The penultimate story of Season 16, The Power of Kroll is widely regarded as one of the weaker adventures for the Fourth Doctor. It takes one of the simplest premises of any Doctor Who adventure, that of two separate groups of people at war with each other, and tries to do something new and interesting with it. Being written by series veteran Robert Holmes (his final script until The Caves of Androzani in 1984), one should not expect any huge surprises or unexpected twists when watching this one. It's a very basic Holmes-esque script of the sort he already produced back in the Patrick Troughton era with a script like The Krotons from 1969. Consequently, the story has a very simple setup, making things easily understandable right from the start. The fresh take here is the supposed Western vibe of the story - the green Swampies are similar to Native Americans, while the human crew are like the white invaders. The refinery crew have been moving the native Swampies around to dig for riches, which is what happened with the Native Americans in the West as well. Even the location filming, with its rivers, grassy fields and swamps are reminiscent of the fields and prairies of classic American westerns.
But that's about it when it comes to originality. The rest of the plot is easy to figure out in advance and there is very little that hasn't been done before. The entirety of Episode One is spent introducing the characters and the setting, including the history leading up tp the dispute currently at hand. It's not particularly interesting or engaging, and quite bland even coming from Holmes himself. His dialogue in this story is also unusually boring and repetitive - it's mostly the crew members contemplating life and faith and asking questions without any answers. Another problem is the fact that very little is done throughout the four episodes. The Swampies plan to attack and overthrow the crew, while the crew plans a counterattack. But neither actually end up acting out their plans - in fact, the entire uprising is totally forgotten by the final episode. Most of the potential tension surrounding the events of the story has evaporated as a consequence to this.
The cast is not very memorable and none of the actors stick out, with the possible exception of Glyn Owen as outlawed Davy Crockett-esque antihero Rohm-Dutt. His character brings a well needed change of pace to the story, but he is unfortunately quite underdeveloped and not very well put to use. The Power of Kroll also features several returning guest actors, most notably the legendary Philip Madoc in his final appearance on the show. I think he doesn't stand out in any particular way in this tory. He is not bad like he is in The Krotons but also not near as superb as in The War Games and The Brain of Morbius. Taking the part of the villain in this piece, Neil McCarthy was previously seen as Barnham in The Mind of Evil. Here, he is alright, and at least he looks the part, with those ominous eyes and that looming moustache. K-9 voice actor John Leeson also makes his first and only onscreen appearance in quite an anonymous part as one of the crew members. So that's what he looks like! Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are great as usual, even though their characters get very little to do in this story. I also don't like how Romana has become more like the typical Who girl, a process continued in the following story, The Armageddon Factor. It's truly a shame, since Romana is one of the better companions and a true match for the Doctor.
One of the reasons people don't generally remember The Power of Kroll so fondly is because of Kroll itself. It is admittedly the most embarrassing CSO creation since the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, but unlike that story, the people working on this one have at least had the brains to use the massive squid like monster sparingly. No, Kroll isn't the scariest or most memorable monster in the history of the show, but the few appearances it makes generally work well. All death scenes including Kroll's tentacles look very realistic though, and are among the best moments of the story. The final episode of the story is filled with all the tension and action absent from the previous three episodes, and I can only imagine how children were terrified of the things going on here. Here we also have some good moments of tension between the crew members and a final showdown between the Doctor and Kroll which, despite being brief and quite unnecessary, works alright.
The most memorable scene comes in Episode Three, however, when the Doctor and his friends are being tortured by the Swampies. This is probably the most explicit and horrifying torture scene since The Underwater Menace and it actually works quite well, even though the resolution to it is a little bit more than convenient. It's not the best scene ever, but it brings a breath of fresh air into the adventure.
The Power of Kroll is directed by Underworld director Norman Stewart, and I can safely say he does a far better job with this one. The source material is a bit easier to chew, and Stewart never does anything interesting with his story or characters, but at least he isn't attracting unwanted negative attention by being obviously bad.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2018-08-15T08:45:10Z
The penultimate story of Season 16, The Power of Kroll is widely regarded as one of the weaker adventures for the Fourth Doctor. It takes one of the simplest premises of any Doctor Who adventure, that of two separate groups of people at war with each other, and tries to do something new and interesting with it. Being written by series veteran Robert Holmes (his final script until The Caves of Androzani in 1984), one should not expect any huge surprises or unexpected twists when watching this one. It's a very basic Holmes-esque script of the sort he already produced back in the Patrick Troughton era with a script like The Krotons from 1969. Consequently, the story has a very simple setup, making things easily understandable right from the start. The fresh take here is the supposed Western vibe of the story - the green Swampies are similar to Native Americans, while the human crew are like the white invaders. The refinery crew have been moving the native Swampies around to dig for riches, which is what happened with the Native Americans in the West as well. Even the location filming, with its rivers, grassy fields and swamps are reminiscent of the fields and prairies of classic American westerns.
But that's about it when it comes to originality. The rest of the plot is easy to figure out in advance and there is very little that hasn't been done before. The entirety of Episode One is spent introducing the characters and the setting, including the history leading up tp the dispute currently at hand. It's not particularly interesting or engaging, and quite bland even coming from Holmes himself. His dialogue in this story is also unusually boring and repetitive - it's mostly the crew members contemplating life and faith and asking questions without any answers. Another problem is the fact that very little is done throughout the four episodes. The Swampies plan to attack and overthrow the crew, while the crew plans a counterattack. But neither actually end up acting out their plans - in fact, the entire uprising is totally forgotten by the final episode. Most of the potential tension surrounding the events of the story has evaporated as a consequence to this.
The cast is not very memorable and none of the actors stick out, with the possible exception of Glyn Owen as outlawed Davy Crockett-esque antihero Rohm-Dutt. His character brings a well needed change of pace to the story, but he is unfortunately quite underdeveloped and not very well put to use. The Power of Kroll also features several returning guest actors, most notably the legendary Philip Madoc in his final appearance on the show. I think he doesn't stand out in any particular way in this tory. He is not bad like he is in The Krotons but also not near as superb as in The War Games and The Brain of Morbius. Taking the part of the villain in this piece, Neil McCarthy was previously seen as Barnham in The Mind of Evil. Here, he is alright, and at least he looks the part, with those ominous eyes and that looming moustache. K-9 voice actor John Leeson also makes his first and only onscreen appearance in quite an anonymous part as one of the crew members. So that's what he looks like! Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are great as usual, even though their characters get very little to do in this story. I also don't like how Romana has become more like the typical Who girl, a process continued in the following story, The Armageddon Factor. It's truly a shame, since Romana is one of the better companions and a true match for the Doctor.
One of the reasons people don't generally remember The Power of Kroll so fondly is because of Kroll itself. It is admittedly the most embarrassing CSO creation since the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, but unlike that story, the people working on this one have at least had the brains to use the massive squid like monster sparingly. No, Kroll isn't the scariest or most memorable monster in the history of the show, but the few appearances it makes generally work well. All death scenes including Kroll's tentacles look very realistic though, and are among the best moments of the story. The final episode of the story is filled with all the tension and action absent from the previous three episodes, and I can only imagine how children were terrified of the things going on here. Here we also have some good moments of tension between the crew members and a final showdown between the Doctor and Kroll which, despite being brief and quite unnecessary, works alright.
The most memorable scene comes in Episode Three, however, when the Doctor and his friends are being tortured by the Swampies. This is probably the most explicit and horrifying torture scene since The Underwater Menace and it actually works quite well, even though the resolution to it is a little bit more than convenient. It's not the best scene ever, but it brings a breath of fresh air into the adventure.
The Power of Kroll is directed by Underworld director Norman Stewart, and I can safely say he does a far better job with this one. The source material is a bit easier to chew, and Stewart never does anything interesting with his story or characters, but at least he isn't attracting unwanted negative attention by being obviously bad.
Rating: 6,2 out of 10