The Ark - The Steel Sky

What a difference a week makes. After appearing as a cockney in the previous episode, Jackie Lane was forced to change her accent at the request of BBC executives who presumably wanted people speaking the 'queens English'. This is the first time tha I have been able to watch an episode since 'Escape Switch' and its the first full adventure on TV since 'The Time Meddler'. When the TARDIS lands there is no real discussion as to what happened when Dodo stumbled inside. What we do have is a similar discussion between Steven and Dodo that Steven had with Vicki way back in 'The Time Meddler'. Dodo instantly thinks that she is at a zoo on Earth.  

The TARDIS has arrived on spaceship which is carrying a group of wet humans who are rather pathetic.At the first sign of someone making a mistake they decide to shrink them and keep them like that for a set amount of time. The old man who seems to be leading the rest of the humans is rather kind but the role needs something a bit sterner. Also the fact that the humans do silly sign language when talking to the monsoons. The Monoids creation is a mixed bag really. It's quite clever to have their only eye in the actors mouth. They also have silly feet which don't look particularly practical. Also the hair is very 1960's and wouldn't look out of place at a Beatles convention.

Some of the dialogue is rather good and William Hartnell is clearly have a good day and it enables him to deliver his lines in the manner that we have become use to. The threat the comes from the first episode is a simple cold that Dodo makes obvious several times. Due to the fact that cold has been eliminated it makes the locals more likely to die from it. It's a clever plot device and it seems to come out of nowhere and instantly becomes the centre piece of the story.

I commented that Dodo has a different accent and she's wearing strange crusader clothing for no clear reason. On top of that there seems to be an attempt to make a comment about the language used by the youngsters of the age because when Dodo uses the term 'fab' she is instantly reprimanded by the Doctor. Sadly despite the encouraging opening of the previous episode has been reduced to a cliche and rather bland.

Its a good opening episode, the issue with Dodo isn't one that is going to go away but apart from that has some potential but it doesn't really look promising as far as the human cast is concerned. On the plus side at least we have William Hartnell and Peter Purves.