058 Colony in Space

docwhom is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Anyone who knows me (and the even fewer who’ll admit it) will be aware that, in the mid-1990s, when the UK GOLD channel used to broadcast omnibus Doctor Who stories early on a Sunday morning, I would watch these feeling slightly the worse for wear after a Saturday night. Also, the picture quality wasn’t the best, the Restoration Team not having got their hands on the tapes by that stage. So there was often little to stop me nodding off frequently during broadcast. As a result, I’ve classed certain stories in my memory as “Sensorite stories”. In other words, they only merit being watched once by anyone with any sense, alright?

My memory of the TV broadcast of Colony in Space was one of anti-climax because one of my favourite TARGET novelisations from my boyhood was Doctor Who and The Doomsday Weapon. You’ve got to admit that that’s a far more exciting title than Colony in Space. In those three-channel days before the arrival of VCR, we never thought that we’d ever get to see past stories on TV but that gave our young imaginations scope to roam. It’s not surprising then that finally seeing snatches (between hungover snoozing) of the TV version was a disappointment. Oh dear, thought I, it’s just team A taking over team B’s base, then team B taking over team A’s base, then GO TO START. It’s just a back and forth bore.

However, those of us who live with our faces ground into the dirt by the jackboot of the Kasterborous editor long ago resigned ourselves to unquestioning suffering and so, when the order came, I took the three year old DVD of Colony down from the shelf, unwrapped it from the cellophane, popped it into the coffee cup holder and pressed PLAY…to be pleasantly surprised.

This is an unusual start to a Master story in that his involvement is predicted in the first minute. So I expected that that would spoil any surprise reveal unless I could forget that the Master was going to turn up. It turned out that I’d already forgotten the prediction by the time Jo took her first step into the TARDIS, graced (as colour TVs were still a minority in the UK) with that lovely light green console. Colours are an important feature of this story which is unusual given that it’s set in a uniformly grey landscape and the colonists are all wearing fairly drab clothes. It’s the sparing use of colour which works so well. The Doctor is mostly swathed in his black cloak but his frequent use of Venusian Aikido (self defence using only one finger and the ability to shout very loud) reveals lovely flashes of its deep red lining. The red flashes, piping, yokes and crotches of the IMC uniforms are also very effective.

The Doctor really doesn’t deserve to have a TARDIS given that yet again he wanders off on some alien world and leaves its doors open. How are we expected to concentrate on the plot when we’re busy fretting about baddies sneaking into the TARDIS? The Doctor almost deserves to have it dragged away, which is what happens courtesy of a wonderfully effective shot of the TARDIS toppling into the camera. There’s quite a bit of good direction in this story. There are the moments of the stillness which you really need for the sort of top acting we get in this story. But these are juxtaposed (Matron!) with lots of action and movement. This china clay quarry in Cornwall isn’t just another Doctor Who quarry. It’s enormous enough to be convincing, as are the splashes of clay getting everywhere. The Haflinger vehicles also deserve a mention. We get some real “ooooooh look at that” moments when they’re driven so fast across the quarry that they leave the ground in some wonderfully convincing bumps which just scream “no models or CSO here”.

This is Doctor Who baddiedom at some of its finest. There’s no silly moustache-twirling here. No ranting and shouting, which British actors can’t do anyway… As someone on this DVD commentary remarks: ‘No overt viciousness.’

Much of the acting is top notch. Even for a Malcolm Hulke script, it’s not just capitalists versus workers. While it can’t be denied that there’s a little too much of the back and forth of each side invading the other’s base, far more interesting is the conflict within either team, whether it’s Ashe trying to control the hotheads among the colonists or Dent trying to override Caldwell’s moral qualms. It’s this which helps to fill a six-parter. As always, the devil always gets the best lines and, while I can take or leave the hoi polloi squabbling in their dome, I could never tire of watching the great IMC trio of Dent, Caldwell and Morgan.

 

The only pity is that it’s mainly Dent and Morgan versus Caldwell whereas in the novelisation (as far as I can remember, having not read it since the 1970s) Dent and Morgan have a bumpy relationship too. What a pity that the TV version doesn’t give us the scene from the novelisation where Dent slaps Morgan in the face for getting caught faking the attacks. This is Doctor Who baddiedom at some of its finest. There’s no silly moustache-twirling here. No ranting and shouting, which British actors can’t do anyway (with the possible exception of Tom Baker’s occasional explosions). As someone on this DVD commentary remarks: “No overt viciousness.”

That’s why all the sadistic rotters in Star Wars and Hollywood’s Roman epics are played by British actors and the rebels and Christians are played by Americans. It’s not a prejudice against the British. It just that a race as wearily cynical as the British can’t do idealistic passion. Our hearts just aren’t in it. But we can do chilling caddery in our sleep. If you don’t believe me, then you’ve never heard the Kasterborous podcast team.

The underplaying of the IMC villainy is in a way more chilling and convincing than the Master’s rather repetitive “I want to rule the cosmos” schtick. As Morgan says, getting rid of the colonists is “purely business, nothing personal”. While I was perfectly aware that the Master would be the Adjudicator, it wasn’t until he actually turned up that I remembered he was due an appearance which shows how much the story had been holding my attention. The story does pretty much switch to Doctor versus Master from now and becomes less engaging as a result.

Overall, Colony in Space is a splendid story full of sterling performances.

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