As an
occasional collector of the Eaglemoss Doctor Who figurines, I spotted their Aggedor ‘Special Edition’ issue in W H
Smiths this week, and added it to the collection.
It’s no
secret I’m fond of the classic series, and did enjoy the two seventies Peladon
stories, written by Brian Hayles, which took their inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, Hound of The Baskervilles - The
Curse of Peladon (1972) and The Monster of Peladon (1974) in which
the cuddly monster, Aggedor appeared.
Aggedor, as
any classic Doctor Who fan will tell you, is the legendary creature that lives in
the catacombs beneath the Royal Citadel on the planet of Peladon. He is
worshipped by the primitive Pels, who consider him a God. In, The Curse.., King Peladon (played by
David Troughton, son of former Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton) wants his planet
to join the Galactic Federation, High Priest, Hepesh isn’t happy about this, as
he feels his position is threatened and following a series of apparent accidents, blames the mythical
animal, in an attempt to persuade the superstitious Pels that the God, Aggador
is displeased.
Stuntman, Nick Hobbs was the man inside the costume, who could just about see what was happening through the mouth, which made it difficult during fight scenes.
Stuntman, Nick Hobbs was the man inside the costume, who could just about see what was happening through the mouth, which made it difficult during fight scenes.
Jon Pertwee’s
Doctor, who’s mistaken for an Earth Delegate, soon gets to the bottom of
things, hypnotising the aggressive Aggedor with a Venusian Lullaby and turning
the tables.
Both the
stories featured the popular Ice Warriors, the lizard like monsters from Mars.
They are
also members of the Galactic Federation and there to assist in Peladon’s entry
into the Galactic Federation. The twist is in both stories they are not quite
what they seem.
Eaglemoss
have done a nice figurine of force leader Commander Azaxyr. (In ‘Curse’, Alan
Bennion plays Ice Lord Commander Izlyr, and in ‘Monster’ he plays Ice Lord Azaxyr.)
Another Federation
Delegate, who would later become a Federation Ambassador is the one-eyed, six
armed, Alpha Centauri, described by the Doctor as a hermaphroditic hexapod! Script editor, Terrance Dicks described it somewhat differently...!
In both Curse and Monster, the body is operated by stuntman, Stuart Fell, and the voice is provided by Ysanne Churchman. Ysanne who, as I write is aged 92 retired in 1993, however she did reprise her role as the voice of Alpha Centauri in the 2017 Peter Capaldi Doctor Who episode, Empress of Mars
Fabulous photos Scoop. You really have got these illuminated scenes nailed! I'm not a massive Who fan anymore but I was when I was a kid. One of my favourite stories was .. yes, the Curse of Peladon. Its got a tusked monster so what's not to like! I liked it so much that I even got it on VHS video, which I still have. Lovely work Scoop. You really should publish a book!
ReplyDeleteThanks Woodsy, it takes a while to set things up but as you know I'd personally rather see models or toys with a suitable background. Sorry to hear you're not a Who fan anymore. As well as Daleks I love the Pertwee and Tom Baker era's, and have done since I first watched them, I still find them very nostalgic.
DeleteI'm afraid I've no interest in creating a book at this point in time, although its nice of you to suggest it. Although it's true that a good few of my snaps do turn up on other sites I'm really still learning about photography technique. At the moment I suppose I'm gauging any interest in what I post on here as a kind of market research.
Well done, Scoop. I agree with Woodsy... your classic Doctor Who photo shoots are excellent. They take me back to Saturday evenings in front of our 1970s televison :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony, I'm really pleased you feel that nostalgic buzz from them. I like to take photos of whatever I'm feeling particularly enthusiastic about at the time, which is why, as a blog author I very rarely schedule posts. My reasoning is that hopefully some of my enthusiasm comes through in what I do post.
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