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"THE POWER OF KROLL: A LACKLUSTRE SWAMP ROMP"

The Power of Kroll, the penultimate story of Doctor Who’s sixteenth season, is often considered one of the Fourth Doctor’s weaker outings. Written by series veteran Robert Holmes, this marks his final script for the show until The Caves of Androzani in 1984. Given Holmes’s track record, one might expect a sharp and engaging story, but instead, The Power of Kroll delivers a fairly by-the-numbers adventure, lacking his usual flair for wit and intrigue.

At its core, the plot revolves around a familiar conflict: two warring factions—the green-skinned Swampies and a human refinery crew—mirroring a classic Western dynamic. The Swampies, an indigenous group displaced by industrial expansion, are reminiscent of Native Americans, while the human colonists act as exploitative settlers. Even the filming location, with its swamps and grassy fields, adds to the Western feel. However, while this thematic inspiration is clear, it never develops into anything particularly compelling.

A SLUGGISH NARRATIVE AND FORGETTABLE CHARACTERS

The story unfolds at a sluggish pace, particularly in its early episodes. Part 1 is entirely devoted to exposition, setting up the characters and the conflict but failing to generate much engagement. The dialogue, surprisingly dull for a Holmes script, is often repetitive, with the refinery crew mulling over faith, life, and unanswered questions rather than driving the plot forward.

A major issue is the lack of action. While the Swampies plot an uprising and the humans prepare to retaliate, neither side actually follows through with their plans in a meaningful way. By the final episode, the entire rebellion is practically forgotten, draining the story of any potential tension or stakes.

Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are as charismatic as ever, but they have little to do. Romana, in particular, is sidelined, marking the beginning of her slow transformation into a more passive companion—something that becomes even more apparent in The Armageddon Factor. It’s disappointing, given that Romana’s intelligence and independence made her such a strong character early on.

Among the guest cast, Glyn Owen’s Rohm-Dutt stands out slightly as a Davy Crockett-esque antihero, but his character is underdeveloped and ultimately wasted. Philip Madoc, in his final Doctor Who appearance, delivers a solid but unremarkable performance, a far cry from his standout roles in The War Games and The Brain of Morbius. Neil McCarthy, playing the villainous Thawn, at least looks the part, but his character is as forgettable as the rest of the refinery crew. Meanwhile, John Leeson—best known as the voice of K-9—makes his first and only on-screen appearance, though in a largely unmemorable role.

KROLL: A MONSTER TOO BIG FOR ITS OWN GOOD

One of the main reasons The Power of Kroll is often dismissed is its titular creature. While the massive squid-like Kroll is certainly ambitious, it suffers from poor execution. The CSO effects are some of the most embarrassing in Doctor Who since Invasion of the Dinosaurs, though, to the production team’s credit, Kroll is at least used sparingly. The attack scenes, particularly those featuring its tentacles, are surprisingly well done and provide some of the story’s best moments.

Director Norman Stewart, returning after Underworld, delivers a more competent effort this time around. While he never does anything particularly interesting with the material, at least he avoids drawing attention to its shortcomings.

A FINAL EPISODE THAT COMES TOO LATE

The final episode finally injects some much-needed action and tension, offering a few standout moments. The crew’s paranoia reaches a boiling point, and the Doctor faces off against Kroll in a brief but effective showdown. It’s easy to imagine younger viewers being thrilled by these climactic scenes, but by this point, it feels like too little, too late.

Despite being only four episodes long, The Power of Kroll feels stretched, with much of its runtime devoted to static scenes of the refinery crew watching monitors, the Swampies engaging in religious rituals, and the Doctor and Romana bouncing between them.

📝VERDICT: 4/10

A by-the-numbers Doctor Who story that never fully capitalises on its setting or ideas, The Power of Kroll is far from Robert Holmes’s best work. While the Western-inspired conflict and ambitious monster concept had potential, the sluggish pacing, weak characterisation, and lack of real tension make it one of the more forgettable instalments of The Key to Time arc.

Despite having seen this before I had no recollection of how good it was. You can tell it’s a Holmes script. You factions and brilliant allegories for colonialism, racism and imperialism.

The stark contrast between the film sequences in the swamps with the swampies and the interior sequences with the cruel colonialists keeps the direction fresh and engaging. Holmes is great at making both factions feel human - there are no caricatures here. And of course it teaches you all the right lessons.

Holmes’ skill is in keeping the swampies sympathetic despite them putting our heroes in consistent danger. Having The Doctor and Romana lumped in with a gun runner who had seriously betrayed the swampies is a wonderful way of making the whole thing murky and compelling.

They realised Kroll pretty well. It’s always hard trying to make a convincing giant monster but it came off pretty well to me - especially the giant tentacles.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a story of quite this quality and it is helping up the enjoyment of what has been a pretty solid series. I hope they keep it up.

This is a really solid story about colonialism. I don't think it's particularly groundbreaking, but the message is clear and well communicated, even though both factions have a considerable depth to them.

The Kroll was surprisingly convincing, one of the best practical effect monsters we've seen yet.

I'm getting a little tired of Romana saying she's going to do something, then the Doctor giving her an order to do that thing. It was funny the first handful of times, but it's becoming annoying.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Androids of Tara

Well there had to be one mediocre story. While I wouldn't show this story to anyone as an introduction to Classic Who, this is the most Classic Who story I've seen so far. It's the usual earth colony vs native people story that we've seen a hundred times over. That plus the sillier than usual alien species in the form of the Swampies makes this story painfully generic.

That's not to say there aren't good parts, for one, this story is never boring, which is one of my most important factors for a good episode. The effects are honestly really good and the Kroll is an impressive villain. The scenes with his tentacles swallowing people up is surprisingly realistic looking and the model shots are one of the highlights of this story.

Next Story: The Armageddon Factor

The penultimate key to time is upon us as the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm) arrive on the third moon of Delta Magna. Robert Holmes was unhappy with this serial as he later declared it not one of his best. To some extent, I agree although overall I prefer The Power of Kroll to his later sixth Doctor serial The Two Doctors.

The plot sees the Doctor and Romana become embroiled in a conflict between the moon's occupants the Swampies and the crew of an oil refinery. The Swampies plan to awaken the giant underwater creature called Kroll whom they worship as a God but is really a squid that was mutated by the fifth segment of the Key to Time. It is a good story but far from a memorable one, especially compared to some of Robert Holmes' other stories such as Spearhead From Space or The Ark in Space. The problem is that the narrative borrows too many things associated with other episodes of the show leaving not much in the way of originality.

Giant monster? Check (The Tenth Planet, The Green Death, Robot...)

Oil refinery? Check (Inferno, The Green Death, Terror of the Zygons...)

Primitive species (Swampies)? Check (An Unearthly Child, The Underwater Menace, Death to the Daleks...)

The Swampies also look a bit too ridiculous to be taken seriously. I don't know what make-up artist Kezia Dewinne was thinking by making them green but it just makes them look silly. I don't care about how the Kroll creature looks (it's not as bad as the Nucleus from The Invisible Enemy) but there is no excuse for the Swampies looking this bad. They look like the Jolly Green Giant:

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And what's with those stupid dreadlocks? They look like they're about to join some sort of punk rock band and sing songs about sweetcorn. They certainly don't look like a tribe that would sacrifice people for Kroll.

There are some nice scenes in The Power of Kroll though, such as when one of the Kroll's tentacles tries to attack the crew of the oil refinery through the pipes. That is a particularly tense moment and probably one of the most memorable of the Key to Time season. It's just a shame that Robert Holmes' usual imaginationisn't present here.

You have to hand it to the cast: they really try to sell the story. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward give it their all, although Tom Baker looks bored compared to his appearance in other serials. Unfortunately K9 dos not feature in this serial because of the problematic K9 prop being unable to move over the swamp but John Leeson does appear in his first onscreen role as refinery crew member Dugeen and he is by far the standout of the supporting cast. Despite the best efforts of the cast however the story still doesn't appear as anything other than average.

The Kroll could have benefitted from CGI on the DVD release. It isn't the worst classic series effect but I fear it could put off many new series fans wanting to give the classic series a try. It really shouldn't be about the special effects but unfortunately in the age of CGI, many enjoy seeing flashy visuals in a modern televised production over archive television material with weaker special effects. It is odd that they decided to give The Ark In Space (a serial with great special effects for the classic series) CGI sequences over a story like The Power of Kroll that deserved it more. Hopefully fans new to the show are better than the kind of people who wouldn't watch something because of the effects.

Overall, The Power of Kroll isn't Robert Holmes' worst Doctor Who story but it certainly isn't his best either. The narrative is decent but disappointingly borrows too much from past Doctor Who serials and the Swampies look more like the Jolly Green Giant than a primitive species capable of sacrifices for a fake God. There are some good scenes to be found in The Power of Kroll though and the cast try their best to sell the story (even if Tom Baker looks a bit bored). Yes, the Kroll doesn't look that brilliant but special effects are the last thing that should put somebody off watching a classic series serial and it's far from the worst classic series effect anyway: that honour goes to the Nucleus from The Invisible Enemy.

If you want to watch a Robert Holmes story, you're better off watching Spearhead From Space. It's a far superior serial that feels more like an exploration of new ideas than a repeat of ones the show has used

already.