The Ark [TV/1966.3.5 ~ 3.26]

★★★★☆

  Yet another example, I suspect, of a serial begging to be re-evaluated by the general public, holding such riches that the fandom by large has all but forgotten. The Ark is another serial from the 1960s bursting with imagination, and a willingness to step outside the box. In case you don't know by now, I'm a sucker for any story that deals with consequences -- in particular, consequences of the Doctor's actions -- and this, perhaps more than others of its kind, makes that confrontation most apparent. Granted, a common cold causing the near-death of a future strain of the human race is not the most dramatic stakes you could come up with, but at least no one can accuse it of being unoriginal. It's all about these off-kilter ideas that make The Ark for me. You got a race called the Monoids (designed in the most fascinating way; I love how their eye looks like at both a cheap prop the actors put in their mouths and an authentic alien body part at the same time) who overthrow the silly humans of the Ark, an entire race -- millions and millions of humans and Monoids combined -- shrunken down to a molecular level for easier storiage (hence the Ark), and yet another race of invisible people in the Hartnell era. For some reason, this time of the show was obsessed with invisible creatures; not that I'm complaining, not when the effects used to indicate these invisible but nonetheless corporeal beings are so creative and fun to watch.

  It's not so much a case of "I don't have much to complain about" as one of "I have so much to commend and wax lyrical about" when it comes to The Ark. Michael Imison brings such polish to the serial with some incredible direction, using various creative techniques to make the Ark set much more spacious than it actually is, making the entire hard sci-fi story so believable. The Monoid statue, the actual animals of the artificial jungle, the Refusian castle... they're all such fantastic elements that set the imagination ablaze, and I can totally imagine children having a blast watching this brooding tale with a steady pace and plenty of enjoyable elements. When you've got a silly premise (a companion catching the flu and accidentally putting an entire race of people in danger) that expands to this fascinating four-part journey of expeditions, deceptions and revolutions, you just know that it's anything but boring. Dodo makes a pretty strong first impression, Steven gets to be a cute lab rat (not the most flattering position for him to be in, I know), and the Doctor gets to be a wise mediator between two opposing species and stop genocide. The Ark's much, much better than many people give it credit for, and it's up there as one of the Hartnell era's most well-made (and thought-provoking... and just pure entertaining) serials.