Episode #58 : Colony in Space

"You’ll never understand. I want to see the universe, not to rule it."

Episode 58:       Colony in Space.
Companions:    The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:           Six episodes. 10th April to 15th May 1971.

The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen their secret file on the Doomsday Weapon. They grant the Doctor a temporary reprieve from his exile on Earth to deal with the crisis. Jo and he arrive on the planet Uxarieus and become enmeshed in a struggle between an agrarian colony and a powerful mining corporation.

For the first time since Jon Pertwee took over the role as the Doctor, we get him off of Earth and out in to space again. The Time Lords sent him and Jo to prevent the Master from finding and using an ancient weapon of mass destruction before he can hold the rest of the universe to ransom with it. As an episode hook goes it doesn't really see a lot of time except near the climax of the story. Most of Colony in Space is action and some politics as the Doctor tries to deal with two conflicting sides (colonists and corporate miners) who both claim the planet as theirs. The Master meanwhile pretends to be an arbitrator sent from Earth to settle things.

It is a nice change of pace to get back away from the Earth bound UNIT stories and the issues dealt with are even more relevant in the modern day than they were in the early 1970s. The story deals with ruthless corporate interests over the plight of the common man (or worker). As it is portrayed, even Earth has become very draconian in its dealings with colonists. A possible look at our future perhaps?

Colony in Space is not the most interesting or gripping of stories but it is worth a watch. The Doctor and Jo both get some good moments of screen time, especially Jo, for whom this is her first visit inside the TARDIS and her first experience with time and space travel.