Doctor Who (1963) 12.02.04

The Ark in Space - Part Four

The Doctor escapes from the Wirrn that used to be Noah thanks to Vira. Noah tells them that they should leave the Ark in the shuttle. They refuse because it would mean leaving all the cryogenically frozen humans.

The Doctor and the others make their way to a control room and come up with a plan. They will run a cable from the shuttle to the cryogenic sleep chamber. Sarah volunteers to lay the cable down even though it means crawling a hundred or so meters through narrow tunnel.

Sarah gets through the tunnel. The Doctor and the others use the cable and the power from the shuttle to electrify the door to the cryogenic chamber. Wirrn Noah tries talking the Doctor and the others into leaving the Ark in the shuttle, once again. They refuse, once again.

The Wirrn, who can survive in the vacuum of space. crawl outside the Ark and onto the shuttle. The Doctor orders the others to abandon the shuttle and set it to take off. Rogin sacrifices himself unbolting the locks that keep the shuttle in place.

The shuttle takes off with the Wirrn onboard. It blows up after it gets a ways from the Ark. It seems that Wirrn Noah is the one who caused it to explode. The episode ends with the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry leaving Vira behind in the Ark and beaming down to Earth via transmat beam.

Thoughts

At the beginning of this episode there is just one Wirrn but by the end there are quite a few of them. It isn't entirely clear to me how they multiplied so quickly. There is a brief moment that looks like it is supposed to explain that but there is no verbal explanation given that I detected.

This final installment was mostly the Doctor and Sarah doing stuff, or at least that's how it seemed to me. The other three humans (Harry, Vira, Rogin) did a little bit here and there but seemed much more stationary than the Doctor and Sarah.

I really enjoyed seeing this story for the first time in decades. It is far from perfect. Its a little clunky. The special effects could have been better but the story on the whole was pretty good. I think this story gets lost in the shuffle when compared to the other ones in this season but it really is quite good.