Doctor Who (TV Series) The Krotons: Episode Two (1969) User Reviews

It's better then its reputation.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 29 October 2019]

Zoe unwittingly shows off her Intelligence,and is subsequently chosen as the next companion to The Krotons.

It's quite a dark story, I hadn't realised it, but the overall tone is quite bleak, and the story itself has particularly sinister tones. The Gonds seem to cope well with loss and death, a race that are clearly so used to it, hard to imagine they would have any fight at all in them.

I quite like the sets, the doors and various pieces of equipment look pretty good, I particularly love the two chairs Jamie and Zoe are offered, I'd have them in my home! On the downside The Krotons themselves are pretty ridiculous looking, they're so big and cumbersome, great accents though. I am a big fan of the music.

There are some nice touches of humour, The Doctor's rant at Zoe, and his subsequent messing up of the test.

Up until now, it's been pretty good. 7/10

A story which starts as a promising political allegory but turns into a bit of a filler.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 6/10 · 18 September 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

The first episode is, in my opinion, a lot better than this story's reputation would lead you to expect. It comes across as an intelligently scripted, interesting political allegory. The story features the humanoid Gonds being exploited by a strange alien race known as the Krotons. This is the first script from future Doctor Who writing legend Robert Holmes and his talent is already starting to show in episode 1. However his talent is less visible in episodes 2-4. Another great talent and Doctor Who legend involved is Philip Madoc as Eelek. His great acting skills are not fully utilised but, of course, he portrays his part perfectly.

After the very solid start the following three episodes turn into just a slightly bland, not massively interesting 'filler' between more meaty stories in the season. It also suffers from technical limitations of the age and budget. The Krotons themselves look and sound very unimpressive.

The final verdict has to be this is decently scripted and acted but unremarkable. It is a disappointment, taken as a whole, after a promising 1st part.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 8/10, Episode 2 to 4 - 6/10

Overall: 6.5/10

"The Doctor's almost as clever as I am." Episode Two...

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 26 October 2007]

Doctor Who: The Krotons: Episode Two starts as the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) realises that the mysterious Krotons are hostile & have enslaved the Gonds, he deems further investigation is necessary. Jamie (Frazer Hines) is left to look after Vana (Madeleine Mills) while the Doctor takes Zoe (Wendy Padbury) & Selris (James Copeleand) to the learning room, Zoe passes one of the Krotons tests & is summoned by them to become one of their 'companions' all of whom are seemingly killed. The Dcotor also passes one of the tests & he is summoned, they both enter the hatchway which supposedly leads to the sinister Krotons unsure of what lies ahead...

Episode 20 from season 6 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during January 1969, directed by David Maloney The Krotons is one of the few surviving complete Patrick Troughton stories & is alright if nothing overly special. The script by Robert Holmes, his first for the show, has a reasonable idea behind it & tries to be something a bit different. The fascist teaching of education for the teachers own selfish needs is a commendable enough subject but not much is done with it. The story is coming along nicely enough, it's moved on since Episode One & is still developing so it's maintaining my interest although overall it's not that exciting or memorable. The character's are OK, the dialogue is alright & it's moving along at a nice pace so it passed 25 minutes for me entertainingly enough without making me think it's any sort of classic.

We get our first look at the titular Krotons in this episode, they are huge! How do they get around, their bodies are massive square boxes with huge diamond shaped heads, extendable robotic pincers for arms & a skirt which goes right down to the floor to hide their legs/movement mechanism probably there to save money. I do like their harsh robotic voices though. To be fair for how they were designed they look alright but they are pretty silly & ungainly looking.

The Krotons: Episode Two is another reasonably fun 25 minutes of sci-fi entertainment, it's not classic 'classic' Doctor Who as it were but it ain't too bad & Patrick Troughton stories are pretty thin on the ground so we have to make do with what we've got.