The Krotons (TV story)

The Krotons was the fourth story of Season 6 of Doctor Who. Future script editor Robert Holmes penned this story, his first for the series.

Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives on the unnamed planet of the Gonds, who are ruled and taught in a form of self-perpetuating slavery by the alien Krotons - crystalline beings whose ship, the Dynatrope, crash-landed there thousands of years ago after being damaged in a space battle.

The Krotons are at present in suspended animation, in a crystalline slurry form, awaiting a time when they can be reconstituted by absorption of mental energy. Periodically, the two most brilliant Gond students are received into the Dynatrope, apparently to become 'companions of the Krotons' but in truth to have their mental energy drained, after which they are killed.

When the Doctor and Zoe take the students' test, their mental power is sufficient to reanimate the Krotons. The Doctor discovers that their life system is based on tellurium and, with help from the Gond scientist Beta; he is then able to destroy them and their ship using an impure form of sulphuric acid.

Plot
On an unnamed planet, a race called the Gonds are subject to the mysterious Krotons, unseen beings to whom they provide their brightest intelligences as “companions”. Thara, son of the Gond leader Selris, is the only one of his race to object to this practice. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive in time to witness the death of one of the chosen companions and intervene to save Vana, the other selected for this fate, using her survival as a means to convince Selris and the Gonds of the malign influence of the Krotons on their society. The Doctor calls it "self-perpetuating slavery” by which the brightest in Gond society have been removed. Similarly, there are large gaps in their knowledge, especially relating to chemistry. This situation has been in existence for many years since the Krotons arrived in their spaceship, polluting the lands beyond the Gond city and killing much of the Gond population.

Thara uses the disquiet of the situation to lead a rebellion and attack the Teaching Machines of the Krotons in the Hall of Learning. This prompts a crystalline probe to appear and defend the Machines, and warned the Gonds to cease their rebellion. Zoe now tries the Teaching Machines and is selected to be a “companion” of the Krotons. The Doctor elects the same fate and both are summoned into the Dynotrope where they are subjected to a mental attack. . Zoe deduces that the Krotons have found a way to transfer mental power into pure energy, while the Doctor busies himself with taking chemical samples of the Kroton environment. Circumstances now trigger the creation of two Krotons from chemical vats with the Dynatrope (the Kroton spaceship). The newly created Krotons capture Jamie but are really seeking the Doctor and Zoe, the “High Brains”, who have now left the Dynatrope. It takes Jamie quite some time before he is able to make an effective escape.

Eelek and Axus, two councillors previously loyal to the Krotons, who begin to rally for all-out war with the Krotons, have now seized the initiative in Gond society. The more level headed Selris is deposed, but warns that an all-out attack will not benefit his people. Instead he has decided to attack the machine from underneath by destabilising its very foundation in the underhall. Eelek has Selris arrested and also reasserts control by negotiating with the Krotons that they will leave the planet if provided with the two “High Brains” who can help them power and pilot their ship. Zoe and the Doctor are forced into the Dynatrope and Selris dies providing them with a phial of acid which the Doctor adds to the Kroton vats. Outside, Jamie and the scientist Beta launch an attack on the structure of the ship using sulphuric acid. This two pronged assault destroys the tellurium-based Krotons and their craft. The Dynatrope dissolves away and the Gonds are free at last - choosing Thara rather than the cowardly and ambitious Eelek to lead them.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
 * Abu - Terence Brown
 * Axus - Richard Ireson
 * Beta - James Cairncross
 * Custodian - Maurice Selwyn
 * Eelek - Philip Madoc
 * Kroton - Robert La'Bassiere
 * Kroton - Miles Northover
 * Kroton Voice - Roy Skelton
 * Kroton Voice - Patrick Tull
 * Selris - James Copeland
 * Student - Bronson Shaw
 * Thara - Gilbert Wynne
 * Vana - Madeleine Mills

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - David Tilley
 * Costumes - Bobi Bartlett
 * Designer - Raymond London
 * Film Cameraman - Alan Jonas
 * Film Editor - Martyn Day
 * Make-Up - Sylvia James
 * Producer - Peter Bryant
 * Production Assistant - Edwina Verner
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Howard King
 * Studio Sound - John Holmes
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Bill King

Story Notes

 * A preliminary outline for the story, then entitled The Trap, was submitted for Season 2, but it was rejected because the robots were deemed too similar to the Mechanoids, then set to feature in DW: The Chase.   Three years later, Holmes re-submitted the outline as The Space-Trap to a more receptive new production team.  The script — under the name The Space Trap — was actually commissioned for delivery in 1969, probably to be the penultimate story of Season 6.  However, because Holmes had completed the scripts early, the story  could go into production in late 1968 when a Dick Sharples story, The Amazons (later known as The Prison in Space), fell by the wayside.
 * All episodes of this serial exist in 35 mm telerecording negative
 * This was repeated as part of The Five Faces of Doctor Who.
 * This is the first collaboration between writer Robert Holmes and script editor Terrance Dicks. It was only Dicks' second story in that capacity.  In a neat bit of symmetry, Horror of Fang Rock was one of script editor Robert Holmes' last stories, written by Terrance Dicks.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 9.0 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 8.4 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 7.5 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 7.1 million viewers

Myths

 * The Krotons were the winning entry in a Blue Peter 'design a monster' competition. (One of the winning entries in a Blue Peter 'design a monster competition, the 'Aqua-Man', resembled a cardboard box with legs and arms - similar to the Krotons' appearance.)

Filming Locations

 * West of England Quarry and the Tank Quarry in Malvern, Worcestershire
 * Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
 * Lime Grove Studios (Studio D), Lime Grove, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The first shot is of a sliding door refusing to open.
 * Vana's cloak falls off when she raises her arms in episode one.
 * Zoe's jacket is badly torn at one shoulder in episode four. So...?
 * Beta is magically transported from place to place.

Continuity

 * When the Doctor hypnotizes Vana he at first uses a stopwatch, much as his third, fouth and sixth selves would later do. However in the later moments of the process, seen at right, he appears to use his hands in a "significant" manner.  It is possible to interpret this last stage of the hypnosis process as the Doctor giving the process an extra psychic "nudge".
 * It might be a limited form of the more extensive "mind-meld" heavily used by the Tenth Doctor.


 * The Krotons appear in EDA: Alien Bodies which greatly fleshes out Kroton history, biology and origins. They also return to battle the Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard in BFA: Return of the Krotons.  Further examination of the Gond has, as of 2008 not been undertaken in any medium.


 * The Second Doctor's affinity for umbrellas in this story prefigures the Seventh Doctor's obsession with them. Indeed, the umbrella in this story is key to saving the Doctor and Vana's lives, perhaps suggesting why the Seventh Doctor seemed to find them so useful.

DVD and Video Releases

 * Released on video as "The Krotons" in episodic format in 1991.

Target Novelisations

 * Novelised as The Krotons by Terrance Dicks published in June 1985.