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| You know how everybody says that going to the beach is amazing? This is the actual result. |
The Power Of Kroll has to be the most typical Doctor Who story ever. Oppressor and victim - check. Giant monster - check. Crazed commander - check. Base Under Siege - check. Anti-colonial message - check.
WRITTEN BY
Robert Holmes, the most veteran of all Doctor Who veterans, here to deliver this veteran tale.
PLOT
Whilst searching for the fifth segment of the Key To Time on a moon of Delta Magna, the Doctor and Romana have to survive the conflict between swamp-dwelling primitives and refinery workers hoping to make a profit, both sides accusing them of being spies. Meanwhile, the huge beast Kroll awakens from beneath the depths, threatening the lives of all living creatures...
ANALYSIS
A very back-to-basics Doctor Who story, it lacks the typical frivolity of the Williams era thus far(particularly this season) and instead harkens back to the more grown-up themes of the previous eras. Fortunately, there are a lot of interesting elements in this story to distract from the pressing "I've seen it all before" feeling of this script. The location filming in particular is an inspired choice, as the rainy swamp immediately gives the story a different sort of feel.
And since this is Robert Holmes writing, he at least presents the overused elements with flavour, making sure not to cross over into boring territory.
CHARACTERS
Tom Baker is his usual happy-go-lucky self, strangely out of place in this very down-to-earth story. When everything and everyone else are making sure the situation is as serious and credible as possible, he's just "nah, I'm the Doctor, I'll just magically find a way out of this". And of course, he does.
Neil McCarthy gives an excellent performance as the base commander, Thawn, making him appear likable in a Captain Picard sort of way until revealing his racism and impatience in making sure his project is carried through.
Lovely to see Philip Madoc again, even if he was upsettingly given some random dude role. At least they don't kill him in the end. From what I hear, he was originally supposed to play Thawn, but the role was snagged from him so he had to play this other guy. It makes sense, because his performance can be described with one word: grumpy. He has no character development at all, so he's just angry for no reason this whole story.
Another returning actor is John Abineri(best remembered for his beautiful performance in The Ambassadors Of Death), who manages to make his one-note blindly devoted character semi-relatable.
John Leeson takes a week off of his continually charming K-9 performances to deliver us the completely forgettable Dugeen. I guess it's nice that they found a way to pay him even though he's not in it...? Should've just sent him to holiday a la Hartnell.
My favourite character by far was Glyn Owen's rogue Rohm-Dutt, a nasty fellow delivering faulty weaponry to the savages. Even though he had virtually no redeeming qualities, he was the only easygoing character in the whole story and the only one to cooperate with Romana and the Doctor in some capacity until the very end. Compared to the stuffy "we must destroy them all" sorts on both sides, he was very refreshing.
Kroll himself is pretty neat in design and backstory, but the greenscreen effect when he buries himself in the swamp is one of the worst I've ever seen. He just sinks away from the screen like a papermade puppet in a child's theatre. The lifesize tentacles aren't that great, either, just uselessly flopping about.
NOTES
*How does the fifth segment stick onto the Key? We've never seen them do that before.
*I've seen many implausible things on this show over the years, but Tom Baker tootling away Bach's "Minuet and Badinerie Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor" on a flute made of reed might just take the cake.
*So... the Doctor has banshee powers? Yet another one of his magical one-offs.
*I love the opening, where the TARDIS appears in the midst of a sea of reed(or is it reeds?). It's so different from the usual clear areas it lands in.
*I give two thumbs up to the Doctor's new coat. In fact, I think it's his best one yet! AWESOME lapels(I love dem lapels! *insert any old Hartnell picture here*). Hopefully it means goodbye to that ghastly white-grey one...
*Is the Doctor's hat getting destroyed a running gag now? In the last story, it was burnt, now it's shot...
*That most futuristic of Doctor Who vessels, the hovercraft(!), reigns its ugly head again...
*The sacrificial song sung by the Swampies to Kroll at the end of episode 1, very catchy. At least the victim dies to a pleasant beat.
*How convenient for the Doctor to find the lost tracer amongst all that thick plantlife...
*Funny how we just had The Stones Of Blood a few weeks ago and now they're already talking about sacrifices on the very same thing...
BEST QUOTE
I legitimately spent like 15 minutes scouring over the transcript fruitlessly.
CONCLUSION
It's perfectly watchable and holds up just fine, but it's nothing to write home about.
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