Colony in Space (TV story)

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Colony in Space was the fourth serial of season 8 of Doctor Who. It was narratively significant for being the first off-Earth story recorded in colour. It was the first time that any companion had travelled in the TARDIS with the Doctor since The War Games, and naturally, therefore, Jo Grant's first visit to another planet. It also introduced the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IMC), which would later feature in a number of stories in other media. The Virgin Missing Adventures novel, The Menagerie, would retcon a link between The Space Pirates and Colony through the IMC. Subtextually, the script was Malcolm Hulke's intentional science fictional comment upon the struggle between European settlers and Native Americans.^[1]

Colony was also the first Doctor Who directorial assignment for Michael Briant, who had previously been a production assistant, amongst other things, during the Innes Lloyd and Peter Bryant producerships. Briant would later direct some of the most iconic serials of the 1970s, including The Robots of Death and The Sea Devils.

Synopsis

The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen their secret file on the Doomsday Weapon and decide to send the Doctor to retrieve it for them.

Plot

The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen their secret file on the Doomsday Weapon, and decide to allow the Doctor temporary control of the TARDIS for him to deal with the situation. The Doctor is showing Jo around the TARDIS for the first time when it spontaneously activates and dematerializes. Jo is terrified at first, but the Doctor is excited at the prospect of being, temporarily at least, free from the bounds of imprisonment on Earth.

They arrive on the planet Uxarieus in the year 2472, where they soon encounter an agrarian colony from Earth, led by Ashe. Despite their uneasy truce with the mute Uxarien primitives, the colony struggles to survive; their crops are failing without explanation, the outer settlements are being attacked by a mysterious monster, and they fear they will lose their charter in favour of the powerful and corrupt Interplanetary Mining Corporation. Some of the colonists are wondering if they should return to Earth, despite its horrible pollution, overpopulation, and repressive government.

Morale worsens further when a disheveled man named Norton arrives claiming to be the last survivor of another Earth colony beyond the mountains. The monsters wiped out most of his fellows, he claims, and the Uxarieans picked off the rest. Soon after, a little too coincidentally, an IMC mining ship lands nearby claiming mineral rights to the planet - Uxarieus is rich in the much-needed mineral duralinium - and are 'surprised and shocked' to discover an agrarian colony already there. The Captain of the IMC ship, Dent, sends for an adjudicator to decide which claim will be honored.

The Doctor's subsequent investigation reveals that the 'monster' is actually an IMC robot (with a holographic device to create the image of an enormous lizard). Norton is actually an IMC employee, who then creates further problems when he murders Holden, the colonists' chief scientist, and vandalizes their power supply. Captain Dent attempts to force the colonists to leave, first with implied and then overt threats. Armed hostility erupts between IMC and the colonists before the Adjudicator arrives. Much to the Doctor and Jo's surprise, the Adjudicator is actually the Master bearing forged credentials. He hopes to discover the location of the Doomsday Weapon, which was developed by the ancient ancestors of the Uxarieans and is hidden somewhere on the planet. Jo is kidnapped by the primitives and taken to an underground city. The Doctor follows and discovers the Guardian, overseer of the city and the last of the ancient Uxarieans. The Doctor reasons with the Guardian, and he lets them go free provided they never return to the city.

The Master rules in favour of IMC. Dent, now in effective control of the planet, threatens to have the colonists executed for murder, assault and vandalism of IMC personnel and property unless they depart immediately. Despite their fears that their spaceship is in too poor condition, the colonists have no choice but to leave. Jo watches in horror as the ship explodes shortly after takeoff.

The Master and Doctor discover the Doomsday Weapon, which can cause any star in the Universe to go supernova, in the Guardian's chamber. With this weapon, the Master plans to rule the Universe and offers the Doctor a partnership; the appalled Doctor declines. The Doctor successfully convinces the Guardian that the Doomsday Weapon is responsible for the decline and fall of the Uxariean civilization. The Guardian then allows the Doctor and Master to leave, and destroys himself, the Weapon, and the city. The Master escapes, but the Doctor and Jo are overjoyed to learn that the colonists are safe; they escaped shortly before takeoff except for Ashe, who sacrificed himself to launch the ship. The colonists overpower Dent and his henchmen, and with sufficient evidence of their illegal activity, they are confident the real Adjudicator will rule in their favour. The radiation from the Doomsday Weapon was the cause of their crop failures, and the Doctor assures the colonists that their future is now secure. The TARDIS returns the Doctor and Jo to UNIT seconds after they left.

Cliffhangers

The Doctor is investigating the Leesons' wrecked dome when a fearsome looking IMC robot bursts through the door and advances on him.
Back in the wrecked dome, the Doctor confronts Morgan with evidence of IMC's involvment in the attacks on the colonists. Morgan pulls out a remote control, and the IMC robot, now bearing lizard-like appendages, enters. Morgan coolly states that the monster is about to claim another victim.
Jo is kidnapped by the Uxarien primitives and taken to their forbidden city from which, according to Ashe, no human has ever returned.
As armed conflict erupts between the colonists and IMC soldiers, the Master draws a gun on the Doctor and Jo, announcing they're about to become victims of 'stray bullets.'
Morgan and Caldwell make their way into the Master's TARDIS where Jo is trapped in a gas chamber. The Master is remotely alerted to their presence, and despite the Doctor's pleading, prepares to make good on his threat to kill her.
The TARDIS returns the Doctor and Jo to the UNIT lab mere seconds after departing, much to the Brigadier's bemusement.

Cast

The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant - Katy Manning
The Master - Roger Delgado
David Winton - Nicholas Pennell
John Robert Ashe - John Ringham
Eric Leeson - David Webb
Jane Leeson - Sheila Grant
Norton - Roy Skelton
Mary Ashe - Helen Worth
Martin - John Line
Mrs. Martin - Mitzi Webster
Primitive and Voice - Pat GormanCite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
Robot - John Scott Martin
Time Lord 1 - Peter Forbes-Robertson
Time Lord 2 - John Baker
Time Lord 3 - Graham Leaman
Caldwell - Bernard Kay
Captain Dent - Morris Perry
Morgan - Tony Caunter
Jim Holden - John Herrington
Allen - Stanley McGeagh
Long - Pat Gorman
Alec Leeson - John Tordoff
Guardian - Norman Atkyns
Alien Priest - Roy Heymann
Colonist - Pat Gorman
Rogers - Terry Walsh
Extra - Brian Gilmar
Extra - Valentino Musetti

Crew

References

The Master

The Master pretends to be an Adjudicator.

Organisations

IMC has a mining contract for Uxarieus.

Planets

The Doctor recognises the planet Uxarieus.
Earth during this period is home to 100 billion people, and is polluted, with a repressive government.
In a discussion between the Doctor and the Master, it is revealed that the Earth's sun will explode about 10,000,000,000 years from the point of this story.

Races and species

The Uxarieans have mutated into three varieties, all psychic, the highest of which can communicate and teleport small items.

TARDISes

The Master's TARDIS is a more advanced model than the Doctor's.
The Master uses a non-lethal gas in his TARDIS to capture the Doctor.

Technology

IMC still use tape spools.

Weapons

After 500 years, firearms, rather than energy weapons, are still the preferred weapon of choice within the Human Empire.
The Time Lords secretly send the Doctor to Uxarieus, since they're aware that the Master has stolen the Doomsday Weapon report and the file on the planet.

Story notes

David Tennant was born the day after the original broadcast of Episode Two.
Director Michael Briant voiced the commentary accompanying a propaganda film watched by the Doctor on the IMC spaceship in Episode Two. This part was originally intended for Pat Gorman – who was subsequently still credited on Episodes One and Two as Primitive and Voice.
Briant had intended that the role of Morgan be played by Susan Jameson. However, he was overruled by Head of Drama Serials Ronnie Marsh, who believed that a woman in that role wouldn't be appropriate for a family audience, (REF: The Third Doctor Handbook) as it might impart an unintended sexuality to some scenes. Because she was already signed to a contract when Marsh got involved, she was still paid her full salary.^[1]

Ratings

Episode 1 - 7.6 million viewers
Episode 2 - 8.5 million viewers
Episode 3 - 9.5 million viewers
Episode 4 - 8.1 million viewers
Episode 5 - 8.8 million viewers
Episode 6 - 8.7 million viewers

Myths

The main action of this story takes place on the planet Exarius. (The name given to the planet in Malcolm Hulke's script for Episode one is Uxarieus.)

Filming locations

Old Baal Clay Pit, Carclaze, Cornwall
BBC Television Centre (Studio 3 & 4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

The manner of TARDIS dematerialization and rematerialization is quite different to how it had been depicted during the 1960s. Both TARDISes in this story "pop" in and out of frame, rather than fading in and out.
In episode two the monitor screen on board their ship turns bright blue in every close up.
Dent radios Earth referring to his ship as "Survey Ship 43" but the tail is clearly labelled 157.
When Jo and the Doctor are sneaking into the Master's TARDIS, the Doctor jostles one of the doors that had the alarm beam. This would certainly break the beam.
When Morgan finds the key to the Master's TARDIS, the "ground" it is on is a flat concrete floor with a little sand thrown on it.
In episode three, as Winton, pursued by IMC guards, falls at Caldwell's feet, seagulls can be heard.
The 23rd March 2472 will be a Thursday, not a Tuesday.
In the last scene of episode six, after the Brigadier has repeated his "come back at once" line, the shadow of a crew member can be seen projected across his front.
In episode four, when the diminutive leader of the Primitives exits from the wall, its puppeteer, particularly his hand, is clearly visible.

Continuity

This is the first time since DW: The War Games that the TARDIS travelled to another planet.
From the Brigadier's perspective, the Doctor and Jo were only away from UNIT headquarters for a matter of seconds. It is thus the only televised example of Rose Tyler's admonition to her mother in DW: World War Three that the TARDIS is "a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the end of the universe, and by the time I get back, ten seconds would've passed. Just ten seconds."
This story gives us a glimpse of Time Lords on Gallifrey. Time Lords are again depicted as wearing black and white robes, as they were in DW: The War Games.
The Doctor and Jo gain entry to the Master's TARDIS using the key the Doctor obtained in DW: Terror of the Autons. However, the Doctor appears not to have the key at the conclusion of this story. He probably 'never retrieved it from Morgan after he dropped it on the ground.
This is the first time Jo Grant sees the interior of the Doctor's TARDIS. Much of the first half of episode one revolves around Jo's adjustment to her new status as a time/space traveller. Though having been the Doctor's companion for some time, she reveals that she never really believed that the Doctor could travel in time and space until this story. Thus, this story has many features of the traditional "first story" for a new companion.
The Adjudicators are expanded upon in NA: Lucifer Rising and Original Sin.
The Doctor himself poses as an earth magistrate, the Examiner, on the planet Vulcan in The Power of the Daleks.

Timeline

This story occurs after DWM: Change of Mind
This story occurs before DWM: The Dragon of Hyacinth Lodge

Comic strip adaptation

* The opening scenes of episode 1 were adapted as a two-page comic strip illustrated by Frank Bellamy in the 10th April 1971 issue of Radio Times.

Home video and audio releases

VHS releases

Released as Doctor Who: Colony in Space

Released:

UK November 2001 (As part of the Master box set which also contains The Time Monster)
Australia December 2001 (As part of the Master box set which also contains The Time Monster)
US January 2003 (The only place it is available separately)