"Colony in Space" - Episode One

Doctor Who (1963) - Season Eight
Airdate: April 10, 1971
Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning
Written by Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Barry Letts
Directed by Michael E. Briant

I believe I mentioned previously that Malcolm Hulke, in particular among recurring "Doctor Who" writers, expressed misgivings about the plan to exile the Doctor on contemporary Earth. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that the first story to break that exile came from the pen of Malcolm Hulke. The idea of breaking the exile on a limited, temporary basis was a good compromise. It allows the series to break out of the constricting formula that has been imposed, but without altogether repudiating it.

This episode represents a number of notable firsts. This is the first time Jo enters the TARDIS or (obviously) takes a trip in the TARDIS. This is the first time the Doctor refers to the TARDIS as "dimensionally transcendental", a convenient non-explanation for how it's bigger on the inside. It's also the first time that we've seen the Doctor deliberately sent on a mission for the Time Lords. This will happen from time to time over the course of the next several years.

This is also only the second episode so far this season that doesn't feature the Master, although he is mentioned. On the one hand, it seems odd to indicate up front that the Master is involved even though he doesn't actually show up right away. On the other hand, it would have been pretty tacky to pretend that the Master wasn't the villain, for a change, only to reveal that he is. So we learn up front that the Master has stolen some sensitive Time Lord files, and the Doctor is being dispatched to deal with it. The Doctor doesn't know anything about this, but we do.

This story was conceived not just as a way to temporarily get around the limitations of the Doctor's exile, but more fundamentally, as a way of giving everyone a bit of a break from UNIT and the Master. The Brigadier gets what could be best called a cameo in this episode, and again in Episode Six, but Yates and Benton don't appear at all. Even if it's only for a few episodes, it's nice to get back to the old format of Doctor and companion exploring a new and mysterious world together.