JJ4 - The Macra Terror 4

As I mentioned in the last post, it is significant when Medok, the Colony's only dissenter at the beginning of the story, dies in Episode Three. For at the (abrupt) end of Episode Four, the Macra are defeated, but the Colony appears to return to normal almost immediately afterwards. Same empty headed cheer leading and all. Without the threat of the Macra keeping everyone sedated and in line, why does the colony keep going as if nothing had happened? Is it like opening the barn door to free the cattle, just to have the cattle stand there, chewing their cud. Do the members of the Colony have to recognize freedom first before they can grasp it?

On top of that, The Doctor flees the scene after hearing through Ben that he is the front runner for the new Pilot job. But the current Pilot is still in power! Head of Security, Ola, and his minions are still there, too. Is their authority no longer recognized? Is there now a vacuum at the top of the Colony hierarchy, a vacuum created by The Doctor himself? I'm all for the empire-toppling nature of The Doctor, particularly Patrick Troughton's Doctor, the most anarchistic of them all. But what happens to those colonies and planets that he supposedly saves by upending the current ruling regime and clearing off before any questions are asked?

We only ever see the after effects of The Doctor's regime changing at its most blatant in the new series episode The Long Game and Bad Wolf, and it took until 1977's The Face of Evil for it to be touched on in the classic series. The Doctor's behaviour in situations like The Macra Terror is akin to the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003 that unseated Saddam Hussein as leader, but left a power vacuum at the top which led to the mess that the region is still in today. At least the US Army stuck around. The Doctor just gets out while the going is good, leaving the chips fall where they may.

Either that's a sign of confidence in the citizens and their ability to rise up out of the ashes and help themselves, or it's a lack of responsibility and ownership of a situation. In this instance, I'd lean towards the latter. No wonder the Time Lords went after him.