YMMV / Doctor Who S9 E2 "The Curse of Peladon"

• Angst? What Angst?: The minute Hepesh is mortally wounded by Aggedor, Peladon completely forgets about how the guy threatened to kill him. Possibly justified, in that the guy was his Parental Substitute, but still.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This story has the Doctor being sure that the Ice Warriors are up to nefarious business, thanks to his previous experience with them. The next Peladon story will have him sure that the Ice Warriors are now good guys, thanks to this story...but in fact, the Ice Warrior in question will actually be a traitor (though he's also said to be a renegade).
  • The Doctor mentions that he hasn't seen a royal coronation since either "Victoria's" or "Elizabeth I," later implying that it was the former. Ten incarnations later, the Doctor will be aiming for Elizabeth's coronation in "The Witchfinders," though (s)he still won't make it.
• Ho Yay: A mildly famous example - there's only one bed in the Ice Warriors' room. This or There Is Only One Bed?
• Narm: The Venusian lullaby would be more plausible if it wasn't sung to the tune of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
• Strawman Has a Point: Hepesh is treated as an unreasonable nationalist willing to do anything not to deal with the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. But "The Mutants" two serials later shows that an earlier Human Empire did to the planet Solos exactly what Hepesh feared would happen to Peladon, exploited to the point of destruction and with the native population almost wiped out. Later in "The Monster of Peladon" it's shown a lot of the miners on Peladon feel they are being exploited, and "Planet of the Ood" would give another good reason to dislike the empire. That said the Federation does come across as far better than the Earth Empires.
• Unfortunate Character Design: The notoriously phallic appearance of Alpha Centauri. The cloak was added at the last minute to try to disguise this. It didn't work.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: King Peladon is presented as being cruel and harsh for forcing the Doctor to engage in trial by combat to the death. However, he is the king—he can't go around giving exceptions to crimes just because he's personally sympathetic to someone.
• Values Resonance: This was an allegorical story about Britain's relationship with the European Economic Community, and all the xenophobia and genuine wariness such a thing entailed. It gained relevance again in 2016 when the Brexit referendum happened. The accusations and claims that membership amounts to slavery are similar to those used by the Pro-Leave side, as is the violence whipped up by Nationalism.

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