Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon by Terrance Dicks

The serial is set in London and on the Moon in the late 21st century.

It sees the return of the Ice Warriors, previously introduced by Hayles in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors.

Written by Brian Hayles and an uncredited Terrance Dicks and directed by Michael Ferguson, it originally aired in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 January to 1 March 1969. The Seeds of Death is the fifth serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Terrance Dicks (episodes 3–6, uncredited) Steve Peters, Tony Harwood, Sonny Caldinez – Ice Warriors.I loved her reading, really well paced and very clear. Katy captures Jon Pertwee's tones perfectly, as well as the range of alien and human characters. These nudge the recording towards audio-drama without losing the cosy quality if an audio-book, here wonderfully read by Katy Manning, the actor who gave us the wonderful Jo Grant, who also features in the story. As with many of the other audiobook adaptations of the Target novels, there is good sound production with some sparing but effectively used sound effects and musical cues. But all the pieces do click into place in the final act, and the final impression was a light, pacy and fun Doctor Who adventure with some clever story telling and monstrous monsters.

What stymies it slightly is the seemingly endless stand off between Vorg, his assistant Shima and the alien humanoids whose planet they have come to with the scope, with a conspiracy between the aliens also thrown in for good measure. When we find out that they are all miniaturised and held in 'the Scope,' a piece of outlawed entertainment tech held by showman Vorg and his 'glamorous assistant,' that's a neat development, with a load of potential, especially when we find out that the box also holds many other alien species including Ogerons and Cybermen, other classic Who monsters. The scenes on the ship, with its time loop mystery, and rampaging Plesiosauruses, is satisfying and atmospheric story telling. I remember being pretty bemused, though, by the scenes on the alien world with bickering aliens and I had a similar experience listening to this today. I have memories of seeing this as a small boy, and the long necked sea monsters that terrorise the 1990's cruise ship, and then the alien Drashigs, also with their dragon like serpentine necks and terrifying roars, captured my imagination.

Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon by Terrance Dicks