PS Creativity > Reviews > The Classic Series > The Power of Kroll

When we took the video of "The Power of Kroll" out of its box, the tape had been left at the start of part 2. It was a bleak omen of things to come in this thoroughly unloved, unanimously undefended fifth story in the Key to Time season.

One of the first things that strikes when viewing the opening scenes of "The Power of Kroll", which feature some sparse, uninteresting location work, is just how far we haven't come. Romana is still bantering with the Doctor about his apparent pyschological problems. Not only is this dialogue weak, but it's almost as if we are back at the end of the "Ribos Operation" again. This is indeed where we last saw writer Robert Holmes, but one has to question why a script editor hadn't thought to intervene to bridge such appalling character continuity. Likewise, Romana ends part 1 of this story in exactly the same way she finished the opening of "Ribos"; screaming and helpless, as if no-one was even aware of the flapping stereotype the character had been written to overturn. "The Power of Kroll" might just have been the point at which Mary Tamm checked her contract to see how many weeks were left until it expired.

The jokes too are desperately poor for Doctor Who's alleged greatest writer. Some arn't even finished off with punchlines, while we get re-takes of tried and trusted gags such as the Doctor getting his directions confused and repeating his assistants instructions back to her. Only when we first reach the refinary and the Doctor gives a joyful demonstration of its workings to its crew do we get a half-decent scene. Here we meet our guest cast; one third of whom is only here as a 'thank you' for his voice work on the regrettably absent K9. Of the remainder, Neil McCarthy actually does a passable job of rendering Thawn believable, while Philip Madoc just appears lost and embarrassed.

It's typical that fan wisdom perceives Kroll itself as the mortar that sunk this flimsy ship. In fact, it's the best thing about the story; its split screen incarnation is seamlessly done and the scenes of its tentacles locking around characters in the closing episodes are almost up to feature film standard in comparison with other special effects this season. But you still have to ask what on Earth possessed them to ask for a story featuring the biggest monster ever. It's one thing to set yourself challenges, but another to actually request the unachievable for the sake of it.

Against all the odds however, episode 4 is actually quite good. Its relentless action is highly entertaining, although it does make you wonder why it's taken so long to get there. There are mentions of plot elements that show promise throughout, such as the fact that Thawn paid Rohm Dutt to deliver the arms to the Swampies, but these are brushed away as we never even see the characters meet, let alone get brought to justice. Besides which, so absurd are the indigenous population of Delta Magna, near-naked grown men wandering around painted green, that it scarcely seems to matter. Couldn't they at least have got some extras who were physically pleasing on the eye?

"Kroll" bores from the off, and there are few worse crimes for a Doctor Who story. The sets are flat and dull, there are no lovable characters and the dialogue is atrociously bad. When asked what the "first ritual" is, the Doctor is amazingly told that "you're thrown into a pit and then they drop rocks on you". It's enough to seriously bring Holmes credentials as a writer into question, and it probably explains why he took the next five years off from Who.

Most stories have their champions, but nobody loves "Kroll" do they? Looking ahead to the turgid "Armageddon Factor", it seems it marked the exact point at which this particular season ran out of money, strength and inspiration.

Originally posted by Si Hunt on April 17th 2003 at 10:05pm.

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