The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Power Of Kroll
The Power Of Kroll: Part One (23/12/18)
Much better this week down to a script by Robert Holmes, although it started to drag in the last five minutes. Lots of location filming - both day and night (unlike 'The Stones Of Blood' which gave us day-for-night footage which isn't as effective) out in East Anglia (lots of fens, marshland, reeds and water).
The Doctor and Romana have arrived on a moon of Delta Magna which is populated by green-skinned 'Swampies' who were moved there from the planet a couple of centuries ago by Earth colonists. Now the colonists are starting to exploit the moon by building a methane refinery and, understandably, the 'savage' Swampies are a bit pissed off. Fortunately, they're being aided by a colonial group called The Sons Of Earth who have provided weapons via renowned gun runner Rohm-Dutt (a man with a dodgy Irish-cum-faux-American accent). Unfortunately, they've captured Romana and are sacrificing her to their god, Kroll - a giant squid like the ones sent by the colonists when the Swampies were exiled.
And the Doctor was mistaken for Rohm-Dutt by the refinery workers who went out looking for Dutt after noticing a planetfall, shot the Doctor in the hat (after he'd found the Segment Locator that Romana dropped when she was ambushed - it hasn't been said yet, but I saw it sticking out his pocket) and took him back to the refinery. They've got a Swampie working as a slave and aren't great at keeping prisoners since 1) the Swampie is clearly not intent on escaping as he's signalling messages to his mates behind the workers' backs and 2) the Doctor's already escaped and taken a canoe back to save Romana.
Great footage of people jetting about in Hovercraft and in rather nicely designed 'reed' canoes; the Swampies look pretty good - half naked guys in loincloths and green dreadlock wigs, covered in green body paint which disguises exactly how much flesh is on show - I don't think I've seen so much naked thigh since Leela left! And Romana's got a rather nice rust-red tunic to wear, complementing the Doctor's flying ducks lapel badges. She also got some pretty good dialogue this week and is clearly enjoying it more than the last story. A promising start, then!
The Power Of Kroll: Part Two (30/12/18)
This one's turning out to be very interesting with a quite intricate political plot. Romana was rescued by the Doctor from a man in a crab costume - literally - a nice conceit they haven't used since Vicki's first story. Seems he was there to kill Romana in Kroll's absence, in order to keep faith in Kroll's existence fresh. But it turns out that Kroll is more than just a deity - he actually exists!
According to the Swampies' Holy Book, he manifests every couple of centuries and swallowed his Holy Symbol on his third manifestation. It seems the activity at the refinery and the rise in temperature in the baygule has awoken Kroll, a truly fucking HUGE squid, who appears to also be responsible for all the methane the 'Dryfoots' are collecting.
It also looks like Rohm-Dutt was hired by someone, possibly Thawn, to supply the Swampies with faulty firearms so that the Delta Magnans had an excuse to massacre them, thus getting them out the way so the company on Delta Magna can fully exploit the moon's resources without having to care about the indigenous population - who had been relocated there by the Human colonists in the first place! Rohm-Dutt gave himself away when Thawn's party went after the Doctor (their arrival coinciding with Kroll's reappearance) so the Swampies are holding him prisoner.
They also recaptured the Doctor and Romana, but the men at the refinery are tracking Kroll who's on the move and has just attacked the refinery, sticking his tentacles down the pipes. Not sure about that bit as surely they should be too big, but there's nothing to say he doesn't have masses of smaller ones as well as the ma-HOO-sive ones we saw when he first turned up. Very interesting and featuring some great locations. So far the best of this season.
The Power Of Kroll: Part Three (06/01/19)
Still okay this week, but the plot's slowed down a fair bit. After Kroll grabbed the minor refinery character and dragged him into the pipes, the other three just sat around a bit discussing how to kill it (which was very dull) until a storm turned up. Then they talked about that and monitored Kroll as it approached the Swampie settlement like a stupefied Greek Chorus.
Meanwhile, the Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt were sentenced by Ranquin to the Seventh Ritual of Kroll - to be tied up with vines which shrank as they dried, thus stretching their spines until they snapped. This provided the one shining bit of witty dialogue in the episode where Varlik (the one reasonable Swampie) said he'd argued for the Doctor and Romana to be punished with the First Ritual where they "just throw you down a pit and drop rocks on you". There was a bit of world-building while the Doctor talked to Ranquin about Kroll's great symbol, but once the storm hit, the Doctor broke the skylight with an awful electronic effect that was meant to be him hitting a very high note to shatter the glass, and legged it across the swamp with the Swampies in tow.
Rohm-Dutt was got by Kroll and dragged to his death, and the cliffhanger saw the Doctor and Romana escaping by canoe while the Swampies threw spears at them and Kroll sat on the horizon.
I hate to say it, but I'm beginning* to bore of Tom Baker. Obviously, he's not a patch on Pertwee - he's very different, but from the start I found him a bit too eccentric for the sake of eccentricity, rather than naturally a bit different. Here he just seems to be firing out cod-witty dialogue and acting a bit smug. And whilst Leela could take him down a peg or two, Romana is just a little too polite and educated. He's been this way for a while, but it's been getting worse and his silliness tends to be very hit and miss. This is his fifth series. Maybe it's time for a change.
The Power Of Kroll: Part Four (13/01/19)
An improvement this week. And I still maintain that this story is one of the better ones this season, although, to be frank, nothing this year has really stood out. Last series had '...Fang Rock' and 'The Sun Makers' which were pretty much two of the best serials since Tom took over. This and the three preceding stories had their moments, but the show seems to have lost much of its jeopardy. I think this is largely to do with Tom's performance - he's just not selling it. Saving the universe just seems a bit too easy for him and he just swans into situations, makes a few witty quips, then solves everything as the countdown hits zero (which is what happened this week).
It isn't helped by the fact that he's now travelling with another Time Lord whose approach to most things is cool observation and a habit of remarking "Oh". Mary Tamm's nice enough, but I don't think she's been given a great deal to work with given that she's meant to be the Doctor's equal.
K9 was absent for this whole story, but I noticed in the credits that Dugeen was being played by the guy who voices him. It. Anyway, the Swampies followed the Doctor and Romana to the refinery where Thawn had set the latest rocket to hit Kroll, which was currently attacking the Swampie settlement (thus killing two birds with one stone). Dugeen objected, so Thawn killed him. This didn't go down well with Fenner, but the Doctor and Romana had overheard what was planned and stopped the rocket. Thawn caught them but was killed by the arriving Swampies. Kroll attacked the refinery and killed Ranquin, then the Doctor touched Kroll with the Locator and the squid turned into the Fifth Segment. Turns out it was so huge because it ate the segment, the Swampies' symbol of power. Then the Doctor and Romana left, leaving Fenner in an awkward situation in a defunct refinery surrounded by Swampies. I think that ambiguous conclusion was possibly the best part.
Again, some great locations but on the whole, like the rest of this season, it was only slightly above average at its best. Oh well, next week we'll see what this year's season finale has to offer.
* 'Beginning' is clearly not the case as this is the second or third time this season where I've made this statement.
It's interesting this one, because it almost always ranks second-worst of the season (out-badded only by The Armageddon Factor) when I agree that on the whole it's arguably better than most of the others stories in the season. I think it gets misremembered as "the one with the giant squid", possibly also "the one with the green men", and written off because of it, which is ironic given that the effects and make-up are actually pretty good; certainly above average. But then maybe I'm also misremembering it to an extent because I recently reviewed my own review of the novelisation, which made a much better fist of the story overall than the televised version did. At the end of the day, it has its faults but is better than its reputation would suggest.
ReplyDeleteP.S. While I also agree that it's in Seasons Sixteen and Seventeen when Tom Baker starts getting a bit unbearable at times, it's noteworthy that you've sort of 'taken against' his Doctor and Sarah Jane, viewed by the majority as the quintessential Doctor and companion combination. Each to his own, of course, but it's interesting that the 'magic' doesn't work on you as it does others.
I think the serial's reputation is pretty undeserved. The effects and makeup are very well realised, but I think it's more the fact that we have actors painted green and dancing half naked round the pretty overcast Suffolk Fens and a giant squid as the monster which override what is actually seen on screen in the context of the story. If I were to choose a favourite serial of the season (I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying the finale isn't a contender) then I'd be hard pushed to choose between The Stones Of Blood and The Power Of Kroll, and I might find myself picking the latter because it has better location work and a more cohesive story. I also feel that the quality of the former drops in the later episodes once we arrive in Hyperspace. Conversely, though, I do remember being surprised at how much more happens with Amelia and K9 in Cornwall during the later episodes than is generally believed.
DeleteAs far as Tom Baker and his portrayal of the Doctor is concerned, I admit that I never actually warmed to him much. Nevertheless, his portrayal during the Hinchcliffe era did grow on me (despite Sarah Jane's presence) and there have been a number of serials where I noted that I was appreciating his characterisation more than I had been. Indeed, one of the few complementary things I have to say about 'Robot' is Tom's performance! By the end of Season 15, however, and throughout the Key To Time he really did drop the ball. It isn't even the messing about as such, but just a general ennui that surrounds him in many of the episodes. As good as I think '...Kroll' is, by the end of the final episode the lack of any jeopardy or tension being brought to the part had become frustrating. Again, this I feel has a lot to do with the change in my opinion of Jon Pertwee when I watched his era in order; throughout the early 70s Pertwee had remained consistent, and the way he reacted to the threats and villains he encountered was key - be it General Carrington, Azal or Ice Warriors, a huge pink Dragon, a rubbery T-Rex or an inflatable orange scrotum, he always managed to sell the jeopardy and drama, and four years into the role it seems that Tom, unless he had a great deal of respect for the script and certain guest stars (which was increasingly not the case), just couldn't manage it. I'm sure that you can argue that Tom was trying to diffuse the scare factor by showing that if the Doctor wasn't afraid there was no need for the kids watching to be afraid, but I think that's just a bit of an excuse. He still had the occasional moment - his scenes with Bruce Purchase and Beatrix Lehmann immediately spring to mind - but I don't think he ever really managed to convey the drama of situations as well or as consistently as Pertwee (or indeed Troughton and Hartnell). For me, no, there is no 'magic' present in the Fourth Doctor and Sarah episodes, but that's mostly down to the character of Sarah being whiny and annoying. Season 14 is the best of Tom's era (so far) and his pairing with Leela did bring some of the magic and drama back which I felt in the Hartnell and Pertwee eras, but on the whole his time on the show just doesn't compare.