The Ark

Silent Running

The Ark* (4 X 25mins B&W)
Written by Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott
Doctor Who Series three Serial five

The Steel Sky transmitted BBC1 5 March 1966
The Plague transmitted BBC1 12 March 1966
The Return transmitted BBC1 19 March 1966
The Bomb transmitted BBC1 26 March 1966
* Note: until 1966 Doctor Who serials had no overall title, instead each episode had its own title.

Synopsis
The Doctor, Steven and new companion Dodo Chaplet arrive in what appears to be a jungle, complete with creatures from all over the World, but with a steel sky. They discover they've travelled 10million years into the future and are on a space ark, containing the last remaining humans, plus flora, fauna and animal life from an Earth about to be burned up by the dying Sun. They're on their way to the planet Refusis, aided by their cyclopean servants, the Monoids. Unfortunately, they all catch Dodo's cold. Having no immunity, they will die. The Doctor and co are put on trial for murder, but the Doctor persuades them to let him search for a cure. Having done so, they set off in the TARDIS.

However, they materialise exactly where they were before. Puzzled, they find they've travelled 700 years further on. The Monoids have risen up and taken control, and have now enslaved their former human masters. Having arrived at Refusis, the Monoids plan to colonise the planet themselves, leaving the humans to die on The Ark when a bomb explodes.

Review

Between the last serial reviewed (The Time Meddler) and this, there are four missing serials and a one-off episode that were wiped by the BBC and no longer exist, a total of 22 out of 25 episodes. The missing serials are Galaxy 4 (4X25mins), the single-part Mission to the Unknown (Verity's last show), The Myth Makers (4X25mins), the twelve part epic The Daleks' Master Plan (of which three episodes survive), and the four-part The Massacre of St. Batholomew's Eve (Donald Tosh's last story as script editor). That's a six month gap, and almost the entire Who career of producer John Wiles (whose last story this is) and story editor Donald Tosh (only The Time Meddler survives as his contribution). Sadly, because this was a turbulent period of transition for Doctor Who. A lot has gone on behind the scenes, making this absence historically and culturally all the more of a loss.

Briefly, Hartnell was infuriated by too many sudden cast & crew changes and said so, Wiles tried to replace him with another actor (vetoed by his boss Gerald Savory) which didn't improve their relationship, Maureen O'Brien returned from holiday to find she'd been written out at the end of The Myth Makers, and that nobody told her, which infuriated her and Bill in turn. Wiles felt that the natural length for Who serials was four parts, and managed to get the remaining shows of series three of that length, but was stuck with the unwieldy twelve part Dalek story, which saw a confusing number of guest stars and companions come and go, infuriating Hartnell even more. After that epic, a new companion had to be found. Wiles wanted a cockney working class character, again vetoed by his boss, and eventually he asked to be relieved of his onerous task. New producer Innes Lloyd was drafted, Donald Tosh resigned out of loyalty to Wiles (whom he thought had had a bad deal) and Gerry Davis was hired as a new story editor. Jackie Lane was hired as new companion Dodo Chaplet. All of this turmoil must have affected the show on screen, as demonstrated by the audience figures halving from 10.3million for Dalek episode 3 to 5.5 for this serial's opener.

One of Wiles' last decisions was to hire husband and wife team Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott (though Scott wrote nothing) to write a two part story of four episodes called The Ark. This is an odd plot structure indeed, we have two episodes set in The Ark with the human guardians in charge, then two parts 700 years on with a completely different cast. I'm not sure if this was wise. There is an absence of plot in the first part, basically they catch Dodo's cold, they're put on trial, the Doctor cures them, all's well that ends well. The themes of human survival when no longer living on Earth, the fact that the World will come to an end and if we're to survive we need to leave the solar system, and the use and abuse of a lower servant class (the Monoids) are not at all explored, which is a waste. We also don't get to know the Guardians at all until we're whisked off to the future and  a new set of humans and the featureless Monoids. One gets the feeling one's only seen half a Doctor Who, and due to the length the human uprising is hilariously easy, and the finale rushed. 

Appropriately for a time travel story, the spectre of HG Wells, who wrote the original time travel story, haunts this serial, mostly of the filmic rather than literary tradition. Hence we get Dodo's cold from First Men in the Moon, the giant statue and the look of the Monoids (shaggy one-eyed creatures) from The Time Machine (even the TARDIS not moving in space, only in time), and there's a nod to the novel The Sleeper Awakes, with its jump forward in time and the revolt of the lower orders. Sadly, none of these are elaborated upon, as there's insufficient time, but it's nice to spot them, and long overdue that his influence on the show should be honoured.

The theme of class and racial oppression (the human Guardians and the alien Monoids) is also not given enough time or attention. In part one the Monoids are dumb, but in part 2 they've been taught power of speech through voice boxes. The story too easily excuses the Guardians because they're human and, for the most part, good looking. Whilst the speaking Monoids in part two are too much a pantomime villain, almost as if they shouldn't be so ungrateful at being given the power of speech, and are not good-looking at all. No matter how well meaning and benign colonial powers and ruling classes believe themselves to be, their influence is too often corrosive and divisive, whether it be tribal warfare or diseased blankets (and again Dodo's cold would seem to suggest a link for the Doctor and co with colonial explorers, again a theme unexplored).

The Monoids plan to colonise Refusis themselves, and blow up The Ark and all its human inhabitants, thus showing themselves to be the stereotypical and traditional alien monsters of Who, rather than as a wronged race.

They even keep the humans captive in the stupid concept of the Security Kitchen, yes a kitchen and gaol combined, thus showing themselves up as stupid. Like the planet Refusis, it's another silly name in the story. Herbert George would have written a much better story with this material.

The production design, acting and direction is, like the writing, a tale of two halves. In part one, director Michael Imison and designer Barry Newbery are very good at using the huge floor space of Riverside Studios to use a single huge and spacious Command Centre set. It's very impressive, has a nice epic feel to it, and Imison places one of his cameras on the gantry (rare for Who as it then limits you to four cameras on the studio floor) to shoot down onto the set and actors from the gods. Unfortunately, the constant shift from this panoramic view to often very close close-ups is a little disconcerting visually, and seems to affect the actors, who are not sure how to pitch their performances, whether to play to gods or groundlings. Thus leads Elliott  is too arch and camp as the Commander, and Jackson is too dour and hectoring as the Doctor's accuser Zentos. The opening jungle shots were filmed at Ealing, and you can tell the difference pictorially between the 16mm film and the studio video. One highlight is the gorgeous Kate Newman (pictured below) as the Commander's daughter Mellium, but sadly she's only in two episodes, and even sadder still only made one more screen role before disappearing.

The production and set designs for part two are less successful, apart from the landers with their vertical swing-open doors, and minimalist interiors. Gone is the over head shot, replaced by the dull Security Kitchen, the not too convincing Refusis jungle and Refusian castle. The acting is better, but not much more, again there's not enough time to get to know the humans. And now that the Monoids can speak (though only if they activate their voice box) we also have to spend time with them, and having only two voice artistes are not individuated enough. Their unexplained internal power struggle, and the unbelievably casual manner in which the humans revolt succeeds, is the bog-standard Who resistance-against-tyranny plot template. Meanwhile, the lander models leaving the spaceship ruin everything by having all too visible strings. In a neat piece of budgetary parsimony, the sole Refusian is invisible, a plot device reused in the later Planet of the Daleks.

Then there's the issue of the new companion Dodo Chaplet, another silly name, played by the inexperienced young actress Jackie Lane. Why is she wearing an inappropriately stupid harlequin type costume? Producer and story editor don't know what to make of her. She starts episode one with a North Country accent (Manchester lass as Jackie is), which quickly disappears by episode two (perhaps a note from head of Drama?). Her sole function seems to be to give the Ark crew her cold, then moan about it. Nobody seems to know what her character should be after Vicki, so she tends to be written as perfunctory second and female companion, a plot device rather than a real person. Jackie's inexperience also doesn't help. The Doctor and Steven are the main agents, but this time there's no humour from the Doctor, perhaps reflecting Hartnell's mood at the time. In the end we only have this and two more episodes of her. After six months she was unceremoniously sacked by Lloyd, and the poor woman didn't even merit a farewell, she just disappears halfway through episode one of The War Machines, Polly, her replacement, informing us she went home off screen. 

As mentioned above, the ending seems rushed, and what eventually sinks this interesting experiment in plot structure is the weak finale. The humans conquer the Monoids simply by escaping from the Security Kitchen, the Monoids fall out and kill each other, the Refusian takes one of the lander pods back to the Ark. They discover the bomb is in the head of the giant statue, but the humans have no loading tackle large enough to move such a monstrosity off the ship. The Refusian says leave it to me, and in a shameless piece of bogus scriptwriting lifts the statue, moves it to the launching bay, all without a single explanation as to how. Shocking! Real reason? Only two minutes of screen time left. Appallingly bad way to end the story.

Overall, this experiment in plot structure doesn't work because it's too thin, and doesn't leave enough room for plot, characterisation, or thematic exploration. Like alcohol-free beer or decaffeinated coffee, it defeats the purpose of replacing the original, here the four-part story, which I agree is the 'natural' length of a Who serial. One feels one's only had half a Who story, so half a serial gets half marks. It's really not that awful, though it has defects, it's just sadly it's not that great.

TARDIS rating: 2.5/5

Credits

Dr. Who ....................................................................................  WILLIAM HARTNELL
Dodo Chaplet ...........................................................................  JACKIE LANE
Steven Taylor ............................................................................ PETER PURVES
Commander .............................................................................. ERIC ELLIOTT 
Zentos .....................................................................................   INIGO JACKSON
Manyak ...................................................................................   ROY SPENCER
Rhos ........................................................................................  MICHAEL SHEARD
Mellium ....................................................................................  KATE NEWMAN
Maharis .................................................................................... TERENCE WOODFIELD
Dassuk ..................................................................................... BRIAN WRIGHT
Venussa ................................................................................... EILEEN WELSBY

Yendom .................................................................................... TERENCE BAYLER

Refusian Voice ......................................................................... RICHARD BEALE

Monoid Voices .......................................................................... ROY SKELTON

                                                                                                   JOHN HALSTEAD

Title Music ........................... by RON GRAINER with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Incidental Music ..................................................................... TRISTRAM CARY
Story Editor ............................................................................ GERRY DAVIS
Film Cameraman .................................................................... TONY LEGGO

Film Editor .............................................................................. NOEL CHANAN

Designer ................................................................................. BARRY NEWBERY
Costumes Supervised .............................................................by DAPHNE DARE
Make-up Supervised .............................................................. by SONIA MARKHAM
Lighting ................................................................................... HOWARD KING
Sound ..................................................................................... RAY ANGEL
Producer ................................................................................. JOHN WILES
Directed .................................................................................. by MICHAEL IMISON

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