C08S04 Colony in space

Synopsis

The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen secret information about a device called the Doomsday Weapon and realise they need the exiled Doctor's help.  They send the TARDIS, along with the Doctor and his assistant Jo Grant, to the bleak planet Uxarieus in the middle of the 25th Century where all is not well.  What is attacking the colonists and can the Doctor stop his old enemy from finding the dangerous weapon before it is too late?

Cover notes

One of the limitations of having an exiled Third Doctor meant that the whole ethos of Doctor Who - adventures in time and space with the TARDIS - was suddenly compromised.  Producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks soon realised this and wanted to get the Doctor back out there, so came up with an incredibly simple and effective premise.  If the production team wanted to set a story on another planet and different time - the TARDIS would be allowed to leave Earth and UNIT behind for a few episodes and the Doctor would be sent on a mission for his own people, the Time Lords.  Result!

The Third Doctor (and indeed Pertwee) looks happy to be back inside the TARDIS.  However, even though the lovable and loyal Jo Grant had been assigned to the Doctor since Terror of the Autons the previous year, in this story we finally realise that she didn't quite believe his stories of time travelling in an old police box.  The Doctor's new arch-enemy, the Master, would appear in every story during the eighth season of Doctor Who - but although his threat was expected, he did not appear in Colony in Space until halfway through to save the stories becoming predictable.

Colony in Space is the first story to take Jon Pertwee's Earth-based Third Doctor to an alien planet.  For the first alien world to feature in colour episodes, there is a certain irony that the planet is filmed in a colourless quarry that typifies many an alien planet in Doctor Who, before and since.

Cast

Crew

DVD Extras

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