Colony in Space sees the Third Doctor visit another planet to resolve a political tension in a Dances With Wolves/Pocahontas/Avatar-ripoff.
Story: 7
The Third Doctor finally makes his first trip in the TARDIS with a reluctant Jo, and we all realize we've been missing the sensation of mystery and those pesky quarries quite a lot.
In many ways, this feels like a story from the black-and-white era of Doctor Who; a recently established human colony in space struggling to find its footing among hostile neighbouring civilisation and political tension. It's a wonder this wasn't written by David Whitaker or Robert Holmes.
I'm having trouble understanding why the writers this season write so sloppy cliffhangers. Colony in Space has the same cliffhanger for its first two episodes and the great of them aren't much better either. We even get the drawn gun-cliffhanger AGAIN (and its variant, the button of death!)!
This story has a very heavy political undertone. You could say mist of the plot is driven by political motives. The viewer in 1971 would have found that comforting, but viewers in 2020 may feel the political plot feels a bit outdated.
The Master turning up halfway through is supposed to be a big twist but it's pretty expected in this season. After that, the remaining three episodes turn into the typical Master story similar to the other stories in the season. On the other hand, this is also where we learn more about the natives and so the story reaches new depths.
Acting: 7
Two former Doctor Who villains returns here in far less memorable roles. John Ringham (Tlotoxl in The Aztecs, 1964) is okay as Ashe while Bernard Kay (Saladin in The Crusade, 1965) is pretty good as Caldwell. Morris Perry puts in a pretty generic performance as Dent.
Jon Pertwee is his dashing self and Katy Manning does the best she can with her limited material.
The Doctor: 7
There's something oddly comforting about the Doctor doing coin tricks.
This serial has some of the best scenes with the Doctor and the Master, particularly in the scene where he turns down the Master's offer to rule the universe together.
The Companions: 7
Jo gets something to do for a change. It's not much or particularly important to the plot, but its something.
The Monster/Villain: 6
The serial tries to paint the natives of Uxaerius as the villains and then the IMC people. The natives are just wrongly understood and the IMC people motivated by money.
The real villain is, of course, the Master. And he's pretty much his old devious self. He does seem somewhat more evil and scheming here though, which is great. All this Doomsday Weapon business is childish, however.
Production: 6
The planet doesn't look different to others and the natives must be the ugliest ever on the show. The direction is pretty solid though. Timothy Combe never worked on the show again, since he was strongly criticized for going over budget. That doesn't come across onscreen!
Pacing: 6
Colony in Space has some slight pacing issues, due to the story having so much repetition and padding. It's not as bad as other six-parters, and having the Master enter halfway through helps to revitalize the plot, but it could have been shorter.
Atmosphere: 5
This is the story where I get the strongest feeling of political correctness being shoved down our throats. Those who claim that PC came to Who with Chris Chibnall obviously haven't seen the Letts era.
Impact: 5
Colony in Space is arguably the first politically driven science fiction serial in the Pertwee era. There will be a few more in future seasons.
Replay Value: 6
This story is notable for seeing the Third Doctor leave Earth for the very first time. That being said, there are far better off-Earth stories coming, so this one doesn't stand up to the competition.
Random Observations:
If I'm not completely mistaken, this is the first time a companion explicitly states that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside.
I now have all the evidence I need: the TARDIS is light as a feather. It's been moved around by human force with no struggle so many times; in Marco Polo (1964), The Myth Makers (1966), The Evil of the Daleks (1967) and here.
I find the giant reptile, or rather the enlarged stock image of a chameleon, to be rather funny.
The IMC robot makes me think of the titular killer machines in The War Machines (1966). I wonder if they reused the same prop.
Doctor: "You will never understand, will you? I want to see the universe, not rule it!
The TARDIS materializes with a jump cut instead of a fade-out in this serial. The reason for that is that the director didn't know it was supposed to fade out!
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-06-12T05:45:21Z
Colony in Space sees the Third Doctor visit another planet to resolve a political tension in a Dances With Wolves/Pocahontas/Avatar-ripoff.
Story: 7
The Third Doctor finally makes his first trip in the TARDIS with a reluctant Jo, and we all realize we've been missing the sensation of mystery and those pesky quarries quite a lot.
In many ways, this feels like a story from the black-and-white era of Doctor Who; a recently established human colony in space struggling to find its footing among hostile neighbouring civilisation and political tension. It's a wonder this wasn't written by David Whitaker or Robert Holmes.
I'm having trouble understanding why the writers this season write so sloppy cliffhangers. Colony in Space has the same cliffhanger for its first two episodes and the great of them aren't much better either. We even get the drawn gun-cliffhanger AGAIN (and its variant, the button of death!)!
This story has a very heavy political undertone. You could say mist of the plot is driven by political motives. The viewer in 1971 would have found that comforting, but viewers in 2020 may feel the political plot feels a bit outdated.
The Master turning up halfway through is supposed to be a big twist but it's pretty expected in this season. After that, the remaining three episodes turn into the typical Master story similar to the other stories in the season. On the other hand, this is also where we learn more about the natives and so the story reaches new depths.
Acting: 7
Two former Doctor Who villains returns here in far less memorable roles. John Ringham (Tlotoxl in The Aztecs, 1964) is okay as Ashe while Bernard Kay (Saladin in The Crusade, 1965) is pretty good as Caldwell. Morris Perry puts in a pretty generic performance as Dent.
Jon Pertwee is his dashing self and Katy Manning does the best she can with her limited material.
The Doctor: 7
There's something oddly comforting about the Doctor doing coin tricks.
This serial has some of the best scenes with the Doctor and the Master, particularly in the scene where he turns down the Master's offer to rule the universe together.
The Companions: 7
Jo gets something to do for a change. It's not much or particularly important to the plot, but its something.
The Monster/Villain: 6
The serial tries to paint the natives of Uxaerius as the villains and then the IMC people. The natives are just wrongly understood and the IMC people motivated by money.
The real villain is, of course, the Master. And he's pretty much his old devious self. He does seem somewhat more evil and scheming here though, which is great. All this Doomsday Weapon business is childish, however.
Production: 6
The planet doesn't look different to others and the natives must be the ugliest ever on the show. The direction is pretty solid though. Timothy Combe never worked on the show again, since he was strongly criticized for going over budget. That doesn't come across onscreen!
Pacing: 6
Colony in Space has some slight pacing issues, due to the story having so much repetition and padding. It's not as bad as other six-parters, and having the Master enter halfway through helps to revitalize the plot, but it could have been shorter.
Atmosphere: 5
This is the story where I get the strongest feeling of political correctness being shoved down our throats. Those who claim that PC came to Who with Chris Chibnall obviously haven't seen the Letts era.
Impact: 5
Colony in Space is arguably the first politically driven science fiction serial in the Pertwee era. There will be a few more in future seasons.
Replay Value: 6
This story is notable for seeing the Third Doctor leave Earth for the very first time. That being said, there are far better off-Earth stories coming, so this one doesn't stand up to the competition.
Random Observations:
If I'm not completely mistaken, this is the first time a companion explicitly states that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside.
I now have all the evidence I need: the TARDIS is light as a feather. It's been moved around by human force with no struggle so many times; in Marco Polo (1964), The Myth Makers (1966), The Evil of the Daleks (1967) and here.
I find the giant reptile, or rather the enlarged stock image of a chameleon, to be rather funny.
The IMC robot makes me think of the titular killer machines in The War Machines (1966). I wonder if they reused the same prop.
Doctor: "You will never understand, will you? I want to see the universe, not rule it!
The TARDIS materializes with a jump cut instead of a fade-out in this serial. The reason for that is that the director didn't know it was supposed to fade out!
Score: 62/120