The Krotons: Episode One

Review of all 4 episodes:

The first episode is, in my opinion, a lot better than this story's reputation would lead you to expect. It comes across as an intelligently scripted, interesting political allegory. The story features the humanoid Gonds being exploited by a strange alien race known as the Krotons. This is the first script from future Doctor Who writing legend Robert Holmes and his talent is already starting to show in episode 1. However his talent is less visible in episodes 2-4. Another great talent and Doctor Who legend involved is Philip Madoc as Eelek. His great acting skills are not fully utilised but, of course, he portrays his part perfectly.

After the very solid start the following three episodes turn into just a slightly bland, not massively interesting 'filler' between more meaty stories in the season. It also suffers from technical limitations of the age and budget. The Krotons themselves look and sound very unimpressive.

The final verdict has to be this is decently scripted and acted but unremarkable. It is a disappointment, taken as a whole, after a promising 1st part.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 8/10, Episode 2 to 4 - 6/10

Overall: 6.5/10

Arriving on an unnamed planet The Doctor and his companions find it is populated by a race of people called Gonds . During certain periods the Gonds give their brightest youths over to the Krotons an unseen race who live behind a doorway who wish to keep the intelligent Gonds as their companions . The Doctor quickly deduces that the Krotons are a malignant race working to their own agenda

This story was part of The Five Face Of Doctor Who a repeat season broadcast on BBC 2 in November 1981 which impressed myself and my classmates . This one impressed us all down to the fact that it featured Wendy Padbury as Zoe in a very naughty looking PVC minidress . Honestly you're a teenage schoolboy and if you've got Zoe in a PVC minidress what more do you want ? Words like " cute " and " hot " are very important to male youth . and phrases like " talented actress " and " character development " don't matter in these situations . I think one of my peers said he thought the best thing about the story was Patrick Troughton's performance and last thing I heard from him was that he joined the Metroplititan police . Very strange chap but for everyone else we all agreed that Zoe should have her own television show if not her own television channel , or indeed have all the television channels all to herself . Just watch these viewing figures

Taking a step backwards if not a very cold shower there's not a lot to this story . It's like one of those Greek myths where a bunch of backwards primitives are oppressed by a superior race of monsters . You've seen this type of story before all too often in sword and sorcerery , and sci-fi B movies though to be fair it doesn't happen all that often in DOCTOR WHO but it's surprising to think his is the debut script from Robert Holmes who would become the most prolific and popular writer the show had ever seen and whose reputation in fandom was of an almost deity like status . Personally speaking I always thought both David Whittaker and Malcolm Hulke were more consistent writers Despite the rather workman and unoriginal plot director David Maloney does manage to make THE KROTONS a better story than it possibly deserves to be . He brings a feeling of atmosphere and claustrophobia to the proceedings . Prolific Welsh actor Philip Madoc has something of a star turn as the clichéd treacherous villain Eelek , but the eponymous Krotons themselves are rather silly looking and myth has it they were winners in a BLUE PETER competition for design a monster . They weren't because the winner was " a steel octopus " which never appeared on the show and we'd have to wait till 2006 till the Azarbaloff made an appearance as a BLUE PETER competition . Mind you imagine if we had Benny Hill playing a baddie in the show with Zoe

The TARDIS lands on a desolate planet, where they encounter a simple race, The Gonds, who cohabit with their Lords and Masters, The Krotons.

I know there isn't a lot of universal love for The Krotons, but I think it starts off really well. First up, the chosen quarry and gravestones look pretty good, it's atmospheric, I'm sold on a barren world.

It's a strong political story, we have the workers, the ordinary folk held ransom to their all powerful, and technically superior overlords. Lots of questions arise, why on Earth would The Krotons be murdering the brighrst and the best members of The Bond race, surely they need them and their intelligence?

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are all on great form, Pat in particular. One of the many appearances on the show for Philip Madoc.

Penned by Robert Holmes, you can see there is at least a glimmer of quality in this early episode.

Classic 'Doctor Who' can often be a bit on the slow side for me, especially those 7-8 part epics, so while 'The Krotons' probably won't rank as being anyone's favourite outing of either Patrick Troughton or 'Doctor Who' in general, I did appreciate the brisk (er) pace here.

It sets its stall out early, and we get some nice action along the way.

In the trio of The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie we have the brains, the beauty (and they really do make Zoe look stunning here) and the fighter with not much going on in terms of brains.

Overall, while a bit twee in terms of our modern 'Doctor Who' standards, this was good fun.