Directed by Michael E. Briant
Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Brigadier - Nicholas Courtney
The Master - Roger Delgado
Main Guest Cast-
Ashe - John Ringham
Mary Ashe - Helen Worth
Captain Dent - Morris Perry
Caldwell - Bernard Kay
David - Nicholas Pennell
Norton - Roy Skelton
Synopsis-
The Time Lords send The Doctor to the planet Uxarieus in the year 2472, in order to thwart The Master's latest plot.
Uxarieus is home to an Earth colony. The colony is struggling as they are unable to get their agricultural crops to grow. Meanwhile, Captain Dent and a crew from the International Mining Corporation have arrived, with the intent of driving the colonists from Uxarieus so that large scale mining operations can begin.
In addition to the colonists and the miners, there is a race of primitives native to Uxarieus that live in an underground city nearby.
The leader of the colonists, Ashe, advocates for legal methods to the dispute while the more hot-headed colonist David advocates for more aggressive methods. Captain Perry has also placed a mole, Norton, amongst the colonists and is mostly aware of what is going on.
David leads an assault on the IMC ship, which proves initially successful. The tables are soon turned, however. An adjudicator is being sent to Uxarieus to settle the dispute between the colonists and the miners.
Meanwhile, The Doctor has ventured to the underground city of the natives to rescue Jo, who had been taken captive. The Doctor and Jo are let go, with the warning that they should never return to the city. The Doctor also learns that the natives once had a great civilization that has since decayed.
The adjudicator arrives on Uxarieus, and it turns out to be The Master. The Master rules in favor of the miners, and Captain Dent orders the colonists to board their outdated spacecraft and leave the planet. The Master, meanwhile, orders The Doctor to take him to the underground city with Jo being held hostage in The Master's Tardis as leverage. Upon arrival at the underground city, The Master's true plans are revealed as he intends to take possession of a doomsday weapon that the natives developed.
The Doctor, with the help of the native leader, causes the weapon to self-destruct. Jo is rescued, but The Master is able to make his getaway once again.
The colonists' ship blows up upon takeoff, which causes one of the miners (Caldwell) to change sides. The colonists had made good their escape prior to takeoff, with the exception of their leader Ashe who sacrificed himself by remaining onboard. A real adjudicator is being sent to Uxarieus to settle things, and the Doctor and Jo board the Tardis and return to Earth, mere seconds after their departure.
Review-
Colony in Space is, in essence, two stories. The first story involves the Earth colonists and their struggling colony and their dispute with IMC. Captain Dent, clearly, has no qualms about using ruthless methods to get what he wants, which is in this case the possession of Uxarieus. As an audience, we are clearly meant to sympathize with the colonists. The other story involves the doomsday weapon and The Master's attempt to possess it.
The contrast between the colonists' leader Ashe and the colonist David was quite interesting, however. Ashe is insistent on using the legal methods to settle the dispute with IMC. David, meanwhile, is willing to be much more aggressive and it leaves the viewer to decide whether Ashe's or David's approach is the correct way to deal with the IMC. Caldwell is forced to face up to Captain Dent's ruthless methods, and his implicit cooperation with those methods.
In many ways, Colony in Space is a morality play, with Ashe as the saint-like leader of the colonists and Captain Dent as the thoroughly corrupt leader of the IMC miners. Ashe's sacrifice is the event that causes Caldwell to change sides and destroys Captain Dent's credibility.
The subplot involving The Master is more straight forward. This is the fourth time (in four stories) this series/season that The Master and The Doctor have faced each other as adversaries and a certain sameness has begun to set in. The Master has some sort of convoluted plot to take over the world (or, in this case, the universe) which The Doctor must thwart. Sadly, I think the whole Master/Doctor subplot takes away from the main storyline between the colonists and the miners, which I found by far to be the more interesting. The whole Master/Doctor subplot is summed up quite well with one line when The Doctor tells The Master that he want to "see" the universe, not control it.
Of the two six-part stories from this series/season, I think Colony in Space is the better of the two. While the addition of The Master wasn't really necessary, the whole morality play between Ashe and Captain Dent is something I found simply fascinating to watch, making Colony in Space well worth checking out.
