Doctor Who and the Krotons

Robert Holmes is a legend amongst Doctor Who fans. If there is a Classic Doctor Who episode that you love, chances are that it was written by Robert Holmes. But even geniuses have to start somewhere. In Robert Holmes’s case he started with the Krotons; the first episode of Doctor Who that he wrote way back in 1968.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive in a familiar looking quarry. Almost immediately someone is murdered right in front of them. It turns out that on this planet the Gonds are the subjects of the mysterious Krotons, the Krotons take the brightest and best of the Gonds for their own nefarious ends and they are never seen again. As the Doctor and Zoe try to find out what is happening on this planet (that frustratingly for a review, goes unnamed; I think I shall call it Gerald). The “Geraldians” start wanting to revolt against the Krotons. This gives Jamie something to do as the Doctor and Zoe are being clever. The Krotons when they appear are meant to be crystalline but they look like nothing so much as an extremely fancy coffee machine. They steam and froth anyone who comes near them looking dangerous.

The biggest problem with the story is that whilst it has a good premise and is fairly well written it’s just a bit thin for four episodes. It’s not a terribly auspicious start and unfortunately we don’t have Holmes’s second episode that he wrote for Doctor Who “The Space Pirates” but his third episode “Spearhead from Space” is rightly regarded as one of the classic Doctor Who stories.

Video: Video Quality is very good.

Audio: Audio Quality is very good.

Special Features: There’s some commentary with the cast and crew which is ok but not great. There is a really good documentary on the Troughton years called “Second time around” which really gives a good synopsis about what how good the Troughton years were and what we are missing out on with so many of the episodes gone from the archives. There is also an interview with Fraizer Hines that was done for “The Story of Doctor Who” and you get the distinct impression that Fraizer was a real “Lad” when he was young and those people go on to be dirty old men. Once again there is the terrible “The Doctor’s Strange Love” this time sans annoying woman but being only 2/3rds as annoying as it usually is, is still intensely annoying. I don’t care what these people think especially as what they seem to think is that they are terribly funny.