The Virgin Missing Adventures novel The Menagerie would retcon a link between The Space Pirates and Colony through the IMC. Subtextually, the script was Malcolm Hulke's intentional science fictional comment on the struggle between European settlers and Native Americans. Colony was the first Doctor Who directorial assignment for Michael Briant, who had been a production assistant, amongst other roles, during the Innes Lloyd and Peter Bryant producerships. Briant would later direct some of the most iconic serials of the 1970s, including The Robots of Death and The Sea Devils.