Rating: 
Summary: Great Kroll! Powerful Kroll!
Review: On Delta 3, the Doctor and Romana get involved with four employees at a methane catalyzing protein refinery, the blue-green Swampies, transplanted from their Delta Magna home, and their god, a leviathan of a giant squid called Kroll. A gun-runner named Rohm-Dutt has delivered guns to the Swampies so the natives can attack the refinery. The Swampies capture Romana and plan to sacrifice her to Kroll.Meanwhile, Thawn, controller of the refinery, and Fenner spot the Doctor. Fenner mistakes the Doctor for Rohm-Dutt and shoots the Doctor's hat, narrowly missing him. Thawn and Fenner take the Doctor at gunpoint, whereupon the unruffled Time Lord pipes up, "Will there be strawberry jam for tea?" A few things become apparent in the first two episodes. Thawn immediately tells Fenner, "You've shot the wrong man." How could he know? And when Ranquin, the Swampie chief, tells Rohm-Dutt of Thawn's plan to attack them, he says, "That wasn't what---" before catching himself. Things start to become clearer when Rohm Dutt calls out during the attack, "Thawn, it's me, Rohm Dutt!" The Doctor has his share of humorous and good lines. Puzzled by the low gravity, he deduces that they are on one of Delta Magna's moons. He licks his finger, holds it up, and says, "I'd say the third." Romana replies, "Doctor, sometimes I don't think you're quite right in the head." Romana on the Swampies' holy book: "A sort of holy writ?" Doctor: "It's atrociously writ." Romana's moment of psychiatric analysis comes when she tells Rohm-Dutt, "Emotional insultation is indicative of psychofugal trauma." When she tells him she and the Doctor were out hunting butterflies, Dutt says, "Oh, I like a joke." Romana shoots back, "I'll try and think of one." Ranquin tells Romana, "You will wish you have died on the stone of blood." Pardon me, Ranquin, but that was two stories back, and it was the Doctor who nearly died on it. The plight of the Swampies, evicted from Delta Magna and onto Delta 3, is reminiscent to that of the Native Americans, who were pushed off towards the west, only to suffer further loss with the onrush of Manifest Destiny and industrialization, what white men would call "progress." When Fenner asks the Doctor, "would you let a small band of semi-savages stand in the way of progress?" the Doctor replies, "Progress is a very flexible word. It can mean whatever you want it to mean." Four Who-guest star alumni make their appearance here. Neil McCarthy (Thawn) came out in The Mind Of Evil, Philip Madoc (Fenner) was in The Krotons and The Brain Of Morbius, John Abineri was in The Ambassadors Of Death and Death To The Daleks, and John Leeson is seen in human form for the first time as opposed to voicing a certain mechanical dog who doesn't appear here. I sure hope the actors playing Swampies didn't get any skin allergies or cancer from that blue-green paint on their bodies. Kroll is realized well, not bad for a titanic squid 140 feet high and five miles across-the only trouble is the obvious vertical line separating Kroll from the actual footage. And the colonization theme involving a corporation oppressing a less-developed species works here.
Rating: 
Summary: poor ole Kroll, Nimon, and Meglos.
Review: Power of Kroll, Horns of Nimon, and Meglos... The most underrated shows in Dr. Who. I am reviewing the three of them here as Meglos and Nimon aren't on DVD -or!!- VHS. Sure, the special effects are paper mashe' monsters that stand still for five minutes doing nothing, but if one had half an imagination one could suspend thier disbelief. Dr. Who is not to be watched as a Box Office movie or a deep emotional TV series with heavy serious issues. No, these stories are simply fun to watch. And the stories interesting because they are unique and sometimes surreal. And the enjoyment they bring is the bottom line, isn't it...
Think of the sets as a play. That is how this is done. The opratic costume designs of Nimon and Meglos. Ignor the fact that Kroll looks like a paper mashe'. If you see a play the sets aren't there to be 'realistic' they are there as a simbol of what they represent. I think the monster is quiet good in Kroll if you ignor the fact that special effects are better now than then. People are too spoiled by special effects in shows that I find pale in comparison to Dr. Who as far a story and characters. Star Trek Next Gen, Farscape, Lexx, all a bunch of over-glorified soap opra filler with mush and sex and special FX.
Dr. Who, an entertaining story with beautiful sets, even if they aren't 'realistic' or 'believable'. Surreal is what outer space is all about. And on a final note: PLEASE RELEASE MEGLOS AND HORNS OF NIMON ON DVD(or at the very least VHS.) Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, and K-9(John Leason) are in both of them. Thank you!
Rating:
Summary: poor ole Kroll, Nimon, and Meglos.
Review: Power of Kroll, Horns of Nimon, and Meglos... The most underrated shows in Dr. Who. I am reviewing the three of them here as Meglos and Nimon aren't on DVD -or!!- VHS. Sure, the special effects are paper mashe' monsters that stand still for five minutes doing nothing, but if one had half an imagination one could suspend thier disbelief. Dr. Who is not to be watched as a Box Office movie or a deep emotional TV series with heavy serious issues. No, these stories are simply fun to watch. And the stories interesting because they are unique and sometimes surreal. And the enjoyment they bring is the bottom line, isn't it...
Think of the sets as a play. That is how this is done. The opratic costume designs of Nimon and Meglos. Ignor the fact that Kroll looks like a paper mashe'. If you see a play the sets aren't there to be 'realistic' they are there as a simbol of what they represent. I think the monster is quiet good in Kroll if you ignor the fact that special effects are better now than then. People are too spoiled by special effects in shows that I find pale in comparison to Dr. Who as far a story and characters. Star Trek Next Gen, Farscape, Lexx, all a bunch of over-glorified soap opra filler with mush and sex and special FX.
Dr. Who, an entertaining story with beautiful sets, even if they aren't 'realistic' or 'believable'. Surreal is what outer space is all about. And on a final note: PLEASE RELEASE MEGLOS AND HORNS OF NIMON ON DVD(or at the very least VHS.) Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, and K-9(John Leason) are in both of them. Thank you!
Rating: 
Summary: A filler story that has some very bad special effects!
Review: The Doctor and Romana land on planet where thet know the next piece of the Key is located. Romana get captured by the planet local people . The Doctor is captured by some oil refinry people who have a planet on the planet. This story has some very bad special effects as you can actually see them! Kroll is model and so is the refinry in the last episode! For fans of K9 he's not in this story(but the person is who played him is in the refinry! This story has got some of the lamest cliffhanger in the whole Key To Time series(especially 1 and 3 ! ) Watch this video if you want the whole "Key To Time"series or are a die hard fan of Tom Baker! The cast did it best with the material it's too bad they could not improve the special effects! Did I mention the rubber squid arm in the end of part 2? It's totally hilarious! To me this story was about as bad "The Androids of Tara" the story before this one! At least it's good for the chessy special effects! Also where is the cover for the video on this website!
Rating: 
Summary: Green Guys Can't Dance
Review: The low point of the sixteenth season, with green guys who can't dance or even chant "Kroll" with an even beat, a dance that looks like it was choreographed by a seventh grade gym teacher, a silly model processing station and giant squid in a bathtub, the Doctor and Romana suddenly sprouting hip waders and goloshes, etc, etc. Yet, somehow it's still fun and will stay in my collection.
Rating:
Summary: This is only on video because it's in the Key to Time season
Review: The power of ignorance. For years 'professional' writers in sci-fi magazines had me convinced that seventies Dr Who was much better than eighties Dr Who. That was because only a few older Dr Who stories had been released on video from the 70s (the best ones, of course). But seeing rubbish like Power of Kroll makes you realise there were just as many turkeys in the seventies as there were during J.N-T's stay as producer. What's wrong with Power of Kroll? Well, the fact that virtually nothing seems to happen in it for a start. The swampies are laughable with their cliched green-painted bodies and green-dyed tea-cosy hats. The CSO monster is dire and the oil-rig-base-station-whatever-it-is just looks like the toy it is. The rather thin plot centres around the swampies sacrificing victims to their god, something that's probably on Page 1 of the Big Book of Sci-fi Cliches. Tom Baker is at his best here but he's virtually keeping the programme going single-handed. I can't help but be reminded of excellent actors like Peter Cushing being put into some truly awful horror films in order to make them worth watching just to see the one decent aspect they provide. But really, you can forget about Power of Kroll. It's twice as cheap and nasty as the dullest of the eighties Dr Who stories. See stories from the earlier Tom Baker seasons instead.
Rating: 
Summary: "I hate underground passages."
Review: This is by far the poorest story in the Key to Time season, a season that has long held a fond place in my memory. "The Power of Kroll" satisfies my nostalgia only slightly. Watching it in recent years has not enamored me to it - it is a bland story, indifferently directed and acted. Even Doctor Who guest stalwarts like John Abineri and Philip Madoc look less than enthused. (In all fairness, Madoc auditioned for the role of Thawn; had he played this part he probably would have made the character more interesting. Being stuck with the role of Fenner certainly limited Madoc's talent for playing excellent villains.) The Swampies are also ridiculous, some might say insulting, cliches of a native people. For a story meant to be a commentary on colonialism and indigenous dispossession, "The Power of Kroll" shoots itself in the foot. There is also the problem of Kroll itself - when the monster rises from the swamps, the special effects are embarrassingly bad. However, the monster itself is a brilliant design, and the scene of it rising from the water to engulf the refinery IS very good (if you ignore the toy model of the refinery). The story is also fairly short, but it is not pacy - it's just a lot of running around, escaping and being recaptured, and basically going nowhere. There are a few positive points. The location scenery in Iken Marshes is wonderful and the final "confrontation" on the refinery platform is taut and exciting. However, it is spoiled by a boring and pointless "post-crisis crisis", presumably written just to fill up space. Buy this only if you are a purist and want the complete Key to Time series. Otherwise, don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: "I hate underground passages."
Review: This is by far the poorest story in the Key to Time season, a season that has long held a fond place in my memory. "The Power of Kroll" satisfies my nostalgia only slightly. Watching it in recent years has not enamored me to it - it is a bland story, indifferently directed and acted. Even Doctor Who guest stalwarts like John Abineri and Philip Madoc look less than enthused. (In all fairness, Madoc auditioned for the role of Thawn; had he played this part he probably would have made the character more interesting. Being stuck with the role of Fenner certainly limited Madoc's talent for playing excellent villains.) The Swampies are also ridiculous, some might say insulting, cliches of a native people. For a story meant to be a commentary on colonialism and indigenous dispossession, "The Power of Kroll" shoots itself in the foot. There is also the problem of Kroll itself - when the monster rises from the swamps, the special effects are embarrassingly bad. However, the monster itself is a brilliant design, and the scene of it rising from the water to engulf the refinery IS very good (if you ignore the toy model of the refinery). The story is also fairly short, but it is not pacy - it's just a lot of running around, escaping and being recaptured, and basically going nowhere. There are a few positive points. The location scenery in Iken Marshes is wonderful and the final "confrontation" on the refinery platform is taut and exciting. However, it is spoiled by a boring and pointless "post-crisis crisis", presumably written just to fill up space. Buy this only if you are a purist and want the complete Key to Time series. Otherwise, don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Move along. Nothing to see here.
Review: This really is something of a disaster, and is by far the worst story in the Key to Time Series. Green coloured men running around, random tentacles grabbing various cast members - it's all a bit duff. The story tries to put forward a commentary on the bad things that happen when a country/place is colonized and it's original inhabitants (read: native-americans in this story) are ousted. Problem is, it just doesn't work due to deficiencies in script, effects, acting (swampies don't act well), you name it. Overall, it was a poor choice for the penultimate key to time story, and you can't help but wonder whether, had they swapped the stones of blood and kroll around, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated
Review: This story is from the age when the Tom Baker era was going downhill, but I'd say it's the best I've seen of the Key to Time season. Okay, so the special effects aren't all that awe-inspiring, but who watches Dr Who for the special effects? The story, involving tribal worshipping of a god who turns out to be an outsized squid-like beast and the invasion of a primative culture, is well-written and entertaining. Tom Baker is at his best, and the final episode is a blast.
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