Art by Tom Newsom:
EPISODE ONE
(10th April 1971)
(10th April 1971)
Oooh, Time Lords. First time we've properly seen them since The War Games. Well, apart from that bowler hatted floating one in Terror of the Autons.
There's only one suspect: the Master, and he was last seen winding up the Doctor on Earth, so the Time-Lords decide to recruit him. He'll be none too keen but might play along if they restore his wanderings in time and space for a one-off return journey.
On Earth, in his lab at UNIT HQ, the Doctor is hard at work on the dematerialization circuit for his TARDIS. Now in his third incarnation, the Doctor is a very tall, very thin man in a ruffled shirt and an elegant black velvet jacket. His trim build and erect posture suggest a man at the peak of his fitness, yet his hair is completely white, and his handsome autocratic face is neither young nor old.
The Brigadier arrives with the latest field reports from his agents hunting the Master. The trail seems to have gone cold, and there's no sign of him anywhere.
The Doctor didn't really expect there would be now that the Master's got his TARDIS working again.
Nevertheless, the calls are still coming through from agents who think they have another lead.
The Doctor isn't in the least bit impressed, though. "Your agents are always picking up traces of the Master."
The Brig huffs off, defending the reliability of this particular agent, but the Doctor reminds Jo that the last time his agents thought they had the Master, the man they arrested turned out to be the Spanish Ambassador.
He's far more focused on the new dematerialization circuit he's made in order to bypass the homing control the Time Lords have imposed on his TARDIS.
Jo doesn't really believe that the TARDIS is what the Doctor says and thinks all his tinkering is just a hobby, or game.
"Well, what have you got in there anyway, a policeman?"
The Doctor suggests she steps inside and sees for herself.
First time Jo's been in the TARDIS. She's noticed it's bigger on the inside, but let's be honest here, it's not as big as it used to be.
Krynoid PodCast@KrynoidPodCast I can't believe they were still persisting with the photographic blow-up wall at this late stage.The Doctor "explains" that it's because the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental.
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt This is basically the root of all those RTD “first step into the TARDIS” scenes. Brilliant.As much to the Doctor's surprise as Jo's, the doors swing shut and the TARDIS begins to dematerialize.
Jo asks to be taken back, but the TARDIS is out of the Doctor's control.
The Doctor clocks straight away that it's the work of the Time Lords!
The Brig's not too chuffed about the Doctor apparently scarpering, and demands he comes back at once. Good luck with that.
Jo says the joke's gone far enough. It's gone a bit further than that, I think you'll find.
When she asks where they are, the Doctor tells her they're "nowhere" because they're "outside the space time continuum."
What's a Continny-Um, Jon?
Tell you what, the Doctor's pretty sharp recognising Uxarieus like that. Looks like any other ball of rock. Jo wants to know if they can get back to Earth, but the Doctor honestly doesn't know.
On the surface of the planet, a large robotic digger trundles across the ground. Moments later, the TARDIS materializes.
Jo still can't quite believe it, and asks why he doesn't open the doors. He wants to check the atmosphere's breathable first.
Seems like it is, so the Doctor opens the doors to give Jo her first glimpse of an alien world.
Jo is starting to panic a bit, and wants to go straight back to Earth.
The Doctor is itching to get out and explore, though, having been confined to one planet for so long.
Jo's still worried about what might be out there.
The Doctor is gently insistent. "Then let's find out. Don't you want to set foot in another world?"
Reassured by the Doctor's promise that they'll "just take a quick look around", Jo relents.
Not being funny, but the Doctor could've rustled up a coat for her, surely.
Jo's flower reminds me of Susan in The Daleks (not The Mutants, DWM, because as any fule know, that's a Jon Pertwee story too!).
.
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt The design of this one is a let down. The first alien planet in colour looks less weird than 70s England in Terror. They really needed Kenneth Sharp as the designer on this one.Yes, I guess they were going for more of the realism associated with season 7, but it ends up rather drab looking.
As the Doctor spots the tracks of the robotic digger, they're spotted by one of the locals. Difficult to tell whether they're friend or foe as yet.
The Doctor's spotted something on the horizon. Doesn't look like they're heading back to the TARDIS any time soon.
The Doctor assures Jo it's quite safe. Sure, Jon.
The local takes an interest in the TARDIS.
As the Doctor and Jo get closer to the rise, it's clearer that what they spotted are some pre-fabricated dwellings. Jo's having none of it and demands they return to the TARDIS.
The Doctor stalls by begging a minute to look at an interesting rock, but Jo turns to find a raggedy looking colonist with a rifle aimed right at them. That's torn it.
The huts that the Doctor spotted are part of a colony, where a struggling farming community is led by a man named Ash. The farmers are being terrorised by giant lizards but something doesn't add up if they can be scared off with a few shots, and leave no physical signs of damage behind...
The colonists fear the Doctor could be a mineralogist, here to exploit the planet's resources and leave them with nothing.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland "Doctor Who and the Space Hippies"Leeson (no relation) tells Ashe that he found the Doctor and Jo examining rocks, hence the accusation of being mineralogists.
The colonists are terrified that Big Mining will make a move on their planet and reduce it to a galactic slagheap. The Doctor's pretty sure that there are laws to deal with this kind of thing...
...but Leeson has little faith in Earth's government to act in time. "By the time you'll get a final decision, the planet's useless!"
The Doctor assures them he's there by accident, but can't produce his "papers", which he says he's left in his ship.
He suggests they take him back to his ship so he can pop in and get the papers. Nice try, pal. He's stuck at the settlement for the night at least.
Ashe asks Leeson's wife, Jane, to take Jo to the dining hall, but the Doctor lingers, having taken an interest in the colonists' charts of their (lack of) crop growth.
Leeson takes exception to the Doctor's nosiness but is met with a nifty and paralysing bit of Venusian Aikido.
The Doctor's seen all he needs to see, anyway.
That is, enough to know that unless conditions on this planet improve radically and quickly the colonists will starve to death.
TIIIIIMMMMBBBEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!
The locals flip the TARDIS over and drag it away! Shouldn't it be too heavy to move?
In the dining hall, Jane Lesson serves up the soup. Not sure where she thinks she is, but Jo asks if that's the first course. It's the only one, and there's not a lot to go around, so the last thing the colonists need is a couple of extra mouths to feed, though Jane's too polite to say so.
The difficult conditions are obviously grinding Mr. & Mrs. Martin down, as he gets nostalgic for Earth, where "at least they fed you", whereas as she remembers only too well that there was "no room to move, polluted air, not a blade of grass left on the planet and a government that locks you up if you think for yourself."
Argh! A Weird looking lizard creature - it's Gail Platt! Not really. It's actress Helen Worth, alright, but here she's playing Mary Ashe.
Mary wonders if Jo's clothes are the latest fashion - things must have changed since they left in '71. Jo is confused at first, but of course she means 2471.
In fact the calendar in the Leeson's hut puts today's date very specifically as Tuesday 3rd March, 2472.
Leeson is feeling as downtrodden as their crops.
Jane tries to accentuate the positive but Leeson rather has a point when he says it's no good owning land if nothing will grow in it.
Leeson is still concerned that the Doctor and Jo might be spies for a mining corporation intent on driving them away.
When they hear a monstrous roaring inside, they're greeted by the terrifying sight of a gigantic lizard, just as Mr. & Mrs. Martin described.
It's not exactly a dinosaur, though, is it?
The Leesons frantically try to send a distress call...
...but are savaged as their attacker enters their dome.
The Doctor remains puzzled at the lack of crop growth. Ashe is quite right, they should have been able to reclaim the barren soil in the year they've been here.
The Doctor has a theory on how to grow a bumper crop, but Ashe can't feed his people on theories.
Mary and Jo arrive to deliver the message that the Leesons have radioed for help.
The Doctor wants to get a look for himself, putting it down to "scientific curiosity."
Jo is worried about the danger he could be placing himself in, but he just tells her not to worry, and to get some sleep!
Fat chance of that, and while Mary tries to re-establish contact with the Martins, Jo begins to wonder why these giant lizards are only turning up after a year of the colonists being here.
Winton assures Ashe there was nothing he could have done...
...the Leesons were dead by the time any of them arrived, and the creature disappeared into the night when they opened fire.
Ashe hopes to pick up some tracks once the sun rises.
The Doctor has his doubts, though, and points out something fishy: If the monster was as big they thought, how did it get inside the dome without destroying the doorway?
Back at the settlement, there's a rising tide of opinion in favour of throwing in the towel and heading back to Earth.
Ashe is resistant, and the Doctor backs him up. He thinks there's some external force preventing their crops from growing - one that they can track down and root out.
Martin reminds him that two people are dead. The Doctor hasn't forgotten, but he tells them that "whatever it is you saw" can be hunted down and destroyed.
Ashe points out that they've sunk all their cash into this venture, and the ship that brought them here is clapped out.
His name is Norton, and he says he's been wandering for months.
Everyone else in his colony was killed by giant lizards.
Caught unawares, the Doctor is about to wallop the local when Ashe intervenes and explains they're friends, or friendly at least. Didn't seem so friendly when they were half-inching the TARDIS.
The colonists have some sort of uneasy alliance with the locals, who help them in exchange for sharing some of their meagre supplies of food.
The Doctor is sheepish for all of about 3 seconds.
Ashe leaves him to it, and the Doctor gets on with a more detailed examination of the claw marks.
He scrapes up some samples into a vial, still not entirely convinced that the stories of giant lizards are true. This is obviously not reminding him of the tell tale signs he detected in the Derbyshire caves not so long ago.
At that precise moment, a giant clawed digging robot - the same one we saw earlier, just before the TARDIS arrived on this planet, in fact - sweeps into the dome and bears down on him!
End of Episode One!
EPISODE TWO
(17th April 1971)
(17th April 1971)
The robot's handler, Calder, from the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IMC), arrives to call the machine off. "I'm sorry. He's only a Mark 3 servo-robot, not very bright."
He appears surprised, although not very concerned, that the planet is already home to colonists, and is indifferent to the Doctor's suggestion that they'll have to pack up their survey and move along.
When Caldwell asks what's happened, the Doctor explains he was making some tests after the dome's owners had been attacked.
"Are you some kind of scientist?"
"I'm every kind of scientist!"
"I'm every kind of scientist!"
Caldwell insists that the Doctor come back to his ship.
He's visibly shaken, though, when the Doctor sternly corrects his assumption that no one was hurt. "The two colonists that were living here have been killed."
This is going to be a long, awkward drive.
Caldwell programmes the robot to make its own way back to the ship.
Yep, awkward silence, called it.
Back at the ranch, Norton claims that lizards ate most of his colony, but the "primitives" finished off everyone else but him.
Winton hopes this news will convince Ashe that they should up sticks and move to another planet.
Jo tells him that the Doctor can help turn their situation around.
Winton is sceptical, after all Jo's explanation that she and the (absent) Doctor are "explorers" is a bit vague.
When Ashe arrives with one of the "primitives" in tow, Norton pulls his gun, and has to be talked down.
Norton is ushered away, but warns Ashe that the "primitives" can't be trusted. Ashe placates his guest with the promise of food.
Winton tells Ashe that with food so scarce they can't keep giving it away to "savages" but Ashe tells him that they have to keep on good terms and he'll continue to feed the locals as long as he's leader.
The implications for Ashe's leadership are pretty obvious.
On the way back to Caldwell's ship, the Doctor discovers the TARDIS has gone!
The IMC ship is a sleek looking rocket, somewhat Concorde-like.
Aboard the IMC ship, Captain Dent enters the flight deck and awaits the results of their mineral survey.
Dent's blond wig is probably the scariest thing in the whole of the Pertwee era. I might be exaggerating a bit. But it is weird.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland 'Colony in Space' would be a lot more fun if Susan Jameson played Morgan as the director had intended.
Dent's 2nd in Command, Morgan, has the results: as hoped for, the planet is rich in duralinium, and ripe for mining - or would be if it weren't for the fact that the planet has been assigned for colonisation.
These IMC lot seem a right set of villains; they've been here longer than they admit, and are clearly plotting to shift the colonists.
John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland "Doctor Who and the Industrial Military Complex"Caldwell asks the Doctor to wait in what appears to be the ship's media room.
The Doctor decides to see what's on the telly.
As curtains part to reveal the ship's cinema screen, a newsreel begins to play, depicting all too familiar scenes of war.
Caldwell marches straight up to Captain Dent to remonstrate with him about the death of the colonists.
Morgan was "only supposed to scare people off."
Morgan isn't fussed about admitting it, snapping back that the colonists started shooting at him, leaving him with no choice but to cover his tracks in more permanent style.
Caldwell wants assurances, but Dent stamps him down with the bottom line: "This planet has enough duralinium to double the company's profits next year. Your bonus will be big enough to retire on."
Of course, this all depends on moving the colonists along. Dent decides to interrogate the Doctor himself to gauge the morale of the colonists.
The Doctor's had about as much as he can take of the over-population and inflation and starvation and the crazy politicians.
Dent makes an immediate faux pas. "Not Mister - Doctor."
When Dent notes that a mistake appears to have been made, the Doctor wastes no time. "I take it you're preparing to leave at once." No such luck.
When Dent notes that a mistake appears to have been made, the Doctor wastes no time. "I take it you're preparing to leave at once." No such luck.
The Doctor is not prepared to drink the IMC kool aid.
"What's good for IMC is good for Earth."
"Earth? Or your corporation's profits?"
Dent tries to push the line that the planet is infested with hostile reptile life.
They decide to agree to disagree, and - as he's still the Third Doctor we know and love - he raises a glass to Dent's health.
Ready to move along, the Doctor tells Dent that Caldwell was going to help him track down his equipment, and finds himself once again confined to the media room while Dent goes to "check".
Dent sends Morgan to escort the Doctor back to the colony.
"If he were found in the ruins, it would be obvious the monsters had returned..." Message received, loud and clear.
Caldwell returns, having failed to locate the TARDIS.
Dent ushers Morgan away to "break the bad news."
Has the Doctor left his sonic screwdriver in the TARDIS? He doesn't seem to have much luck with the door.
He's rather embarrassed to find himself up in Morgan's face when the door suddenly opens.
The Doctor doesn't for one minute buy Morgan's excuse that the door must have jammed.
Morgan claims he's been tasked with arranging a meeting between Dent and Ashe, and giving the Doctor a lift back to the colony along the way.
They don't get too far, however, before they're confronted by a trio of hostile locals.
The Doctor intervenes to prevent Morgan from gunning them down, then gets out of the vehicle to approach them cautiously.
He's barely taken a few steps when they make their hostile intent clear, raising a spear to throw at him.
He catches the spear and gets ready to defend himself.
He parries the first thrust, sweeping his attacker aside.
The second attacker is flung to the ground.
His spear lost it's head in that last clash.
When his third attacker rushes him, he uses what is now merely a staff to flip the creature over his head. "HAI!"
Krynoid PodCast@KrynoidPodCast I love the strange light here. Spotlights on a grey day, I guess.Yeah, seem to remember seeing spotlights in the outtakes of Jon fighting the "primitives".
Job done, he returns to the vehicle.
Mary asks Jo to assist preparing some ready meals.
"What do they taste like?"
"Shit."
"Oh."
Ashe pops in, looking for Winton. Jo is rather sceptical of the miraculous recovery Norton appears to have made after his "months" in the wilderness.
Winton is giving Norton the grand tour, and arrives at the power supply room, where the colony's Chief Engineer, Jim Holden, is working with his native assistant.
Holden's assistant seems to possess some mild telepathic abilities, being able to predict what tool he needs before he asks for it. Not something Norton was aware of, apparently, but then he says the natives they knew "weren't so friendly."
After Holden has rather unwisely explained that they use their colony ship's nuclear reactor to beam energy to the domiciliary domes, Norton and Winton leave to return to the dining hall.
Right again!
Norton is glad to hear that the food's nearly ready.
His opinion on the colony is that they're making the best of a bad situation; their equipment is a bit clapped out but even though his colony was more technologically advanced it did them no good when they were attacked.
As Winton goes to find Ashe, Norton says he's off for a lie down. Yeah, right.
In fact, Norton goes straight back to the power room, where he savagely clubs Holden's native assistant with a wrench.
Holden is horrified as Norton smashes the power relays and begins to advance on him.
When the lights go out, Mary confidently tells her dad that "Jim'll fix it." No thanks.
Of course, Norton is on hand to show Ashe that Jim is in fact dead (Jim)...
...and of course to point the finger at the natives.
Back aboard the IMC ship, Dent sends a scrambled message back to IMC HQ on Earth, reporting that the plant is, as suspected, rich in Duralinium. He adds that the foreseen complications with the previously arrived colonists can be overcome. Oh aye?
Unaware of Dent's machinations for now, Caldwell has begun to get enthusiastic about the results of the mineral survey. He's still a mineralogist at heart.
His suspicions are raised, however, by the fact that it's Morgan taking the Doctor back to the colony.
"He isn't going to make it back to his friends, is he?"
"Morgan's completely reliable."
"Yes, that's what I mean."
Caldwell balks at the thought of the Doctor's murder, but Dent has his number. "If you get on our blacklist, you'll never work again, for anyone. You're up to your ears in debt. I checked. Don't worry about the colonists, Caldwell. Just get on with your work and let Morgan get on with his."
Sure enough, Morgan asks the Doctor to show him around the Leesons' dome as a stop off on the way to the colony.
The Doctor obligingly shows him the claw marks.
"It was all very efficiently done," he says, showing his hand that he believes that the attack was faked by "somebody who wanted to frighten the colonists away" with some sort of mechanical equipment.
Morgan takes out a remote control. "You mean with something like this?"
This cliffhanger's a bit deja vu, isn't it? Morgan sets the servo robot on him - the same digging robot previously controlled by Cladwell, but now with mocked-up lizard claws!
The Doctor is cornered, as Morgan also pulls a gun on him.
"Purely business, you understand. Nothing personal." Oh, that's alright then.
Cliffhanger!
EPISODE THREE
(24th April 1971)
"HAI!" The Doctor gets the better of Morgan, knocking the remote from his grip.
Morgan makes his escape, but the Doctor is pinned down by the mechanical digging machine (again).
He's eventually able to reach the dropped control and turn the digger off.
He's able to send the fake "monster" packing, and breathe a sigh of relief.
At the colony, the domes are having to make do with their own power packs until the damage from Norton's sabotage can be repaired.
Jo is keen to volunteer the Doctor's services, and persuades Ashe to send someone to look for him.
Winton arrives to tell them that Norton has claimed that repairing the power relays would be impossible. They're interrupted by the sound of the IMC ship "arriving" nearby.
Dent wants to land as close to the dome as possible, in a show of force.
He doesn't like walking. Obviously not a mountain goat.
Dent is shocked, shocked to discover that the planet has already been claimed by colonists.
When Dent suggests that if they both have claims they'll need to send for an Adjudicator, Ashe has to begrudgingly agree. Winton doesn't.
In fact Winton is fixing to punch Dent's lights out just as the Doctor returns, much to Jo's relief.
It might have saved him from a hiding, but the Doctor's return has also rather thrown a spanner in Dent's works, especially his accusations of monster fakery.
Dent decides to make a tactical withdrawal AKA leg it.
Winton is amazed by the Doctor's claims - he saw one of the lizards with his own eyes - but the Doctor explains the optical trickery.
Anyway, he's got other fish to fry, and tries to persuade Ashe and co. to help him track down his TARDIS.
News that the TARDIS has gone AWOL gets Jo's attention, but the Doctor tells her it's merely "temporarily mislaid."
Norton rubbishes the Doctor's claims that the monsters are IMC man-made.
Jo finds Winton receptive to the idea that if there's evidence to be found it'll be on the IMC ship.
Back aboard the ship, Morgan is making his excuses for not finishing the Doctor off when he had the chance.
Caldwell reports that the rock samples are looking good, and asks if they've sent for an Adjudicator yet. Dent assures him they'll abide by the law.
Turns out Norton's an IMC agent, and not from another colony at all. He's called Dent to tip him off that Jo and Winton are on their way for a snoop.
As soon as Jo and Winton arrive, they run straight into trouble in the form of the digging robot.
They find their escape route blocked as security shutters slam down, forcing them through a particular route.
They're forced into hiding in a darkened room...
...which is of course a trap, where Dent and his armed goons are ready to jump out and surprise them.
At the colony, the Doctor gets the power back on. He's always been quite handy with a screwdriver when he wants to be.
Mary arrives with a message for the Doctor - Dent wants to see him.
The Doctor wades straight in, with Dent quite ready to inform him that Jo's been arrested for attempting to rob a spaceship; a capital crime.
Dent's message is plain: the Doctor must withdraw his allegations when the Adjudicator arrives.
With Jo placed uncomfortably close to one of the survey's explosive charges, Dent rather has him over a barrel.
Jo and Winton are warned by their departing captor that the explosives are likely to go off at the slightest movement.
"Well? What do we do now?"
"Try and escape?"
"Of course."
Ashe is horrified to hear of Dent's blackmail and wants to start a search party to find Jo and Winton, but the Doctor warns him off.
If Dent detects them anywhere near the survey site he'll set off the explosives.
Winton clocks that the freshly unpacked explosives are still coated in fresh grease, which they can use to slide out of their shackles.
Or Jo can, anyway. Winton is still stuck.
He urges her to go without him, but after a quick check to make sure their guard has definitely departed, she returns with a large rock.
She starts bashing away at Winton's cuffs, but accidentally jars the explosives, and a light atop the device starts to flash.
A signal is immediately relayed to Dent, who orders the guard back into position.
Although Jo is able to break the chain holding Winton down, he's still cuffed as he makes his escape.
Jo is recaptured, though.
The guard fires after the fleeing Winton as Jo continues to struggle.
As long as they've still got Jo, Dent still has his leverage with the Doctor.
More guards are dispatched to capture Winton.
He doesn't get too far before he's spotted.
Soon the IMC men have him in their sights.
Winton only makes it as far as Caldwell's Survey Bunker.
When the IMC men arrive, Caldwell tells them he's got Winton for them and they can stand down.
Of course, Caldwell hasn't really shot Winton, and he tells him he can get up as soon as the other IMC men are out of sight.
In the safety of the bunker, Caldwell releases Winton from the cuffs.
The IMC man tends to the colonists injuries, reassuring him "I'm not one of Dent's killers." Caldwell urges Winton to get the other colonists to leave before anyone else gets hurt.
As soon as he's back at the base, though, he organizes an attack on the IMC ship.
The Doctor fears Dent will simply shoot Jo as soon as any attack begins, but Ashe is powerless to stop his hotter headed comrade.
The Doctor's last hope is to appeal to Caldwell for assistance from within the IMC camp, and at least Winton is willing to give him directions to his bunker.
There, he tells the mineralogists of Dent's orders to have him killed.
Caldwell tells him that Dent is only bluffing, but all the same urges the Doctor to prevent the attack on the IMC ship.
Caldwell agrees to try to release Jo, but tells him that the attack must be called off all the same - it won't be a battle, it'll be a slaughter.
The IMC men receive word that an Adjudicator is on the way, but they don't know who it will be. "Doesn't matter," says Dent. We'll see about that.
Caldwell arrives and threatens an end to the survey if Dent doesn't release Jo. He'd be breaking his contract, but Dent would have to admit to Head Office that he'd been in for a spot of hostage taking.
"You've just committed professional suicide."
As per orders, the guard hauls Jo up to take her back to the ship...
...but the locals have other ideas, and although he shoots the first, the second hurls its spear right into his chest, and ushers Jo away.
With Winton's mind made up, the Doctor relents and agrees to help him come up with a better plan of attack. He's also got some good advice about not trusting Norton.
When they get to the IMC ship, they let Mary distract the guards while they sneak up behind them...
...then knock them down, much to Mary's giddy delight!
Dent starts to get twitchy when he can't get through to Jo's guard.
Morgan is a bit slow on the uptake when he passes the Doctor and Winton wearing the uniforms of his unconscious colleagues, but eventually rumbles them and pops off a shot at the colonist.
Morgan is able to raise the alarm before the invaders drag him away.
The colonists race in and a gun fight breaks out in the corridors of the IMC ship.
Dent is caught unawares, but the Doctor is dismayed when Caldwell confirms Jo has gone missing.
The Doctor departs to track her down, leaving Dent at Winton's mercy.
Dent snarls that this an act of piracy - punishable by death under interplanetary law, but Winton isn't interested in speeches.
The Doctor prepares to travel to the ruins where the Uxarians live, and Ashe volunteers to lead him down there.
Once there, they find the speared guard. Ashe fears that Jo's been taken to the underground city. Some of the colonists went in the early days after their arrival, and never returned.
Sure enough, Jo is led to a secret entrance in the cliff wall.
There's no going back now.
As Jo steps inside, the darkness seems to rise up to meet her.
The door closes behind her ominously... Cliffhanger!
EPISODE FOUR
(1st May 1971)
(1st May 1971)
Ashe tells the Doctor that they may be able to "buy" Jo back by trading some supplies, which he's happy to do if it means saving her.
The Doctor is grateful for Ashe's generosity, but just as he's about to head underground, there's the roar of spaceship engines overhead.
It's the Adjudicator's ship.
The sleek looking jet rocket flips to land upright.
Aboard the IMC ship, Winton is crowbarring his way into Dent's forbidden cupboard of mysteries.
He shakes Dent's monster maker.
Surely all the evidence they need?
How's this going to look to the Adjudicator?
Mary has the Adjudicator on the blower.
He's raring to go, demanding to Ashe that the crews of both ships assemble for a hearing immediately.
In the underground city, Jo is marched into an inner sanctum, and brought before a small, wizened, and becloaked figure.
She' less than diplomatic when the figure turns around to reveal its' alien features.
Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 looks like Davros's mum!!Ashe tells Winton he better get the IMC men over to the dome sharpish and preferably not at gunpoint at least for appearances' sake.
Easier said than done; the late Leeson's brother, on seeing the fake claws, decides they don't need to bother with an Adjudicator.
Winton disarms Leeson's brother, and Morgan seems to be about to throw Dent under the bus when he tells them the evidence against his Captain is in a hidden compartment in his desk.
But Morgan is only going for a concealed pistol, which he uses to get the drop on Winton, allowing Dent to disarm the colonist.
Dent demands the release of his guards.
The Doctor finds the entrance to the Uxarian city easily enough, and is soon spotted.
As per Ashe's recommendation he tells them he's come to buy Jo, and is ushered below ground soon enough.
Is this what the adjudicators in the New Adventures were based on? If so that's some spectacular fanwank.
Ashe frantically tells Mary to get on the radio and find out what the delay is.
Well, well, well, turns out the Adjudicator is none other than the Master! He'll liven things up. Not sure the colonists will get the fair hearing they wanted, mind.
Jo is relieved when the Doctor arrives in the Uxarian inner sanctum.
Of course, he's just as much a prisoner as she is, at least for now.
When Jo says the guard must have gone to get the "other one" and describes the alien Priest, the Doctor begins to muse that there must be (at least) two races who are native to this planet.
Jo's more concerned with how they're going to make their escape.
A series of pictorial records of the planet's history catches the Doctor's attention. They appear to depict an advanced society suffering a terrible catastrophe, and slipping back into primitivism.
The High Priest returns to look them up an down. He appears to be almost as blind as a bat, or perhaps a mole. Countless generations have evolved underground.
The Priest gazes at the image of figures sacrificing people to a furnace-like opening, then points to the Doctor and Jo.
Uh-oh.
Back at the ranch the Adjudication hearing is well underway, with Ashe laying out the accusation that despite their rightful claim, the IMC men arrived to drive them away with a campaign of murder and sabotage.
When he asks if they can put their money where their mouths are, Winton can only respond that the IMC men destroyed the evidence, which is obviously weak sauce.
Ashe can't really add anything, despite Winton's outrage at the killings.
Next it'll be IMC's turn to make the case for their own claim.
Underground, a guard arrives to take the Doctor and Jo to their doom.
The Doctor confuzzles their guard with a magic trick, appearing to throw a coin in the air only for it to vanish.
He apparently retrieves it from behind Jo's ear, only to make it disappear again.
He taps under his chin and make the coin appear in his own mouth!
This time when he "throws" the coin into the air, it's pure misdirection so that he can thump the gullible guard and leg it. After Jo, of course.
It's not long before they're having to duck into an alcove to avoid a procession of Uxarians, no doubt on their way to prepare their ceremony of sacrifice.
The Priests discover the Doctor and Jo have absconded, and raise the alarm.
And indeed it's not long before they once again have the Doctor and Jo in their grasp.
They're marched away to be sacrificed.
Or are they? The room they're led into contains advanced technology the likes of which the Doctor had hardly expected. It wasn't a furnace in the pictograms; it's a powerful reactor!
Jo still fears they're going to be "sacrificed" to it.
However, a panel slides up revealing a tiny wizened figure, the Guardian of the city, in the alcove. His throne slowly moves forwards so that he can address them.
The Guardian demands to know what they're doing here - entry into the city is forbidden, and the law demands that all trespassers must die.
The Doctor appeals to the Guardian's sense of justice, and the Guardian concedes that he finds the Doctor to be "a being of superior intelligence."
"Although the creature with you is of no value, I will let you both go." Okay, so she's not your type, no need to be rude, mate. They're released but told that they'll be destroyed if they ever return.
Returning to the surface the Doctor wonders whether the beings they have met are three different races or three different mutations of the same race.
Jo's not really bothered as long as they're free and they head back to the dome.
There, the Master is ready to begin his "deliberations".
There's clearly been a cock-up on Earth with regards to allocating the rights to the planet to both the colonists and IMC, and it's up to him to decide which of the two sides has the true claim.
It's at that moment that the Doctor and Jo waltz in.
Love the Master's little cough when Jo exclaims "it's the Master!" He makes his excuses and adjourns to consider his decision.
Once in the privacy of Ashe's office, the Doctor demands to know what the Master's up to, but he insists that he is the Adjudicator here.
The Master knows straight away that the Doctor's been sent here by the Time-Lords, even though the Doctor claims to be a free agent.
The Master has impeccable credentials, which is more than he can say for the Doctor.
Though no doubt forged, the Master's credentials give him the upper hand... for now.
The Master could, if he wanted, have the Doctor dispatched to Earth as a prisoner, but is seemingly willing to let him hang around if he'll hold his peace.
The Master returns to the hearing and begins his summing up.
Whilst he expresses sympathy for the colonists, the Duralinium that the planet has in such abundance is desperately needed back on Earth.
With that overriding consideration, the Master credibly rules against the colonists, and in favour of IMC.
The IMC lads can't believe their luck and immediately get on the sauce.
Caldwell still knows full well how Dent will handle things if the colonists refuse to leave quietly.
Which of course they won't if Winton has his way. Norton is still in the mix, stirring it.
Ashe appeals to Winton's better judgement but the latter has now moved to proposing they declare full independence from Earth.
Ashe tells the Doctor that Winton will no doubt plan another attack on the IMC ship and that he intends to speak to the Adjudicator further.
The Doctor tells Jo that there's no point trying to explain to Ashe who the Master is.
Winton impersonates the Adjudicator to order the IMC men back to the dome, and they're just about rat-arsed enough to fall for it.
The trap laid, Winton goes to prepare his ramshackle fighting force.
The Doctor and Jo earwig while the Master (now changed back into his civvies) tells Ash an appeal could only succeed if there were "special circumstances."
You know - like an ancient underground city with a legendary doomsday weapon, that sort of thing.
Winton begins to position his troops for the ambush, but remembers the Doctor's warning about Norton and sends Leeson's brother to track him down.
Sure enough, the IMC mole is up to no good, and the two get into a scrap.
Norton kills the colonist but his communicator is knackered.
He claims not to have seen Leeson and Winton positions him on the high gantry away from the main action, or so he thinks.
Everything is prepared for the arrival of the IMC men.
Sure nough Norton calls out a warning as soon as they arrive: "Look out - it's a trap!" Norton's no Admiral Ackbar, and Winton shoots him down.
A fierce gun battle breaks out.
The colonists have the higher... erm, gantry.
The Doctor is about to wade in to put an end to the violence when the Master suddenly appears, gun in hand.
"It's always the innocent bystander who suffers eventually. You're both about to become victims of stray bullets." Simply gunning the Doctor down feels like it would be a bit on the nose for the Master, but anyway - Cliffhanger!
EPISODE FIVE
(8th May 1971)
Ashe will never know how timely his intervention is here!
Winton has sneaked around to get the drop on Dent, forcing the IMC men to surrender their weapons.
The colonists march the IMC men back to their ship to lock them in their quarters.
With the tables turned, the Master agrees to adjudicate with Earth on the colonists' behalf, having had what he describes as a "fruitful" conversation with Ashe.
He soon neutralises the Doctor's warnings by casting aspersions on his credentials. "Has he in fact given a proper account of himself?"
At present, Winton has no cause to trust either of them.
With the colonists eating out of the Master's hand, Jo and the Doctor need evidence that he isn't who he says he is.
Luckily, the Doctor still has the key to the Master's TARDIS that he pinched when it was in its' horsebox form at Rossini's circus.
Winton orders Dent off Uxarius, promising to detonate explosives beneath the ship if they don't take off immediately.
Look, even Pat Gorman's got that terrible haircut.
Conceding, Dent rues Winton's ruthlessness. "A very resourceful young man."
The Doctor and Jo arrive at the Master's TARDIS.
Jo is ready to charge straight in, but the Doctor - correctly - expects a booby trap.
However, the Master's set his light beam tripwire at a height they can actually limbo under so all is not lost.
Dent orders the IMC ship into a parking orbit before he gives up altogether.
In orbit, Dent discovers the Master is not the real adjudicator (who looks suspiciously like Assistant Floor Manager Graeme Harper).
Back to the planet, pronto!
The Doctor and Jo have a good rummage in the Master's secret files, which include the real Adjudicator's ID a mineralogical survey of Uxarius and signs that he's spent some time planet-hopping searching for something very particular.
Keen to get back to the dome with the proof they needed, Jo marches straight through the alarm beam.
Notified that his TARDIS has been broken into, the Master presses a button to activate the defences.
Knock-out gas begins pouring into the console room of the Master's TARDIS.
Jo begins to succumb before the Doctor even notices, but when he too begins to feel the effects he makes his way to the wall vent.
Jo finally collapses, unconscious.
The IMC ship touches down on the other side of the hills, a couple of hours' walk away from the dome. They plan to attack under cover of darkness.
Dent rallies his troops by reminding them they've just had their arses handed to them by a bunch of farmers, so this is their chance to put the record straight.
"Your reputation's at stake as well, Caldwell."
With both the Doctor and the Master nowhere to be found, Winton finally persuades Ashe they need to stand and fight.
#Strictly Ashe is still holding out hope that "the Adjudicator" will see things their way.#
The IMC men get into position for a pincer attack and then send in a couple of men through the front door to draw the colonists' attention.
With a minimum of fuss, Morgan makes it straight into Ashe's office.
With Ashe held hostage the fight is over before it's even really begun.
Dent plans to have the whole colony put on trial for treason. Not sure he knows what treason is.
The Doctor will have to do as the Master says or he and Jo will be down the tubes.
Jo will remain aboard the Master's TARDIS as his guarantee that the Doctor will do as instructed and lead him to the underground civilization.
The Doctor warns him it'll be dangerous, but the Master just tells him to be more worried about Jo's welfare.
Jo can only watch as the Doctor does his best to give her every chance of escape by dropping the Master's key outside.
Dent declares himself Governor of the planet and orders the colonists off Uxarius.
It's a death sentence; that ship barely made it here.
En route to the underground city, the Doctor and the Master find their way blocked.
The Master warns him not to try anything clever.
The Doctor can only watch as the locals roll a massive boulder down the hill to crush the requisitioned IMC buggy.
The Master has leapt to safety at the last minute, and when the Doctor points out their attacker, he wastes no time in gunning him down.
Their assailant tumbles to his death, much to the Master's satisfaction.
Caldwell may have checked and approved their ship's engines but he's not completely immune to Mary Ashe's impassioned pleas to his conscience.
"If you don't help us, we'll die!"
Caldwell confirms to Dent the ship could explode on take off - all Dent does is order all IMC men away from the launch site.
The Master brandishes his destructor button when the Doctor says he can't remember where the city entrance is.
At the "Adjudicator"'s ship, Caldwell happens across the key the Doctor dropped and uses it to gain access to the Master's TARDIS.
As Caldwell and Morgan blunder inside, the Master's alarm is triggered again.
When the Master detects the IMC men trying to free Jo, he reaches for the button that will flood her chamber with poison gas.
The Doctor is horrified as the Master's finger descends... Cliffhanger!
EPISODE SIX
(15th May 1971)
Caldwell and Morgan succeed in freeing Jo from the tube.
Morgan won't listen, but Jo tries to convince Caldwell that their biggest threat now is the Master.
The Master thinks the Priest is being ignorant until the Doctor explains that this offshoot of the species communicates telepathically.
Anyway, the Doctor's got something far more interesting to show him: the pictograms depicting figures being sacrificed to a fiery death.
Jo is having trouble convincing Caldwell that the Master is a time-travelling supervillain, and Dent is only interested in getting rid of the colonists.
Wound up by Morgan's bullying bluster, Caldwell makes his mind up and agrees to smuggle Jo to the city to find the Doctor.
The Master says that at the height of their civilisation, the Uxarians genetically re-engineered themselves into a super-race of telepaths.
Of course, he didn't just deduce this himself, it was in the Time Lord files he nicked.
He goes on to explain that they created a Doomsday Weapon, but it was never used. The super race became priests of a lunatic religion worshipping the weapon as if it was a god.
The Master plans to use the weapon to hold the universe to ransom, although, as the Doctor points out, his plan does rather depend on not being sacrificed.
The Master has come prepared, though, with a smoke bomb and gsa mask. The Doctor will just have to hold his breath!
It's rather more effective an escape tactic than the Doctor's earlier conjuring trick!
The two Time Lords are soon at large.
Ashe tries his best to stall, but Dent is prepared to have him frogmarched to the pilot's seat if necessary.
Dent still doesn't trust Ashe and orders Morgan to position a man overlooking the dome to alert them to any shenanigans.
A wall marking indicates that the Master is close to his prize.
Morgan sees the Colonists on to their ship, but his report of mission accomplished to Dent is over-confident: Winton has stayed behind.
Security Guard Rogers (Terry Walsh) reports no signs of any colonists attempting to leave the rocket. Well... yeah.
As soon as Rogers has reported in, Winton attacks him.
Okay, this fight in the wet clay is a bit... weird, to say the least.
Krynoid PodCast@KrynoidPodCast Shades of Women in Love! And look at that muck. They make a grand job of showing Uxarius to be the crappiest place ever to colonise.
Eventually, Winton gains the upper hand and delivers the knock out blow.
With victory in his grasp, Dent wants to check one last time that Ashe is going.
Ashe explains the delay was down to an electrical fault but they're getting ready to lift off now.
Jo and Caldwell come across the wrecked IMC buggy abandoned by the Doctor and the Master earlier.
They watch as the colonists' ship takes off...
...and explodes!
Caldwell is appalled and devastated. He told them the motors were fine.
The Master has finally found what he was looking for - the Doomsday Weapon that caused the end of the Uxarian civilisation.
He points out Earth's sun, and tells the Doctor he can accelerate it's life cycle to make it burn out thousands of millions of years early.
The Doctor is sceptical, but the Master assures him that what is now the Crab Nebula is the weapon's original test site.
As Jo and Caldwell arrive at the entrance to the underground city, a Uxarian guard ambushes them, blocking their progress.
Caldwell shoves him out of the way, closing the door after making it inside.
The Master is offering the Doctor a half share of the universe of he agrees to team up.
But the Doctor's response is that absolute power leads to absolute evil.
Jo and Cardwell are lost already.
Caldwell's absence has not gone unnoticed. As Chief Engineer, he's essential to Dent's whole operation. Morgan is despatched to retrieve him.
While the Doctor dismisses the Master's dreams of conquest as absurd, the evil Time Lord sneers at his loyalty to "one insignificant planet."
The Doctor just wants to see the universe, not rule it.
Their bickering is brought to an abrupt end when the Guardian's throne emerges from his alcove, attracting the Master's attention immediately.
When the Guardian asks why the Doctor has returned despite their previous agreement, the Master interrupts, claiming that he wants to restore the city to its former glory.
The Doctor urges the Guardian to disregard the Master, and that he's only after the Doomsday Weapon.
The Master admits it, insisting that by wielding the weapon he can bring peace to the universe, and make Uxarius the heart of a mighty Empire.
The guardian is unmoved. As soon as they built their weapon, his race went into decline, the very soil poisoned by the radiation.
The Master won't take no for an answer, and pulls his gun on the Guardian, only for it to use its immense powers to make the gun disappear.
The Uxarian High Priest needs no further convincing of the Master's malicious intent and rules that "you are not fit to be gods..." He instructs the Doctor to set the Doomsday Weapon's self-destruct mechanism.
The Doctor is grateful. "Not only does justice prevail on your planet, sir, but also infinite compassion."
With the destruct mechanism in full swing, the Doctor thanks the Guardian a final time before leaving after the fleeing Master.
The Guardian resigns himself to the only peace his civilisation can know; the final end of the Doomsday Weapon.
The Doctor and Master soon run into Jo and Caldwell, and using the Master's map, they hurry towards the exit.
Leg it!
They make it to cover just in the nick of time as the death throes of the Doomsday Weapon belch fire from the cave mouth.
Jo watches...
... as the Master makes an unsuccessful attempt to wrest Caldwell's gun from him.
When Morgan and the lads pile in...
...the Master finds he no longer holds sway with IMC, and is in exactly the same boat as Jo and the Doctor
If IMC didn't need Caldwell, he'd be lined up with the others, but before Morgan can make good on his threats, the tables are turned.
Turns out the colonists are not dead! The IMC men open fire but the colonists have the higher ground.
The IMC men are better shots, and succeed in inflicting casualties...
...but the colonists' strength in numbers wins out, with Morgan amongst their dead.
The Doctor and Jo can only watch as the Master makes his getaway.
Luckily for the Doctor, Winton has tracked down the TARDIS in one of the Uxarians' satellite dwellings away from the underground city, and has had it brought back to the colony.
The colonists look on in wonder, as the Time Lords allow the Doctor to take the TARDIS back to its point of origin.
...but the colonists' strength in numbers wins out, with Morgan amongst their dead.
Eventually, the remaining IMC men surrender.
The Doctor and Jo have been distracted just long enough for the Master to make his getaway in one of the IMC buggies.
They give chase, but the Master reaches the safety of his TARDIS and sets the controls to leave. The Master should always lives to fight another day, to be honest.
The Doctor and Jo can only watch as the Master makes his getaway.
In the aftermath, Winton takes up the leadership of the colony. Ashe took the colony ship up alone, sacrificing himself so the others could remain behind.
Luckily for the Doctor, Winton has tracked down the TARDIS in one of the Uxarians' satellite dwellings away from the underground city, and has had it brought back to the colony.
When pressed for an explanation, the Doctor will only go as far as saying that the TARDIS is "a sort of antique really, but it does have great sentimental value!"
Time to go.
Caldwell can't go back to Earth now. He'll stay and help the colonists get back on their feet, starting with the power to run the place properly. Now that the source of the poison in the soil has been destroyed, their crops should begin to flourish, too.
The colonists look on in wonder, as the Time Lords allow the Doctor to take the TARDIS back to its point of origin.
On Earth, no time at all has passed for the Brigadier, who picks up exactly where he left off, demanding the Doctor's immediate return!
When the Doctor and Jo emerge, the Brig is thoroughly unimpressed with their "short trip", and informs them that the suspect his man had a lead on wasn't the Master after all - as if they didn't already know!
"Don't try and explain Jo. He'd never understand!"
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt With just a bit of tweaking to have more plot momentum, and decent design, this could have been one of the classicsThe basic plot's fine & it has that Hulke weightiness to the stakes, but the age old Pertwee problem: should've been 4 parts.
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt I don’t even think that’s the biggest problem - you can see a neat 6 part structure. Gritty realism is not what Season 8 is all about - to its credit. Terror, Axons - even Mind and Daemons - are quite trippy.Very true, though I'd probably say Mind of all of them feels more season 7 than this. Probably mostly the alien setting tho.
M.R.Michael@The_Cybermatt Agree Mind’s plot is quite S7 but it’s execution - pink dragons and all - is less so.
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon: Warriors of the Deep
Coming Soon: Warriors of the Deep