The Ark in Space - Episode 2

After the regulars only episode, this episode sees the character numbers increase slightly. First of all that there is to comment on is the cliffhanger reprise. I was slightly disappointed with the fact that the wirrn didn’t fall onto Harry. I’m sure that this would have led to a funny early start to what is otherwise a dark(ish) episode. The first person that we meet who isn’t a regular is Vira (played by Wendy Williams). The way that she is bought into the story was clever and made sense. There is another dig by the Doctor aimed at Harry when he quips that Harry is only able to practise on sailors.

Vira is a cold person at first and says she is a doctor and comes out with a fantastic line of “either she will live or die” presumably she would have spent several years at medical school for that sort of training. The introduction of Noah was quite wise even though the name was a tad bit silly. Neither Vira nor Noah are particularly nice to the Doctor, Harry or Sarah. Noah didn’t last long before being infected by the green blob. Pretty much instantly, his starts to become affected. Due to the fact that this is a four parter there isn’t the time for a gradual change and so the quick transformation is something to enjoy. I thought that Kenton Moore was a bit ordinary until he started to become infected.

The pacing of the story doesn’t seem to be particularly fast as there is a lot of time spent in trying to revive people. Its nearly halfway into the episode before Sarah is revived and by the end of the episode only four people have been revived and one of those is killed by Noah. Whereas the previous episode was about the regulars getting from one problem to another this episode saw the plot move along to something but not making it clear as to what.

The main thing about this episode is that the main threat is introduced and the first shot that we get of the monster is a sort of green blob with what appears to be an eye. It’s very different to what we would have seen during the Pertwee and Letts era of the show. This is another example that the show has changed and that the age has matured very quickly in the relatively short time since Jon Pertwee handed the reigns over to Tom Baker.

The blob is an issue as far as many people are concerned. Now to a lot of people its silly that bubble wrap is used as a monster but considering that it wasn’t as common as it is now, it’s a critiscm that is a bit harsh. I work in a stationery shop and so I can’t look at bubble wrap now without thinking about this story. Sprayed green, the bubble wrap hand/claw that Noah looks at in horror in the cliffhanger is quite impressive. There is a slight sound of the bubble wrap but on the whole the revelation is well done. It’s an episode which takes the next step of the journey and it’s good that the Doctor, Sarah and Harry get to interact with other people and move around more.