The Guardian of the Primitive city. (Colony in Space Episode Four) ©BBC |
But as I said, the Master has ruled in favor of IMC. This displeases the colonists, so they stage a rebellion by luring the IMC officers to the main dome under the pretext of signing official paperwork. And have the colonists been keeping close tabs on Norton? Of course not, so he gets to warn the IMC personnel as they arrive, leading to a shootout. And in the confusion, the Master is prepared to kill Jo and the Doctor -- victims of "stray bullets"; only Ashe's arrival saves them from this fate.
Episode five has the colonists winning this struggle and ordering IMC to leave Uxarieus. The Master appears willing to help them declare independence -- it's not clear what his ultimate goal is, but he does want to explore the Primitive ruins. The bits with the Master are reasonably entertaining -- as is the Doctor's investigation of the Master's TARDIS. Even if Jo spoils it all by suddenly deciding she's impatient and walking all the way across the TARDIS to trip an alarm beam that she knew about on her way in (in even more flagrant a manner than Zoe in The Mind Robber), which leads to the Master gassing them both. Meanwhile, IMC leaves, works out the Master is an imposter, and then comes back, capturing all the colonists and ordering them to either leave the planet or be killed. It's not very exciting, to be honest, even if it does eat up a lot of screen time, and the stuff with the Master is far more interesting. He's very interested in the Primitive city, and once he learns that only the Doctor has been inside and come back out, he forces the Doctor to help him -- lest Jo Grant be killed. And when Caldwell and Morgan make their way inside the Master's TARDIS (via a dropped key) and discover Jo imprisoned, the Master is alerted. "I warned you, Doctor!" the Master says, his finger poised to flood Jo's chamber with deadly gas.