Rate and Discuss: The Power of Kroll

[SiHart]

Kroll! Kroll! Kroll!

What do you think of the fifth story of the Key to Time season?

[Terry Leptil]

The idea of having Doctor Who's biggest ever monster may have seemed like a good idea on paper but on screen, it was pretty poorly executed.

Another thing that lets it down is the absence of K9 (but John Leeson does get a role as one of the refinery workers).

Easily the weakest of The Key to Time season. Certainly not one of Robert Holmes' best. 5/10

(When I was younger, I used to think the Stone of Blood line was a reference to The Stones of Blood.)

[Andrew Curnow]

Looking at it now, it does look a bit cheap in places, and the realisation of a giant squid was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle... but as a kid watching it at the time, I remember enjoying it, being quite 'excited' by the cliffhangers, etc.

BUT, BUT, my single, abiding memory of Power of Kroll from childhood is of MISSING part four! As I've doubtless already bored you to tears by moaning about it before, please feel free to skip to the bottom of this post where it says "I like Romana's outfit, but it's a shame there was no K9".

Basically, our Sunday School always had the Christmas party in January, and on a Saturday - meaning that we missed an episode every year. Oddly, I only really remember missing Kroll part 4, but I must have missed other episodes because I remember moaning about it each year!!! So my main memory of part 4 is of Dad driving me & bruv home while diligently filling in the detailed plot of the episode - while being heckled by us two constantly chipping in, "But what was the fifth segment?"

Today, I like Romana's outfit, but it's a shame there was no K9.

[Stuart Wallis]

A rare case of my rule of thumb which states something along the lines of the less I remember of the original broadcast, the worse the story was. I thought seeing green men running half-naked through the Norfolk Broads would be a bit daft, but the location and the make-up work. I suppose if there's anything wrong with the story, it's that the refinery crew could offer a tiny bit more urgency when they learn that a ruddy great squid is about to let them find out what's it's like to be kalimari.

7/10

Incidentally, for those who know their Sapphire and Steel, the younger of the two actors who plays the faceless man in Adventure 4 plays a Swampie here.

[Rob McCow]

Kroll has over-ambitious effects that don't all work well. The split-screen of the Kroll beast attacking the oil rigs is excellent. The actual tentacle attack is pretty poor though.

Even if they made it with perfect FX though, Kroll would still be a bit dull. The Swampies aren't that interesting, neither are the humans on the base. There's no flamboyance to any of the characters, which is totally bizarre given that you've got John Abeniri, Philip Madoc and John Leeson on the cast, along with Robert Holmes writing the script. Every story in the season so far has flown on the strength of it's memorable characters, but Kroll fails on that front.

There are still some good moments though and it is fairly enjoyable on it's own merits.

And it is the BEST Doctor Who story about a gigantic farting space octopus.

[Jon Masters]

There's no flamboyance to any of the characters, which is totally bizarre given that you've got John Abeniri, Philip Madoc and John Leeson on the cast, along with Robert Holmes writing the script. Every story in the season so far has flown on the strength of it's memorable characters, but Kroll fails on that front.

Interesting - for me, its almost the other way round. If you take the characters as written, Rohm Dutt is a real nasty piece of work (almost like Stotz will be in Androzani), but he's ruined by Glyn Owen playing him as some kind of country bumkin. Similarly, Thawn is a loud shouty baddie instead of a scheming xenophobe and Varlick is a tourist gone native rather than a native struggling with religious doubt.

Kroll will always have a warm place in the Masters household for the many years of speculation on what the other 5 Rituals might be ( the Third Holy Ritual being assigned to unmerciful tickling under the armpits a la Mr Tickle )