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Doctor Who: The Ark in Space | 
| Actors: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter, Wendy Williams, Kenton Moore
Studio: BBC / Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 24.98
Buy New: CDN$ 17.76
You Save: CDN$ 7.22 (29%)
New (15) Used (2) from CDN$ 17.76
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 11465
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARDE1162D
ISBN: 0790770970
UPC: 794051116222
EAN: 9780790770970
ASIN: B000067FPC
Theatrical Release Date: September 29, 1975
Release Date: August 6, 2002
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from U.S.A, takes 6-11 days for Delivery! BRAND NEW PRODUCT Factory Sealed.
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| Editorial Reviews:
From Amazon.com
Tom Baker's second outing as the renegade Time Lord is a solid entry in the venerable British science fiction series' history, and its overall quality is well-matched by the wealth of supplemental material on the DVD. Fan favorite Robert Holmes penned "The Ark in Space," which places the Doctor and his companions Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) on a seemingly deserted space station many years in the future. Station Nerva is not as empty as it appears, though; onboard are the cryogenically preserved survivors of Earth's destruction, as well as an insectlike alien race, the Wirrin, which are determined to use the humans--and the Doctor--as hosts to grow their monstrous larvae. Holmes's well-paced script (which, like IAlien/I, bears a resemblance to the A.E. van Vogt story "Black Destroyer") allows Baker to flesh out his well-loved take on the Doctor, as well as considerable suspense. I--Paul Gaita/I
Additional Features
The DVD's obvious highlight is an audio commentary track featuring Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Though Baker's contributions to the track are sporadic, his participation is valuable nonetheless, considering that his involvement with the series since his 1981 departure has been infrequent at best. The full-frame mono presentation also includes two interviews, one with Baker on the set of another episode in 1975 and the other with designer Roger Murray-Leach, who discusses his long involvement with the series. Also included is the episode's BBC1 trailer, an unused title sequence, new CGI special effects produced by the BBC's visual effects department, and Howard Da Silva's narration from Time Life's American broadcasts. An optional information track, which provides running background information and trivia, should also prove valuable for series completists. A trio of Easter eggs reveals Baker's typically eclectic promotions for a iDoctor Who/i exhibition in Blackpool, England. I--Paul Gaita/I
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Everything old is still old, but still very watchable January 9, 2005
Daffydd (Ontario, Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was the first Tom Baker serial I saw when they were run here in Canada leading me right to the 'reminisence value' of Doctor Who today. All those saturday nights being entertained by good stories and by Tom Baker's performances. The limited budgets l-o-n-g before the availability of CGI may lead to grin enducing special effects in comparison to what's created now, but this story itself proves to be more interesting and Tom Baker's perfomance more compelling than much of today's special effect rich but otherwise nearly void stuff.brHow great was Star Wars, how much movie magic was created with a limited budget? How merely 'OK' was the Phantom Menace with scene after scene of special effect upon special effect upon special effect that left me pushed away rather than drawn into a story.brScript and performances over modern flash.brI will definitely be purchasing more Doctor Who even after the reminisence desire has been sated, because there are more entertaining storys to watch again.brMy only holdback from 5 stars, and it deserves more than 4 stars, were the 'extras'. I appreciate entertaining extras; I dread the 'why'd they bother' extras, just to make it so much more worth buying. Buy this Dvd for the main story, don't expect much from the extras.
A classic July 17, 2004
Jeremy Morrow (Hamilton, Ontario Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's dark, it's creepy. It's classic Doctor Who and it can't be beat.
DOCTOR WHO - ALIEN STYLE! June 28, 2004
Steven Hancock (Winston Salem, NC United States)
The Ark in Space, the second Doctor Who adventure starring Tom Baker, in an exciting tale of aliens using humans to live, an adventure preceding Alien by four years. It has all the humour, excitement and cheezy visual effects and costumes that make Doctor Who the cult classic that it is! The DVD offers very good special features, including an amusing commentary track with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Any fan of Doctor Who will want this adventure in their DVD collection! Prorgram/DVD Grade: A+
beginning of an amazing era... June 10, 2004
Rick Lundeen (Western Springs, Il USA)
After the Tom Baker intro story, The Giant Robot, The Ark in Space really cemented Tom Baker in the role of the Doctor and was re-written by Robert Holmes who had become the script editor for the next three seasons under the command of Phillip Hinchcliffe. This was the beginning of the three most popular and well crafted seasons of Doctor Who for most fans and the gothic horror style of the next three seasons raise the show to a popularity never before seen in many many countries. This mystery in space lets us get to know Bakers Doctor and we get better acquainted with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan as well. Look for the stirring, inspired speech the Doctor makes about mankind, just one of the many treats in this fun adventure.
An undisputed classic. April 16, 2004
Matthew Newland (Tropical Montreal, Quebec)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Ark in Space is an excellent, spellbinding tale from Doctor Who's gothic Hinchcliffe era, set on a spaceship many thousands of years in our future. It's also the first really great story to feature the wonderful Tom Baker in the title role, and is, for me at least, a better introduction to his time on Doctor Who than his own debut story, Robot.pThousands of years have passed since the present day, and ecological disasters have forced humanity to go into hibernation. While civilization crumbled and decayed on the surface of our world, out in orbit around it was constructed a safe haven for the slumbering human race. With the selected few meant to carry on the species in suspended animation, they were helpless to do anything when something else decided to make its own nest there too ... The Doctor arrives just as that something is beginning to reawaken, and is about to become a threat to the sleeping humans.pThe Ark in Space would have been dubbed an Alien clone had it come out a few years later: while it was safely produced in 1974, its story has a lot of things in common with the Ridley Scott film. Luckily for this story, Alien didn't have the Doctor, but that's not the only reason to watch it now. Sure, this doesn't look as good ... the low budget is obviously apparant in most every scene you'll see here, but rather than make this a bad production it actually has the opposite effect. The production crew have done a splendid job here, constructing a sterile and utterly believeable environment for the story to take place in, from the white, empty corridors of the space station to the sleeping chambers where the humans reside. Apparantly they hadn't had a lot of material to work with, but with what they had they produced some real miracles. It's wonderful to look at. The aliens in this story, the Wirrn, are a wonderful as well... when I first caught a glance at them, I thought they looked terribly cheap, but that feeling went away after I'd really studied them. They're excellently insectoid ... even the transformation of one of the humans into a Wirrn, accomplished with green spray-painted bubble wrap, doesn't look terrible because of the fact that bubble wrap is used: insects seem to be able to create remarkable geometric structures (honeycombs, wasps nests, etc)... the use of bubble wrap, with its tiny, identical circles, is absolutely perfect and is therefore convincing.pI can't believe I've made such a big deal about the production values here, as I didn't really mean to, but they are obviously worth congratulating. But everything else is great here too: the premise of the story (pre-Alien, I will say again), the excellent new Doctor and his companions, the setting, and the story that follows the Doctor's arrival, told over the course of four mesmerizing episodes ... You can't go wrong with this one. Of all the Tom Baker stories to be selected for a release on DVD, I am glad that this was among the first. The DVD contains a wonderful vintage interview with Tom Baker, by the way, filmed while he was still just settling into the part. Very interesting indeed.pCarry on Carry on,pMN
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