It all looks great on paper -- a script by Bob Holmes, a guest cast led by the brilliant Neil McCarthy and the majestic Philip Madoc -- but somehow the story never seems to come fully together. It's not a bad story, it's just a bit dull and lacks the humor and wit of our previous outings with the Key to Time.
Harry -
What a cast! It should have worked, but you're right dear Sarah. After a brilliant opening half, "The Power of Kroll" dragged to an unsatisfying finish.
Still though, what a cast!
Sarah -
An utterly amazing cast!
Harry -
Neil McCarthy played his baddie Thawn with glaring ferocity. Philip Madoc smouldered as the morally conflicted Fenner. And imagine the roller coaster of feelings John Leeson must have felt when he found out that he'd get to play a human character (yes!)... only to have Dugeen spend 90% of the story sitting hunched over a console, squinting at a radar screen with bafflement (err...). Seriously, in some scenes he barely moved. His eyes did all the acting. Best of all, I love how the refinery crew were constantly drinking. It was one of those little things that made the characters more alive.
Sarah -
With K-9 marooned in the TARDIS, it was past time to give Leeson some screen time - plus, the actor originally hired couldn't make it, so let's have John in! Still, he did get to die a heroic death. Sort of...
Harry -
Thanks to our friend Toby Hadoke, I have a heightened sense of awareness whenever John Abineri appears in a Doctor Who story. He was barely recognizable in this one, under that green paint and braided wig.
Sarah -
Toby! How I do miss him and Rob. It was fun romping through the first two Doctors with them. Maybe they'll catch up to us sometime.
So, back to the story. We begin in the marshes of the third moon of the planet Delta Magna, where a methane refinery is raising the ire of the locals, disparagingly referred to as "Swampies" by the refinery crew.
Harry -
Who in turn refer to the refinery crew as "Dryfoots," so at least there's equal opportunity racism on this moon.
Sarah -
The Doctor and Romana become separated almost immediately -- she to the Swampies and he to the Dryfoots.
Harry -
The separation was almost too textbook, but it got the story off to a quick start. I loved all the external filming. The marshes looked more marshy than swampy, but still looked good.
Sarah -
It was quite marshy, wasn't it? The perfect setting to get the story going -- and then drop it like a hot potato. I don't mean to be overly critical, but I suspect that's just my part to play in this outing. Haven't we seen this story before -- several times, in fact? Capitalist bastards raping the land, aboriginal populations repressed. Oh, look, it's the history of North America writ small by the BBC.
Harry -
This story had a very Pertwee-era Mac Hulke feel to it, no doubt. It had that look about it, too. The locals' costumes were rather shabbily assembled, the refinery model looked shaky, and the special effects for Kroll were primitive looking. There were also some unfortunate moments of shaky camera work, or a boom mic shadow on an actor's face that marred the production.
Sarah -
Mac Hulke definitely came to mind while I was watching. Alas, the overall production values left much to be desired.
Harry -
Director Norman Stewart was given a hell of a task with this one. The script called for him to realize a swampland set peopled by an indigenous tribe with enough space for some hovercraft action, an external refinery set, oh and also find a way to fit the most gigantic monster in Doctor Who history on the screen. No wonder he had the refinery crew drinking all the time, he must have wanted to join in.
Sarah -
That might explain a few things!
Harry -
If you squint your eyes and acknowledge the effort, those split screen images of Kroll rising from the swamp do look impressive. Kroll attacking the model refinery, however, did not. It was basically an ugly puppet attacking a LEGO set.
Sarah -
Those floppy tentacles were more amusing than scary!
Harry -
I did genuinely jump when one of its tentacles burst through a pipe and attacked Harg. That was scary good.
Sarah -
Definitely one of the story's more effective moments. Poor Harg.
Harry -
That moment came at the halfway point of the story. From then on, it got a bit tedious. The "Seventh Holy Ritual" execution that was prepared for the Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt was torture on this viewer as well. It went on for almost half of Part Three. After that, everyone did some running about before the villain got his come uppance and the Doctor found the fifth segment. Hurrah!
Sarah -
Hurrah!
Harry -
But wait! They were still two minutes short, so they tasked Philip Madoc with presenting a Terrible Dilemma for Tom Baker to solve. Fiddling with wires as the timer counts down to zero, that time honoured story filler, wraps up "The Power of Kroll."
Sarah -
Yawn.
Harry -
I'd say this was the weakest story in the Key to Time season by far. I don't even want to say that modern techniques might have saved it. The story felt very dated, and other than some interesting marsh scenes it wasn't all that great visually.
Sarah -
You're right Old Boy, but it must be said ... Philip Madoc!
Harry -
A Sofa of Rassilon favourite.
Sarah -
Best Line:
The Doctor : "Well, you'd better introduce me."
Romana : "As what?"
The Doctor : "Oh, I don't know, a wise and wonderful person who wants to help. Don't exaggerate."
Favorite Moment: Philip Madoc! (Does that count as a moment?)
Lasting Image: Kroll looming over the horizon
5/10
Harry -
Best Line:
Romana: "What's that you've got?"
The Doctor: "I think it's an illustrated history of the tribe. A sort of Bayeux tapestry with footnotes."
Romana: "Oh, a sort of Holy Writ."
The Doctor: "I think it's atrociously writ, but the pictures aren't bad."
Favourite Moment: All Philip Madoc moments are favoured! I liked when he got frustrated in the control room and asked if anybody wanted another drink.
Lasting Image: a barely recognizable John Abineri as a Swampie.
6/10
Our marathon continues with Story #103 - The Armageddon Factor...
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