The Ark in Space

We called him Noah as an amusement.

Although Season 12 and the introduction of the Fourth Doctor began with Robot, the true introduction of the Fourth Doctor begins with the inauguration of the Philip Hinchcliff era and The Ark in Space.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry land on a space station many years into Earth's future. A solar flare was expected to devastate the Earth so a group of the best physical and mental specimens were placed in hibernation to repopulate the Earth. The station was sabotaged by an alien known as a Wirrn who infected one of the hibernating crew before dying. The hatched Wirrn begin to take over the station, infecting the leader of the group, Noah, and killing several others. The Doctor manages to stave off the Wirrn for a while using electricity. Eventually, they trick the swarm into climbing aboard the escape rocket and then launching it into space. Noah, with the last trace of his humanity, destroys the rocket and the swarm on board.

Analysis

There is a lot in this story that will be poached by Ridley Scott when he makes Alien four years later. If you like that film, odds are you will like this story and I enjoyed both. There is a moody dread that overhangs much of the story and it helps sell the dire nature of what is happening, despite limited effects. The acting is particularly good, both in the core cast and also with the supporting cast. Noah, once he has been infected, can be a bit over the top but not so bad that it detracts from his overall performance.

The one spot of this story that does suffer is the effects. The infection of Noah was done using green bubble wrap, which would have been a great novelty at the time, but is now very common and identifiable. The Wirrn themselves are also somewhat difficult to take seriously when seen in full as it is very difficult not to see them as foam puppets. This gets even worse when they are shown walking near the escape rocket. Instead of crawling with undulating movements as you would expect from insects, they bounce along, just as you would expect a puppet to do. I understand that it was the best they could do and it was probably still pretty scary to children at the time, but in view as an adult, seeing the Wirrn detracts a bit from the overall scary mood of the story.

Despite the effects downsides, the story and acting are excellent. The mood of stays creepy and intense nearly the whole way through, despite the addition of padding in a couple of places, mostly at the beginning of the story. It makes for an excellent start to the Fourth Doctor era.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5