The Ark In Space

A space satellite holds the key to a lethal mystery that could obliterate all of mankind!  The Doctor, Harry and Sarah accidentally land on an artificial satellite where they make a shocking discovery-survivors from planet Earth lie in cryogenic suspension waiting to begin a new life.  

To make matters worse, a giant insect has invaded the human ark.  The dead insect was queen of the Wirrn, sworn enemies of Earth-and her egg sac was full.  The Doctor knows this can only lead to trouble.  His suspicions are confirmed when the crew members wake up, and it’s immediately obvious that something is terribly wrong.  

The Doctor must find a way to destroy the Wirrn larvae before they absorb the last of the human race and become an invincible swarm.  But this involves a desperate gamble with his own life-a gamble he must take if he is to save the human race.

• Considered an undisputed classic among fans, "The Ark in Space" firmly cemented Tom Baker into his role as the Doctor.

• Many of the themes in this story echo later popular films like "Alien" and predate them by several years to boot.

• The Doctor makes a reference to the maker of his scarf in the first episode of this story.

• The events of "The Ark in Space" lead immediately into the next story "The Sontaran Experiment."  In fact, this story forms a very loose arc from "Ark" to "The Sontaran Experiment" to "Genesis of the Daleks" to "Revenge of the Cybermen" and finally finishes at "Terror of the Zygons."

• **Omnibus Format**  Unfortunately, this story was originally released in an edited "movie" (or Omnibus) format.  This means that individual episodes have been cut and pasted together into one viewing.  The BBC released Doctor Who videos like this until the early 90's.  Since then they have gone back and issued "re-releases" of virtually all of their omnibus versions.   Unfortunately, the U.S. (i.e. CBS/Fox at first, and then later Warner Home Video) hasn't been eager to follow suite, as they have only done two re-releases "The Brain of Morbius" back in 1997 and  "Terror of the Zygons" in 2000.  Additionally, many stories first released in the late 80's and early 90's are seeing re-release on DVD.  Unedited titles such as "Spearhead from Space," "The Ark in Space" and "Robots of Death" are all available now in their unedited formats.

• The U.K. re-released "The Ark in Space" on VHS in its unedited episodic format in 1994.  No such luck for the U.S.

• An unedited version of this story is available on DVD and includes a large amount of extra material as well.