Wagon train to the stars.
Doctor Who - Colony In Space (1971)
After The Master steals important Time-lord files regarding the planet Uxareius they send The Doctor on their first mission for them, along with Jo Grant. Uxareius has been colonised by Earthlings looking for a better way of life. But a combination of crops not growing leaving them on the verge of starvation, & sudden giant reptile attacks, not to mention the local primitive aliens makes life a tad difficult for them. But, worse is yet to come.
The Doctor exposes a borderline fascist group of space miners known as the IMC of using robots to commit murder on the colonists then project holographic images of large reptiles, problem solved, surely(?) Suddenly The Master turns up, posing as an Adjudicator, pretending to advocate between the warring factions of colonists & IMC soldiers, But his real intentions are to gain access to the ancient, underground city of the primitive aliens where a powerful doomsday weapon that can threaten the entire Universe lies dormant. The Doctor must stop him!
This 6-parter rocks from beginning to end. This is the 3rd Doctors first trip through time & space. The Time-lords acknowledge his bitterness at being exiled on Earth & send him on this, (the first of many missions for them), at their behest, of course. This is obviously Jo's first trip in the TARDIS & picks what appears to be the only flower on the whole, entire planet, though how it grew in this barren wasteland?.
The effect of the giant lizard attacking the colonist couple is well realised which is ironic, under the circumstances, as it's an actual fake created by the IMC bad guys. Apart from The Master, Captain Dent & his lackey Morgan are bad ass villians. Cauldwel is the only (& somewhat naïve, I mean seriously?!) decent IMC person among them, LOVE the Thunderbirds spaceship by the way!
The colonists are led by their pacifist leader Ashe who decently wishes to maintain peaceful cooperation with the primitives, even if means sharing their meagre rations. Winston is the more young, rebellious, second in command who thinks the colony should be run his way, not sacrificing all their food to the primitives & declares war on the IMC once the truth is known. We also get an IMC spy called Norton claiming to be from another colony, wiped out by both reptiles then primitives alike. Norton is played by Roy Skelton who played not only Cybermen & Dalek voices, yet Zippy in children's show Rainbow. & how can I not mention Jo's new friend? The gorgeous Mary Ashe played by Helen Worth of Coronation Street fame, daughter of Ashe.
Yes, we get complaints of repetitive padding, Somehow, this doesn't affect me. There are continual fire-fights between the Colonists & IMC. Captain Dent's a cold-blooded killer as is his personal assassin Morgan. The Master, though, is of course the erm...master?
The alien primitives seem to have 3 casts with a single, wise leader who senses The Masters true motives for want of their cobwebs & all weapon & denies The Master his wish of dominion over the Universe. So much so, that he's prepared to commit mass suicide (this sounds familiar, Hand Of Fear!) & his entire race so that psycho's like The Master cannot abuse it! For some strange reason Jo thinks the Colonists left Earth in 1971, her new friend Mary corrects her that it's March 2nd, 2472.
Unlike the paradise of Star Trek, Earth is an over-crowded slag-heap of deaths from Suicides, pollution &...traffic accidents?! We don't see The Master until episode 4! What the viewers of 1971 must have thought at this revelation, assuming most of them forgot that brief beginning with the Time-lords. Feel sorry for the real adjudicator, surely he must have been a victim of The Masters shrink ray weapon (?) The picture that IMC come up of the real person sends shivers down my spine, & isn't that a picture of Malcolm Hulkes who wrote this gem?! This obviously shows he had a great sense of humour! Just like 'Death To The Daleks' there is an equally obvious Erich Von Daniken vibe, & is it me or are the two stories alike, anyway? Think about it. Ancient alien cities, primitive aliens that were once advanced, a barren planet where the soil is ruined? Chariots Of The Gods, eat both your hearts out! After many a battle, the Colonists are forced to leave on a ship that was obsolete when they bought it, & would be fatal to use again.
This has been mentioned before so I don't have to tell you about disturbing parallels of Space shuttle-related disasters. Mary's plea to the 'nice' IMC guy Cauldwel fall on deaf ears which he tragically comes to regret.. It's fab to see Jo creeped out by The Doctor on her first trip in the TARDIS. It's reminiscent of the very first Doctor Who story 'Unearthly Child' in which The 1st Doctor genuinely comes across as creepy, not just to Ian & Barbara, who he kidnaps by the way. but this viewer!
The primitive aliens are mute, yet can read peoples minds. We know The Doctor can block his mind from being read (Talons Of Weng Chiang), obviously he wanted them to read his mind so that they'd know he only wishes to enter the underground city to do a simple trade to get Jo back after she's captured. Also block it to so that he & Jo can escape from their cell, very original method by the way. As mentioned, the primitive aliens have 3 casts, the ones we see, the near-blind priests & their grand leader. A serious must mention would have been Susan Jameson, who would have been the original Morgan. Unfortunately, at least for this Whovian, Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks thought the idea of a female villain playing in a mini skirt & thigh boots would be too kinky for the kiddo's? What about Jo in similar gear?! Talk about double-standards... Ashe has an interesting photo in his office.
Of course, the scene between The Doctor & The Master is pretty fab. It's obvious (despite the constant attempts of trying to kill him.) The Master sees The Doctor as some kind of brother, or at least an equal. He actually offers The Doctor an equal share in ruling the Universe by the mere threat of the doomsday weapons use. The Doc can reign benevolently, surely (?) By his response we have our hero's personality down to a tee.
And now for that Target book. I had Dr Who & The Doomsday weapon (the books mostly had different titles,) as a kid. I lapped it all up as I did other Target Dr Who books. They truly caught my imagination & I desperately wanted to see them! I read The Leisure Hive, one evening, in less than 2 hours. The Moonbase was 'simmered' during a Christmas/New Years holiday to stay with relatives in Paris, France.
Katy Manning (Jo Grant) autographed my Target book as well as the VHS of this. Those of my fellow, Whovian brethren who've met Katy will understand her reaction when I told her that this was a childhood book. Still, this is truly an underrated, hidden gem of the "infamous" Pertwee era 6-parters. We're taken on a wild ride. complete with a complex story to tell. Imagination enjoyment on standby, sue me...
Borgduck alias Stewart.