DOCTOR WHO-THE POWER OF KROLL part 1

 

DOCTOR WHO - THE POWER OF KROLL part 1

DOCTOR: What? Look, I have a shrewd idea who it is that might be being sacrificed, and Romana's not the easiest of guests.

 

DOCTOR: Yes. This must be one of the moons of Delta Magna.

(He wets his finger and holds it up.)

DOCTOR: I'd say the third.

ROMANA: Doctor? Sometimes I don't think you're quite right in the head.

DOCTOR: Never mind about that. Just point the tracer and see where we go next.

 

Not sure again, what to add to my previous review (see below) but that this is spectacularly fun, funny, adventurous and just golden. The location work is extensive and welcome, giving this series yet again, another fresh feel. ALL of this works. Of course, the one thing I wonder about is why there are no women Swampies. Only one of them wears his belt low enough to see his abs, which is fine, the wearing and the abs. I do think they could have given us some better built natives like him. The whole American Native thing does not escape me. Romana is great in this, as always, Mary Tamm one of the best, probably the best female companion there ever was. And yes, at one point, Tom is offered tea, takes it and puts it in his pocket after smelling it. Likewise in TARA, he does into a room, the door already open and upon leaving returns to the door, almost closes it, turns, and leaves. What a strange man. But infinitely watchable. It’s also interesting to note that the cliffhanger with Roman outside a gate being sacrificed to what is supposed to be a giant monster (this gets turned on its head!) is an allusion to KING KONG with catchy native chanting. ALSO: BEFORE the TARDIS fully stops wheezing (appearing?), the door opens and the Doctor and Romana come out and we can hardly see them due to the reeds of the swamp/marsh.

 

 

 

Episode 1

 

                                This story is also much maligned but truth is,

                                to be honest, again I just love it to pieces.

                                The setting is fresh and original and well

                                presented. Romana's outfit is space age...or

                                rather space opera age and that's a good thing.

                                K9 doesn't get overused...or used at all...and

                                he needs a break. He's done a lot and will

                                continue to for some time. The location stuff,

                                as in the last story, is just wonderful, the

                                night shoots as in TARA are well done and filmed

                                and the guest stars pretty good.

 

                                The Swampies: I like them. The make up is good,

                                the costumes okay, the hair interesting. I don't

                                know what to make of the Native American

                                relation...because the green ones are deceiving

                                their own people, gun running, and while I think

                                some Native Americans certianly did this...not

                                sure they deceived about religion or spiritual

                                stuff but anything is possible. I also didn't

                                find the drum playing or chant annoying but did

                                find the ceremony speeches rather embarassing.

                                It's nice to find out the monster attacking

                                Romana in the cliffhanger is actually a man in a

                                suit.

 

                                The Doctor gets some great lines and played a

                                reed, this time he doesn't get very many funny,

                                humorous lines but a few, a few less than usual

                                but still good. "I've got a shrewd idea who it

                                is being sacrificed...I mean Romana's not the

                                easiest of guests..." and a few others.

 

                                In some small ways, this reminds of some early

                                Tom Baker stories or scenes from those early

                                stories. The refinery, the obvious model,

                                reminds me of TERROR OF THE ZYGONS. Tom being

                                shot but not really being shot reminds me of

                                similar scenes in THE SONTARAN EXPERMENT and

                                maybe GENESIS OF THE DALEKS.

 

                                Every Doctor has a story with men standing

                                around STAR TREK style, talking about the world

                                and world views as well as staring at radar

                                screens. For Hartnell, it would have to be THE

                                TENTH PLANET, for Troughton it would have be THE

                                SEEDS OF DEATH and THE INVASION and maybe one or

                                two others; for Pertwee it seems to be SPEARHEAD

                                FROM SPACE and maybe one or two others but for

                                many STAR TREK types colonies look no further

                                than THE MUTANTS, COLONY IN SPACE, FRONTIER IN

                                SPACE, and a few others. This one is Tom's

                                Doctor's radar lookout episodes as well as Star

                                Trek type associations (such as, well, we're

                                doing the Native Americans or the Palistinian

                                War but using another planet to do that).

 

                                The set up is good, the story already moving

                                along, Romana already captured. She gets

                                captured a great deal doesn't she. I mean Leela

                                didn't seem to get caught as much as she does...

 

                                The guest stars are convinciing even with some

                                dialog that seems stiff, they are not. The

                                Doctor seems to have some sympathy for the

                                swampies. Rohm Dutt plays into the story and

                                there's enough going on to keep interested IMO.

 

                                For me, this doesn't let up much but again, this

                                story does have some slower parts as did TARA

                                but not many. And again, I enjoy almost all

                                these later Tom stories as opposed to his

                                earlier more iconic classic stories. That's just

                                me maybe.

 

                                OH AND NOTE: SOMEONE ASKED WHAT EP DOES TOM

                                BAKER PUT A CUP OF TEA IN HIS POCKET: IT'S THIS

                                ONE! he's given a cup of something, I think tea

                                and he just puts it in his pocket!