YYY5 - The Monster of Peladon 5

Now that the miners and the guards are working together in opposition against the Ice Warriors, and all the nobility (what's left of them, anyway) sequestered to the Queen's throne room, Chancellor Ortron's usefulness officially comes to an end in this episode, and, conveniently, so does his life by way of an Ice Warrior gun. Perhaps, with Ortron's death, Peladon can end their decades-long habit of installing Dick Cheney-like Chancellors to undermine their weak monarchs.

Speaking of weak monarchs, I present to you Queen Thalira. The poor queen doesn't wield much power, and, apart from a brief foray into the mines earlier, has spent this entire story in her throne room, and the last couple of episodes under guard in said throne room by one or more Ice Warriors. She also has an overbite, and, coupled with Jon Pertwee's sssibilant sss's, as well as all the hissing Ice Warrior dialogue, there must have been plenty of saliva to mop up after each recording session at BBC Television Centre...

If the Queen is more than often stuck in the throne room in this story, then has Alpha Centauri even left the communications room this story? Or in the 50 years between visits by The Doctor? And what, apart from playing table tennis, has it been up to all this time? Can't help but feel sorry for the poor creature.