Doctor Who "The Ark in Space - Part One" (1975)

Tom Baker's second serial in the role of the Fourth Doctor picks up right where the first left off where he, Sarah Jane and Harry take a brief trip in the TARDIS to prove that it is capable of such a journey. They end up on a powered down space station where there is an evil lurking in the darkness that our travellers are unaware of. This serial had a bit of a rocky start having had the original six scripts jettisoned in favor of two separate, yet linked and continuous, serials, one of four parts and the other making up the remaining two slots allotted originally. Robert Holmes, current script editor at the time and a fan favorite of Doctor Who fans, steps in to pen the first serial which takes the original idea of the human race, having evacuated the Earth due to lethal solar flares, is living in suspended animation on a space station in orbit around the planet. As the crew begins to awaken, an alien force has infiltrated the ark and begins to use the humans as hosts for reproduction.

Like all Holmes episodes I have watched, the episodes get better with repeated viewings. On the first viewing you are usually wrapped up in the plot and focus more on the Doctor and his companions. On a second viewing you can see the distinct personalities he gives to the secondary characters no matter how big or small the role is. He also has a great penchant for dialogue which comes off as natural despite the enormous amount of technobabble required for Doctor Who, so much so that you never pay specific attention to it because it is normal dialogue that you would hear everyday if you happened to travel through time and space. "The Ark in Space" is no exception to these traditions of Holmes scripts and it is yet another excellent serial from what is probably Doctor Who's greatest writer.

This first episode is an unusual entry into the Doctor Who canon as only the regulars are present and there is no guest cast aside from some computer voice overs and a fleeting glimpse of a green creature crawling into an air vent. The Doctor and his companions arrive on the ark and are almost immediately placed in peril as the life support systems are barely operating.

Sarah Jane is given little to do as she is knocked out from lack of oxygen and then placed into suspended animation. It does give a chance to get to know Harry better since his first episode was also the previous serial. He and the Doctor get off on a bad foot at the beginning as Harry's tampering has overshot their original destination of the moon by several thousand years. Throughout the episode though the the Doctor begins to look on him more favorably and even admits that he is improving, completely due to the Doctor's influence however. Sarah Jane and Harry even have a playful banter like that of long-time companions as he, being a bit old-fashioned, has a tendency to view her as a member of the fairer sex who needs looking after while Sarah Jane is pretty headstrong and independent and cannot stand someone viewing her in that manner. The two do get along well however and their bickering is never hostile.

Tom Baker has slid into the role of the Doctor comfortably so early in his run and has already made the role his own. His playful demeanor bellies a greater intelligence and sensibility than what he shows on the surface. He takes everything in stride and his childlike curiosity sometimes gets the better of him as he unknowingly puts himself into dangerous situations accidentally unlike the Third Doctor who would be the Victorian hero and jump right into the fray. Although when he finds himself in a sticky predicament he is resourceful and clever enough to find a way out again.

Favorite moment: The Doctor's speech regarding the human race when he finds the cryogenic chamber is a watershed moment in the series. In a short summation, he discusses what he finds so interesting about the human race and it gives meaning to how he is always willing to step in when they are in danger. It's always been alluded that the Doctor is fond of humans, later in this serial he'll even declare they're his favorite species, but here we see that the Doctor admires and respects humans and shows how worthy we are to be saved. It's always good to have the Doctor in your corner.

"Homo Sapiens. What an inventive, invincible species. It's only a few million years since they crawled up out of the mud and learned to walk. Puny, defenseless bipeds. They've survived floods, famine and plague. They've survived cosmic wars and holocausts, and now here they are, out among the stars, waiting to begin a new life. Ready to outsit eternity. They're indomitable."