The Ark in Space Part Two

The one where the hibernating humans come to life...

Yay, the blue titles are back! It must've been Harry fiddling with the helmic regulator last week.

So the terrifying insectoid monster lurching toward the camera at the end of last week's episode is actually a mummified insectoid monster locked in a cupboard (Who by? How did it get in there? Did it open the door itself?). There are lots of Doctor Who cliffhangers with curveball resolutions, but this one is up there with the weirdest!

The dead bug on the floor doesn't occupy our heroes for long though because Sarah Jane is still in suspended animation, so it's fortuitous that one of the sleeping crewmembers suddenly decides to wake up. Vira's revivification looks terribly painful, and it's interesting that the first sensation anybody feels when coming out of suspension is searing pain (welcome to the real world!). Wendy Williams is elegantly beautiful, and puts in a marvellously removed performance as a human from the very far future who, quite naturally, would be very different in manner and outlook to "dawn-timers" like Harry. The way she glides across the floor like she's on a Paris catwalk, her head high and proud, is lovely (and I love how the little yellow trolley glides effortlessly alongside her too. She has a way with castors).

We learn that the Doctor's doctorate is "purely honorary" (some of his other incarnations might beg to differ) and that Harry is apparently only qualified to work on sailors (I'm really not sure that can be the case, but who am I to doubt Dr Who?).

Vira tells the Doctor and Harry that Earth was destroyed by solar flares, so a handpicked bunch of humans put themselves into suspended animation aboard the Nerva satellite for 5,000 years until the planet was ready to repopulate. Unfortunately, some kind of slimy creepy-crawly has infiltrated Nerva in the meantime and damaged the life support systems, causing everybody to oversleep by several thousand years. The naughty space bug must then have hidden in the cupboard and promptly died.

Well, probably not, because the Doctor soon discovers that the mummified insect's progenitor has been used to lay eggs. All this, years before Ridley Scott's Alien. Down in the gloomy environs of the satellite, a slimy green creature interferes with the bionosphere and hibernates inside the main solar stack. Growing, absorbing, waiting... It may look like bubblewrap with a tennis ball for an eye, but it's also very reminiscent of the Nestene from Spearhead from Space (also written by Robert Holmes). There's a lovely contrast between the bright, clean upper levels of the satellite, and the dark, dingy, spooky solar stacks. For the second story in a row, lighting designer Nigel Wright plays a blinder.

More revivals take place, including commanding officer Lazar (more commonly nicknamed Noah), engineer Libri, and - at last - Sarah Jane Smith. When Libri comes round, he thinks he sees Noah as a terrifying shape before his eyes fully accustom, but the viewer knows that not all is well with Noah, and perhaps Libri was closer to the truth than they think (Libri is played by Christopher Masters, who looks like a children's television presenter).

Noah is fearful that the Doctor, Harry and Sarah could contaminate the pure-breed human crew and endanger the future of Earth. This leads Harry to splutter: "I'm no regressive, I'm a naval officer!" I've totally fallen for Harry Sullivan since Robert Holmes started writing him, he's such an instantly likeable chap. Ian Marter makes Harry a very loveable, affable character, and you can't help be amused by some of the things he says, or rather the way he says it. When Sarah asks Harry what the dead bug on the floor is, he reports: "Dunno. We found it in the cupboard", and there's an almost jolly, bemused tone in his delivery. And when Vira wonders why Dune is missing from his pod, Harry suggests: "Some people need more sleep than others." There's an attractive sweetness, an almost child-like innocence, to Harry's way of experiencing things, and Marter has to be recognised for bringing such charm and warmth to the character.

One of the spookiest moments comes when Vira tells Noah that Dune is missing, and replies: "Dune? But I'm here. I am Dune." Kenton Moore delivers this with a gentle humanity, and a benign smile, totally at odds with Noah's usual brusqueness, and it gives me the shivers. It must be one of the most chilling lines in the entire series. Somewhere inside Noah, in his subconscious, technician Dune exists. It's like he's been absorbed by Noah, but isn't strictly dead. We soon learn that all of Dune's technical knowledge of the satellite has been absorbed by the creature, which has also infected Noah (with a cursory brush of slime to the hand). The whole idea is unsettling: humans being subsumed by a greater consciousness, absorbed into a larger mass. It's body horror, but it also includes people's very souls, their thoughts and memories. Chilling.

Noah kills Libri (who dies spreadeagled falling backwards, like Worzel Gummidge in Ten Acre Field) and when he takes his hand out of his pocket, reveals that he has been physically infected, and is beginning to mutate into the green, slimy creature we saw in the solar stacks. Yes, it's bubblewrap folks, so get over it. Bubblewrap was not the commonplace household material it is today. It wasn't invented until 1957 (actually by accident when two men were trying to invent three-dimensional wallpaper!), so in 1975, Doctor Who was being quite pioneering in using the "sealed air" material in their monster designs. Then, it would have seemed pretty alien to your average British housewife or 10-year-old child.

Anyway, the whole idea of it still remains icky. Noah is slowly mutating into a giant green insect thing, and is being absorbed to become part of some greater mass consciousness. The Doctor's scared, and I can see why.

First broadcast: February 1st, 1975

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: I love Wendy Williams' ethereal, mannered performance as Vira.
The Bad: Libri's starfish death is a little silly.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 03

NEXT TIME: Part Three..

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Three; Part Four

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.com/2014/06/the-ark-in-space.html

The Ark in Space is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Ark-Space-Special/dp/B00AHHVQE0