THE MOVIE

Tom Baker, the forth doctor who first appeared in 1974 and stayed in the role for a record 7 years, is back in Doctor Who - The Ark in Space, another four part story from the television series. It was first broadcast in England on BBC1 between January 23 and February 15, 1975. He is accompanied on this adventure by journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter).

Episode 1
The Tardis rematerialises inside the space station Nerva, which was built back in the early 30th century. As per usual, the inquisitive sidekick, Sarah in this case, goes off exploring by herself and manages to get locked in a control room. Trouble is, there is no oxygen in this room. We soon learn that virtually no systems on the space station are functioning and that they have actually been sabotaged, but by whom…or by what? The Doctor and Harry find a cryogenic repository, and discover the true nature of the space station. It’s a lifeboat, a way for human beings to endure after some great global catastrophe. Did I mention that Sarah goes missing again…

Episode 2
The Doctor and Harry find Sarah in suspended animation. How are they going to revive her? While looking for a resuscitation unit, they discover a dead alien life form known as the Wirrn, an insect race that inhabits the cold depths of space. They manage to re-animate one of the crewmembers called Vira (Wendy Williams) and the crew leader nicknamed Noah (Kenton Moore). Noah wants the Doctor and his friends to leave so they don’t contaminate the gene pool. Although, Noah hasn’t quite been himself since being re-animated.

Vira recounts earths fate to the Doctor. It seems that solar flares destroyed all life on earth and scientists calculated that it would be 5000 years until the biosphere became viable again. Hence the establishment of this space station in the first place. Due to a systems failure, caused by the Wirrn, the crew have overslept by a couple of thousand years.

Episode 3
Oh no, what’s that! Looks like Noah’s hand has turned into something that looks like bubble-wrap painted green. A sure sign that he’s now a host for the Wirrn. We’re slowing learning more about the Wirrn. They lay their eggs inside the host, which then becomes a food source for their young. As part of this absorption process, the Wirrn acquire the knowledge of the host, and as such they present quite an imposing adversary for the Doctor. Where’s an entomologist when you need one. If only they could find a weakness…

Episode 4
The Wirrn have cut the power, which can only mean that the oxygen will soon run out. Will the Doctor be able to save the humans on board the space station so they may return to earth? It could be difficult with an entire swarm of Wirrn in the cargo hold. The Doctor, Sarah, Harry and remaining crew might have to evacuate the space station if they want to survive. If only someone had thought to pack the Baygon…

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Doctor Who - The Ark in Space is presented in 1.33:1 full frame. The image is not bad at all. You can’t really compare it to modern footage, but given the age of this source material it looks great. Shadow detail is okay, even during some of the darker scenes, but there is some aliasing to be observed. It also looks as though the occasional frame is missing. This is to be expected though, and I don’t think it will upset Doctor Who fans.

Like the earlier Doctor Who DVD, The Robots of Death (also starring Tom Baker), this series of four episodes has plenty of those highlight overload problems. Just about every type of direct light source and anything shiny, leaves a characteristic green or bluey-pink comet tail across screen when the camera pans across it at speed. It is a somewhat frustrating glitch, but it is something we have come to expect from Doctor Who episodes, so I guess you just have to live with it.

Colours are nice and bright, and skin tones are realistic, even if they are a little bit on the pale side. There looks to be an occasional bit of over-saturation of white surfaces during several scenes, but this is not a major problem. Once again, this is a dual layer disc (RSDL) with the layer change presumably being placed between Episode 2 and 3.

Audio:

As with many of the Doctor Who DVDs, this DVD comes with two audio soundtracks, the first is being a Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack, and the second being an audio commentary track (see below for more information). The primary soundtrack is satisfactory. Dialogue is always clearly audible and the incidental music by Dudley Simpson is rather quaint and helps add to the drama. I could not find any noticeable audio synch problems, although at times I could hear what sounded like slight reverb, especially during the high pitch incidental musical and theme music. The loud whirring in the control room (during chapter 17) when the Doctor is using the transmat is also mildly annoying.

THE EXTRAS

New CGI Model Sequences
This allows the viewer to toggle CGI effects, so you can watch Doctor Who The Ark in Space with the original space station models or with the new computer generated effects. By default, these are switched off. There is also an option where you can view the new CGI Model sequences in order (which has a running time is 1.32 minutes).

Unused Titles Sequence
A similar feature was present on the Doctor Who - The Tomb of the Cybermen DVD. Basically it is an alternative (34 second) title sequence for the programme.

Original Model Effects Reel
This original 16 mm film shows the model of the space station Nerva and the shuttle taking off. The shuttle flying, or rather swinging through space on a string and exploding. There are also some shots of the Wirrn crawling on the outer hull of the space station. Running time is 7.10 minutes.

Trailer for Episode 1
The original BBC1 trailer for part one of Doctor Who The Ark in Space. Tomorrow at 5.35 on BBC1. Running time is 51 seconds.

Tom Baker Interview
An interview with the relatively new (fourth) Doctor, presumably recorded in the 1970’s. The interview was carried out on location during filming of Revenge of the Cybermen. Tom Baker talks about becoming a national figure, the effects of Doctor Who on children. Visually speaking, it’s a bit lacklustre, but this is still a great inclusion, nonetheless. Especially the last scene where he goes to lunch with some Cybermen. Running time is 5.56 minutes.

Photo Gallery
30 photos, some colour, some black and white. Most look as though they taken during production, but there are also some behind the scenes type shots as well.

Space Station Schematics
An animated look at the space station Nerva and its shuttlecraft. This is a nifty little extra feature that also tells you all about what the space station is made of, how it is powered, etc. It looks like it has been specially produced for this DVD. Running time is 1.09 minutes.

Information Text
The audio commentary (below) mightn’t be overly technical, but this subtitle option more than makes up for it. There are heaps of interesting insights into how this series of episodes was made. Plot development, props, when and where the episodes were recorded, and of course, lots of Doctor Who trivia, like who really made Tom Baker’s huge multi-coloured scarf.

Roger Murray-Leach Interview
In what looks to be a relatively recent interview, production designer Roger Murray-Leach talks about his experiences working behind the scenes on the Doctor Who television series. He discusses the constraints of a small budget, and also discusses other stories such as The Sontaran Experiment, Planet of Evil, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. We also get so see more behind the scenes still photos. Running time is 10.29 minutes.

Audio Commentary
The audio commentary is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. It features producer Phillip Hinchcliffe, Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. These three laugh their way through the four episodes and they reminisce about this and that. There are some interesting insights in there, but it’s not a highly technical commentary track. Also, Tom Baker doesn’t say a whole lot, instead preferring to laugh raucously at his own acting and simply answer Phillip and Elisabeth’s questions. Thankfully his participation improves with each episode.

TARDIS-cam
Not entirely sure what the point of this extra feature is. The sleeve describes it as being the first of six brand-new model sequences from BBCi's TARDIS-cam feature. Running time is 1.24 minutes.

SUMMARY

Join Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor in yet another Doctor Who adventure. This time he takes on an insect race called the Wirrn aboard the space station Nerva where the last of the human race are in suspended animation. Can he prevent the last humans becoming the Wirrn’s food source? Those of you who think Tom Baker was the best Doctor won’t want to miss this one. This DVD has a satisfactory visual and audio transfer and a nice collection of worthwhile extra features as well.