Arriving on an unnamed planet The Doctor and his companions find it is populated by a race of people called Gonds . During certain periods the Gonds give their brightest youths over to the Krotons an unseen race who live behind a doorway who wish to keep the intelligent Gonds as their companions . The Doctor quickly deduces that the Krotons are a malignant race working to their own agenda
This story was part of The Five Face Of Doctor Who a repeat season broadcast on BBC 2 in November 1981 which impressed myself and my classmates . This one impressed us all down to the fact that it featured Wendy Padbury as Zoe in a very naughty looking PVC minidress . Honestly you're a teenage schoolboy and if you've got Zoe in a PVC minidress what more do you want ? Words like " cute " and " hot " are very important to male youth . and phrases like " talented actress " and " character development " don't matter in these situations . I think one of my peers said he thought the best thing about the story was Patrick Troughton's performance and last thing I heard from him was that he joined the Metroplititan police . Very strange chap but for everyone else we all agreed that Zoe should have her own television show if not her own television channel , or indeed have all the television channels all to herself . Just watch these viewing figures
Taking a step backwards if not a very cold shower there's not a lot to this story . It's like one of those Greek myths where a bunch of backwards primitives are oppressed by a superior race of monsters . You've seen this type of story before all too often in sword and sorcerery , and sci-fi B movies though to be fair it doesn't happen all that often in DOCTOR WHO but it's surprising to think his is the debut script from Robert Holmes who would become the most prolific and popular writer the show had ever seen and whose reputation in fandom was of an almost deity like status . Personally speaking I always thought both David Whittaker and Malcolm Hulke were more consistent writers Despite the rather workman and unoriginal plot director David Maloney does manage to make THE KROTONS a better story than it possibly deserves to be . He brings a feeling of atmosphere and claustrophobia to the proceedings . Prolific Welsh actor Philip Madoc has something of a star turn as the clichéd treacherous villain Eelek , but the eponymous Krotons themselves are rather silly looking and myth has it they were winners in a BLUE PETER competition for design a monster . They weren't because the winner was " a steel octopus " which never appeared on the show and we'd have to wait till 2006 till the Azarbaloff made an appearance as a BLUE PETER competition . Mind you imagine if we had Benny Hill playing a baddie in the show with Zoe