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Kroton (Cyberman)
Encyclopedia
Kroton is a fictional character
who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine
comic strip based on the long-running British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
. He was a companion
of the Eighth Doctor
. The canonicity of the comic strip with respect to the television series, like other Doctor Who spin-offs
, is open to interpretation. He should not be confused with the Krotons, the villains of the 1968 serial The Krotons
.
Kroton is a Cyberman
, a member of the cybernetically augmented race that is one of the most persistent enemies of the Doctor
. However, unlike other Cybermen, Kroton still retains human feelings despite undergoing cyber-conversion. Kroton first appeared in the comic strip Throwback — The Soul of a Cyberman, published in Doctor Who Weekly #5-#7 (as it then was), written by Steve Moore
and drawn by Steve Dillon
.
is Junior Cyberleader Kroton, who discovers that he sympathises with the rebels. He helps the surviving rebels escape the planet, even to the point of killing his fellow Cybermen to defend the rebels. However, uncertain about the meaning of his own existence, he does not stay with the humans, but pilots his ship alone into space, planning to let his power supplies run down.
However, Kroton survives, encountering a pleasure cruiser that is caught in a time warp (Ship of Fools, DWW #23-#24). Despite the passengers' lack of concern, he manages to access the robot pilot of the ship and free it from its endless looping through time. Unfortunately the ship has been trapped in the time warp for 628 years, and when time catches up with the passengers, they all instantly age and die, leaving Kroton alone with only the robot pilot for company.
Kroton did not reappear until nearly 19 years later, in Unnatural Born Killers (DWM #277), where he fights off a Sontaran
raid on a primitive human village; in the time since his last appearances, he has become more proactive and physical as well as speaking more colloquially. The story set up his appearance less than a year later in The Company of Thieves (DWM #284-#286) where he meets the Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy
on a freighter that has been captured by space pirates. After initially mistaking him for a typical Cyberman and trying to kill him, the Doctor realises that Kroton is different. Together, they deal with the pirates who are attempting to capture an intelligent super-weapon. At the conclusion of that story, the Doctor welcomes Kroton aboard the TARDIS
.
The TARDIS next takes the Doctor, Izzy and Kroton to the museum planet Paradost, where memories can be accessed and enhanced by means of mnemonic crystals. However, Kroton refuses to use them, believing that to remember his life before cyber-conversion would be too painful. The travellers' visit coincides with the launch of a jihad
by the planet Dhakan's Church of the Glorious Dead. The wholesale slaughter turns out to be the work of the renegade Time Lord
known as the Master
, who had survived his last encounter
with the Doctor and had been contacted by Esterath, a cosmic being that controls the Glory, the focal point of the Omniversal spectrum which underlies all existence. Esterath is dying and needs to pass control of the Glory over to the worthier of two adversaries, and tells the Master that he and the Doctor had been chosen.
While the Doctor and the Master grapple in the Omniversal spectrum, Izzy and Kroton deal with the person who led the massacre on Paradost: Cardinal Morningstar, actually an immortal samurai
named Sato who had found eternal life without meaning much as Kroton had. The Master had found Sato and used him to alter Earth's history
and make it Dhakan. Sato and Kroton fight, but Kroton is unable to defeat Sato physically.
In the spectrum, the Doctor loses his battle with the Master. As Sato is also about to prove victorious over Kroton, Izzy uses a mnemonic crystal to make Sato realise the full import of his part in the slaughter on Paradost, and Sato falls unconscious. Izzy also makes Kroton use the crystal, causing him to remember his pre-conversion life and finally come to terms with it. As the Glory arrives to acknowledge its new controller, the Master steps forward to claim it, but is rejected.
It is then revealed that the true adversaries chosen by the Glory were not the Master and the Doctor, but Sato and Kroton. Both of them were made immortal by technology, but Kroton won by choosing hope over despair. Kroton takes his place as the new controller of the Glory, restoring the proper timeline, banishing the Master to parts unknown and granting Sato his wish of an honourable death. The Doctor and Izzy continue their journeys without him (The Glorious Dead, DWM #287-#296).
, Time Lady Iris Wildthyme
mentions that at some point during her travels, she encountered and befriended Kroton. The Doctor, however, gives no response, which may imply that the events of the novel take place before his own meeting with Kroton. However, Throwback is "narrated" by the Fourth Doctor
, who describes it as a recounting of an incident in the Time Lord archives.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip based on the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. He was a companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
of the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
. The canonicity of the comic strip with respect to the television series, like other Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
, is open to interpretation. He should not be confused with the Krotons, the villains of the 1968 serial The Krotons
The Krotons
The Krotons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 28, 1968 to January 18, 1969...
.
Kroton is a Cyberman
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
, a member of the cybernetically augmented race that is one of the most persistent enemies of the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
. However, unlike other Cybermen, Kroton still retains human feelings despite undergoing cyber-conversion. Kroton first appeared in the comic strip Throwback — The Soul of a Cyberman, published in Doctor Who Weekly #5-#7 (as it then was), written by Steve Moore
Steve Moore
Steven Dean Moore is a former Canadian professional ice hockey center, best known for receiving what turned out to be a career-ending injury as a result of an illegal hit by then Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi....
and drawn by Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon is a British comic book artist, from Luton, Bedfordshire, best known for his work with writer Garth Ennis on Hellblazer, Preacher and The Punisher.-Biography:...
.
Character history
In Throwback, the Cybermen invade the planet Mondaran, but continue to encounter heavy human resistance. Among the reinforcements from the Cyberman colony world TelosTelos (Doctor Who)
Telos is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is an arid and mountainous planet, with little sign of vegetation...
is Junior Cyberleader Kroton, who discovers that he sympathises with the rebels. He helps the surviving rebels escape the planet, even to the point of killing his fellow Cybermen to defend the rebels. However, uncertain about the meaning of his own existence, he does not stay with the humans, but pilots his ship alone into space, planning to let his power supplies run down.
However, Kroton survives, encountering a pleasure cruiser that is caught in a time warp (Ship of Fools, DWW #23-#24). Despite the passengers' lack of concern, he manages to access the robot pilot of the ship and free it from its endless looping through time. Unfortunately the ship has been trapped in the time warp for 628 years, and when time catches up with the passengers, they all instantly age and die, leaving Kroton alone with only the robot pilot for company.
Kroton did not reappear until nearly 19 years later, in Unnatural Born Killers (DWM #277), where he fights off a Sontaran
Sontaran
The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
raid on a primitive human village; in the time since his last appearances, he has become more proactive and physical as well as speaking more colloquially. The story set up his appearance less than a year later in The Company of Thieves (DWM #284-#286) where he meets the Eighth Doctor and his companion Izzy
Izzy Sinclair
Isabelle "Izzy" Sinclair, is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was a companion of the Eighth Doctor...
on a freighter that has been captured by space pirates. After initially mistaking him for a typical Cyberman and trying to kill him, the Doctor realises that Kroton is different. Together, they deal with the pirates who are attempting to capture an intelligent super-weapon. At the conclusion of that story, the Doctor welcomes Kroton aboard the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
.
The TARDIS next takes the Doctor, Izzy and Kroton to the museum planet Paradost, where memories can be accessed and enhanced by means of mnemonic crystals. However, Kroton refuses to use them, believing that to remember his life before cyber-conversion would be too painful. The travellers' visit coincides with the launch of a jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
by the planet Dhakan's Church of the Glorious Dead. The wholesale slaughter turns out to be the work of the renegade Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
known as the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
, who had survived his last encounter
Doctor Who (1996)
Doctor Who is a television movie based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production amongst Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the American network FOX, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton,...
with the Doctor and had been contacted by Esterath, a cosmic being that controls the Glory, the focal point of the Omniversal spectrum which underlies all existence. Esterath is dying and needs to pass control of the Glory over to the worthier of two adversaries, and tells the Master that he and the Doctor had been chosen.
While the Doctor and the Master grapple in the Omniversal spectrum, Izzy and Kroton deal with the person who led the massacre on Paradost: Cardinal Morningstar, actually an immortal samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
named Sato who had found eternal life without meaning much as Kroton had. The Master had found Sato and used him to alter Earth's history
History of Earth
The history of the Earth describes the most important events and fundamental stages in the development of the planet Earth from its formation 4.578 billion years ago to the present day. Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to the understanding of the main events of the Earth's...
and make it Dhakan. Sato and Kroton fight, but Kroton is unable to defeat Sato physically.
In the spectrum, the Doctor loses his battle with the Master. As Sato is also about to prove victorious over Kroton, Izzy uses a mnemonic crystal to make Sato realise the full import of his part in the slaughter on Paradost, and Sato falls unconscious. Izzy also makes Kroton use the crystal, causing him to remember his pre-conversion life and finally come to terms with it. As the Glory arrives to acknowledge its new controller, the Master steps forward to claim it, but is rejected.
It is then revealed that the true adversaries chosen by the Glory were not the Master and the Doctor, but Sato and Kroton. Both of them were made immortal by technology, but Kroton won by choosing hope over despair. Kroton takes his place as the new controller of the Glory, restoring the proper timeline, banishing the Master to parts unknown and granting Sato his wish of an honourable death. The Doctor and Izzy continue their journeys without him (The Glorious Dead, DWM #287-#296).
Other appearances
In the Eighth Doctor novel The Scarlet EmpressThe Scarlet Empress (Doctor Who)
The Scarlet Empress is an original novel written by Paul Magrs and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Sam and Iris Wildthyme.-External links:*-Reviews:*...
, Time Lady Iris Wildthyme
Iris Wildthyme
Iris Wildthyme is a fictional character created by writer Paul Magrs, who has appeared in short stories, novels and audio dramas from numerous publishers...
mentions that at some point during her travels, she encountered and befriended Kroton. The Doctor, however, gives no response, which may imply that the events of the novel take place before his own meeting with Kroton. However, Throwback is "narrated" by the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
, who describes it as a recounting of an incident in the Time Lord archives.