Colony in Space - Episode 2

There was less tension in the repeat of the cliffhanger. It seems that its been done like this so that that they can get straight into the action which sort of makes sense. Caldwell is the first person from the IMC that we meet and is played by Bernard Kay who previously appeared in ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’. He seems to be the only one of the IMC crew that has any morals. Morris Perry plays Captain Dent and comes across as a totally loathsome from the very beginning. The way that he reacts when he hears of the two deaths is cold and quite horrific. Tony Caunter is another soap star who appears in this story as Morgan. Caunter played Roy Evans in the joyful soap Eastenders from 1994 to 2003. Morgan doesn’t seem as horrible as Dent but seems to want to be like him.

I love watching the DVD’s with the information text because they are informative and occasionally quite funny. It comments on how the uninhabited world seems to have tyre tracks and also roads. They even make a joke when Jon Pertwee doesn’t drink much of his Ribenna and they bring up the line that other drinks are available which is a running joke as the BBC aren’t allowed to do product placement.

We are entering a period of Doctor Who where the state of the planet is used quite openly. Were given a little bit of a lecture about the state of the planet and whilst its got worse since 1971 but at the same time if I want a lecture on the state of the planet then there are other programmes that would do this. It’s no secret that Barry Letts was happy enough to slip in environmental themes and messages in Doctor Who during his time and most of the time its not to the detriment of the story.

Jon Pertwee is very good in this episode as he spends most of the time with the IMC group and gets to see the other side of this battle. Pertwee’s Doctor is very much a man of fighting for the underdog and by the end of the episode, its clear that the IMC guys are the baddies and Ashe and his colonists are the good guys. However as good as Pertwee was the same cant be said for his companion. What was the point of Katy Manning being bought into the story? She doesn’t do anything apart from making food. She must have had about 20 words to say in the entire episode and it seems like with everything going on with the IMC goons and the Doctor, that Jo Grant had been forgotten.

The cliffhanger wasn’t very good as it didn’t have any real drama to it and that’s a shame because up until that point I found the story to be very interesting. Now that there is a second party involved it means that there is something to keep the story going and even though his arrival is imminent and will be appreciated and enjoyed, its good to have a Master free zone and this shows that the show can survive without him there. So far after two stories I must admit that the story is better than I remember and gave it credit for. Whether that will be the case as the rest of the story has been looked at remains to be seen.