The Power of Kroll

Will there be strawberry jam with the tea?

The Power of Kroll is the fifth entry in the Key to Time quest and the second for Robert Holmes. It also is oddly derided by fans. If you ask a random fan which is the weakest story of the season, they will usually cite this one or The Armageddon Factor. Some of that may be due to the production values but often they will cite story as well. Having seen this once before, I can't really understand what the significant problem is.

Plot Summary

On one of the moons of Delta Magna, Commander Thawn has returned to a methane gas extraction facility after a visit to the home planet. One of the technicians, Dugeen, notices that another ship followed Thawn's through the atmosphere trying to mask itself. Fearing that it might be a smuggler named Rohm-Dutt supplying weapons to the local tribe, nicknamed Swampies, Thawn and his second-in-command, Fenner, head out to investigate.

The TARDIS lands in the swamp and the Doctor and Romana leave it to look for the fifth segment to the Key to Time. K-9 is forced to stay in the TARDIS due to the marshy conditions. The atmosphere plays with the key detector so Romana heads for higher ground to get a better signal. While on the ridge she is grabbed by Rohm-Dutt and a party of Swampies and take her to the Swampie village.

The Doctor hears Thawn and Fenner approaching but when he stands up, he is shot by Fenner. Thawn realizes that he is not Rohm-Dutt and when the Doctor sits up (Fenner shot his hat) Thawn takes him back to the extraction facility. The Doctor gives a few suggestions on how to improve the facility which convinces the crew temporarily that he is not an agent here to assist the Swampies. However, they refuse to let him leave.

Romana is taken back to the village where Rohm-Dutt delivers a load of guns to the Swampies. Newly armed, the Swampies decide to attack the refinery in the morning and prepare to offer Romana as a sacrifice to Kroll, their squid god, to give them victory.

While the crew is distracted by sending a payload of processed protein into orbit for delivery, the Doctor slips out, using his sonic screwdriver to open the door. At the same time, Mensch, Thawn's Swampie manservant, slips out and signals the village with a code via flashing light. A villager responds to him and the Doctor follows the light in a stolen boat to the village. He arrives just as another Swampie, dressed as Kroll is preparing to kill Romana. He knocks him away and frees Romana.

Left behind, the Swampie leaves a book detailing the history of the Swampies. They discover how the people were exiled from Delta Magna to this moon and began to worship a squid that was transported at the same time and grew to a large size. The tome also tells of how Kroll rises every couple of hundred years to cleanse the people from unrighteousness. The Doctor and Romana speculate that if there is a giant squid creature, it is preparing to emerge from a state of hibernation and that would explain the large quantity of protein the facility is able to get from the lake.

Thawn and the crew realize that the Doctor has slipped away and guess that he is league with Rohm-Dutt. Thawn is also alerted to a large disturbance on the sea bed by Dugeen. Thawn and Mensch leave the base to hunt down the Doctor and his allies. The Swampies are laying in wait for them but their weapons are faulty and only kill them. Before battle is joined, Kroll rises from the sea, a huge squid, grabs Mensch and drags him below. Thawn retreats back to the base while the Swampies abase themselves before the vision of Kroll.

The returning Swampies discover the Doctor and Romana about to continue their quest for the key segment and capture them along with Rohm-Dutt who they accuse of delivering faulty weapons to maximize his own profits. The village leader, Ranquin, consults the holy book and decrees that the three prisoners are to be sacrificed in one of seven specified ways to Kroll.

Back at the base, Thawn relays his experience to the others and they also observe more large disturbances on the sea floor. Unsure of the base's ability to withstand large torsional forces, they look at securing the facility. While doing so, Kroll snakes a tentacle through the extraction pipes, punches through, grabs Harg and pulls him down through the pipes and back into the sea.

The Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt are tied to a rack with vines and a window to allow the sun in. As the vines dry, they contract, pulling the three like a rack. The Swampies leave to let the execution happen. As the vines tighten, Rohm-Dutt admits that he was actually hired by Thawn to deliver faulty weapons. It would give him justification to eradicate the Swampies, as they are arming, and also discredit The Sons of Earth, a fringe group advocating the abandoning of the colony and return to Earth.

On the extractor, Thawn orders the shut down and repair of the damaged pipes and also the continual monitor of Kroll. He and Fenner debate attempts of ways to kill the creature. Thawn has twenty-five depth charges that he thinks can be used against it but is unable to figure out a way to deliver them in a compact fashion against the creature's vitals. They are also distracted by a storm rolling in which causes everyone on the station to batten down.

As the storm rolls in, the three notice the rain splashing the window. The Doctor emits a high pitched tone which shatters the window. The rain flows into the room and the vines swell with the moisture, allowing the three to free themselves. They flee the village but the Swampies notice their departure and chase after them.

As the storm subsides, Thawn's team notices Kroll leaving the lake and heading towards the village, attracted by the vibration of the chase. The Doctor also notices signs of Kroll's advance and orders them to stop. Rohm-Dutt panics and continues to run until a tentacle reaches out and drags him under the water. The Doctor and Romana enter a boat and propel themselves amidst the swamp while Kroll surfaces and attacks the Swampies.

As Kroll is distracted, Thawn get the idea to launch the orbital rocket into Kroll. Dugeen objects, noting that it will kill the Swampies as well but Thawn knocks him out. Thawn pulls a gun and forces Fenner to start the launch sequence. The Doctor and Romana, who managed to sneak into the station, overhear the plan and head down to the rocket silo to disable the rocket.

The Doctor climbs up the rocket and pulls the guidance panel that controls the rocket. Dugeen comes around and tries to disable it from the control panel but Thawn shoots him. The Doctor however smashes the wiring in the rocket, disabling it. Knowing that sabotage has occurred, Thawn heads down and takes the Doctor and Romana back to the control room at gunpoint.

Kroll recedes into the lake, leaving the Swampies. Ranquin, sure that Kroll has punished them for not sacrificing the Doctor and Romana, leads the tribe to the base to fulfill their obligation. With Thawn distracted, they enter the base with ease. They then kill Thawn with a spear as he is about to execute the Doctor.

Kroll rises from the lake again and attacks the base. Tentacles snake in towards the control room but the Doctor has Fenner activate equipment elsewhere in the base. The vibrations attract Kroll and he leaves the control room alone while attacking other parts of the platform. Ranquin, believing Kroll has heard his prayers, heads to another part of the base to abase himself before Kroll, but is grabbed by a tentacle and dragged out.

The Doctor gets an idea and heads outside to a point where Kroll's body is pressed against the platform. He is grabbed by a tentacle but he manages to press the Key detection stick against Kroll's body. Kroll immediately disintegrates as the fifth segment materializes on the end of the detection stick.

The Doctor takes the segment in to Romana and then manages to disable the computer before it sets off components that would destroy the platform. With the base secure, the Doctor and Romana leave, suggesting that Fenner try to get to know the Swampies better and informing him that with Kroll gone, the methane production of the station will crater. They walk back to the TARDIS and take off as K-9 greets them.

Analysis
Again, for the life of me I can't figure out why this story is derided so much. Yes the split screen with Kroll is pretty obvious but fans tend to be forgiving of the Barry Letts era and I think the things he did were worse. What's more, you have some really good acting and (aside from the split screen) pretty good production values going on. Even the story, while very basic, rolls along at a good pace.

The Fourth Doctor is quite good here being a good balance of funny but also somewhat serious about the overall situation. He is never angry and always focuses on the lives of others, continuously insisting that he needs to go help Romana as well as constantly emphasizing the Swampies as real people. But he also does not hesitate to call out the Swampies own faults in their worship of Kroll and in ignoring their own history in doing so. It's the Fourth Doctor at his most fun.

Romana is enjoyable but she is a bit shortchanged in this story. Since it is Robert Holmes writing her again, she returns to the psychological mindset as well trading witty barbs, tinged with a bit of sarcasm. It's Romana at some of her most entertaining but aside from the dialogue, she just isn't given much. She spends most of the first three episodes captured, either waiting for or with the Doctor. In Episode Four, she does nothing as it is the Doctor who shorts the guidance in the rocket, destroys Kroll and disables the computer. Romana merely comments on the situation the whole time. She even manages to behave somewhat stupidly by first not dragging the Doctor out of the silo when he knocks himself out disabling the rocket and then by dismissing Kroll's attack and nearly getting grabbed by a tentacle. Not the best role for her.

Thawn made for a pretty good bad guy. He gets outacted by Fenner, played by Philip Madoc, but his overall performance is pretty good. He does things in such a way that he starts as somewhat reasonable, even if you disagree with him, but as things escalate, he gets more and more manic and savage. Yet despite the manicness, it never goes over-the-top. It just goes to the point where you feel satisfied that the Swampies have taken him down. It also makes sense in the context of the story that Thawn would have to be removed as an antagonist before Kroll could be fully dealt with so his death only halfway through Episode Four feels appropriate and doesn't leave the story hanging for the rest of the episode.

The Swampies were pretty good as a native. The makeup used to get that green skin was quite effective and they were all pretty good actors, Ranquin especially. There was some nice undertones with Mensch that would have been interesting to explore as well. He is a domesticated Swampie and carries that countenance of a native who has been "civilized" but knows the disdain he is under. The actor played it well and it's a shame that he is taken out halfway in Episode Two. My only other complaint about the Swampies is that their ceremony of sacrifice for Romana goes on a bit too long. It gets a bit tedious to hear them shout Kroll constantly for nearly half of Episode One. The ceremony should have been cut down or some other things done to institute a bit of variety in the proceedings.

I will admit that the split screen done for Kroll was not good, but I've also seen worse. I think a case could be made that the giant robot in Episode Four of Robot was worse and yet that doesn't seem to be derided quite as much as this. There is a point where it gets too close and the effect seems even worse than it should but that's a small niggle. They actually do a better job in making Kroll seem more fierce with the use of the tentacles and dragging several people into the depths. I look at Kroll as an ambitious try to which they did not quite succeed.

Aside from Kroll, the effects are pretty good. There is nice location work which puts nearly everything outside on film and that looks good. There is some very nice night shooting for Romana's sacrifice that also looks good. Even the base set is pretty good, spare but serviceable. There is a point where the ladder used by the Doctor to disarm the rocket is seen to be rather wobbly but I'm willing to overlook that in favor of everything else they did.

There is one point that is just a bit dumb and it cannot be overlooked. That is the way the Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt get out of the rack in Episode Three. Having the Doctor emit a high pitched tone and then talk about learning it from Nellie Melba is taking it beyond the realm of believability. I think it might have gone over slightly better if an actual soprano's voice had been used. At least there the joke about the opera singer would have made sense, even if it was a groaner. Instead you get a synthetic sound that makes the Doctor sound like a robot and that just didn't work.

Even with the missteps, I think this is a pretty good story. It's not The Ribos Operation and I think that's why it's reputation suffers. Since Robert Holmes already penned a very good story in the arc, it can't help but be compared to that one and it's just not as good. Had any other writer delivered this, it probably would be appreciated for the simple story that it is. While I like Robert Holmes, I try not to force a story to live up to a higher reputation just because of who wrote it. If the story is entertaining, well-acted and looks decent, I'm fine with that. Within the Key to Time season, I would certainly rather watch this than say The Pirate Planet, even though that story is supposed to be funnier.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5