The Krotons

Dear Gary—

The Krotons begins something like The Lottery or Logan’s Run, with a ‘lucky’ few chosen for a great honor, only to find that this ‘honor’ is death.  It gives the impression of a rather stock story with a sort of generic alien populace and someone’s backyard idea of a monster. But you land the TARDIS, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe in the midst of this 60’s sci-fi script-in-the-making and you have yourself a Doctor Who story that can stand the test of time despite itself.

I want to say, Gary, that this is the epitome of the classic Doctor Who formulaic story that I think of when I think of Doctor Who. The Krotons is Doctor Who in a nutshell.

Take a stock script. Take a generically alien population of ineffectual, timid beings who have submitted themselves unquestioningly to a vaguely threatening authority. Take a sufficiently quarry-like, arid, rocky location. Take a cheaply made set chock full of modish gadgets and ambiguous scientific equipment. Take a monster that could only frighten a six-year-old child. Add a half dozen extras who can mill about convincingly. Throw in some solid actors who can take a nothing role ‘and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile’ (thank you Paul Williams). Now land the TARDIS, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe in the middle of it all.

Nothing more needs to be said.

But of course I will say more, Gary.

Because the TARDIS, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are in the middle of it all.

That’s what counts.

That’s what makes The Krotons count.

That’s why we can watch The Krotons and not shunt this off into the 60’s schlock sci-fi black hole of mediocre Bdom.

Not to say, Gary, that there is anything wrong with that black hole of 60’s schlock sci-fi mediocre Bdom. I rather like that black hole. Round about this time, as the year wanes and the leaves start to fall, I love to dive into that swirling black hole and see what I come up with.

But there are always some that bubble to the top, and some that rise above and escape.

The Krotons is such a one. The Krotons has won the lottery. The Krotons is one of the lucky ones that has been chosen. Thankfully, though, it is not death that it has won. Thankfully the TARDIS, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe have arrived in the nick of time.

“Where are we?” Zoe enquires.

“You don’t expect him to know, do you?”  Jamie responds.

And we are off and running.

The Doctor and Jamie have established an easy-going, comic relationship to rival Abbott and Costello, Hope and Crosby, or Laurel and Hardy. The Krotons, however, begins to develop the dynamic of the Doctor and Zoe as a team.

“Zoe is something of a genius,” the Doctor states of his companion. “Of course it can be very irritating at times,” he continues.

Zoe, for her part, says, “The Doctor is almost as clever as I am.”

The two of them are quite a match for the Krotons of our story. The Krotons can transform mental power into energy, and between the Doctor and Zoe the Krotons have found more than enough mental power. And I mean more than enough—the Krotons get more than they bargained for. The Doctor and Zoe together can outwit the Krotons while at the same time putting on a witless show to rival those comedy teams of old.

“Zoe,” says the Doctor, “I think we’ve gone and done it.”

Done it they have.

But let’s not forget Jamie. Zoe is usually the odd man out; in The Krotons it is Jamie who is running after the Doctor and Zoe, finding himself always on the other side of the wall. He might not be a ‘High Brain’ like his companions, but he has the down to earth common sense, instinct, brashness, and brawn to rival any Kroton any day.

And the TARDIS has its own part to play. It too can foil the Krotons through its HADS system of defense—Hostile Action Displacement System. When the TARDIS is attacked, we learn, it can auto-dematerialize.

I can’t leave this story, Gary, without mentioning the Gonds. These are our ineffectual, timid beings who have placed themselves under voluntary enslavement to the Krotons. These are the Logans who refuse to run. These are our stock extras with a few solid actors thrown in. We have the glam-gal who is rescued from the Kroton lottery (although it leaves her mindless for most of the story), and her boyfriend Logan wannabe. Then there is the Kewpie Doll look-alike Eelek who vacillates between submission and rebellion, always at the wrong times, just to provide the right amount of resistance to the Doctor and to propel the plot along.

“We’ll have to find our own answers now” the Gonds say as the Doctor heads off for further adventures and they are left behind without their Kroton masters to tell them what to do and what to think.

The Gonds are left to find their own answers. THAT, Gary, is Doctor Who. The Doctor arrives; he frees; he leaves. The Gonds are left to find their own answers.

And so I leave, Gary, but I don’t know if I can find any answers. I’ll leave that to the Doctor and his time swirl . . .