The Plague (The Ark Episode 2)

The one where the Doctor cures the common cold...

Boy, do I love that stock Tristram Cary music from The Daleks! It pops up every now and then to paint an ominous mood of doom and catastrophe, and is used here by director Michael Imison at the top of the episode. It's so powerful and evocative, it instantly conjures an atmosphere for me. Donnnnng!

We find our heroes locked up by the Guardians after Zentos took umbrage that Dodo's germs were threatening the entire future of humanity, which is fair enough. Her sniffles equate to a catastrophic plague for the Guardians, who have no immunity to the virus because it was apparently eradicated in the time of the Primal Wars (ooh, what are they?). The Monoids have started dropping like flies, making an unearthly wail as they collapse, despite having no mouths. One even decides to expire outside the TARDIS, just to remind us exactly who is responsible for this disaster.

Dodo tries to take the blame for what's happened ("It's all my fault. If I'd known it was going to be like this, I'd never have come!" - not that she had much choice), but the truth is it is the Doctor's fault really, which he acknowledges. Dodo may be the one to have the cold, and she may also have been the one to rush outside of the TARDIS without permission. But even though the Doctor didn't know she had a cold, the transporting of germs and diseases from one time and place to another is a very real consideration he most often ignores. There he is, zipping through time and space, from ancient history into the far future and back again, but he never considers the dangers that brings to those he calls in on. He could take the Bubonic Plague to 1966, or a deadly virus from the Sense-Sphere to Xeros. He could potentially wipe out entire civilisations just by travelling from A to B. And look where it's got him this time.

The Plague is an almost carbon copy replay of the part of The Sensorites in which the Doctor must race against time to find a cure for his companion's illness before it kills him. Before that, said companion must endure a trial at the hands of some quite dedicated prosecutors (a la The Keys of Marinus), and in these trial scenes, a moist-faced Peter Purves is on fire as he gives as good as he gets from the equally as ardent Inigo Jackson as Zentos. "The nature of man, even in this day and age, hasn't altered at all," sneers Steven. "You still fear the unknown, like everyone else before you."

As in episode 1, Eric Elliott devours the scenery as the ailing Commander, playing it as a thespy melodrama. I found it unintentionally silly that the Commander provided his own camp DVD commentary on the trial from his hospital bed, agreeing with everything Steven and his defence counsel Manyak say with vociferous bursts of "True! True!" and "Yes! Yes!".

There's a lovely little role for Michael Sheard (someone who will become a good friend to Doctor Who over the decades) as medic Rhos, but he sadly disappears as soon as the actual medical trials and experiments commence. Instead of having the Guardians' top doctor helping him, the Doctor has to make do with a slavish Monoid (who wears a futuristic surgical mask despite having no nose or mouth!). Then again, a Monoid can't be any worse than the Doctor's bizarre medical advice to wrap the feverish Steven in blankets to keep him warm. That's the last thing you should do for someone with a fever - Steven needs to be cooled down, not warmed up!

The Doctor seems to find a cure for the common cold in a matter of hours, making him infinitely cleverer than the chemists and medics of the 21st century who still can't find a way to stop our noses running. It's interesting (and very reassuring) to learn that hypodermic needles have been done away with in the future, and injections are done through little skin pads. The Doctor's cure begins to work on Steven within an hour, although the patient seems to get deliriously worse before he improves. I can only imagine how Eric Elliott would have camped up his scenes of delirium...

Everything's wrapped up beautifully. Everybody gets better, although it's not explained how the Guardian who died will be replaced, seeing as "each man has his allotted task". Zentos apologises with a winning laugh, and the Doctor shakes his hand and delivers a very Doctorish proverb: "You must travel with understanding as well as hope". I said it during my review for episode 1, but I really cannot blame Zentos for his actions. Inigo Jackson may have beefed up the bluster, but his reaction was nothing short of realistic and responsible. The future of the entire human race was at stake, what else could he do? Zentos was no murderer. He was a defender.

There's a lovely little effect as the Earth's "final moment" is seen on the scanner, plummeting through space like a fiery comet. It's not quite as apocalyptic as the end of the world seen in The End of the World, but it's still just as effective. Our beloved homeworld reduced to a dying ember in the void.

A Monoid takes the Doctor, Steven and Dodo back to the TARDIS (for some reason William Hartnell appears to be highly suspicious of his monocular chauffeur and can't wait to hop off the transporter!) and off they go, on to another adventure. It's unusual to have a two-part story but.... oh wait! Hold on, they're back again already! They've dematerialised but returned to the same place.

The cliffhanger is a doozy. The ark appears to be abandoned (quite why Dodo calls out for Baccu, their former enemy in court, I don't know. Why not their saviour, Manyak?) and lo and behold, the giant statue the Guardians were building has been finished. But instead of a human head, the statue sports a Monoid's head, complete with one huge staring eye. The common (and ultimately correct) assumption is that the Monoids have taken over and become the humans' masters, but equally you could assume that over the course of 700 years, humans have somehow mutated into Monoids. No? OK, suit yourself...

First broadcast: March 12th 1966

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Peter Purves is brilliant in the trial scenes, making Steven's argumentative nature a real asset. Oh, and the Guardian extras again! There are some really attractive walk-ons, dressed in such skimpy outfits!
The Bad: Eric Elliott, again. Awful.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: The Return...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Steel Sky (episode 1); The Return (episode 3); The Bomb (episode 4)

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-ark.html

The Ark is available on DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Ark-William-Hartnell/dp/B004EPYSAU/