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Jon Pertwee
Colony in Space
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Synopsis


The Doctor is Attacked
The Doctor is Attacked
 The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen secret files that tell the location of one of the most potent weapons of destruction in the universe…

 The Doctor is summoned out of exile on Earth, and along with his assistant Jo Grant, is sent by the Time Lords on a mission to retrieve the information.

 Arriving on the planet Uxarieus in the far future, The Doctor discovers a group of Earth colonists whose very existence is under threat due to failing crops and low morale. To make matters worse, the colonists right to on the planet is disputed by the Interplanetary Mining Corporation, who want the planet to themselves. An Adjudicator is summoned from Earth to resolve the dispute, but before The Doctor can start looking for the doomsday weapon, he must first deal with giant lizards, killer robots and deadly primitive tribesmen.

 And somewhere on the planet is the Master…

Source: BBC VHS Video


General Information

Season: Eight
Production Code: HHH
Story Number: 58
Episode Numbers:293 - 298
Number of Episodes: 6
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Working Titles:"Colony"
Production Dates: February - April 1971
Broadcast Started: 10 April 1971
Broadcast Finished: 15 May 1971
Colour Status: Colour and B&W
Studio: BBC Television Centre (TC3)
Location: Old Baal China Clay Quarry (Carclaze, Cornwall)
Writer:Malcolm Hulke
Director:Michael Briant
Producer:Barry Letts
Script Editor:Terrance Dicks
Editor:William Symon
Production Assistant:Nicholas John
Assistant Floor Manager:Graeme Harper
Designer:Tim Gleeson
Costume Designer:Michael Burdle
Make-Up Designer:Jan Harrison
Cameraman:Peter Hall
Lighting:Ralph Walton
Visual Effects:Bernard Wilkie
Incidental Music:Dudley Simpson
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Brian Hodgson
Studio Sounds:David Hughes and Tony Millier
Title Sequence:Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier) and Katy Manning (Jo Grant) Guest Cast: Roger Delgado (The Master) Additional Cast: Nicholas Pennell (Winton), Bernard Kay (Caldwell), Morris Perry (Dent), Tony Caunter (Morgan), John Ringham (Ashe), Helen Worth (Mary Ashe), David Webb (Leeson), Sheila Grant (Jane Leeson), Roy Skelton (Norton), John Line (Martin), Mitzi Webster (Mrs. Martin), Pat Gorman (Primitive & Voice), John Scott Martin (Robot), John Herrington (Holden), Stanley McGeagh (Allen), Pat Gorman (Long), John Tordoff (Alec Leeson), Norman Atkyns (Guardian), Roy Heymann (Alien Priest), Peter Forbes-Robertson (Time Lord), John Baker (Time Lord), Graham Leaman (Time Lord), Pat Gorman (Colonist)Setting: Earth (1970s) and Planet Uxarieus (2472) Villain: The Master

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
293Episode 110 April 197124'19"7.6PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
294Episode 217 April 197122'43"8.5PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
295Episode 324 April 197123'47"9.5PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
296Episode 401 May 197124'20"8.1PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
297Episode 508 May 197125'22"8.8PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
298Episode 615 May 197125'22"8.7PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording

Total Duration 2 Hours 26 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 8.5
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)58.38%  (Position = 128 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)56.42% Lower (Position = 171 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)59.58% Higher (Position = 199 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 21 out of 24


Archives


 All six episodes exist in colour as PAL D3 restorations and the original 16mm Black and White film telerecordings.



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Notes


This story is the first where, after an absence of two years, The Doctor returns to travelling in time and space, though only on a mission for the Time Lords. This is his first trip away from Earth, in the TARDIS, since the Second Doctor's final story "The War Games". Since regenerating into the Third Doctor previous trips in the TARDIS have only been the dimensional leaps of "Inferno" and the 'yo-yo' leap into a time loop in the previous story, "The Claws of Axos". The only other time The Doctor travelled away from Earth was in the attempted recovery of the Mars Probe 7 astronauts in "The Ambassadors of Death".

This is also the first time a companion, of the Third Doctor, is shown to travel in the TARDIS - making this Jo Grant's first trip in the TARDIS.

"Colony in Space" is also the first time ever that The Doctor visits an alien planet with a single companion. This arrangement would quickly become the 'traditional' Doctor Who format. Previously Susan describes travelling (alone presumably) with the First Doctor before the events of "An Unearthly Child", but these travels are untelevised.

Script Editor Terrance Dicks has frequently stated that he disliked the original premise of The Doctor being trapped on Earth, and had meant to subvert this plan as soon as he felt he could get away with it. He recalls in an amusing DVD documentary interview (on the "Inferno" release) having had it pointed out to him by Malcolm Hulke that the format limited the stories to merely two types: alien invasion and mad scientists.

Helen Worth, who plays Mary Ashe, is best known for her long-standing role in Coronation Street as Gail Platt.

Bernard Kay appears as Caldwell. This is his fourth and final appearance in Doctor Who. His previous appearances being: "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", "The Crusade" and "The Faceless Ones".

Director Michael Briant is heard providing the commentary accompanying a propaganda film watched by The Doctor on the IMC spaceship in the second episode. Pat Gorman was originally intended to provide the commentary but this was a last-minute change. However, Pat Gorman is still credited on episodes one and two as 'Primitive and Voice'.

Michael Briant's wife Monique makes a cameo appearance as one of the colonists.

One of the Time Lords at the beginning of the first episode is played by Graham Leaman, who previously appeared in "The Macra Terror", "Fury From the Deep" and "The Seeds of Death".

The Brigadier, as played by Nicholas Courtney, only appears in the opening of episode one and the close of episode six. Roger Delgado, as

The Master (posing as the Adjudicator) appears only in the final three episodes.

This story was to feature actress Susan Jameson as Morgan, the villain, but BBC executives overrode the decision to have a woman in the role.

Apart from a brief CSO shot of one wall in "Terror of the Autons", this story includes the first time that the inside of The Master's TARDIS is shown. To save costs the set used is a redress of the Console Room in The Doctor's TARDIS.

It is revealed that The Master has a more advanced TARDIS than The Doctor, disguised as the Adjudicator's spaceship. A sensor beam across the door alerts The Master who activates a knock out gas. Inside are filing cabinets and holding tubes for prisoners.

The Master is seen having a rod-like device that can kill and features some sensors. He also carries gas bombs and a device showing his TARDIS' interior.

For the first time The Doctor’s TARDIS is seen to materialise and dematerialise instantaneously, rather than fading in and out as usual. It is also revealed that the TARDIS travels outside the space/time continuum, during which the scanner shows swirling colours of the vortex which resolve into a picture of the approaching planet as the TARDIS appears back in normal space on its way to a landing.

The action on Uxarieus takes place in 2472; notes in the script suggest March of that year.

It is revealed that the Uxariens have mutated into three varieties, all psychic, the highest of which can communicate and teleport small items.

During rehearsals for the first studio session, Jon Pertwee was the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life. It was recorded on 3rd March 1971, with Pertwee ambushed by host Eamonn Andrews when Barry Letts lured him and Katy Manning out to a BBC parking lot, ostensibly to perform reshoots for some of the location scenes. This episode of The This Is Your Life later aired on the 14th April 1971.

All six episodes exist in colour as PAL conversions from NTSC 2" colour videotapes, as recovered from syndicated versions sent abroad that were returned from Canada in 1983; and as 16mm black & white telerecordings, as held by the BBC. 16mm colour film trims of location sequences for the story still exist and short clips from this material was used in the 1993 BBC television special "30 years in the TARDIS". In November 2001, This story was released together with "The Time Monster", in a VHS Limited Edition tin box set with an embossed image of The Master as played by Roger Delgado. A new transfer was made from the converted NTSC to PAL videotapes but no restoration work was carried out for this release. The converted NTSC to PAL copies are in a poor condition displaying many picture flaws.

"Colony in Space" was the first story of Season Eight to be novelised by Target. The novelisation was titled "Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon". Being the first of this season’s stories to be released the novelisation breaks with continuity by having Jo Grant introduced to The Doctor for the first time, even though on television her actual introduction was in "Terror of the Autons". The novelisation also includes an extensive prologue as an elderly Time Lord describes The Doctor-Master rivalry to his assistant and learns of the theft of the Doomsday Weapon files. The various races of Primitives are also described very differently to the televised version - complete with four-thumbed naked telepaths.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 The first time The Doctor returns to travelling in time and space after an absence of two years.

 The first trip in the TARDIS for companion Jo Grant played by Katy Manning.

 The first time ever that The Doctor visits an alien planet with a single companion.

 The first time The Doctor’s TARDIS is seen to materialise and dematerialise instantaneously, rather than fading in and out as usual.

 The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Michael Briant


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
The Guardian
The Guardian

The Time Lords discover that a secret file on the Doomsday Weapon has been stolen. They are convinced that The Master has taken it and because it is against their rules to get involved with the affairs of others, they decide to use The Doctor to investigate and to retrieve it for them.

Meanwhile, on Earth, The Doctor, who is still stranded on Earth, has managed to build himself a completely new dematerialisation circuit for his TARDIS. After fitting it to his time machine he leaves Earth, with Jo Grant, for a short trip. He is though completely unaware that the Time Lords have in fact taken over the TARDIS and that they are controlling his destination.

They arrive on the planet Uxarieus in the year 2472. Shortly, after arriving, on what The Doctor believes is a desolate planet, they are spotted by a colonist, and taken to the colonists' main dome where they meet their leader, Robert Ashe and his daughter Mary. The Doctor and Jo discover that the colonists are struggling to survive and the colony is in danger of starving to death as all their crops wither and die for no apparent reason. They also learn that as well as the beleaguered colonists there is also living on the planet an indigenous telepathic race that the colonists call Primitives. On top of this two of the colonists claim to have seen giant lizards in the night.

The Time Lords
The Time Lords

That night, two colonists, Leeson and his wife, are attacked and killed by what seems to be one of the giant lizards. Another colonist, who witnessed the attack, informs the colonists' leader that their gunfire had no apparent effect and that the lizard then vanished. The Doctor is suspicious and decides to investigate Leeson's dome himself. There he discovers that, unknown to the colonists, members of the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IMC) have also arrived on Uxarieus and are doing a mineral survey of the planet. He is taken to the IMC spacecraft where he meets Captain Dent. The Doctor learns that IMC are determined to exploit the planet as they have discovered large deposits of the mineral duralinium which will increase IMC's profits. The Doctor also deduces correctly that IMC have been organising the attacks on the colonists. Captain Dent's second in command, Morgan, has been using a Mark 3 servo robot, fitted with large lizard-like claws, to frighten the colonists so that they will then decide to leave Uxarieus. Realising that The Doctor is a threat to IMC's plans Morgan accompanies The Doctor back to Leeson's dome where he attacks him with one of the robots. The Doctor though manages to escape and returns to the main dome to warn Robert Ashe about IMC's plans for the planet.

At the colonists' camp it is agreed that there is a need to send for an Adjudicator from Earth to decide who has the right to stay on the planet. When trying to find proof that IMC are behind the monster attacks Jo, and one of the colonists called Winton, are captured by IMC. Winton manages to escape and The Doctor manages to persuade Captain Dent to release Jo. However, the security guard, escorting her back to The Doctor, is killed by a Primitive and Jo finds herself being taken into an underground city.

The Doctor and Jo in the TARDIS
The Doctor and Jo in the TARDIS

On learning that Jo has been taken by the Primitives he goes to the underground city himself he is reunited with Jo and placed in a cell-like room containing a mural painted around the room which shows a once-powerful race regressing to performing sacrifices to a machine. The Doctor and Jo are eventually taken by alien priest-like beings to a room containing a reactor. A malformed dwarfish figure, called The Guardian, then emerges from the wall. The Guardian recognises that The Doctor has great intelligence and so lets them both go free.

Back at the colonists' camp they discover that the Adjudicator has arrived. The Doctor though is horrified to find The Master posing the Adjudicator. After arranging a meeting between the colonists and IMC, to decide on their respective futures, The Master rules in favour of IMC. The Master, though, seems far more interested in the Primitives' city and gets Robert Ashe to tell him more about it, hinting that he could change his mind if he learns more about the dwellings.

Curious as to why The Master is on Uxarieus The Doctor and Jo investigate his TARDIS - which is disguised as the Adjudicator's spaceship. Inside they find mineral reports relating to many planets and the ID card for the real Adjudicator. Unfortunately, while searching Jo breaks a security light-beam warning The Master that there are intruders in his TARDIS and so he traps them inside. The Master then forces The Doctor to take him to the Primitives' underground city. Jo is left prisoner in his TARDIS, under threat of death, to be his guarantee of The Doctor's co-operation. However, as they exit the Master’s TARDIS The Doctor drops the key, he used to enter The Master’s TARDIS, onto the ground. This is eventually found by two members of IMC who then free Jo.

Meeting the Colonists
Meeting the Colonists

While inside the underground city The Doctor learns from The Master that the primitives were once an advanced civilisation. However, before falling apart they built a super-weapon but it was never used - and he wants to claim this weapon for himself as he intends to use the threat of the weapon to hold the galaxy to ransom. The Doctor though rejects The Master's plans stating that absolute power is evil and corrupting. When it is realised that the Guardian's machine is in fact the Doomsday Weapon The Doctor also realises that the radiation emissions from the machine is what has caused the decline of the Guardian's race and also the crop failures that the colonists have been experiencing.

The Guardian then appears and The Master reveals his plans stating that he wants to restore their civilisation to its former glory and then rule like a benign god. The Doctor argues against him by pointing out that the weapon has never brought any good. This persuades the Guardian to allow The Doctor to destroy the weapon rather than let it fall into The Master's, or anyone else’s, hands. After activating the self-destruct the two Time Lords get clear just in time as the machine explodes blowing up the Primitive’s city.

On their way back to the colonists’ camp The Doctor is reunited with Jo and they discover that IMC have taken over and have forced the colonists to leave. However, because their spaceship is no longer capable of space flight Robert Ashe sacrifices himself by piloting their spaceship alone – leaving all the colonists behind. As he expected as it takes off the spaceship explodes. This prompts IMC to assume that all the colonists were aboard their spaceship and so have been killed. Therefore IMC are unprepared when they are then attacked by the colonists and so are forced to surrender.

With the news that another Adjudicator has been sent for, and with The Master having escaped in his TARDIS, The Doctor and Jo return to Earth where, as far as The Brigadier is concerned, no time has passed since their departure.

 
A Primitive
A Primitive
Interplanetary Mining Corporation
Interplanetary Mining Corporation
The Master
The Master
Jo and Mary
Jo and Mary
 
The Doctor
The Doctor
Attacking a Primitive
Attacking a Primitive
Caldwell
Caldwell
The Doctor is Attacked
The Doctor is Attacked




Quote of the Story


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

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
VHS
Colony in Space and The Time MonsterNovember 2001BBCV 7176Photo-montagePart of a Limited Edition Box Set (BBCV 7175)
Video
DVD
Colony in SpaceOctober 2011BBCDVD 3381Photo-montage
Video
Blu-Ray
Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 8 (Limited Edition)March 2021BBCBD 0506Photo-montageBlu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories
Video
Blu-Ray
Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 8 (Standard Edition)November 2022BBCBD 0564Photo-montageBlu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories


In Print

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)PublisherAuthorCover ArtRemarks
Novel
Novel
Doctor Who and the Doomsday WeaponApril 1974Target No. 23Malcolm HulkeChris AchilleosISBN: 0-426-10372-6
(1st Edition Target Cover)
Novel
Novel
Doctor Who and the Doomsday WeaponAugust 1979Target No. 23Malcolm HulkeJeff CumminsISBN: 0-426-10372-6
(2nd Edition Target Cover)
Novel
Novel
Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon1982Target No. 23Malcolm HulkeJeff CumminsHardback cover.
ISBN: 0-426-10372-6
CD
CD
Doctor Who and the Doomsday WeaponSeptember 2007Target No. 23Malcolm HulkeJeff CumminsAudio version of the Target Novel read by Geoffrey Beevers (The Master).
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Issue 58
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/FeatureIssue 67 (Released: August 1982)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 238 (Released: May 1996)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 326 (Released: February 2003)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 328 (Released: April 2003)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 148 (Released: September 2014)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
Jon Pertwee
The Third Doctor

   

Nicholas Courtney
The Brigadier
 
Katy Manning
Jo Grant
   




On Release

VHS Video Cover
VHS Video Cover

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
The Collection Season 8 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover
The Collection Season 8 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

BBC
VIDEO
The Collection Season 8 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover
The Collection Season 8 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

BBC
VIDEO
   



In Print

Original Target Book Cover
Original Target Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Reprinted Target Book Cover
Reprinted Target Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Hardback Book Cover
Hardback Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Target Audio CD Cover
Target Audio CD Cover

BBC
CD
   



Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 58
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 58

CMS
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature: Issue 67
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature: Issue 67

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 238
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 238

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 326
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 326

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 328
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 328

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 148
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 148

GE Fabbri
   

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