Starring: Tom Baker , Mary Tamm
Directed by: Norman Stewart
Produced by: Graham Williams
Written by: Robert Holmes
The search for the fifth segment of the Key to Time brings the Doctor and Romana to the swampy terrain of the third moon of the planet Delta Magna. Almost immediately, they become separated. Volume 5 of The Key to Time set.
Item Number: 14985
English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired
Audio Commentary by actors Tom Baker (The Doctor) and John Leeson (Dugeen) ● Variations Location visit from BBC Archive (6 mins) ● In Studio A glimpse into the studio recording of the story (11 mins) ● There's Something About Mary Mary Tamm looks back at her season as Romana (9 mins) ● Philip Madoc - A Villain for All Seasons Retrospective of actor Philip Madoc's numerous roles in Doctor Who (9 mins) ● Continuities (3 mins) ● Photo Gallery (5 mins) ● Production Note Option ● DVD-ROM PC / Mac feature Radio Times billings
The search for the fifth segment of the Key to Time brings the Doctor and Romana to the swampy terrain of the third moon of the planet Delta Magna. Almost immediately, they become separated. The Doctor draws fire when he is mistaken for Rohm-Dutt, a notorious gunrunner wanted for supplying firearms to the Swampies, an aboriginal people who were displaced to the marshy moon when human colonists took possession of Delta Magna. A small team from Delta Magna are now developing a refinery in the Swampies' promised territory, but the Swampies are confident that, properly armed, they can drive the humans away. Meanwhile, Romana has been captured by the Swampies and prepared as a sacrificial offering to their god, the mighty Kroll. Thwarting the sacrifice (in which the god was nothing more than a Swampie priest in fancy dress), the Doctor and Romana have incurred the wrath of Ranquin, a fanatical high priest to Kroll. Legendary or not, something is stirring beneath the swamp floor and, if the refinery's instrument readings are correct, it measures five miles across!
The fifth segment of the Key to Time is hidden somewhere on the third moon of Delta Magna. This place consists for the most part of marsh and swamp, so K9 has to stay behind in the TARDIS. The Doctor and Romana leave the ship, but soon find themselves in trouble. They are caught in the middle of a feud between the Swampies and a group of technicians. The Swampies have been given this particular moon as a kind of reservation, and they resent the intrusion of the technicians who have set up pilot plant to collect methane gas from the marsh and convert it into protein. It is then shipped back by rocket to their home planet. Romana is captured by the Swampies and the Doctor by the technicians. Each of the protagonists is very suspicious of the newcomers, and before long, Romana if being offered as a sacrifice to Kroll, the Swampies' god - a giant squid-like creature who is supposed to live in the waters. At first the Doctor and Romana try to dismiss Kroll as merely a legend created by superstition, but they soon discover that he is terrifyingly real - a savage monster nearly two miles across and hundreds of feet high. Hunted by both the Swampies and the technicians, the Doctor and Romana need every scrap of ingenuity to defeat Kroll, which they must do to find the fifth segment and to save their lives. The Doctor finds that Kroll's large size was caused by his swallowing of a holy relic of the Swampies, which is the fifth segment.
| The Doctor | --- | Tom Baker |
| Romana | --- | Mary Tamm |
| Dugeen | --- | John Leeson |
| Fenner | --- | Philip Madoc |
| Harg | --- | Grahame Mallard |
| Mensch | --- | Terry Walsh |
| Ranquin | --- | John Abineri |
| Rohm-Dutt | --- | Glyn Owen |
| Skart | --- | Frank Jarvis |
| Thawn | --- | Neil McCarthy |
| Varlik | --- | Carl Rigg |
Director - Norman Stewart
Assistant Floor Manager - Chris Moss
Costumes - Colin Lavers
Designer - Don Giles
Film Cameraman - Martin Patmore
Film Editor - Michael Goldsmith
Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
Make-Up - Kezia Dewinne
Producer - Graham Williams
Production Assistant - Kate Nemet
Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner
Script Editor - Anthony Read
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Lighting - Warwick Fielding
Studio Sound - Richard Chubb
Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Visual Effects - Tony Harding
Writer - Robert Holmes
Kroll is Doctor Who's largest ever monster.