Doctor Who (TV Series) The Power of Kroll: Part Four (1979) User Reviews

I've had enough of Squid, for life!!

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 20 August 2015]

Mercifully this was a four parter, not a six. Kroll is at large, indiscriminately dragging people, be they dry foot or swampie. Thawn demands the rocket is fired to destroy Kroll and Swampie kind, Dugeen tries to overpower him but fails, so it falls on The Doctor to try to stop him.

At least with Robert Holmes you get a high death count, and Power of Kroll at least has that.

The Kroll CGI effects for the time were rather well realised, and look fairly good even today.

I would have thought the casting would have worked better if Madoc had played Thawn and Neil McCarthy played Fenner, Madoc had a authority that would have been better suited to being the boss.

Parts 2 and 3 were exceedingly dull, this part is definitely better, and has some of the character the opening part had, it's an improvement. Still too much of Tom playing for laughs.

Maybe it would have worked a bit better if the Swampies were a bit brighter, they are a bit on the dense side. The characterisations in general are really badly observed. Even Romana's been on the silly pills, her intelligence has been zapped.

Robert Holmes is for good reason held in very high esteem, but he was responsible for a few duffs, The Krotons and The Space Pirates, but Kroll takes the biscuit.

Part 4 is an improvement, but still pretty average, on the whole the story is hard to love.

Kroll and Chips...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 13 July 2022]

Every squid has its day, when it gets the chance to come out and to play, but sadly not Kroll, who pays a big toll, and gives up the key easily.

Five down, one more to go, it'll be a bit more tricky with six episodes to throw.

S16: The Power of Kroll: Decent serial with some interesting ideas even if the performances are so-so, and the narrative is bog standard (SPOILERS)

[bob the moo · 6 May 2017]

At first glance, The Power of Kroll appears to be a plot that has been done quite a few times in Doctor Who; essentially we have an ethnic group (into their nature and such), who are under threat by a technologically advanced group who are there for business/exploitation reasons – I'm sure many more knowledge than I can quote the titles, but it has been done a few times. So at first I felt it would play out just like it always does, and for the two groups to be as bland as normal. Mostly this is the case, as the Doctor generally comes down on the side of the so-called Swampies, and the company is defeated.

What made it a bit more interesting for me was that it did more than act as a comment on big business, but actually had some interest in there about religion. The Swampies essentially are built on the lie of a man in an outfit acting the role of their god; they also have to deal with the fact that their god is actually a massive beast with no real interest in them other than them being bite-sized, and it is interesting to have the fundamental leader be one of those taken out – as if his death wasn't enough, he goes to it with the deconstruction of his world view happening at the same time. Likewise, the company is not painted as monsters, but the leader Thawn has his hatred exposed more and more – and I liked the internal shift of his colleagues around him.

Neither of these key characters and their shifts are handled particularly well, but it is interesting. The narrative around them is fairly standard, with moment of peril, escape, peril, etc. Some of the resolutions are a bit naff – the Doctor hitting a high note, or the comparatively easy defeat of Kroll, both stick in the mind. The location shooting is good though – and as Theo says, it is a good thing to have a planet that is not just a dry quarry. The Swampies are a bit weak as characters, as are the refinery crew; although there are one or two okay performances in there. Perhaps I am being overly sensitive, but it did sound like the gun-runner Rohm-Dutt was given a Northern Irish accent – which seemed an inappropriate choice for the late seventies. Baker and Tamm continue to be quite good, and both benefit from this serial playing it a lot more 'straight', with less mugging and silliness.

Not a great serial, but it does have interesting elements to it, and is fine for what it does.