Day 197 — July 16th 2021
The Ark in Space Parts Three and Four
The Ark in Space — Part Three
I think the longer this story goes on, the more obvious it becomes that Robert Holmes has rewritten it from the ground up. We get the introduction of some more guest characters in this episode, including another example of the Holmes double act — and one that I don’t think often gets mentioned. It comes in the form of Rogin and Lycett, the former of whom is, I think, the perfect example of how I’d behave in a Doctor Who story;
Rogin: ‘There’s been a snitch up. Didn’t I tell you, Lycett? Five thousand years ago I said there’d be a snitch up.’
Lycett: ‘Ten thousand.’
Rogin: ‘Oh, beautiful. We should have taken our chance with the solar flares and gone into the thermic shelters. We’d have been happily dead by now.’
We’re also ramping up the horror elements more and more with this episode, and the various stages of half-transformed Noah are brilliantly gruesome. It’s amazing how quickly the series feels like a different show; I can’t imagine getting a creature like this during the Pertwee era.
There’s an argument to be made that the Wirrn half looks a lot like bubble wrap painted green (with good reason, too) but although I think that’s especially obvious with the episode cleaned up and restored for Blu-ray, I can’t say it bothers me at all. The story is strong enough — and the effect of the transformation shocking enough — that I can overlook a bit of bubble wrap and just continue being caught up in the story.
I’m finding there’s a lot more depth in this one than I was expecting, too. When Noah listens to the pre-recorded speech from Earth’s High Minister and begins attacking the parts of his body which have already been taken over by the Wirrn I found it surprisingly moving — it wasn’t something I’d been expecting at all. I’ve been reading The Complete History over the last few days and I’m surprised to see that this entire sequence was cut out of the omnibus version of the story, and I think it must be weaker without it.
And I’ll tell you what, as inspiring speeches go it’s pretty bloody good — it even stirs something in jaded old me!
High Minister: ‘Hello, Space Station Nerva. This is the Earth High Minister. The fact that you are hearing my voice in a message recorded thousands of years before the day in which you are now living, is a sure sign that our great undertaking, the salvation of the human race, has been rewarded with success. You have slept longer than the recorded history of mankind, and you stand now at the dawn of a new age. You will return to an Earth purified by flame, a world that we cannot guess at. If it be arid, you must make it flourish. If it be stony, you must make it fertile. The challenge is vast, the task enormous, but let nothing daunt you. Remember, citizen volunteers, that you are the proud standard bearers of our entire race. Of the millions that walk the world today, you are the chosen survivors. You have been entrusted with a sacred duty, to see that human culture, human knowledge, human love and faith, shall never perish from the universe. Guard what we have given you with all your strength. And now, across the chasm of the years, I send you the prayers and hopes of the entire world. God speed you to a safe landing.’
I’m honestly baffled that they decided to cut this bit, because it might be my favourite part of the story yet — it’s certainly the best part of this particular episode.
This episode feels a little bit like ‘Part Three Syndrome’ is setting in, where my interest starts to wane a little as the story pads itself out, but the fact that it’s still getting a strong 8/10 will hopefully give some indication of how brilliant The Ark in Space is overall…
The Ark in Space — Part Four
I’ve spent a lot of time during the first three episodes of this story looking backwards, at people returning to Doctor Who after a lot of time away, and the series harking back to the style of the early years. In doing so I’ve not found a chance to talk about the design of The Ark in Space, and looking towards the programme’s future. Although the next story was recorded before this one, we get the first on screen credit for designer Roger Murray-Leach for these four episodes. He’ll be with the series for the rest of 1975, and will occasionally pop back up to an including The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
And what a start he’s made with this one! The design of the Nerva Beacon has to be one of the very best the series has ever given us, and it holds up well 45 years on. Of course the really iconic bit is that corridor, with great big windows looking out over the blackness of space. I’ve been surprised on this viewing just how little time is spent on that particular set — when I think of The Ark in Spacemy mind goes right to it.
But the other sets are just as well created, and I really love the design of the main cryogenic chamber. There’s some clever tricks performed with carefully placed mirrors to make it look like they’ve built an entire second chamber just around the corner from the first one, and I don’t think I’d have realised what they’d done if someone hadn’t pointed it out a couple of weeks ago. Part One is shot very carefully to make it look as though Doctor Who has wandered through into the second room while Harry remains in the first… when in reality the two men are just stood on opposite sides of the same set.
Something I’m especially keen on is how distinct all the different areas of the Ark feel. Of course much of it is sterile and white and almost a bit of a cliché — it’s the traditional image of what the future looked like in the mid 20th century. The bits that really interest me, then, are the ones off the beaten track. Areas that the majority of people aren’t meant to see. When Doctor Who goes off exploring in the Solar Stacks it’s a dark grimy room with exposed metal walls and railings, which prove a distinct contrast to the spaces the story has been set in so far. The same is true for the underside of the escape rocket in this episode — it’s a functional area, rather than one designed to look pristine.
Once you’re into the rocket itself they’ve employed another trick to make it distinct — it’s been bathed in a blue light. It’s such a simple tweak to what we’ve seen in the opening three episodes, but it’s amazing how much of a difference it makes. You honestly get the sense that you’re in a different location. We’ve had some great spaceship designs down the years, but I think Nerva might be the one that’s felt the most ‘real’ so far.
I’ve had a busy week, so I’ve been watching The Ark in Space on the iPad via BritBox, which means I’ve missed out on watching the updated effects available on the Blu-ray edition. I found ten minutes to sit down this afternoon and watch the compilation version of the new effects and I have to admit that they’re stunning. Something which I’m especially keen on is that you can see where the gorgeous corridor set I’ve mentioned above fits in. It’s part of the inner ring of the beacon, although that does make me wonder if we should be able to see the outer ring through those windows on screen. I always assumed the corridor was in a little ring around the very top of the structure, really adding some scale to things.
I was expecting to be marking the story down because I was watching the original model shots — this is one of those tales I was really keen to see the new effects for — but actually they’ve held up incredibly well. You don’t always get a great sense of where different parts of the Ark are in relation to each other, but the design of the thing holds up well. I think it’s telling that the CGI version didn’t stray too far from the physical object they built in 1974.
I’m also surprised to note that the updated effects retain the model work when it comes to the shot of the Wirrn swarming the outside of the beacon. While watching this episode I thought the effect held up well — the miniature Wirrn match up with the full size costumes brilliantly, and if anything they’re even scarier like this — but I still expected it to be an area where you’d want to drop in the new effects. It’s something which I suspect I may have found a bit jarring if I were watching it that way. One thing which really holds up in both versions, though, is the decision to cut top silence when the rocket takes off. It’s a little thing which has a massive impact.
I’m not gonna go on about the characters too much here, because I’ve been praising them for days already, but I love that it’s the resilience of humanity which wins out against the Wirrn in the end. The closing moments in which Noah sends a final message to Vira and she realises he’s sacrificed himself are wonderful, and they link back so nicely with the uplifting inspirational speech from the High Minister in Part Three. And even Rogin comes good, getting Doctor Who out of the way and giving his own life to get the ship away. On his brilliant series of podcasts lately Toby Hadoke has mentioned that one of his favourite things in Doctor Who is little guest characters who give their lives to save our hero, and since he pointed it out I can’t avoid noticing how often it happens. Rogin is absolutely one of my favourites.
I’m going with a 7/10 for this one, I think. It’s held up incredibly well, and I’m glad to see that Doctor Who can still turn out belters like this. Every so often I wonder if my Top 10 is already filled with the stories it’ll have at the end of the year, and then something like this comes along to remind me that everything is still to play for…
