The Ark in Space - Episode 4

The final episode of this story has to do a lot in 25 minutes. I liked the previous cliffhanger and I didn’t mention it in yesterdays review. The effect that is used to show that the wirrn is Noah is rather good. I think that the voice for the wirrn is rather good and it teams up well with the costume (worn by Stuart Fell). This opening scene is a great one to start with and it’s the first time that the Doctor has had proper contact with the wirrn. The ultimatum of leave the ark or die is one that could have been made earlier in the story instead of at the beginning of the last one. This does mean that there is a quick dash to the end of the story and the plan to try and defeat the wirrn.

Elisabeth Sladen is the most active that she has been during this entire serial when she gets to go through the vent. It’s a nice scene where the Doctor uses emotional tactics to try and get Sarah Jane to go through the final yards of the vent. This does become a tactic that the Doctor uses on some of his companions over the years and the most significant one happens during ‘The Curse of Fenric’. Tom Baker has been on fine form over the last couple of episodes and any doubt he may have had about how he was going to play the role were dismissed with the story and he has made me get over the departure of Jon Pertwee. I think that Elisabeth Sladen has done well in the previous four episodes with a character that has been watered down a bit but Sladen does the best she can. She has a better time of things compared to Ian Marter who doesn’t seem to do a great deal in this episode.

There is an interesting use of letting us see the wirrn crossing the ark and its by a small screen. They did look quite good but I suspect that had we seen a full screen then it would have looked a bit poor. That was a wise choice by Rodney Bennett who has directed his debut Doctor Who story rather well. It’s not been terribly spectacular but I think that he has done the best that he can with what is a pure studio story.

Rogin’s punch at the Doctor looked a bit weak. I thought that the sound effect made it seem more diluted than it would have been normally. That is my only real issue with this episode which shows how well it worked. There aren’t any issues with special effects as the wirrn costume works well due to how Rodney Bennett choses to shoot them. The main difference about this story to the previous one is that there is no CSO which is something that Barry Letts would have used. Even the model shot used in this episode wasn’t particularly bad.

Noah’s goodbye as the wirrn is quite good and shows that there were some of Noah left in the wirrn. I thought that the character of Noah actually became more interesting when he got infected and I like how there seemed to be a battle in his head as to who would win. I think that Kenton Moore has been one of the best things about this story and its one of the reasons why I cared about what happened to the other because of how they reacted to Noah.

There is a nice link to the next story when the Doctor, Harry and Sarah go down to Earth and it ends the episode rather well because even though Vira and the rest wont be returning, it does feel like its part of one relatively long story arc (forgive the pun). As an episode, it works rather well and has the nice build up to the final scene. The wirrn are a good alien and its surprising that it took Big Finish to bring them back because it is possible to have made more stories. As a four part adventure, it’s the first time that the story has felt like a Tom Baker adventure as opposed to a Jon Pertwee story. Philip Hinchcliffe’s first story has ended in triumph and I feel like the season has found its feet and the combination of Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter has settled down and long may the good run continue.