The Power of Kroll is the penultimate story in the Key to Time series and is perhaps the most ambitious. It’s the second story to be written by Robert Holmes (after The Ribos Operation) and is memorable because it had at that point the biggest monster seen on Doctor Who and it also saw John Leeson (voice of K9) make a physical appearance as Dugeen.
The story is set on one of the moons of Delta Magna, Delta Three which sits a protein collection and manufacturing refinery. There is a group of humans and are at war with ‘swampies’ who are inhabitants of the moon that are green. As with a Robert Holmes script there is a double act that the closest that there is the Varlik and Rohm-Dutt partnership. The story soon moves to the rising of Kroll which has been woken up by the refinery. The one thing that this season has been good for are the cliffhangers. This story was no different. The cliffhanger to part one was a bit silly because had it been a creature (obviously not going to be Kroll) then that’s one thing but as it turned out it was just someone dressed up like a giant crab.
Tom Baker and Mary Tamm did another good job together and they didn’t have the annoyance of K9 to deal with. Mary Tamm managed to continue Romana’s good fashion sense as she was suitably dressed for the setting of the story. The guest cast is worthy of a mention as they all did a sterling job. I’ve mentioned John Leeson who character of Dugeen always seemed to be the sane one. Neil McCarthy returns to the show after playing Barnham in ‘The Mind of Evil’ in 1971. In this he plays the very paranoid leader of the refinery Thawn. McCarthy makes him from the outset someone who is going to make a massive mistake which will threaten the lives of everyone on the refinery. Philip Madoc is someone else who makes a return to Doctor Who. His most recent appearance had been in ‘The Brain of Morbius’ and you just know when Philip Madoc’s name is on the credits of a story that you’re going to get a wonderful performance.
The realisation of Kroll is actually quite good. There are some impressive shots of it as it comes out of the water and the tentacles that grab people also add the full scale of the monster. For a relatively small budgeted show like Doctor Who they did a good job making it look like they did. It was good how they decided that it was Kroll that would make up the Fifth segment of the Key. Equally good about how they worked this out in the actual scene.
The Power of Kroll is my favourite story from the Key to Time series. The act it’s largely set outdoors is always something I like. I do wonder whether it was wise to make the swampies green especially as it turns out it was difficult to get off the actors skin. I think that as with most stories of this season, the location filming was one of the best things in the story. One word for the Power of Kroll – Wonderful.
The story is set on one of the moons of Delta Magna, Delta Three which sits a protein collection and manufacturing refinery. There is a group of humans and are at war with ‘swampies’ who are inhabitants of the moon that are green. As with a Robert Holmes script there is a double act that the closest that there is the Varlik and Rohm-Dutt partnership. The story soon moves to the rising of Kroll which has been woken up by the refinery. The one thing that this season has been good for are the cliffhangers. This story was no different. The cliffhanger to part one was a bit silly because had it been a creature (obviously not going to be Kroll) then that’s one thing but as it turned out it was just someone dressed up like a giant crab.
Tom Baker and Mary Tamm did another good job together and they didn’t have the annoyance of K9 to deal with. Mary Tamm managed to continue Romana’s good fashion sense as she was suitably dressed for the setting of the story. The guest cast is worthy of a mention as they all did a sterling job. I’ve mentioned John Leeson who character of Dugeen always seemed to be the sane one. Neil McCarthy returns to the show after playing Barnham in ‘The Mind of Evil’ in 1971. In this he plays the very paranoid leader of the refinery Thawn. McCarthy makes him from the outset someone who is going to make a massive mistake which will threaten the lives of everyone on the refinery. Philip Madoc is someone else who makes a return to Doctor Who. His most recent appearance had been in ‘The Brain of Morbius’ and you just know when Philip Madoc’s name is on the credits of a story that you’re going to get a wonderful performance.
The realisation of Kroll is actually quite good. There are some impressive shots of it as it comes out of the water and the tentacles that grab people also add the full scale of the monster. For a relatively small budgeted show like Doctor Who they did a good job making it look like they did. It was good how they decided that it was Kroll that would make up the Fifth segment of the Key. Equally good about how they worked this out in the actual scene.
The Power of Kroll is my favourite story from the Key to Time series. The act it’s largely set outdoors is always something I like. I do wonder whether it was wise to make the swampies green especially as it turns out it was difficult to get off the actors skin. I think that as with most stories of this season, the location filming was one of the best things in the story. One word for the Power of Kroll – Wonderful.
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