Doctor Who: The Ark In Space
Directed by: Rodney Bennett
Written by: Robert Holmes
Starring: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter
In the 30th century solar flares have left the Earth a barren waste and the only hope for the human race is the space station Nerva. The titular “Ark In Space”, the station is filled with enough cryogenically suspended humans, plants and animals to restart the planet in 5,000 years. Humanity’s knowledge, history and culture is also stored in its vast microfilm library(what? It was the seventies).
Of course everything goes wrong when an alien insectoid creature sneaks in and sabotages their alarm clock. They finally wake up thousands of years later when the Doctor and his companions Harry Sullivan and Sarah Jane Smith stumble upon the ark. Unfortunately the humans aren’t the only ones they’ve roused. The alien Wirrn, our bug-eyed monsters from millennia ago also wakes and starts feeding off the still-frozen humans. The station commander, Noah (who else?), is accuses the Doctor of sabotage but changes his mind when he becomes Wirrn food and slowly turns into a giant insect himself. The Doctor, his companions and a couple of reanimated sleepers save the day by jettisoning the Wirrn larvae into space.
Doctor Who is remembered fondly for a lot of things: its charismatic leads, the inventive storylines, the beautiful lady companions but one thing it never had was great special effects. The “Ark in Space” is no exception, the Nerva is a plastic model and looks like it. The larval form of the Wirrn is a man encased in spray painted bubble wrap and its adult form isn’t much better. This wasn’t the strongest story either but it does have Tom Baker, the much loved fourth Doctor, who injects life into every scene. I first saw the “Ark in Space” as a kid and while I remember the plot, the only image I remember from it is Sarah Jane crawling through the airducts. Apparently my 10 year old self suppressed the memory of paper mache monsters and plastic spacecraft so I can only remember the good bits. The DVD did try to improve on the effects by offering a version of the serial with brand new CGI to replace the old miniatures. If you can only take so much budget effects work, the DVD extra is for you.
This is a must watch for any Doctor Who fan but can also serve as a great introduction to the fourth doctor for people just getting into the Classic stories.
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