12x2. The Ark in Space
Writer: Robert Holmes
Director: Rodney Bennett
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Synopsis: The Doctor, Sarah,
and Harry arrive thousands of years in the future on Space Station
Nerva, where the remnants of humanity have been left in suspended
animation until the Earth, ravaged by solar flares, is habitable again.
They discover a number of malfunctioning systems and are greeted with
suspicion by Noah and Vira, two of the revived crew, but soon all of
them face a much greater menace. An insectoid alien species, the Wirrn,
are on board the station, and they intend to use the humans who are
still asleep as digestives for their reproductive cycle.
Review: "The Ark in Space" is a
tough serial to review. It would be easy to approach it as simply an
above-average example of the Doctor fighting monsters on a space
station, but I think that overlooks what a fundamentally grim story
this is if you really think about the issues it raises. And yet, at
times I was left to wonder if the script completely understood what it
was doing, or if perhaps Robert Holmes actually only intended an
above-average example of the Doctor fighting monsters on a space
station.
On that surface level, "The Ark in Space" certainly works. The premise
of humanity surviving Earth's devastation by placing people in
suspended animation in outer space until the planet is hospitable again
is one of the most imaginative that I've seen on Doctor Who in a while, and it's
well-realized with the sheer white structures, the eerie background hum
of Nerva's systems, and the occasional triggering of automatic
recordings from thousands of years ago. The Wirrn themselves are also
interesting conceptually and come across as truly alien: they can only
survive by laying their eggs inside other organisms, they share a
collective intelligence and memory, and they assimilate the knowledge
and abilities of their victims. They are also a very credible threat.
The Doctor openly admits that he's afraid of them, which is pretty
unusual for him, and they keep the humans on their toes as soon as they
emerge near the beginning of Episode 3. Kenton Moore's performance as
Noah, the humans' designated leader, also helps to convey the sense
that the humans are rapidly losing control of the stiuation,
convincingly portraying a man who proceeds from disorientation (at one
point he confuses himself with Dune, who was digested by the newborn
Wirrn while the others were still asleep) to terror and desperation as
he realizes that his mind and body are being taken over.
Digging below the surface, "The Ark in Space" is a tale of fiercely
competing survival instincts. In a famous soliloquy towards the end of
Episode 1, the Doctor calls humanity an "indomitable" species, admiring
the creativity that led them to conceive and construct the Ark and
their determination to "outsit eternity." Upon awakening, however, Vira
and Noah sometimes seem barely human at all. Their speech patterns are
so
coldly analytical that they have trouble even communicating with the
Doctor and Harry, and later Vira allows them to escape because she
doesn't think past her assigned duty as a med-tech. In fact, Noah's
fate could be seen as due to a lack of adaptability that seems
ill-suited for survival, in that his prejudice against "regressives"
leads him to disregard the Doctor's warnings and blunder into a
confrontation with the Wirrn. It is after this happens, however, that
the preserved humans start to show the flexibility and innovation
necessary to ensure their survival. Noah uses whatever control of his
own mind he has left to put Vira in command and try to adjust the plan
so that the others can proceed without him, while Vira adapts to her
new position and makes the decision to trust the Doctor and his
companions. Though they are able to battle the Wirrn to a stalemate,
it's ultimately Noah's lingering humanity that makes the difference, as
the Doctor successfully appeals to him to lead the Wirrn into the
escape shuttle and leave the Ark.
On the other hand, the Wirrn demonstrate an equally strong impulse to
survive, and in the end I can't help but feel as though evolution, and
history, dealt them an unfair hand. After all, it's not their fault
that they can only reproduce by killing other species, and in Episode 4
we learn that they used to feed on "cattle" before they were driven
from their home planet by colonizing humans. (Vira, incidentally, does
not seem terribly regretful about this -- she seems more pleased that
the human "star pioneers" survived than anything else.) It also seems
that consuming and assimilating other races is their only way of
advancing their own capabilities, thus their offer to let the revived
humans leave the station if they can use the remaining sleepers for
their reproductive process. The Doctor correctly condemns this as
immoral, but not before trying to convince them to just leave the
station and live on in space. Even after that, he doesn't try to wipe
them out but rather electrifies the sleeping chambers so that they
can't get in and again urges them to leave, telling them, "You're
beaten." He also risks his life a number of times, undergoing a
dangerous procedure to recover the final memories of the Wirrn Queen
and preparing to sacrifice himself at the end to make sure the shuttle
launches properly, and he matter-of-factly accepts responsibility for
getting Sarah and Harry into this situation in the first place. This
new Doctor may be rather aloof and, well, alien compared to Pertwee,
but "The Ark in Space" seems to indicate that his principles haven't
changed so much as his method of expressing them.
But . . . .
I'm not sure if the script truly comes to terms with its more
unsettling implications, and as a result the justification of its
characters' human-centered outlook feels a bit muddled. What are we to
make, for example, of Noah's decision to destroy the shuttle after he's
lead the Wirrn aboard and they're leaving the station? If he can
control the other Wirrn, and if they really are leaving, what threat do
they pose? One might be inclined to characterize it as an act of
sacrifice, but I can't help but see it as a reflection of the darker
side of the human survival instinct, i.e. the innate fear of The Other
that leads to racism and xenophobia. For that matter, I have to wonder
a little about the Doctor's declaration that humanity is his favorite
species and his earlier readiness to destroy the Wirrn before he learns
of their history in Episode 4. I'm not saying he should have allowed
the Wirrn to kill the remaining sleepers, but does he try to stop them
because it's the right thing to do, or because he's playing favorites?
Does his later attempt to use less violent methods mean that he now
sees the Wirrn as victims of circumstance and wants to give them a
chance to leave in peace, or had they simply grown so powerful that
killing them was no longer an option? In a way, I suppose this is
simply a mixed blessing of the character -- the Doctor is more
interesting than a typical hero because we never know quite what he's
thinking or why, but this can also just become an excuse for
inconsistent writing. In any case, it isn't resolved here, and the
strangely upbeat denouement leaves us with little indication of how
we're meant to view the Doctor's motivations.
Maybe this is the point at which I'm supposed to shrug my shoulders and
admit that, yes, it is just a TV show. But so much of what creates this
ambiguity really doesn't serve any other purpose -- there's no reason
for the Wirrn to have been driven off their planet by humans, for
example, if Holmes was just going for scary alien monsters -- that I
have to think there was a conscious attempt to explore some of these
issues. In a way, I'm reminded a bit of "Inferno," another first-rate
serial that at one point seemed to be questioning the Doctor's judgment
but never really followed through on it. Still, there are worse
comparisons to be made: "The Ark in Space" is not quite the landmark
that "Inferno" was, but it does share the quality of doing enough
things right that I'm not going to complain too much about it, and it
continues the strong beginning for the new cast and production team.
Other notes:
- Sarah and Harry continue to get on each others' nerves in an amusing
way, with Sarah taking umbrage at being called "old girl" and Harry
making an asinine comment about one of "the fairer sex" becoming a
leader of Earth in the future. (Though the writers couldn't have known
at the time, this is also kind of ironic, since the UNIT stories take
place in what would turn out to be the Thatcher era.)
DVD notes:
- The commentary with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, and Philip
Hinchcliffe is pretty entertaining, especially when they start laughing
at the admittedly cheesy bug costumes. My favorite bit off the top of
my head is Baker's reference to his Catholic childhood and belief in
"God swimming around the Earth," followed closely by Sladen discussing
the joys of popping bubble wrap (one of the main components of the
Wirrn outfits).
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)
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