When interplanetary politics look messy, just remember: at least nobody’s trying to hypnotize your dog with a lullaby.
Short Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo accidentally arrive on the planet Peladon, where a medieval castle hosts a futuristic Galactic Federation membership hearing. Political intrigue, alien ambassadors, and a supposedly sacred monster complicate things, leaving the Doctor to play detective while Jo pretends to be a princess.
Extended Storyline
The TARDIS plunks down on a windswept mountainside (because of course it does), and the Doctor and Jo stumble into Castle Peladon — an ancient fortress run by King Peladon, a nervous young monarch with big Federation dreams and equally big sideburns. He wants his planet to join the Galactic Federation, but there’s one tiny snag: his High Priest Hepesh, who prefers worshipping the old gods (and monsters) to filling out interstellar paperwork.
Enter the ambassadors: Alpha Centauri, a nervous, shrieking eyeball in a cape who’s basically a walking anxiety attack; Arcturus, a grumpy disembodied head in a life-support box; and the Ice Warriors, surprisingly diplomatic for once. Jo, thanks to a comedy of errors, gets mistaken for an Earth princess and gamely plays along, because why not? It’s Tuesday.
Just as the committee starts debating Peladon’s membership, a series of “accidents” begins. A delegate almost dies in a “mysterious” fall. The corridors echo with the roars of Aggedor, Peladon’s legendary sacred beast (a shaggy man in a fur suit with a dog’s head — truly a vision of terror). Hepesh insists this is divine punishment for abandoning tradition. The Doctor, however, suspects sabotage.
Between dodging assassination attempts, hypnotizing Aggedor with a Venusian lullaby (yes, really), and keeping Jo from getting betrothed to King Peladon, the Doctor slowly unravels the plot. Surprise! Hepesh has been manipulating the beast and trying to keep Peladon from joining the Federation, fearing it’ll erode tradition and his own cushy priestly power.
The Ice Warriors, refreshingly not the villains for once, side with the Doctor and expose Hepesh. There’s some scuffling, some growling from Aggedor, and Hepesh meets his end courtesy of the very creature he claimed to control. King Peladon, grateful to Jo and the Doctor, offers Jo his hand in marriage. She politely declines, because, well, she already has her hands full traveling with a flamboyant scientist in a cape.
The Doctor and Jo slip away, just as news comes in that UNIT actually did want him at a real peace conference back on Earth. Oops. Wrong summit.