| THE POWER OF KROLL by Robert Holmes |
| Story 102 Synopsis: The third moon of Delta Magna is covered with a swamp, and is home to a gas refinery. They are pestered by a pressure group, the Sons of Earth, who want to restore the planet to the locals, the Swampies, who worship a giant squid, called Kroll. The TARDIS arrives in the marsh, and Romana is soon captured by the Swampies, who are being given guns by Rohm-Dutt. He is secretly in league with the refinery boss, Thawn, who wants the Swampies out of his way. The Doctor is told the refinery has a huge resource of methane, but he is sceptical. He rescues Romana from sacrifice to Kroll, and is then placed in similar peril alongside Romana and Rohm-Dutt. He escapes again, but by now, Kroll has arisen. The Swampies try to attack the refinery, but with mixed success. Thawn plots to shoot a rocket at Kroll, but the Doctor sabotages it. Kroll kills Rohm-Dutt and Thawn, as well as the militant Swampie leader, Ranquin. As Kroll attacks the refinery, the Doctor uses the Tracer to zap Kroll, and retrieve the 5th segment, which was previously a holy relic which Kroll had swallowed causing his huge growth. The remaining Swampies are left with the remaining refinery worker, Fenner. The refinery is over. |
| Review:- After the intrigues on Tara, a strange tale of commerce and eco-war, as the show touches down on a moon to discuss a methane refinery. Well, that makes a change. On the one hand, there is the refinery crew, led by Thawn. They fully believe that the refinery project is the way forward, and that with huge reserves of methane on hand, there is energy aplenty. None treat the Swampies with any dignity, which is a bit poor when they're exploiting planetary resources, and all believe in the good of the Company. They treat the Sons of Earth, a pressure group sympathetic to the Swampies as a threat to their well-being. The Swampies sadly live a simple, backward life, obeisant to Kroll, whom they have never seen (a nod to Christianity? - probably religion in general, though making a giant squid into god is amusingly scurrilous). They plot a revolt to expunge the hated Refinery from their land, and worship Kroll so blindly they do not even realise the truth about it, even when confronted by it in all its tentacled glory. Then there is Rohm-Dutt, the gun-runner. He is apparently sympathetic to the Swampies, but it's purely a commercial concern, and anyway, he's working with Thawn. The double cross to evict the Swampies permanently is cleverly done, and emphasises that however violent and backward, the Swampies are the sympathetic characters. Why he seems to have an Irish accent is questionable. In amidst all this come the Doctor and Romana. Whilst she is made prisoner, he is able to see through the Refinery, and is expecting the return of Kroll long before it happens. Once Kroll does show up, the real fun begins. Whilst the double-crossing plot would have led to a decent finish, the giant Kroll means all bets are off, and there's only 1 star in town. Rohm-Dutt becomes a nobody, Thawn is killed by the Swampies, and Ranquin, the militant Swampie leader, falls to the monster, who blindly attacks the Refinery. Of course, it is the Doctor who works out how Kroll became so big, and the connection with his quest. In a final dramatic gambit, he uses the Tracer to take the segment, zapping Kroll back down to size. The Refinery is left rudderless, so the Swampies should get their planet back after all. Which is a happy ending (presumably). Overall, it's quite a fun story, once Kroll shows up, that is. For an unusual race against time, it sustains interest nicely. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |