The Ark

In the far far future the Earth is doomed, and humanity has exited en masse on board a giant spaceship headed for the planet Refusis where they hope to start again. A race of reptilian cyclops called Monoids have tagged along as well and are earning their passage on the human ship by assisting with the work that needs to be done. It is a journey which will take 700 years. The TARDIS arrives and although the travellers are initially welcomed as esteemed guests, Dodo's head cold begins to spread like wildfire among the humans and the Monoids and they are soon on trial for their lives. The Doctor is determined to find a cure if they
will let him, but even curing this plague will not be enough as its long term effects will be felt far into the future.... 700 years into the future to be exact.

So this is Dodo's actual introduction story, on television anyway. She tends to rush headlong into things and at first does not believe that the TARDIS has actually left Earth, thinking it to just be a time machine for localized travel. In Salvation she was carefully kept away from Steven so their banter in episode one here is still a genuine first conversation about the perils of time and space travel. The Doctor is amused by her, even if he doesn't care for her language skills.

Where the humans and Monoids are concerned this is very much a tale of equality, or its absence under the guise of benevolence. The humans do not treat the Monoids like dirt but they certainly do not treat them as equals, developing a simple sign language to communicate with them as they are unable to speak and sending them off to do the dirty work. There's a certain amount of lip service paid to the aliens and their friendship with humanity and the value of their contribution to the ship's well being but it's all very condescending. The true read of their status comes when one of the humans remarks how the plague is bad enough but imagine if a human were to die from it - this while Monoids are dying all around them. Comeuppance, though, is inevitible, and halfway through the story the TARDIS departs, only to return 700 years later when the Monoids have risen up and made mankind their bitch. Humiliation and cruelty reign supreme, and it's no loner in silence once the Monoids develop speech.

I have a few questions about design, though. The first is the Monoids themselves; they seem to be reptiles but they have this funny kind of carapace like a skirt which covers their legs down to the floor and they have the oddest two-toed feet of any aliens so far. This design doesn't give them a great deal of mobility and they shuffle around the sets - sometimes for their lives - with only a bit less sure-footed grace than that of the Voord in Keys of Marinus with their big flippers. The one big staring eye roughly where the mouth should be is creepy enough, but then there's that big mop of hair, sometimes black and sometimes ginger. I don't get it. My other question is about the attire of the humans in the future - strappy tops over speedos and sandals? Is it really hot on the Ark? Are the environmental controls out? And out of the whole male cast there are really only two men who have the arms to carry off that look and they get rid of one early in episode one and the other we only see from the back briefly in episode four. Yes, I look for these things.

One of two men in the serial who could get away with the costume

The pace of the story is a bit slow, though, even if it if chock full of dialogue and the direction seems to be taking a bit of a turn to more modern storytelling with a lot of overhead shots and some decent location work for the jungle scenes. Something just made me nod off a bit. It is all on DVD though so it can be enjoyed in its entirety, which is rare for a story from this season. I first saw it on a WNED 17 omnibus edition as if it were a film back in the 80s and at the time was bewildered by who this Dodo person was, and Steven as well for they only showed complete stories and the last complete one they had was The Time Meddler. So at a first time view I was interested, but any subsequent views were like.... zzzzz. Even the enhanced special effects the series was starting to dabble with at the time didn't make it a stellar viewing experience... although... seeing the Earth burning as it headed into the sun was a bit disturbing.

I got my hands on the novel of the story sometime after though, and found that it had a lot more going on within its pages, with the Doctor taking a long leave of absence from Steven and Dodo and travelling to the different areas of the Ark looking for the cure for the plague, including to a farm homestead where a widow confides to the Doctor that she had actually buried her late husband in the ground rather than commit his body to space. That part felt a bit Starlost to me but added a bit more to the idea of the Ark being a vast environment and not a control room with people in speedos wandering around. I don't know if this was all some sequence author Paul Erickson wanted to put in but it was cut, or if it was something he thought of later to enhance the experience. Maybe he liked Starlost.

Doctor Who does not always go out of its way to preach about morals but the message sent by the tale of the Monoids here is pretty simple: treat everyone fairly or else. It's not the last time the show will go here, either. But once the Doctor and company have shown everyone else how to be better people they're off again, right back into danger...

NEXT EPISODE: THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER