Doctor Who - The Krotons
Director - David Maloney
Cast - Patrick Troughton, Wendy Padbury, Frazier Hines, James Copeland, Philip Madoc, Madeline Mills
Country of origin- U.K.
Distributor - BBC Worldwide
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - Brad Hogue
Date- 08/06/2019
The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions Jamie (Frazer Hinds) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) land on a planet and meet a race of humanoids named the Gonds. The Gonds are subjects of an unseen race called The Krotons (The Croutons, come on you've already thought it) that require the best and brightest of the Gond race to become their 'companions'. The Gonds accept this as the highest honor, yet no one ever sees these folks again. Our intrepid travelers arrive just as an 'initiation' occurs and they watch in horror as on the other side of the portal, a Gond named Abu is vaporized. The Doctor saves the second entrant, Vana and tries to convince The Gond that The Krotons are using their best people for nefarious reasons. What are The Krotons up to? Will the Doctor save The Gond? Answers: no good and yes, obviously.
The Krotons (you are wanting salad) is a pretty standard science fiction story, one species has subjugated another and our hero tries to sort it out. That being said, this is a fun one. Patrick Troughton is in fine form and would soon wrap up his time as The Doctor. Due to the BBC's tape wiping scheme, for several years this was thought to be the only four part Second Doctor serial left in the archives of the BBC. Thankfully, this was not true. I have not seen huge runs of The Second Doctor but he's quickly becoming a personal favorite. In fact, without a strong actor to play The Doctor after the previous Doctor Who, William Hartnell had left, the series may not have made it. The Krotons originally ran from December 1968 through January 1969, and by the following January we would be graced with not only a new Doctor in the form of Jon Pertwee (my favorite Doctor) but also color. And as a side note, the only Doctor Who novelization I own is The Krotons by Terrance Dicks. At the time of this review being published, I have not read it.
BBC Worldwide supplied The Krotons to us on DVD-R. As I mentioned in an earlier review the video quality is comparable to other, previous dvd releases. I have no complaints. The back of the box says 'Digitally Remastered' but I cannot say for sure if it's been cleaned up since the last release. I suspect not, but it looks fine. Audio is presented in a mono track that sounds good and there are English subtitles for us folks that prefer to read everything.
BBC Worldwide has as been apparent lately, loaded up the special features: Audio Commentary with Philip Madoc, Richard Ireson, Gilbert Wynne, David Tilley, Sylvia James, Bobi Bartlett and Brian Hodgson - Second Time Around, Retrospective documentary on Patrick Troughton's time as The Second Doctor - Doctor Who Stories, Frazier Hines (Part 1) From an interview recorded in 2003 for the BBC's Story Of Doctor Who - The Doctor's Strange Love, Fan point of view with writers Joseph Lidster and Simon Guerrier- Photo Gallery - PDF Materials
