Robert Holmes (1) (1926–1986)

six 25-minute episodes, starring no less than Peter Cushing and Vincent Price (the latter with a mild American accent, but you can be sure it is him) delivering a script by one Rene Basilico based on a story idea by the great Robert Holmes. We start, à la Wicker Man, on a remote Scottish island where Funny Things Are Happening. Our heroes, who have turned up to discover more about the death of an old friend, conclude that the island is a nest of telepathic mutants. They pursue their show more investigations further in London, where they discover tendrils of the conspiracy percolating to the top of the Establishment (apologies for mixed metaphor). Hints are dropped that Sir Alec Douglas-Hume may have been one of those involved. Richard Hurndall, the stand-in for William Hartnell in The Five Doctors, makes an appearance as a respectable Scottish banker in the last episode.

It is not a flawless piece of drama: as with many six-part Doctor Who stories, there is not quite enough story to pad out the episodes, and also most of the time the mutants don't seem to be very threatening to the rest of humanity. But of course this is a story of the Cold War era, we could see the mutants as concealed Communists (or the conspiracy theory target group of your choice - Catholics? Jews? Homosexuals? Scots???) and Cushing and Price do a good double act of trying to get to the heart of the matter; and anyway their voices are simply very pleasurable to listen to. An interesting curio which leavened my diet of Doctor Who audios. show less

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This Doctor Who [:] The Krotons audio book isn't the novelization of the TV episode. It's the actual soundtrack with Frazer Hines, who played Jamie, providing the linking narration (minus the Scottish accent). Mr. Hines is also interviewed at the end, which I enjoyed.

The second Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie arrive in the wastelands of the planet of the Gonds. The wastelands were created about a thousand years ago when the Krotons landed in their spaceship, the Dynatrope, and the primitive Gonds show more went to war with them. Since then the Gonds have been taught through machines in their Learning Hall. Periodically, the two best and brightest of the Gond students are selected to go live with the Krotons as their companions. The current selections are a young man named Abu and a young woman named Vana.

Abu enters with no fuss, but Thara, son of the Gonds' leader, Selris, doesn't want Vana to go. There's an argument over this before the three visitors from the T.A.R.D.I.S. arrive. The Gonds are surprised to learn that the wastelands are no longer poisonous, but they're horrified to learn what really happens to those selected to live with the Krotons. Vana is rescued, but it takes time for her to recover her mind.

Some of the younger Gonds attack the teaching machines with axes. We later learn they also have slings and fireballs. (Yeah, as if those would do any good against the Krotons or their weapons.) A mechanical voice-over demands the Gonds stop. The Krotons' screening devices determine that the Doctor is the leader. A nasty device is sent to kill the supposed leader. It takes out one of the young Gonds instead.

While the Doctor is busy, Zoe gets bored and tries out one of the teaching machines. She scores much higher than any Gond and is selected to join the Krotons. The Doctor gets himself selected, too. While they're in the Dynotrope, Jamie finds out and enters the ship by more direct means. Too bad for Jamie that the Doctor and Zoe had already escaped.

There's a rebellion among the Gonds and an ambitious jerk named Axus gets himself elected leader in place of Selris. Axus is the twit who imagines slings and fireballs are going to take down the Krotons. Selris has another plan, but it causes some Gond deaths. The Krotons demand the return of the 'high minds'. They say that this will fix their ship so they can leave. Axus is fine with sacrificing the Doctor and Zoe to save his people. Selris isn't.

The Gonds have been taught only what the Krotons want them to know. Chemistry isn't one of the subjects. The Doctor managed to teach the Gond scientist, Beta, how to make something that the Krotons won't appreciate. (By the way, Beta's name is pronounced 'Bee-tah,' not 'Bay-tah'.) Time is running out. Will the cavalry of two (Jamie and Beta), come to the rescue before the Krotons win?

It's an interesting adventure. I enjoyed the way the Krotons' dialog amongst themselves showed Axus was an even bigger fool than he'd demonstrated already.

Source of reference for the characters and cast list: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/krotons/detail.shtml show less

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1068930.html?style=mine#cutid3

This is much the best of the Sixth Doctor novels, and it's a shame that Holmes didn't write any other novelisations. Somehow he seems very much in control of his material, especially filling out the background of the Androgums and the Shockeye/Chessene relationship. This is basically the only Sixth Doctor novelisation that one could recommend to a non-Who reader with confidence.