Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - The Ark [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even if The Ark doesn't quite fulfil its promise of delivering on the deeper themes at work, it's still entertaining, and what's more, is one of the best realised stories of the third season. Of course, this tale would be outstripped by its more popular stablemate "The Ark In Space", with its similar ideas of Earthlings escaping disaster. But despite this, The Ark is a clever little tale that manages to be boosted by its presentation and (for the time) swanky production values.

1 disc, 97 minutes, 4 episodes, full frame video, English mono audio, English subtitles, $24.98 SRP

Extras:
Audio Commentary with Peter Purves ("Steven") and Michael Imison (director)

"All's Wells That Ends Wells" - A feature on the influence of writer H.G. Wells on the series

"One Hit Wonder" - On what makes a successful monster

"Riverside Story" - Touring old production haunt Riverside Studios

Photo Gallery

PDF materials: Radio Times Listings

Production Notes Subtitle Option

The idea of having this story take place over 700 years (or whatever it was) was a clever idea. It really demonstrated how much the Doctor interferes. (The Valeyard should have used this story for his evidence against the Doctor!)

I really liked the invisible people as well. It was entertaining, witty, and a wonderful buy.

(Note: Warning! Spoilers ahead!)"The Ark" is one of three stories remaining from William Hartnell's third season in Doctor Who. And I must admit it is one of his weakest. Thin on story, especially in the first two episodes, this tale gives us a view of Humanity in the very far future. Millions of years on, in fact. A long time after man has conquered space, the remnants of Earth's native sons are on a huge space craft inhabited by all forms of remaining life on Earth, who flee from the planet's imminent destruction, to colonize a planet they have never even set foot upon.

The Doctor and company arrive with new companion Dodo (picked up in the final moments of the previous story "The Massacre"), who has an illness unknown to Human science of the 57th Segment of Time, the common cold. The illness quickly spreads throughout the population of both Humans and their friendly servants, the alien Monoids, killing a number of both species. After some debate as to whether the TARDIS crew have brought the illness on purpose or not, the Doctor is finally allowed to search for a cure, using Steven (who has also somehow attracted the illness which he should already have an immunity to!) as a guinee pig.

Well, of course the Doctor finds the cure and saves the day. The TARDIS dematerializes and then suddenly RE-materializes in the exact same spot, only 700 years later. Things on the Ark have changed significantly, as now the Monoids have become the masters, enslaving Humanity as the Ark approaches the long sought planet for colonizing. The Doctor and crew must find a way to free the Humans from the Monoids, and prevent the extinction of man.

A very thin story indeed, with the Monoids being very unconvincing villains, as they have limited movement, and end up waddling rather like ducks, which is far from menacing. On the positive side, William Hartnell is clearly relishing his return to being the star/hero of the hour, and delivers a very enthusiastic performance. New companion Dodo doesn't really establish herself so well, however, but Jackie Lane does her best under the circumstances. Unlike the previous story where he took centre stage, Steven is left with very little to do as he contracts the new strain of fever, but gives it his all in the few scenes he has. Over all this is not the best of 60s Doctor Who, but should please die hard fans, and nostalgia freaks alike.

When I first viewed "The Ark" on a PBS station, I really didn't enjoy it much. But after purchasing the video, "The Ark" has amtured into a satisfying Hartnell outing. Dodo and Steven are a little silly sometimes, as the same with the guests(nice to see Michael Sheard). The Monoids aren't that bad, except the design in their feet or legs. And the Guardians' uniforms leave very little for the imagination. Although, the design is incredible for this era. Many different animals can be found in the forest section of the Ark(including an elephant!). The effects are pretty good. And the idea of returning to the Ark 700 years later is wonderful. It's nice to see a story set so far into the future(at least 10 miliion years), actually showing the earth being destroyed. Thumbs up!

This video was actually the first William Hartnell tape that I managed to get my hands on when I started collecting the Doctor Who videos, I waited a long while before actually watching it, but it was definitely worth the wait. This awesome story, and somewhat reminiscent of The Planet of the Apes, in which the roles are reversed kind of thing, those who were once the servants become the masters, that sort of thing. Especially in the cliffhanger at the end of the second episode when the TARDIS crew arrive 700 years later and find that the statue is completed, but it has the face of a Monoid. That part reminds me of the twist ending they had at the end of both the original Planet of the Apes movie and Tim Burton's re-imagining, very effective, and very chilling. All in all, an excellent adventure.

I always like watching the old Black & White episodes becuase it reminds me of when I was in High School, and first started watching Dr. Who-my parents tryed to stop me from watching it but I snuck an old portable B&W TV into an attic room and watched the old episodes. I liked this story except for a few things. First of all, as is the case with many early episodes, things have names that are too obvious. The planet they are escaping to is called Refusis (as in refuse) and the one eyed creatures are called monoids. The other problem I have is Dodo. She is just not a very good companion. Still the story held my attention and brought back fond memories of nights spent in an unair-conditioned room defing my parents to watch my favorite show.

"The Ark" was a workmanlike production from the middle of William Hartnell's third season as the Doctor, perhaps a bit more expansive than most because it was taped at the more spacious Riverside Studios instead of cramped Lime Grove, where monsters or aliens were usually attacking the Doctor in isolated space stations and similarly limited locales.

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo land in what appears to be a jungle habitat for a London zoo but is actually part of a spaceship from 10 million years in the future carrying the human race, their slaves the Monoids, and Earth's animals to a new home planet, Refusis II, after Earth's destruction. The journey will take 700 years.

Dodo infects the ship's passengers with the common cold, unleashing a deadly plague that threatens to wipe out the humans as well as the Monoids. Once the Doctor narrowly resolves this crisis, he and his companions leave the Ark only to find the TARDIS has returned them to the same ship hundreds of years later. Now the once-docile Monoids have turned the tables, enslaving Earth's humans just as they are about to colonize Refusis.

The two-part nature of the story is clever enough, but the ludicrous design of the Monoids prevents them from posing any credible threat to the humans: picture an actor in a full-length rubber suit that binds the legs together like Morticia's in "The Addams Family," with an oversized Beatles wig on his head that covers everything but his mouth, which contains a ping-pong ball painted to look like an eyeball. (Meanwhile, because the actor's mouth is full of eyeball, his lines have to be spoken by another actor.)

This DVD is still worth a look, though, for its Special Features, which include "All's Wells That Ends Wells," a brief documentary tracing H.G. Wells' influence on Doctor Who and this story in particular, and "Riverside Story," a tour of Riverside Studios, with Peter Purves ("Steven") and British television critic Matthew Sweet.

...and it's not really anyone's fault. The only story you can purchase before this one is story 17, which leaves a whole season of information out. Like where is Vicki? Who is Dodo? And what happened to that part they stole from The Monk?

It was just an okay episode. Like the part about how we need natural immunities. Contains episodes 26-29 of season 3. Again, the last DVD stops at season 2's episode 39.

The Ark is one of those stories I have a soft place for. Sure, the aliens look a tad weird. Yes, the lines could have been better. Also, the idea of keeping slaves in the kitchen - with all the knives and chemicals - seems a tad stupid.
But the scenes, the settings, with the forest and command center, give you a very real sense of how huge the ship is. There is also the idea that the Doctor has to face the results, the consequences, of something he did hundreds of years earlier. Wonderful! The Earth burning? Lovely!
The food pills that get dropped into water and the tiny shuttles, the simple landing craft, that are used to travel to the planet's surface really help ground us into the future setting. These special effects are not THAT bad for the time they were made. True, we have invisible beings again but still, I loved this story as a kid, when I first saw it on PBS, and still love it.
The commentary is nice, a mixture of facts and humor, and the extra features, such as the one on the H.G. Wells, was nice. You get a lot for a DVD that holds only four episodes.
The details could have been handled better - but the story itself is gold!

The BBC is atoning for past sins (destroying so many Doctor Who episodes) by providing first-rate restorations of those surviving. The Ark looks good and includes a multitude of special features which illuminate the history and the making of the early Hartnell episodes. Highly recommended.