Before Watching
This was another from my Hartnell Hit List. A
story whose synopsis really took my imagination decades ago, and which I still
think could produce a very interesting and enjoyable story, depending on how it
is brought to the screen. The fact that it is not generally regarded as a
classic does worry me a little bit. Right, confession time. I have actually
seen the first two parts of the story before, way back in the days when UK Gold
would sometimes show a whole story late on a Friday night, going into Saturday
morning. Little remains of these episodes in my memory though.
It seems like a long time since we’ve had a
regular female companion in the TARDIS. With Katarina it was a case of blink
and you’ll miss her, and Sara Kingdom was only ever going to be around for the
Daleks’ Masterplan. The Massacre was very much Steven’s story to my mind, so it
will be interesting to see what Dodo Chaplet brings to the party – if anything.
After
Watching
I really don’t know if this is a very original
observation to make, but I can’t help thinking that if the 3rd and 4th
episodes of this story were missing, then it would probably enjoy a far greater
reputation than it does, and we’d probably all be lamenting them, and thinking
they were a lot better than they actually were.
The direction of the first two episodes is
pretty impressive. The TARDIS lands aboard a gigantic spaceship, the Ark of the
title. At first they think they’re in a jungle. The Doctor Who set designers loved
making a jungle in a studio, and to be fair to them they were very good at it
too. The jungle is full of animals, including an honest to gosh, real life
elephant. One can only hope that they didn’t have the same kind of problems
with her that Peter Purves was soon to encounter with the baby elephant Lulu in
the Blue Peter studios.
The Earth is dying, and most of the human race,
and animal and plant species have been miniaturized and are being carried on
the Ark to a new home on the planet Refusis. The journey will take a good 600
years or so. A crew of humans remains awake and full size, who are called the
Guardians. As they die they will be replaced by their children, and their
children’s children and so on. This is actually a hard Science Fiction concept,
called a generation starship, and has formed the basis of a number of serious
science fiction novels. The Guardians are accompanied by a race of mute aliens
of somewhat alarming appearance, called the Monoids. Imagine walking
treetrunks, with no necks, no leaves, one eye and no mouth, and a beatle wig
for hair. Surprisingly, in these first two episodes the Monoids have a strange
kind of dignity. I think it was a very good idea to have them voiceless, and
it’s one of the beefs I have with the 3rd and 4th
episodes that they give the Monoids voices.
The Sci fi content continues to be pleasingly
high in the first two episodes when it transpires that the Guardians’ ancestors
wiped out the common cold many generations before. As a result, they have lost all
immunity to it. And so when Dodo’s cold spreads, it becomes a deadly epidemic.
The rest of the first two episodes centre around the Doctor’s race to find a
cure before the remainders of the Guardians on Monoids turn on them and kill
them. There’s a nice plot point where one of the Guardians takes the travelers
to show the statue they are building. Each Guardian puts their own bricks in
place, so that the statue of a guardian will be completed by the time they
arrive on Refusis.
None of which to say that the first two
episodes are perfect. For one thing, we see a Guardian court find one of their
number guilty of something or other, then sentence him to be miniaturized and
stored with the rest of the human race until they arrive at Refusis. I wondered
in what way this might be called a punishment. Shades of Dave Lister in Red
Dwarf. I’m always quick to highlight the quality of guest performances in
Doctor Who, but I’m afraid that some of the acting in the first two episodes is
poor. Poor old Inigo Jackson just doesn’t cut it as Zentos, and though I have
no doubt he was a very good actor in his own right, in this story his performance
is pure mahogany. The denouement of the second episode is very good, though.
The TARDIS leaves, and then, of its own volition, seemingly, rematerializes in
the same spot. Or so it seems. As the crew leave the TARDIS and start to
explore they have no idea that they have rematerialized at the end of the
voyage, until they see the statue, and as they look up they realise that it is
complete, and more than that, it has the head of a Monoid. That is just a
terrific, in fact I’d go so far as to say an iconic cliffhanger.
Trouble is, that’s about as good as it gets for
the Ark.
For me, it’s almost as if writer, director et
al put their heads together and said – alright – that’s your innovation and
originality quota for this story filled, now we can go back to the clichés. So
what’s happened? The Monoids have secretly plotted, and with the Guardians’
encouragement and help they’ve developed artificial voice boxes suspended round
their necks, and what seem like electronic cattle prods. The cold virus the
travelers left behind apparently mutated, and sapped the Guardians’ will, and made
them easy meat for the lean – well, leaning – and hungry Monoids. Giving the
Monoids voices – especially giving the Monoids mechanical monster voices – of
the sort possibly rejected by the Daleks – was a bad move. I don’t know why
this should be, but the moment they start talking they look more like men in
rubber costumes than ever.
Full marks to the team for trying to give us an
alien planet, having the Doctor forced to go down to Refusis with the first
Monoid. No marks for the design of the dwelling that the Refusians have
prepared for the humans whom they knew were on their way. It’s a little like a
trendy designer’s suburban living room from the 60s, which come to think of it
was probably the inspiration. The Refusians don’t show their presence from the
start, so what does the Monoid do to attract their attention? That’s right – he
smashes a vase. It wasn’t even meant to be funny either.
What we’ve got in these last two episodes are,
well, rather sub – Terry Nation sort of stuff. There’s a Monoid civil war –
hardly enough of them to make it worthwhile I would have thought but there we
are. The Refusians are that favourite of designers, a race of invisible aliens.
Invisible aliens of incredible power, it turns out, and just as well, because
otherwise the humans would never have removed the statue through the airlock,
and the bomb that the head Monoid, if you’ll pardon the pun – had planted in it
would have killed them all.
In the first series the Doctor and his
companions would probably have left once the Refusians do their deus ex machina
and bring both humans and Monoids to the table, but the Doctor now can’t resist
having the last words, to preach the gospel of tolerance and understanding.
Right enough too.
The last two episodes were rubbish, then, but
notwithstanding that I still feel a certain undiminished affection for the
story. You can’t help feeling that it deserves at least some credit for having
a go.
What
Have We Learned?
The
TARDIS actually does have a mind of its own, and can land itself on a sixpence
with pinpoint accuracy if it feels the need to.
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