The Ark - The Plague

Well even Susan wasn't this quick. In her first episode she has almost wiped out humanity. 

The opening scene after the replay we get a scene of the regulars which basically comprises of Dodo sniffling through the whole thing. She does very little afterwards as it falls to Steven and the Doctor to being the voices of the group.

Its good how Dodo's cold is effecting the Monoids as well as the humans. In fact more Monoids are falling ill compared to the humans. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo are put on trial for infecting them. Steven starts off defending himself and the others but he has become ill with the cold. What's so good about this trial is that the guardians are untrusting and unwilling to let the Doctor find a cure. Sadly for the regulars they are found guilty and it looks like at first that they are done for however when Steven is taken ill it seems that this is the point where the guardians are willing to trust the Doctor.

The story seems to drag for an awfully long time and its not until the Doctor is allowed to find a cure before it gets going. Then the episode seems to get into gear and it seems that the story is at an end when Steven and the guardians are much better. Back in 1966 the viewers must have thought this was a nice simple two parter but the must have been in for a shock when they leave the TARDIS and discover that the statue they saw at the beginning of the previous episode has been completed but is now a Monoid and not a human. This is another good cliffhanger, the slow pan up the statue is what helps sell this to the viewer.

A quick thing to mention are the effects. In the previous episode a guardian was miniturised and in this episode we get another effect. The effect of the Monoid being chucked out into space was rather well done even though we just saw I through the screen and not up close. 

As an episode I thought that this was half a good episode and half a dull episode. I still don't think that the guardians are a bit weak and feeble and so when they fall ill its not a big concern to me. The story picks p and the cliffhanger is a great reason to carry on and the story is a lot stronger than I remember it been and hopefully the last two episodes will continue to impress me.