Product Description

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah accidentally land on a space wheel where survivors from Earth lie in cryogenic suspension waiting to begin a new life.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:by actors Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen and producer Philip Hinchcliffe
Biographies
Interviews:with designer Robert Murray-Leach. Archival interview with Tom Baker
Other:New CGI model footage and 3D Ark schematic
Production Notes:Optional caption stream

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3504 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2002-08-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Tom Baker's second outing as the renegade Time Lord is a solid entry in the venerable British science fiction series' history, and its overall quality is well-matched by the wealth of supplemental material on the DVD. Fan favorite Robert Holmes penned "The Ark in Space," which places the Doctor and his companions Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) on a seemingly deserted space station many years in the future. Station Nerva is not as empty as it appears, though; onboard are the cryogenically preserved survivors of Earth's destruction, as well as an insectlike alien race, the Wirrin, which are determined to use the humans--and the Doctor--as hosts to grow their monstrous larvae. Holmes's well-paced script (which, like Alien, bears a resemblance to the A.E. van Vogt story "Black Destroyer") allows Baker to flesh out his well-loved take on the Doctor, as well as considerable suspense. --Paul Gaita

DVD features
The DVD's obvious highlight is an audio commentary track featuring Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Though Baker's contributions to the track are sporadic, his participation is valuable nonetheless, considering that his involvement with the series since his 1981 departure has been infrequent at best. The full-frame mono presentation also includes two interviews, one with Baker on the set of another episode in 1975 and the other with designer Roger Murray-Leach, who discusses his long involvement with the series. Also included is the episode's BBC1 trailer, an unused title sequence, new CGI special effects produced by the BBC's visual effects department, and Howard Da Silva's narration from Time Life's American broadcasts. An optional information track, which provides running background information and trivia, should also prove valuable for series completists. A trio of Easter eggs reveals Baker's typically eclectic promotions for a Doctor Who exhibition in Blackpool, England. --Paul Gaita

From the Back Cover
The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) brings Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and a very skeptical Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) thousands of years into the future to a space station that holds the future of humankind in suspended animation.
First TARDIS trip with Tom Baker, best-selling Doctor in US, Commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and producer Philip Hinchcliffe, Story by Robert Holmes, one of Doctor Who's most popular scriptwriters, Extras include: trailer, unused model footage, pop-up production notes, photo gallery, interviews with Tom Baker and designer Roger Murray-Leach, new CGI model footage.

Customer Reviews

Must Have for Tom Baker Dr Who fans
Dr Who in all of his glory. Tom Baker was the best and these videos capture it in all of its granduer.

Essential Doctor Who
This was the first Doctor Who series I watched as a young boy, and I love it now as much as I loved it then. The DVD contains some great extras including a directors/actors comment track and some updated graphics. Look out for the evil bubble wrap!

"It may be irrational of me, but humans are quite my favourite species."
Well, it may be pretty irrational on my part to rate "The Ark in Space" five whole stars when there are noticeable imperfections in this storyline. For instance, the conclusion in episode four is a bit hard to follow as well as bordering on implausible (once you realize what's supposed to be happening), and some rather dodgy moments here and there in the dialogue don't help things. But the strengths tend to outweigh the weaknesses in the final analysis, and getting to see Tom Baker as the Doctor again after all these years trumps the matter as far as I'm concerned. Not that he's got the role down completely yet, this being only his second go at it after "Robot" beforehand, but all the basic elements of his almost archetypal eccentricity are here in the making. Simply fabulous.

The story as a whole is very inventive and imaginative, too, with a healthy dash of suspense and mystery that gradually develops into horror. The idea of the Doctor and his two companions stumbling onto an ancient space station in Earth's far future, triggering its various defense mechanisms and whatnot until finally discovering the crew in cryogenic stasis (so as to outlast a global catastrophe and then repopulate the earth) sets the stage nicely, and then it becomes a matter of finding out what has gone wrong, i.e. why the station malfunctioned and didn't awaken them at the appointed time, why certain crew members are missing altogether, and what has been leaving some rather gross organic residue around and about. Sure enough it's bug-eyed monsters (the Wirrn), who bear humankind some enmity and in any case find comatose humans a convenient source of nourishment.

Yep, that's where things get pretty horrific, but that and the station leader's torturous transmogrification into one of the insectoids is by way of harsh contrast part and parcel of the story's overarching theme, the worth and dignity of individual humanity. Pretty much everything comes together and points to this in fact, obvious things of course like the Doctor's multiple paeans to his favorite species and the space station itself preserving that species and all of its history, culture, and accomplishments (on microfilm) against adversity. The latter complicates the theme, for most of the humans on the station whom the Doctor and company awaken are rather coldly utilitarian eugenicists, and fighting for survival alongside the main characters gradually (and convincingly) humanizes them--it could plausibly be argued that this in fact is the primary plotline. And to top it off, the two people who really save the day at the end are a misfit cynical engineer and the station leader himself whose awful metamorphosis ironically gets him in touch with the last shred of his humanity.

In short, a fine story and theme well-realized by fine acting and pacing plus one of the earliest examples of Tom Baker's fantastic take on the Doctor all make this a fine "Doctor Who" DVD overall.