Doctor Who The Krotons [VHS]
by David Maloney

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VHS Movie Reviews of Doctor Who The Krotons [VHS]

Movie Review: Welcome to the Machine.
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Another man against machine Who story
Summary: 4 Stars

Landing on a rocky planet that "looks dead, smells dead," the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe, encounter a machine and rescue Vana from certain death from it. Companions of the Krotons, huh?

When Selris learns the truth, the enormity of it sinks in. "The Krotons have been our benefactors. ... Our two best students join the Krotons. They can't all have been murdered!" He also fears that if other Gonds learn the truth, they will rise up against the Krotons, only to be slaughtered. That is being planned under Selris's deputy Eelek. Yet the Gonds' main problem is that they are dependent on the Krotons, especially the teaching machines. Consider this exchange:

Doctor: And everyone uses these machines?
Selris: When they are young, yes. That is the law.
Doctor: Whose law, Selris?
Selris: Our laws--the Gonds'.
Doctor: But I thought you said all your law was given to you by the Krotons?
Selris: Yes, all our science, all our culture, everything we have has come from the machines.
Doctor: I see. A sort of self-perpetuating slavery.

Things heat up, when in the course of their investigation, Zoe unwittingly submits herself to a Kroton teaching machine, reaches one of the highest scores ever, and is selected to become a companion for the Krotons. The Doctor also takes the test to be with her. There's humorous mention about Zoe's intelligence: "Yes, well, Zoe is something of a genius, of course. It can be very irritating at times," to which she shows her cute smile and lets out a small laugh. In other words, a Hermione Granger nearly thirty years before Harry Potter. Zoe later says cheekily, "The Doctor is almost as clever as I am." Almost? Well, actually, Zoe... But this is a great story for Zoe, showing off her math skills as well as a cute miniskirt. Jamie has a good hand-to-hand combat moment in Episode 1.

Beta the controller of Science, like Selris, wants to be free, but is rational about it. "We only know what the Krotons tell us. We don't think. We obey.", and "I'm tired of being fed information like a dog like scraps." The key though, as the Doctor and Zoe notice, are certain gaps in the Gonds' education, which may be significant.

There is a bit of a goof, as it's clear that the bottom of the Krotons are cloth and not metal.

Gilbery Wynne, who kind of resembles Dick Gephardt (D-NE), does a good job as Thara, as does James Copeland as Selris. Phil Madoc plays Eelek with a menacing understatedness. He would later appear in three Who stories: The War Games (1969), The Brain Of Morbius (1976), The Power Of Kroll (1979). And Roy Skeleton, who did voices for the Daleks and early Cybermen, provides voices for the Krotons.

Not a bad story, considering how the sixth season of Dr. Who is the most complete Patrick Troughton season.

Movie Review: Another Great Troughton Who episode
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: It's all in the mind
Summary: 5 Stars

Why is this a clever story? Well the thrust of the plot is about the technologically superior aliens, crystalline based and susceptible to acid attack. However, the sub-plot revolves around the servile and passive Gonds who serve up their best and their brightest to be dispersed by the Krotons after they have been tested for brainpower. The interest lies in the revolutionary feelings of some of the younger members of the group, the staid conservatism of the leader and the almost complete disinterest in intellectual advancement. What occurs leads into revolt and betrayal, of the whole group and of the Doctor . There is a further side to this story of the intellectual arrogance of the Doctor and Zoe and the observation of the lack of common sense attached to high academic and intellectual ability.

All in all a very deep and complex story which operates on many levels. There is a comic side too of the many travels like a merry-go-round when the humanoids pass in, through and out of the Krotons ship and the surreal moment when the Kroton, travelling outside of the spaceship gets lost and cannot locate his position.

Lots of meat in this one originally broadcast 28 December 1968 through 18 January 1969.

Movie Review: Enjoyable for Troughton fans
Summary: 3 Stars

General Video

• Genres > Horror
• Television > TV Series > Doctor Who > All Titles
• Patrick Troughton