The Krotons Episode Three

The one where the indigenous Gonds foment a rebellion against the alien Krotons...

Writer Robert Holmes continues to develop his debut story into a quintessential Doctor Who plot by having the Gonds form a rebellion against the oppressive Krotons. It's only taken them thousands of years to get around to this, and only then when the Doctor has turned up to coax questions out of them. Although it has to be said that Thara was onto something from the very first scene, before the TARDIS even arrived.

Which makes it a little puzzling why it is Eelek who suddenly emerges as the rebel leader, seizing control of the Gond Council from Selris to lead his people into war. The last time we saw Eelek - in episode 1 - he was a resolute supporter of the Krotons and the Gonds' subservience, insisting that "no one defies the Krotons". Now, suddenly, he's changed his tune completely and wants to launch an all-out attack on them. Nothing has happened to show why Eelek has had such an about-turn in allegiance, and his role in events seems forced and unnatural. Surely it should be Thara leading a revolution, seeing as he's been questioning the Krotons from the very start? And wouldn't it be more fitting for leader Selris's son to be the one to depose him and lead the revolt? It seems like a major narrative misstep by Holmes.

The Gonds have made a return to the narrative in a pretty major way after being sidelined in episode 2, but at least Holmes has beefed them up a bit, helped by Philip Madoc's wily performance (and hindered by James Cairncross's disappointingly fruity one). However, the greatest sympathy must go to poor Madeleine Mills (Vana), whose role in proceedings has rarely got beyond the "looking glamorous" stage. She's barely been conscious since episode 1, and when she finally gets her legs back halfway through episode 3, she serves precisely no purpose whatsoever. What is the point of Vana, other than to look beautiful and remind viewers to switch the telly off and go down the Odeon to see Barbarella?

Meanwhile, Jamie is imprisoned in the Krotons' Dynatrope machine. Well, I say imprisoned, but he's actually quite free to move around as he likes while the crystalline critters busy themselves at their controls. When one Kroton goes out into the wasteland to capture the Doctor, Jamie takes the opportunity to mercilessly grill the remaining Kroton and gather intel. And what a very chatty Kroton it is too, spilling the beans on everything from how Krotons are created to how Krotons can be destroyed. All very useful, so thanks for that Mr Kroton!

Much of episode 3 is biding time for the finale, which, for saying this is a rare Troughton four-parter, doesn't say much about the intricacy of the plotting. It's nice to have the Doctor using science and knowledge to form a hypothesis about how he might defeat the Krotons (references to tellurium and sulphur and the Periodic Table would've delighted budding young scientists in 1969 who'd just had chemistry sets for Christmas). But the attack on the TARDIS - as fan-pleasing as the whole HADS thing may be - is a waste of time, and the Gond rebels soon fall into a distinctly Dulcian-style debate which is wasting time in lieu of an actual attack on the Dynatrope.

When they do decide to attack, they go for the roots of the Dynatrope, an idea actually presented by Selris, a man who until this point was dead against attacking the Krotons. It's like Robert Holmes knows what he wants his characters to do, but doesn't really care who does it, irrespective of what they've said and done earlier. There's some more info-dumping from the Krotons, whose heads spin alarmingly for no discernible reason, before the roof falls in on the Doctor, who's hit rather squarely by falling masonry and should, by rights, be flattened.

We'll see, shall we...?

First broadcast: January 11th, 1969

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The inclusion of science and chemistry in the story harks back to Doctor Who's educational beginnings.
The Bad: The Kroton which tells Jamie everything he needs to know about how to destroy Krotons.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Four

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-krotons.html

The Krotons is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Krotons-Patrick-Troughton/dp/B007Z10GUG.