Colony in Space Episode One

The one where the Third Doctor visits another planet for the first time...

The opening scene of this story is both marvellous and frustrating. We zoom through space and home in on what would appear to be the Doctor's homeworld (yet to be named) where we meet three Time Lords in splendid robes. This is theoretically very exciting, because we all know how terrifying the Time Lords are (except for that bumbling bowler-hatted chap in Terror of the Autons). It's quite a refreshing revelation to have them send the exiled Doctor on a mission for them ("We must restore his freedom, as long as it serves our purpose"), but they reveal too much plot, and needlessly.

The fault can only be writer Malcolm Hulke's, who basically tells the viewer that Roger Delgado's going to turn up as the Master again, and that he has plans for something called a "doomsday weapon" (in fact, the very first words of the story are: "The Master..."). After this scene ends, there is no further reference to the doomsday weapon, and the Master does not appear. Why oh why didn't the production team hold back the involvement of the Master until his actual appearance later in the story? And why mention something that then becomes totally irrelevant to the rest of the episode? It all seems a bit ham-fisted to me.

Meanwhile, in the Doctor's laboratory back on Earth, the atmosphere is warm, with a lovely little repartee developing between Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning. A bit of teasing, a knowing smile... the connection the actors obviously had in life is seeping wonderfully into their on-screen performances. I find it most amusing that Jo doesn't believe the Doctor can travel in space and time in his TARDIS. He spends every waking spare moment tinkering with it to try and get it working again, but she thinks it's "a sort of hobby, a kind of game"! So funny!

Then Jo steps inside the police box, the first time we've seen a companion experience the TARDIS interior anew since 1967's The Tomb of the Cybermen (I don't believe we actually see Zoe's reaction to the TARDIS in The Wheel in Space). This whole scene of Jo coming to terms with the TARDIS is sadly undermined for the viewer by the TARDIS scenes in The Claws of Axos, which (as I wrote) are directed disappointingly by Michael Ferguson. We hadn't seen inside the police box since The War Games, so it needed a proper, awe-inspiring revelation to reintroduce its amazing properties. Jo gets that, but the viewer doesn't because the moment was squandered in The Claws of Axos.

The interior is much the same as we'd expect, except it's smaller and seems more claustrophobic in colour, particularly with the blow-up photographic wall. The Doctor also seems to have a space waste paper basket in the room too. It's a shadow of its 1960s glory. Interestingly, the TARDIS door sounds like a SIDRAT, and when it takes off and lands it appears suddenly, rather than fading in or out. Either this is an error on the production team's part, or intentional because it is the Time Lords controlling the journey, not the Doctor. Seeing as the police box materialised properly in The Claws of Axos, it must be intended...

Jo is a decidedly reluctant traveller. She's full of fearful questions, but doesn't seem very pleased about being transported across time and space to a brand new alien planet. Bear in mind this is pretty momentous for the Doctor, who hasn't been on an alien planet in this body before, but all his companion can do is beg to be taken home. It's not clear why Jo's so reluctant; maybe she just isn't ready yet. The Doctor does his best to persuade her: "That's an alien world out there, Jo. Think of it!" But Jo's not having any of it: "I don't want to think of it, I want to go back to Earth!" It's a surprising stance because I'd have expected Jo to be rather more adventurous, but perhaps this tells us that while she's brave and resourceful, she's also quite wary of entering potentially dangerous situations without forward planning!

Outside, the Third Doctor and Jo's first ever alien world is rather disappointingly grey and bland, although it's a lovely touch when Jo finds an alien flower, and then we see them being watched from afar by an indigenous figure (just like events in The Dead Planet with Susan and the Thals).

It's not long until the duo are arrested and taken to a nearby settlement, apparently a colony of humans who have bought a rackety old rocket and decided to settle on Uxarieus to build a new life. We learn that Earth is now over-populated and polluted, and that the Government (an Earth government?) jails people who think for themselves. We are in the 25th century; to be precise, it is Tuesday, March 3rd, 2472 (which will actually be a Thursday, but perhaps the calendar changes in some way between 2019 and 2472?). The colonists are struggling to make their crops grow, and after a year of trying to farm the land, they are on the cusp of starvation.

Now don't get me wrong, this is all very interesting plotting by Malcolm Hulke, who was one of Doctor Who's most thoughtful scriptwriters. The colonists' predicament is very real and intriguing, and it seems also that they are being menaced by mysterious giant lizards. But people don't tend to watch Doctor Who for adventures involving arable farming and conversations about mineralogy, so this could get very boring very quickly unless Hulke weaves a more interesting thread into the mix (such as a doomsday weapon, for instance!).

The demise of Jane and Eric Leeson is quite disturbing, simply because we've had the chance to spend a bit of time with them before they get bumped off. Sheila "Voice of the Quarks" Grant in particular makes her character sympathetic and real, before she's killed by a terrible something that invades their dome (it's actually a someone she sees, as she says: "Who are you?", which you wouldn't say to a 20ft lizard, or a rampaging robot).

The last few minutes pick up the pace a bit, as a man from a previously unknown colony staggers onto the scene claiming his entire settlement was destroyed by giant lizards. The cliffhanger sees the Doctor menaced by a marauding robot (a different design to the one seen just prior to the arrival of the TARDIS), which is what probably happened to the Leesons. This, coupled with the fact the TARDIS has been stolen by the primitives, makes for a reasonably good set-up for the story ahead, but seeing as we know the Master and his doomsday weapon have yet to come into it somehow, it all seems a little trivial. If we hadn't been told the Master had stolen the doomsday weapon file (why didn't he just copy it, rather than steal it and leave a trace?), we wouldn't be expecting him to turn up.

It all just seems a little underwhelming, like getting home on your birthday when you already know there's a surprise party waiting for you inside. It's the knowing that spoils it (same goes for expecting the Master to turn up in World Enough and Time, because the BBC told us he would!).

First broadcast: April 10th, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: It's great to have the Doctor back in his TARDIS and exploring an alien world again.
The Bad: That opening Time Lord scene ruins everything!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 13
Neck-rub tally: 5 - two neck-rubs here, firstly when the Doctor is introducing himself to the colonists, and later when he's been introduced to the primitive creatures of Uxarieus at the Leesons' dome.

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/colony-in-space.html

Colony in Space is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Colony-Space-DVD/dp/B005CW11AO