Started 11-DecAs with The Invasion this one is very familiar.
I find myself 'singing along' with the dialogue. This one I had as a sound recording as early as May 1982 so I've heard this a lot.
As I have noted before elsewhere this story is very familiar to many DW fans since it's 1981 UK repeat. Consequently there has been a long period of time for fans to pick it to pieces. Typical reviews seem to concentrate on the idea that the costumes and the visual effects aren't very good.
Well, name one 60's DW where the costumes and visual effects are anything better than 'ok'.
Such critiques as these are kinda pointless in my opinion.
Apart from the Krotons themselves, they're mostly ok.
The acting is competent to good in this , the costumes are 'Bobi Bartlett' (distinctive in a 1968 kinda way that has never come back into fashion), the script is tight and sparkles with wit and lines the actors clearly relish. The dark patches on Vana's pants are a little bit rude looking.
The angry student riot stuff is almost allegorically plucked from the headlines of 1968 but nearly no one remembers that now.
Zoe's shorty skirt is eye-watering. I feel pervy looking but it's amazing for a young boy.
The Krotons' 'skirts' are also unwatchable but not because they're attractive. The episode 3 scenes featuring the Kroton's POV expedition in the Wasteland cannot be attributed to arty direction but simple practicality.
This is of course Robert Holmes first DW script, apparently a rehash of a rejected Out of the Unknown storyline that Terrance Dicks found in the filing cabinet. The premise is an isolated relatively low tech alien community which has been invaded long ago by a high tech spaceship which it turns out has put the occupants into a suspended state. We join the story as two 'students' are graduating the Learning Hall and being sent into the Kroton's spaceship. The Doctor's crew are the ones who notice these students are damaged and (in one case) disposed of as waste by the spaceship. The plot pits the Doctor's realisation of the truth against the Gonds bubbling and fizzing internal politics of disinformation and lack of curiosity. The Gonds' conflict is presented as inward and unnecessary. The threat posed by the Krotons is unrecognised, doubted, then exposed and then vanquished.
The curious thing is that the Krotons are a unfamiliar crystalline life form with very unusual biochemistry. Also the timescale is centuries. This is the unheralded great SF bit in this story.
How similar is this plot to the Dominators? Doctor's crew helps low tech vulnerable on some planet overcome the invasion of a small two life-form crewed spaceship of resource predatory aliens who are motivated by survival. The story and style are starkly different.
There seems a musical, even a operatic note to the dialogue in this. It is atonal and disjointed (it's not Oklahoma! more like Nixon in China) but there seems a lot of lines delivered by actors in a strange, off-normal way. The dialogue is dense and delivered very quickly. It is heavily rehearsed (probably).
I'll cite Beta's opening dialogue in ep1 from 18m23s. Beta's lines in particular are delivered in an odd lowering tone end inflection. Either it's clumsy delivery or very calculated. It does not seem sloppy.
- BETA: Selris ...
- SELRIS: Ah Beta, come and meet our guests. My friends this is Beta, our controller of science and my son's good friend.
- BETA: That's what I'm here for. Do you know what Thara's planning? He and some students have gone out to the Learning Hall. They're going to wreck the machines.
- SELRIS: No
- BETA: You've got to stop them Selris. I came as quickly as i could. But they'll be there by now.
- SELRIS: Is it too late?
- DOCTOR: Not if we cut through the wasteland."
There is no incidental music, only BBC Radiophonic Workshop sound effects; almost a sound design. This follows similar experiments in Wheel and Dominators.... The sound effects are timed to enhance scenes, to frame the scenes. (Or maybe I've listened to this 15 times too many...)
The Doctor's and Zoe's goofy delaying in ep4 is delightful. (How do I wear this? Oops, butter fingers...Oh I wanted to stand there.) There's a point to it as well (...playing for time while the Krotons are 'poisoned'.) This illustrates the subtle depth this piece has.
The Krotons ep1 is the highest UK rated Troughton episode.
This is a lot better than its reputation.
ABM Rating 3.25/4.00
LJM Rating 3.10/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.50/10.00
No. 29 (out of 47)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteCorrection... this is in 4x3 aspect ratio.
The Krotons is from the last B&W series made in late 1968/69. This season was Patrick Troughton's last. It features a taut, first DW script from TV veteran Robert Holmes who went on to write more DW TV episodes than any other writer. It was also a serial featuring early outings (not debuts) for David Maloney and Terrance Dicks, names which should be familiar to long term DW fans. On screen you'll see Jamie (Fraser Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) as companions and Philip Madoc in an early role as one of the baddies. Presented for the first time in Vidfire (restored Video Look) The Krotons has been a curiosity for a while. For a long time it was one of the few 60's B&W stories to have actually been seen by anybody. It was repeated on TV in the UK in 1981 and was seen in the Australia and the USA in the mid 80's. This was in an age before most DW was widely available on VHS which means that The Krotons has been picked apart by fans/critics rather a lot. So it's hard to be objective about it. I remember when I first saw it as a grown up in the 80's that it seemed more sophisticated than typical 60's DW in that it was very atmospheric and the actors played their parts with conviction. Older serials seemed very stage-y and very slow by comparison. Extras on this disc are very interesting as usual for the DW range. Of note is a 50 minute documentary on the history of DW production throughout Patrick Troughton's 3 years on the show. This is an interesting look at a period of DW history which suffered devastating archive purges and is consequently less well known and regarded in modern times.