The Power of Kroll

The Doctor, Romana and K9 continue their search for the six disguised segments that make up the powerful Key to Time.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Romana to Delta 3, the third moon of the planet Delta Magna. Romana is captured by the Swampies, the original inhabitants of Delta Magna, displaced from their home world by human colonists.  They intend to sacrifice Romana to their god, the mighty Kroll.  The Doctor’s search for his companion brings him to a massive refinery in the middle of the swamp; which is extracting protein from under the water to feed the people of Delta Magna.  The Doctor is mistaken for Rohm-Dutt, an amoral gun-runner who is supplying the Swampies with weapons to aid them in their plan to attack the refinery and force the workers to leave Delta 3.  The Doctor escapes the refinery in time to rescue Romana from the sacrificial alter, discovering in the process that Kroll is just a myth, a story to frighten children.  They resolve to find the Fifth Segment and leave the moon, avoiding the intrigues of the refinery workers and the attentions of the fanatical Swampies.

However, all is not how it initially seems.  What is stirring on the floor of the swamp and can the instruments on the refinery really be correct in saying that it is five miles across?  The Doctor realizes that Kroll is more than a mere legend and its centuries-long slumber has been disturbed by the refinery. Now it is awake, the time travelers find that it is very large, and very hungry…

• Probably the least liked of the Key to Time stories, "The Power of Kroll" is the fifth adventure in the season long arc.

• John Leeson (voice of K9) gets to stretch his legs and act on camera for a change.   He plays one of the plant technicians, Dugeen.

• Watch for an amusing scene in episode 3 when the Doctor, Romana, and Rohm-Dutt are tied on a stretching plank.  The Doctor begins singing different high pitched notes trying to break the glass above them. 

• Watch for the appearance of John Abineri (playing the part of Railton).  He is a regular to Doctor Who.  He appeared as General Carrington in "The Ambassadors of Death" and as the Swampy leader Ranquin in the Tom Baker story "The Power of Kroll."

• In a twist of irony, during episode 1 of "The Power of Kroll" Romana drops the locator when she is abducted.  By the end of filming on this story, the prop itself was lost and a replacement had to be hastily created for the last story of the season, "The Armageddon Factor."

• Philip Madoc puts in his final appearance in Doctor Who as Fenner.  Due to a misunderstanding, Madoc arrived to rehearsals with the impression that he would be playing the much larger role of Thawn.  Madoc's first role in Doctor Who was tht of Eelek in the Patrick Troughton story "The Krotons."  He returned later that season with his eerie performance as the War Lord in "The War Games."  He would later return and play the mad scientist Solon in "The Brain of Morbius."

• This story is also available on DVD as an individual title or as part of the Key To Time Boxset.

The Key To Time Arc
"The Ribos Operation"
"The Pirate Planet"
"The Stones of Blood"
"The Androids of Tara"
"The Power of Kroll"
"The Armageddon Factor"