Doctor Who (TV Series) The Power of Kroll: Part One (1978) User Reviews

It's OK so far, solid opener

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 20 August 2015]

The Doctor and Romana are searching for the fifth segment to the key to time, they land on the very green and marshy Delta Magna. We hear rumours of Earth people arming and helping the Swampies (the natives) against the ruthless human conglomerate mining methane on Delta Magna. The natives worship their God Kroll and are soon to sacrifice a captured Romana to it.

I realise that this is considered one of the weakest of Tom's outings, and the worst in the key to time saga. It's been a while since i've seen it so here goes.

The Swampies look a bit dodgy, little green men syndrome, they aren't too badly realised just a little bit clichéd.

The locations look particularly good, and the sets of the refinery look pretty good too.

It's seemingly a story of the good guys and the bad guys, but which are which, it's thus far a more grown up story, definitely more so then Ribos and Pirate Planet.

I've enjoyed it more then I thought, my memory of it was not good, but it wasn't half bad, feels a little like a Pertwee story, the hover crafts etc, but not bad at all, 7/10

Better Than It's Reputation Suggests

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 12 January 2014]

Refers To All Four Episodes . Suggestive Spoilers

Searching for the fifth segment of The Key To Time the Doctor and Romana land on the third moon of Delta Magna where the indigenous population colloquially called " The Swampies " are in dispute with the humans running a methane refinery . Things take a turn for the worse when the Swampie God Kroll - in reality a giant squid - makes an appearance

The Power Of Kroll has a very poor reputation amongst DOCTOR WHO fandom with many fans rating it the worst story scripted by Robert Holmes and by far the worst story of season 16 . I've always been puzzled by its low regard . Okay narrative wise it's a simple story of cowboys and Indians , or more accurately greedy corporate humans versus green aliens but its serious tone is a welcome relief from the whimsy seen throughout the season . It's not a story that's scared to kill off characters and little touches like the Swampy firing his weapon only for it to explode in his face does bring a dramatic quality to the proceedings

One thing the season has done very well is make use of location filming though it's painfully noticeable that the season is bookended by two tales that don't feature it . But Kroll sees an attempt by the production crew to make a planet that is a convincing swamp world and flies in the face of the erroneous accusation that every planet from the classic show always looked like a quarry in Surrey . It makes sense having a swamp world since refining methane is tied in with the plot

That said the plot itself is relatively black and white with greedy industrialists exploiting the planet and people and the natives themselves being led by a misguided high priest who sees a giant squid as a living God . Actually having a giant squid as the monster of the week is slightly problematic in that it's impossible to fully realise on screen and Holmes complained loudly that his remit of writing in the biggest monster seen in the history of the show was going to sink the production at first draft stage . .Whatever the problems the production team may have had they seem to have coped very well with it . The one problem I had with the realisation of Kroll is that it doesn't resemble the giant squids seen on Earth but this is an alien planet remember . Perhaps parallel evolution makes an alien squid look like that . And at least we've got a monster for the story even though you're able to second guess where the fifth segment to the key is located well in advance

In summary The Power Of Kroll is no classic but is much better than many of the other stories from the period due to the tone of gravitas and some superb location filming brought to the production which makes for four episodes of solid DOCTOR WHO

Kroll Criticism

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 8/10 · 18 January 2020]

Review for all 4 parts:

I think this is a very underrated story. It is nothing special and pales in comparison to the greatest serials but it is a perfectly decent, standard adventure in my opinion rather than the weak disappointment that others seem to see it as.

The storyline of The Doctor and Romana searching for the next segment of the key to time on a planet being exploited by outsiders for its resources and encountering an uprising from the natives as well as a giant swamp monster is a pretty run of the mill setting for a filler story but is a reasonable enough plot. The thing that lifts it for me is the writing from the great Robert Holmes. It is nowhere near his best work but it has good dialogue, some thoughtful themes, some believable writing of characters and some smart humour. The acting of the 'swampie' natives is nothing impressive but not awful and their poor visual creation with green make up and dreadlock wigs is really the only issue that really stands out as silly. I think that given the restrictions of the age and budget that is forgivable. If you replaced the swampies with effectively created alien natives it would eliminate that issue so is it really a major problem? I feel the writing is strong enough and the acting decent enough to gloss over the visual shortcomings. The swamp beast looks poor by the standards of the best technology of the time or by modern possibilities but I feel it was a decent effort for the age this was made and it is a fun creation with some enjoyable scenes of its attacks.

There is an ecological underlying theme of exploiting resources and lack of regard for nature or indigenous people as well as another element of superstition versus science. I really enjoy the ideas and dialogue. I also enjoy the political clash of the human characters who are well acted with the wonderful Phillip Madoc especially convincing.

Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are as effervescent as ever as The Doctor and Romana and while the story is no classic it is a solid serial in my opinion. I am a bit sad that it gets a lot of criticism.

My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 8/10, Part 3 - 7.5/10, Part 4 - 8.5/10. Overall - 8/10.

Kroll Bandits...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 12 July 2022]

Industrial empires force out the locals, indigenous ancestry confined to chaparrals, no morals or conscience, principles or defence, just profit taking greed led by a remorseless need to bleed.