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The Ark in Space Format Reviewed: DVD Review At the beginning of Tom Bakers reign as the Doctor, all the stories flow somewhat from each other, starting with The Ark in Space. Having established himself in the previous story, Tom Baker is joined by regular companion Sarah Jane Smith played by Elizabeth Sladen, and new companion Harry Sullivan played by Ian Marter. This comprises the regular cast for the whole of the first season of Tom Bakers era, and the mix is one that just seemed to work, easing everyone into a different feel to the show following the departure of Jon Pertwee. The TARDIS lands on space station Nerva, the Ark, where the Human race have been evacuated too and lie in suspended animation. Their re-animation sequence has been cut off though by a Wirrn queen who has recently visited to lay eggs in the Ark. The Wirrn can invade Humans, transforming them gradually into their oen species whilst retaining the Humans knowledge and experience. The colony leader, Noah, is being taken over by the Wirrn and the remainder of the already reanimated crew of the Ark eventually join forces with the Doctor and defeat the Wirrn by luring them into a transport ship and sending that into space. Noah, who is aboard the transport then sacrifices himself by tampering with the rockets stabilisers thus blowing the transport up and destroying all the Wirrn. The TARDIS crew then use the stations transmat to beam down and check the receptors on Earth to see if they can be used to repopulate the abandoned planet. The ark in space is part of a set of closely linked stories, but can still be considered on its own merits. The greatest plus of the story is the design and realisation of the sets, which has been done in such a way that you don't actually feel too enclosed in a studio, but the actual realisation of having an ark in space does come accross. Also, the ark is designed such as you would probably expect such a ship to be designed, as in clean, stark lines and an almost clinical precision. Where this falls down though is in the costume and design of the Wirrn, especially in the the pupal stage, but also also in their final hatched state. The costumes just look cheap, don't work, and in the case of the green bubble wrap costumes look quite laughable looking back on the story. These fallabilities in costume design really do detract from what is a passable story. As mentioned above, the mix in the regular cast is excellent. The English gentleman of Harry, the feminism of Sarah and the charisma of The Doctor. All three again work very well here, and it should also be noted that Sladen and Marter work very well playing off each other, not just when Tom Baker is involved. The guest cast here is quite small, and principally has Kenton Moore and Wendy Williams involved as Noah and Vira respectively. For me, Williams comes out with much more credit than Moore as she plays the part more naturally. She is slightly wooden, but Moore seems to overact quite a bit as if he's trying to ram the drama down the viewers throat. The remainder of the cast is the rest of the Ark crew, Libri, Rogin and Lycett played by Christopher Masters, Richardson Morgan and John Gregg respectively. All do a decent job and add well to the story when called upon. The overriding feeling I get when watching The Ark in Space is one that were it not for the acting, the story would be remembered as one of the worst in the shows history. The acting I am referring to here is that of Tom Baker, Ian Marter and Kenton Moore. Whilst the action as presented really isn't gripping enough for a twenty-first century audience, the character interaction really does make you hang on every word on occasion. This provokes a strange reaction in me, in that I firmly believe the story is good, perhaps not quite the classic that some people make out, but certainly one that stands up to repeated viewing. This measure of how many times you can watch a piece of television is really what it's all about in terms of a programmes longevity, so really The Ark in Space can be considered overall to be a winner. Overall, The Ark in Space can be considered a story that really maked out what was to be the format for the early stories of Tom Bakers era as The Doctor. The story is very enjoyable, even if it is more for the acting and character interaction rather than the action presented in the story. While not a classic in my view, largely due to the poor quality of some costumes and the relatively slow pace in parts, The Ark in Space can be considered to be a story that will stand up to repeated viewing, which is a very real measure of a storys success. Rating:  |