The Ark in Space (TV story)

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Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on an apparently deserted and deactivated space station Nerva, otherwise known as the Ark, orbiting Earth in the far future. There the Doctor, Sarah and Harry discover the last survivors of the human race held in suspended animation, Earth having been evacuated thousands of years earlier when solar flares threatened to destroy all life.

The station has been visited by a Wirrn, an insect life form, which has laid its eggs in the solar stacks and absorbed the body and mind of one of the sleeping humans. The Doctor's reactivation of the station's systems causes the humans to start to revive. Their leader, nicknamed Noah, becomes infected by one of the emerging larvae and is slowly taken over.

The Doctor and his friends meanwhile gain the trust of the other humans, now led by a med-tech named Vira. Together they manage to lure the hatched Wirrn insects into a shuttle craft and then eject it into space.

In a final act of humanity, Noah - by this time fully transformed into a Wirrn - deliberately neglects to set the shuttle's stabilisers, causing it to explode.

Plot

The Doctor agrees to take Harry on a short trip, which unfortunately (due to Harry) brings them to the far future: Nerva Beacon, an ark for humanity in suspended animation.

Upon investigation the Doctor, Harry and Sarah find something has infiltrated the ark threatening the survival of humanity.

Cast

Crew

References

  • Solar flares are said to have wiped out all life on Earth.
  • The Doctor states that his scarf was knitted by Madame Nostradamus.
  • The Doctor keeps brandy in the TARDIS, Sarah hates brandy though.
  • The Wirrn are natives of the Andromeda Galaxy, who lived on herbivores until the humans arrived and fought them for 1000 years, driving them out.

Story Notes

  • The Nerva Beacon sets are reused for Revenge of the Cybermen.
  • The whole story bears resemblance to the Ridley Scott film 'Alien' released in 1979.
  • It is only mentioned once by Vira but Noah's name is Lazer, Noah being a joke on his role on Nerva.
  • No one but the regular cast take part in Part One of this story, the last time this occurred was episode one of The Edge of Destruction.

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 9.4 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 13.6 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 11.2 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 10.2 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming Locations

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • If there are thousands of people on Nerva, why is there only 1 shuttle and a transmat with only 3 pads? The Shuttle may be larger than what we see and there are probably more transmat pads throughout the station.
  • Why do they teleport to the Earth rather than take the Tardis? The TARDIS can be unreliable at times.
  • The people needed to use a device on their hearts to complete the revival - how would this have worked if no-one was around to help them with it? It's not part of standard procedure; the system had already malfunctioned due to the Wirrn's interference.
  • The Wirn falling out at the first cliffhanger interupts the Doctor talking - but he's not talking at the start of episode 2.

Continuity

  • BFA: Wirrn Dawn is set during the war between the Humans and the Wirrn.

DVD, Video and Other Releases

DVD Releases

Released:

PAL - BBC DVD
NTSC -

Video Releases

to be added

Laserdisc releases

  • Released on Laserdisc in 1990.

Audio release

Excerpts from Dudley Simpson's score, arranged by Heathcliff Blair, were released by Silva Screen in the early 1990s on their compilation CD Pyramids of Mars: Classic Music from the Tom Baker Era (FILMCD 134)

Novelisation

Ark in Space novel.jpg
Main article: Doctor Who and the Ark in Space

External Links

Template:Season 12

TVStub.png
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