I've been pretty mixed on Sarah Jane up until this point, but this story completely turned me around on her, largely due to Elizabeth Sladen's phenomenal performance.

I've found listening to the audiobooks of the novelisations has helped me focus some of my thoughts about this story. I've always enjoyed it in the past and was of the general opinion it wasn't as bad as received wisdom suggested and that it had lots of good elements.

I was hoping my Peladon-centric rewatch would confirm this but sadly, I found myself a bit bored this time round and I've been pondering why whilst listening to the audiobook (which so far is a scene by scene retread of the TV version with nothing added, as far as I can tell, so far).

The Monster of Peladon is, sadly, a pale retread of Curse for the simple reason that it takes the setting, the characters and the atmosphere of Curse and dispenses with every single interesting aspect.

Curse has various alien delegates bickering and scheming. Monster kills the most interesting one off before the first episode has finished and just leaves us wih Centauri and Eckersley.

Curse has Centauri being a prissy, yet effective poltician. Monster has Centauri being a quivering nervous wreck, even more easily pressured into making bad decisions than it was in Curse. It also - bizarrely - has a worse 'costume' (the thickness of the curtain makes Centauri look clunky).

Curse has the glorious twist that the Ice Warriors are goodies. Now obviously that couldn't be repeated here but just making all the Warriors baddies is hugely lazy. Why not have a contingent of 'good' Martians turn up and discover a faction of bad Warriors and have the conflict between them - rather than stupidly-haired miners doing the same thing episode after episode - attack the armoury, run through the tunnels, get killed by the Aggedor ghost, run through the tunnels, get angry and cheer, run through the tunnels etc. Imagine the Warriors discovering a traitor in their midst in league with Eckersley. That could have been much more effective than what we got.

Curse has a brilliant role for Jo with her relationship with the King. Monster has Sarah bouncing between the control room and the tunnels with alarming repetition, being taken hostage by a succession of characters and believing the Doctor to be dead more than across the episodes. The glimmers of good stuff for her are in her throne room scenes - realising how they can get rid of the Federation troops and, significantly, giving Thalira a pep-talk about women's lib. Her role in the story - and Thalira's for that matter - could have been hugely improved by pairing them off and having them drive the plot in the palace while the Doctor was focussed on the efforts of the miners and the mystery of the Aggedor ghost. As it is, Sarah does very little in the story and isn't aided by being written as quite unpleasant in some parts (such as her reaction to Centauri).

Monster really does seem lazy and repetitive both of Curse and within its own episodes. There is good stuff and some great performances - Rex Robinson is good and Nina Thomas was better than I remember but it is definitely a step down from The Curse of Peladon.

The more I think about it, the more I think I need to drop my rating.

Don’t think I enjoyed this story so much more then I did I used to hate it now it’s fine character development right here

The Curse of Peladon is perhaps a surprising choice of story to write a sequel to – had another Pealdon story never been written I doubt fans would be clamouring for it, I am however glad that this story exists. Ever since The Three Doctors the show has felt more comfortable revisiting its own history and building on its mythos. In this case we get the rare treat of seeing the consequences of The Doctor's actions explored fifty years later.

It was a relief to see Sarah Jane's character enhabiting more of her original purpose in this story. She is a tough advocate of the women's liberation who wants to make a difference on Peladon (even if this is not handled particularly subtly). With modern eyes there is an interesting tension between the stories' mission statement to promote women's capabilities and the fact that The Doctor spends the story babying and talking over Sarah Jane, who pretty consistently accepts it with good nature. This isn't a major criticism, it is a huge improvement on Death to the Daleks, but when there are only a handful of women in a cast full of men it is difficult to not address the way women are represented in the show. Especially when the promotion of women's rights is a significant feature of the plot! Women's issues aren't the only problem here, it is a worry that most of the working class characters in this are complete idiots who don't know what's good for them!

I like the way the Ice Warriors are portrayed here, as an overbearing political force which puts minor colonies under extreme pressure. It furthers the 1970s EEC allegory from the initial Peladon story, looking at where political agreements can go wrong. This kind of real world evil makes them a more relatable and possibly more menacing threat to the audience.

Eckersley's reveal as a villain (or a character who doesn't care about Peladon either way) is nicely handled and was not entirely suspected. The aliens looked good with the exception of the new wooden faced creature in episode one (wonky eyes!). It would perhaps have been good to see some more new aliens as bar from the wooden faced man it was a partial selection of those seen in The Curse of Peladon.

The Doctor's (almost) death scene is wonderful. I really believe Sarah Jane's relationship with him, they have come a long way in four stories. This works as good foreshadowing for the next story - there are huge changes to come.

As with a lot of six partners this could lose a couple of episodes - but it was a good addition to the series.

A win for feminism, miners' rights, and the space European Union, but ultimately not enough Alpha Centauri