The Krotons - Episode 3

So it’s the final day of 2013 and whilst I could think of other stories I would rather be watching on this day I could think of worse. My opinion of this whole story has improved since I started to watch this story and hopefully this will continue with the final two episodes. As far as the plot goes there isnt very much really going on but its hidden by the good performances from the regulars and from the supporting cast. 

 

One of the most fun moments came when the TARDIS was shot at by the Krotons and at first we are meant to believe that the TARDIS has been destroyed before turning up nearby much to the relief of Zoe. We learn a bit more about the TARDIS and that it has something called HAD (Hostile Action Displacement system). This is one of those things that never gets mentioned again and just seems to serve a purpose here. 

 

The Gonds make more of an impression in this episode and there is a bit of a power struggle which is lead by Philip Madoc's character. Eelek is a character which could have only been played by Madoc and he chews up the scenery every time he is on the screen. That said I do find the rest of the Gonds to be quite interesting and only Vana seems less well written for compared to the other Gonds but at least she's not as bad as the Dulcian women. 

 

Jamie gets a good amount of stuff to do as whilst under the observation of the Krotons and gets the Krotons to reveal a great deal of information and he is a being used better than he was in the previous episode and gets to kill a Kroton (the effect itself was quite good). Zoe and the Doctor get to do their brainy stuff together and spend a bit of time in the TARDIS before almost being captured by a Kroton.I liked how after the Doctor and Zoe reunite with the Gonds, it takes sometime before they realise that Jamie isn't around. Shows how much they have missed him since the first episode. 

 

As far as the design of the Krotons go, it wasn’t until this episode that we get to see the full design and it came via a screen of one of them going outside and it looks fine until you get to the bottom third and it looks like a sheet that goes around the edge of it. Practically this was fine because it would be good for the actor but visually it ruins it and explains why we have never had a full look at them. Though the spinning heads did look quite good. 

 

It's a  good story so far and even though it doesn’t have the greatest plot I cant find anything to really fault it on. There is a strange sense of goodwill that I have for this story and the Krotons isnt as bad a story as I thought it was. There's something that I never thought that I would say when I started on marathon.