We Must Prepare Ourselves For... The Ark

[Jamie McCrimmon]

Even cheaper! Hurrah! Thanks.

[P-Bal]

Amazon will drop their price and refund you the difference, however.

[Si Hunt]

• Commentary - stereo. With actor Peter Purves and director Michael Imison, moderated by Toby Hadoke.

• All’s Well’s That Ends Wells (dur. 13’ 14”) – just how much were ‘The Ark’ and many other of Doctor Who’s adventures through time and space inspired by the work of writer H.G. Wells? With writers and historians Matthew Sweet, and Dominic Sandbrook, author and critic Kim Newman, literary editor Graham Sleight and the Open University’s Dr. Anthony Keen.

• One Hit Wonder (dur. 4’ 33”) – the Monoids only appeared in one Doctor Who story, possibly with good reason. What gives certain monsters an enduring popularity, destined to return over and over, whilst others are doomed to appear only once? With author Jacqueline Rayner, writers and historians Dominic Sandbrook and Matthew Sweet, and author and critic Kim Newman.

• Riverside Story (dur. 20’ 17”) – Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios played host to the creation of many Doctor Who stories in the sixties. Matthew Sweet takes actor Peter Purves back to the studio that once also contained the Celestial Toyroom, the Plains of Troy and the planet Refusis to talk about the creation of ‘The Ark’. Also featuring director Michael Imison.

• Photo Gallery (dur. 3’ 26”) - production, design and publicity photos from the story.

Cover also on Doctor Who On-Line.

Si.

[SiHart]

Si xx

[Antony Cox]

Apparently, director Michael Imison has on occasions worked as a Salman Rushdie look-alike for the London based, "Splitting Images" agency.

A man of many talents, indeed.

[stuartdg]

Arrived today,decent set of extras.The riverside one bring the best,the monoid one feeling far too short....

[Lissa]

It's on its way from Amazon but I'm impatient. Any chance of a Jac Rayner screen shot from her documentary debut?

[Stuart Wallis]

'Twould be nice...

[Si Hunt]

Just how much money did they lavish on Episode 1? It looks amazing, it's not just "we got an elephant in the studio", there are snakes (for about one shot!), Chameleons, lizardy things and parrotts! Someone really went to town, not to mention all the fauna and the impressive array of Monoids and that cart thing which gets driven around. And are they Monoid Children rising from the jungle? Who's ever noticed those before?

Unfortunately it's all undermined by one shouty Earth man who keeps bellowing "They'll bring death and disaster to us all!" every two minutes. Take a chill pill m'bro! It's not the end of the world y'know. Oh...

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

It certainly looks impressive. The jungle, the animals, the throwaway visual effects like the magically appearing potatoes, and that fantastic cliffhanger at the end of part 2. Unfortunately it's just a little too silly in places. After half an episode of trial, the verdict is immediately overturned by the guy in charge. Then we get into the second half of the story with such gems as the 'security kitchen' and the rather poor plotting that sees the Monoids repeatedly talking loudly and giving away their plans to anyone in earshot (not forgetting the wonderful moment where Dodo asks one of them if he's up to something and he says 'er... no...'!).

[Stephen Morgan]

...the wonderful moment where Dodo asks one of them if he's up to something and he says 'er... no...'!.

I love that moment, I laughed out loud when I saw it. I also like the way the Monoids click their speech units left to right to identify which is speaking, I never noticed that before.

[Captain Tancredi]

Apparently there's a special Refusian edition of this, but I haven't seen it anywhere.

[Si Hunt]

I really enjoyed this. Episode 1 achieves near greatness, with its huge sets, multides of live animals in the studio, excellent design and ingenious premise. The story gets another boost in Episode 3, when the Monoids find voice - they are seriously nasty, sneaky and devious. They look vagually absurd but at the same time unique.

The story is perhaps let down by the human characters, which are all faceless and feeble, and the fact that the Monoids are a bit too dumb, spouting out their plans to anyone who'll listen and then virtually killing each other off in a silly little feud. They are the Doctor Who monster who defeat themselves before the Doctor has a chance to have a go - it's no wonder they never came back.

There's also a slight lack of scope and some insular thinking - Refusis is treated like a town, rather than a planet, and it's ridiculous that the Monoids are named by number - One, Two etc. How would this ever work? And why is One called one, since he can't be the first ever named Monoid. Is One a title handed down? What happens if Two dies in a car crash (and that little buggy has been going 700 years, so it may be rusting up a bit)? Does Seventy Seven step in and become Two? Who becomes Seventy Seven? Won't that get a bit confusing for his family? They'd have to get used to calling him another name. It's just an unworkable system.

But this is a lovely little second division Hartnell four-parter. And I'm glad it still exists.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Our attempts to watch The Ark yesterday were defeated by jet lag. We got through most of the special features, but watching Peter Purves mooch around in Riverside Studios was a shortcut to snooze-time!

We managed one episode with the commentary, but I think it would have taken around 30 cups of tea to finish the whole thing.

[Lissa]

The "One Hit Wonders" documentary was far too short. The photos of other monsters at the end made it seem like we got a massively cut down version of something a lot longer. It was nice - and the lovely Jac is indeed lovely - and funny but there is an amusing half hour to be had at the very least and 4 minutes left me feeling short changed.

I'm enjoying the commentary - the director is quite honest about one or two of the casting mistakes and Purves always gives good value.

The story is every bit as awfully wonderfully terrible as I remembered it being though I found myself strangely drawn to Dodo's boyish charms at times which came as a bit of a surprise.

[Si Hunt]

I agree the One Hit Wonders was odd - they didn't actually seem to mention any other monsters except the Monoids.

Lissa, was it the last two minutes of Episode 4 by any chance?

Si.

[SiHart]

There was a decent documentary lurking under the one hit ownders documentary. i just don't think we saw it all. There was loads more to say about why some monsters hit the big time and some didn't.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

There can't be many monsters who haven't returned in SOME medium, despite what the documentary seems to think. I can think of Monoids and Vervoids. Any others?

Si.

[SiHart]

The Monoids came back in a Benny Summerfield story I think.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

What about The Sensorites? I was going to say The Voord, but they came back in the comic strip.

Then there's the Pipe People from The Happiness Patrol. We'll never see the likes of them again.

[Si Hunt]

Poor old Sensorites.

Si.

[SiHart]

Aha! The Sensorites made an appearance in the very first Doctor Who annual, so their longevity was assured.

Unlike the Kraals, who never, ever came back.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Even if my Doctor Who stories I wrote as a young boy Si, the Kraals never came back. Even the Androgums came back in those.

Si.

[Lissa]

I think you'll find the Sensorites appeared in several episodes of "Adventures into Space" between 1964 and 1967. You couldn't move for Sensorite merchandise at Christmas 1965. Sensomania they called it until they found that was also the name of a psychiatric condition.

[Andrew Curnow]

I was going to put some awful pun about "young lads loving their Fingers" but I just felt too, too ashamed...