The Creed of the Kromon by: Philip Martin directed by: Gary Russell: Traditional Who in What Should Be a Non-Traditional Setting

The Creed of the Kromon stars Paul McGann as the Doctor with India Fisher as Charley and Conrad Westmass as C’rizz.  It was written by Philip Martin, directed by Gary Russell and released in January 2004 by Big Finish Productions.

Philip Martin how far you have fallen.  You wrote two of Colin Baker’s best stories on television and your second script is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories of all time, Mindwarp.  You were going to write for the original Season 23 in Mission to Magnus, so why did you have to make your triumphant return to Doctor Who a complete rip-off of your first and frankly weakest story Vengeance on Varos in so many ways even down to an insectoid like alien being in control of a race and the story’s companion being transformed into a human animal hybrid for experimentation purposes.  It is also obviously meant to be two hour long episodes but was spliced to four as there aren’t really any cliffhangers present, just stopping points for Part One and Three.  The plot is the biggest flaw in this story for the main reason that the thing is way too traditional to fit into the Divergent Universe Arc.  There is nothing wrong with actually creating a traditional Doctor Who story and this idea of a planet being taken over by bureaucrats is a good idea that lends itself well to other areas of Doctor Who as it has hints of Douglas Adams at its core, but the problem is that the Divergent Universe isn’t meant to be traditional.  The arc is meant to be a series of experimental stories, but this story could easily have been in the regular universe.  The only element of this story that connects it to the arc are some forced references to the fact that the characters don’t understand the concept of time.

The acting is also a bit spotty in most of the places.  Paul McGann, while a really good actor, sounds really bored with this script as there really isn’t much here for him to do.  Yes the Doctor saves the day, but there isn’t any sort of change in his character over the course of the story and McGann’s acting shows that he is nearly asleep at the microphone.  This story is also the introduction of C’rizz, the new companion played by Conrad Westmass.  C’rizz doesn’t make the best of first impressions as here he seems to be extremely whiny and almost a coward.  Westmass is putting in his best effort and the few scenes he has with India Fisher and Paul McGann show there is a possibility of chemistry going, but between C’rizz just not having an interesting personality in this story and Paul McGann not giving it his best the character just seems to be a little flat.  India Fisher’s Charley Pollard is the member of the main cast giving a good and solid performance, but it isn’t without flaws.  Fisher is having a lot of fun in the role and Charley is able to act more like the friend of the Doctor instead of a lover.  Fisher however loses a bit of steam in the back half as Charley spends most of Part Three and Four drugged and turning into the queen of the Kromon.

The supporting cast is also hit or miss on the acting chops.  The Kromon as an idea are interesting as they are bureaucrats who invaded the Zone and are now running it as their home.  Their quest is to get themselves access to space travel which are extremely humorous with Stephen Perring and Daniel Hogarth sneaking in subtle nuances to the lines that make them at least interesting.  There is also a burrowing creature called the Oroog in this story that is just what the Zarbi should have been in The Web Planet except not evil.  The character does come across as a bit boring, but everything just sort of files into place very nicely with what he has to do for the progression of the plot.  The only other character is the Kro’ka played by Stephen Perring who gets a scene at the beginning and the end of the story.  The Kro’ka is the guardian of zones on the planet the Doctor and Charley are on who obviously has ulterior motives and knows more about C’rizz than he is letting on hinting at some sort of danger.  The character also loves to feel powerful as the Doctor and Charley are only allowed to go where he leads them which is an extremely interesting piece in the story, but it is obviously written in by either Alan Barnes or Gary Russell as a way to place this story in the arc.

To summarize, The Creed of the Kromon is a traditional Doctor Who story that just doesn’t work in the idea that this is the nontraditional universe where nothing is supposed to make sense.  Philip Martin knows how to write Doctor Who, but instead of doing anything new he decides to do a thinly veiled rewrite of Vengeance on Varos which is already the weakest of his stories.  The acting is extremely hit or miss with Paul McGann being the weakest link which makes the story even harder to listen to as he is supposed to be the star of the show and even India Fisher giving it her all is enough to change the story.  45/100