What's Wrong With... The Monster of Peladon

 

As this is supposed to be a sequel to an earlier story, then the first place to look for errors would be with continuity between the two stories. Is there anything in this new story which contradicts the earlier?

By employing the same director and some of the cast, plus the reuse of citadel designs, there's a lot of similarity.

One obvious inconsistency is the mineral trisilicate. In The Curse of Peladon it is clearly stated that this can only be found on Mars. Here, it is suddenly to be found on Peladon, which is a massive coincidence - considering this story also features Ice Warriors from Mars.

Chancellor Ortron appears to claim that he took over from Hepesh the very day that the old High Priest died - yet there was no sign of him in the earlier story.

Why does he not recognise the Doctor as well? Why does he think that Aggedor will harm the man who knows how to tame and control it? He admits openly that "everyone knows the stories about the Doctor" - then shows complete ignorance of them.

Why is there still a temple to Aggedor, when the Doctor previously revealed that it is an animal of flesh and blood and not a deity?

When Aggedor spares the Doctor and Sarah, why does Ortron persist in trying to undermine him?

After the events of the first story Alpha Centauri would have discovered that the Doctor was not a high-ranking Federation official. In fact, there would have been no record of him whatsoever - so why is it so pleased to see him and to vouch for him?

The locals aren't allowed anywhere near Federation weaponry - so why is there a large armoury of Federation weapons here? Wouldn't Federation troops bring their own, as the Ice Warriors do here?

Eckersley is using the mining control room as a base to employ the Aggedor projection / heat weapon, presumably operated by the Ice Warrior spotted by Sarah. 

The miners have been toiling away for a very long time up to this point - so how is the trisilicate currently being processed? Surely no-one could possibly object to the opening of the mine control area to make their life far easier. Same goes for the miners' refusal to use the Federation equipment. They are simply giving themselves a much harder time - then complaining about having so much hard work to do!

The Federation has been on Peladon for 50 years now. When did they find the trisilicate? If they've known about it for a while, why are they only now exploiting it with technology. Shouldn't the conflict over technology have taken place years ago?

If trisilicate is so essential, what did everyone do before it was found on Peladon? Relying on something which only the Ice Warriors had access to would have been a real risk.

And why is Peladon not better protected, if it's the main source of the mineral in a time of war?

What exactly is the Aggedor projection? In the tunnels it is transparent and looks to be a hologram, yet we see the actual statue dematerialise - so why don't people see the actual statue appear?

It's no wonder the Pels aren't happy with the Federation aliens, if they have security systems that drive people insane then kill them. What's wrong with just double locking doors or adding a padlock?

The Doctor and Sarah have the run of the communications room, even after Azaxyr has arrived. Surely such a vital area ought to have been placed under guard. Azaxyr only has himself to blame for letting Alpha Centauri send out an SOS.

At one point the Doctor is sent by Thalira to meet with Gebek. Ortron has him arrested for trying to leave the citadel - and the Doctor fails to mention that he is on a mission from the Queen. He ends up spending time in prison working out a means of escape, when he didn't need to be there in the first place.

Actor and stunt man Max Faulkner gets killed twice - in the same episode. At least he has form in this area, as he got zapped by The Ambassadors of Death but it didn't stop him doing his duty and he was back on guard soon after.

It's hard to feel sorry for the miners who get massacred when they elect to follow Ettis - who they surely can't fail to notice is bonkers. Why favour him over nice, reasonable Gebek? They only have themselves to blame.

You can see Nick (Aggedor) Hobbs' white socks at one point.

In the big fight scene at the end of the fourth episode Pertwee's stunt double Terry Walsh is all too obvious.

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the mines" - oh dear... For this to be an old saying on Peladon, the mines must always be very hot - so why do they have a heating system that makes them hotter?