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.
