The Power of Kroll

"There must be fresh blood on the stone."

Writer: Robert Holmes

Format: TV

Broadcast: 23 December 1978 - 13 January 1979

Season: 16.05

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana I

Synopsis

Searching for the fifth segment of the Key to Time, the tracer brings the TARDIS to treacherous swamps on the third moon of the planet Delta Magna. The Doctor and Romana soon uncover a plot to wipe out the Swampies, the local inhabitants, by the duplicitous crew of a gas refinery.

Meanwhile, a massive creature is stirring beneath the waters, and the primitive Swampies believe the only way to calm the powerful monster is human sacrifice...

Verdict

The Power of Kroll was a somewhat average serial to continue my sporadic rewatch of the Key to Time Season 16. This season is definitely one that doesn't rank too highly when I think of my favourites across the 39 we have been lucky enough to have over two different eras, and this just felt a bit weak from the start. The image of the Doctor and Romana trawling through a swamp was fun but it just felt a bit unnecessary. I get why it was done in order to establish the terrain of Kroll and also give some sort of habitat to the Swampies who would play a prominent role, but it didn't exactly grab us from the off. I have to admit that I'm not a massive fan of Romana in her first incarnation as she just doesn't seem to fit this incarnation of the Doctor. She's a bit too playing by the rules and doesn't have a huge amount of charisma or humour with the Doctor, something that ought to have been established by this point of her run. Some of the costumes for this one were a bit questionable and I really couldn't get on board with the look of the Swampies. I know they were meant to be inferior with them having had their planet taken over and weren't even counted in the numbers of people present, but they just looked a bit ridiculous and downright poor if I'm being honest. I quite liked the history behind Kroll and the religious order that was present, but the actual creature was pretty darn terrible. I fully appreciate that this serial was broadcast over forty years ago, but the way the creature's apparent booming nature was presented with the clear split screen was a huge turn off. I just couldn't take it seriously which is a big shame. I do wonder how this would have been perceived back in contemporary times, but it just looked a bit too recycled from the likes of the Axons or Krynoids just on a larger scale. It worked better in a confined setting with the part two cliffhanger where it just grabbed a crew member out was fantastic. More of that would definitely have aided things in my opinion. I thought the moment where Romana explained to the Doctor that she'd dropped the tracer and the potential damage that would do was marvellous as the Doctor quickly produced it from his pocket. Tom Baker at his finest as the Fourth Doctor there! However, one moment that instantly knocked off at least one mark from the rating all on its own was the way the Doctor used his own high pitch screech to save them from severe pressure and burst open the opening that was keeping them enclosed. Well, that was just terrible. It didn't even look or sound real! The segment turning out to be part of the Kroll creature was good and I thought it was fun that the Doctor had a big hunch all along that this would be the case. The subtle smugness was delightful, but as a whole I thought this serial had some good ideas but fell short in certain design elements. Still, not bad at all.

Rating: 6/10