House of Peladon is once more plunged into intrigue, terror and death. The Doctor, Peri and Erimem must find their way through a treacherous labyrinth of lies if they are to distinguish friend from foe before it is too late.

• Return to Peladon III by Noe Geric

Return to Peladon III by Noe Geric 29/5/20

After two TV stories and a Virgin novel set on peladon, it was time for Big Finish to use the planet in a brand-new story that see Erimem, the Egyptian companion, leave the Doctor. And this story is all-over the place!

Every element that defines a Peladon story is here: the king/queen of Peladon, Arcturus, Ice Warriors, Aggedors, a curse, political intrigues, Alpha Centauri and of course, the secrets passages that are hidden in the citadel. The Bride of Peladon could've been a classic, but sadly it isn't really... It's very good, but most of the subplots come to nothing. There's the story about Acturus landing secretly on the planet. He's working with a Peladonian and each one is trying to kill the other. For some reason, Alpha Centauri arrive in that plot for no apparent reason and simply arrest the villain. At one moment, Alpha Centauri talks with Artcurus, so I thought they were working together... But I don't remember this bit being clearly explained at the end. And if it is, it was so unimportant that I forgot it. This part is only here for the episodes to be more than 20 minutes long and nothing else. After the third episode, we never see Arcturus again.

There's also the wedding and the bride (which seems to be the central point, as it is in the title), but this is barely mentioned and is just a pretext for more characters to arrive. At the end, Erimem stays with the king, and they plan to rule together.... But they've known each other for only 24 hours, and the few scenes they share don't show great chemistry between them. Again, it was just a pretext for Erimem to leave... And this time she REALLY leaves the Doctor and Peri. Her departure was foreshadowed in every audio in which she appears since Three's a Crowd; each time she hesitates and finally decides to continue her adventure. The Son of the Dragon was perhaps more appropriate for her departure, as she shared more chemistry with Dracula than with the king of Peladon.

Peri and the Doctor get themselves in other plots: an Ice Warrior trying to avenge his sister (a female Ice Warrior, a long time before Mark Gatiss put one in his Series 10 episode), and the ''main plot'' in which we see an Osirian trying to break free of her tomb. There's also a lot of stuff here, but the Osirian plot is the only one that gets any real development throughout the story. Nick Briggs also plays two characters in this one, but he isn't really good when he tries to play panic. The Ice Warriors are too slow, and their voice is too deep for them to be convincing when they shout or scream. Nick tries to whisper and shout at the same time, and it doesn't work here.

All the characters are well characterized, but the cast is so huge some of them barely appear (the King's champion, the miners who've lost his son...). The story isn't bad; it's enjoyable, but there's too much going on and most of the different plots never get anything to develop them. For the Peladon fans, this is the perfect story, but for me it just feel incomplete. Erimem should've left in Son of the Dragon and Bride of Peladon should've been put earlier in her run. It's a nice but unfinished story: 7/10, but if I listen to the fanboy that hides in my heart, I'll give this story 8/10 because someone did a Peladon story with the Davison's Doctor.