16x5. The Power of Kroll
Writer: Robert Holmes
Director: Norman Stewart
Script Editor: Anthony Read
Producer: Graham Williams
Synopsis: The Doctor and Romana
follow the trail of the fifth segment to a moon of Delta Magna, where
the humans stationed at a methane refinery are in conflict with the
native "Swampies," who revere an enormous creature known as Kroll as a
god figure. In attempting to recover the segment, the Doctor and Romana
variously find themselves squaring off against the devious human leader
Thawn, the Swampie leader Ranquil's belief that they must be sacrificed
to Kroll, the double-dealing gun-runner Rohm-Dutt, and Kroll itself, a
giant squid grown to enormous proportions due to the power of the fifth
segment.
Review: "The Power of Kroll" is
one of those serials that I would file under "competent but
uninspired." As a "monster" story, it's primarily remarkable for
featuring what may well be the biggest alien monster ever to appear on Doctor Who
- Kroll is estimated to be about a mile across, though perhaps
necessarily we never see its full proportions in a single shot. The
premise, meanwhile, is a fairly standard Doctor Who
anti-imperialist fable. The human crew on the refinery are led by the
devious Thawn, who hired Rohm-Dutt to deliver weapons to the Swampies
so that he'd have an excuse to wipe them out, while his subordinates
are less malicious. Fenner seems to be primarily a pragmatist who also
understands that moral arguments will be lost on Thawn, and Dugeen
(played by John Leeson - K-9 remains in the TARDIS due to the terrain)
genuinely believes that the Swampies have been treated unfairly and
voices support for a protest group known as Sons of Earth. The
Swampies, while they have their share of traditions that we would
consider archaic and even brutal, have clearly received the short end
of the stick ever since the humans arrived in their system, and the
seeds of progress are evident in that some of them gradually come to
realize that Kroll is not a god and that Ranquil may be leading them
down a self-destructive path.
The Doctor and Romana react about as we expect they would: the Doctor
is more inclined to intervene at the beginning and is clearly
sympathetic to the Swampies, responding skeptically to the claim that
the humans' refining enterprise represents "progress" and that the
Swampies should not be allowed to stand in its way. Romana is less
eager to get involved, and when the Swampies prepare to offer her as a
sacrifice, it seems that she expects that nothing will actually happen,
mostly rolling her eyes at the situation until she is actually
assaulted by one of them dressed as Kroll. While "The Power of Kroll"
proves to be a decent showcase for the Doctor's humanitarian streak and
his general whimsy (his curiosity and sense of humor prove
irrepressible even in the face of imminent death), much of the story
just has the characters going through the formulaic motions of
accusations, captures, escapes, monster attacks, and other crises. None
of the guest cast are likely to rank among the most memorable Who
supporting characters, and the sociopolitical themes have been tackled
in greater depth in other serials. Still, it's a serviceable
installment that keeps the momentum of the Key To Time arc going as it
approaches the conclusion.
Rating: **1/2 (out of four)
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