I really like this one, there is something genuinely unnerving and even mature about it. It’s a different sort of horror to the rest of this era. As someone who gets a bit fatigued with the constant gothic horror stories of this era this this is something quite special. I really wish Harry had carried for longer.
Bubble-wrap wasn't that well known in the UK back then. It was first used commercially in the USA in 1968, apparently, and I'd never seen any. Noah's transformation certainly spooked the hell out of the young me!
Blimey Chris - such a brilliantly concise and insightful take on this pivotal moment. Was there ever so magnificent a match between a writer and this series - so sublime a symbiosis between a writer and a Doctor? ‘The answer must be never, sir. Never!’😉 End of episode 2 - seen in black and white - was the single most frightening cliffhanger of my childhood; and that’s Holmes doing something brand new in the programme - only hinted at once or twice before - the slow psychological terror of monstrous metamorphosis. I swear we didn’t question that reality in 1975 - so I’m intensely grateful for your rare defence of the bubble wrap! 🤣 Chapeau! (Preferably a battered broad brimmed felt one) 👌😁
@@chris_stokes Ah, thanks Chris! Well, if you head over to Mr TARDIS’s channel, there’s a three hour quiz - with questions spanning An Unearthly Child to The Three Doctors - that I wrote to celebrate it. I reckon you’re about as well equipped as anybody to handle it! See how you get on… 😁
@@stephennoonan8417 I did see it pop up actually and have it bookmarked to watch when I have a quiet evening! Looking forward to it. Expecting it to be a challenge!
@@chris_stokes A challenge I’vs no doubt you’ll effortlessly rise to! Really great vid this though, Chris. It is wonderful how the Hinchcliffe/Holmes/Baker project here seems to magically arrive almost fully formed - paying, as you say, homage to the show’s past, absorbing it organically; while simultaneously stepping forward into a brilliant new phase. Symbiotic atavism! 😁
I think the reason this feels like such a throwback is because it essentially is one - a script written by John Lucarotti who worked on the shows first season, rewritten by Holmes, back to three companions, back to exploring spaceships. And yet this makes the show feel fresher than it has in a while, because its something we simply haven't seen! A story commissioned by Letts, executed by Hinchcliffe, and yet its a new approach, one that was needed, and so much darker and grimmer than anything than Pertwee did. Tom's first season feels very much like grimmer approaches to older styles of story, before becoming its own thing come his second
Can't remember why, now, but Part One of this was the first time I watched "Doctor Who" in a room on my own! I remember jumping out of my skin when Harry opened that cupboard door at the cliffhanger! I'm biased, because this is my era but I genuinely think that we're now entering the most consistant era of Who quality wise! And it began with "Ark In Space", an absolute classic!
There a line in one of the episodes where the Doctor uses a colourful metaphor, something like 'digesting memories' and Sara Jane complains 'don't make jokes'. I remember Tom Baker's reply chilling me (in a good way) to the bone.
The earliest story I've personal memories...everyone remembers the bubble wrapped arm,but I love this story and would've loved them to return (excluding the later cameo corpse)🎩👍❤️
following on from my comment on 'robot' I was as a kid genuinely wondering if I was getting too old for this 'kiddie show' but ark in space knocked that on the head. fell in love with this quirky, cheery, unpredictable new doctor. instead it was another baker in the '80s that drove me away for a decade
My earliest memories are of watching this episode. To me, The Ark in Space is the quintessential UR example of Doctor Who. It's as close to perfect as the show ever achieved. Atmosphere, music, performances, writing, set design, this episode hit every single note perfectly. When asked for an intro to classic Who, this is where I begin. Yes, it's bubblewrap, but that was a brand new thing not really available to the public when the episode came out! Just go with it! The grub is utterly terrifying, Noah's transformation is pure body horror, and the unsettling sound and movement of the Wirrn gets me every time.
The second Classic Who story I ever watched and I absolutely adore it. Probably nostalgia. But I think the set design is some of the best by Roger Murray Leach . The Wyrrn in concept and most of the execution are really unsettling and terrifying for me. The atmosphere and the characters are engaging. Oh and Dudley’s score is terrific. Yeah, love this story to bits.
The differences between Robot and Ark in Space are as great as the changes from The War Games and Spearhead from Space. You can tell a new producer is firmly at the helm. The three leads are strong enough to carry a full episode on their own (bar voice artists). The costumes, the sets, the script and the acting are all top notch and I don’t know what Dudley Simpson had for breakfast but his score was the best he composed up to then. This is genuine scary Doctor Who and my Mum refused to let my 6 year old brother watch part 4 he was so frightened by part 3. This story firmly takes second place in my top ten at this point and remains in my top 10 to this very day. I adore it.
❤❤ this little era is really really good you're very lucky to watch this all back-to-back it's sort of like a little mini series or a mini movie open till Terror of the zygons
I’ve been watching along with you up until you got to pertwee because I had just watched his era last year. But you watch these so much faster than I do, I just finished talons in season 14. I have to say Bob Holmes certainly has a great vision for the doctor. I love the almost twisted and gothic (although i think unintentionally gothic) vibes of his work and I think season 12-14 is called the golden era for a reason. I’ve sort of always shied away from Tom bakers era, maybe because I am very defensive of Davison, baker and McCoy - and I get sort of offended by Tom Bakers distain for the doctors that followed him, but I am starting to change my mind. Wow. Ps I think the ark was my favorite episode I’d seen of classic who to that point. And I LOVE inferno
This should have been the first story of the season with Robot wrapping up the previous one ala The Twin Dilemma. And “Terror of the Zygons” should have ended this year.
Personally, I believe that with the exception of the Eleventh Doctor, that every other Doctor's second episode is stronger than their first. I think this is for a few reasons. In story terms, since the Power of Daleks, the Doctor seems to go through a Post-Regeneration phase when the character is higgledy-piggledy or half-asleep or both (with the exception of the Unearthly Child and Rose). I'm not saying this isn't used to good effect, but I think it doesn't enable that iteration of the Doctor to fully establish themselves. For example, I love Spearhead in Space, but we get to see the Third Doctor more fully formed in Dr Who and the Silurians. Although I've grown to like A Christmas Invasion, I've not been the biggest fan of the Tenth Doctor sleeping through most of his first episode, even though I get the point they were trying to make (I'm more of a New Earth fan, sorry). I think the Post-Regeneration phase was utilised to the best effect in the Eleventh Hour (sadly I'm not sure if the Eleventh Doctor fully ever emerged out of the Post-Regeneration phase until...he regenerated!). I think on a production level, the production are finding their feet with the new era, just as the actor is finding their feet in the role. Robot is a good example of being a hangover from the previous era, and The Time and the Rani was rushed together before the new script editor could get his feet under the table. That's why I think the second episodes tend to be a better statement of intent for the bold new era. I think that's why I prefer the Daleks to an Unearthly Child, and The End of the World to Rose- because I feel more of the scale of ambition in the second episodes. What are your thoughts? Do you think a Doctor's second episode serves as a better debut than their debut? Or, do you think it sometimes takes longer for a Doctor to receive their proper debut? Or do you think you can't beat the OG (original)? Ps... I have a confession to make for the confession dial... I've always really enjoyed Revenge of the Cybermen and out of the Nerva Station based episodes it definitely beats the Ark in Space for me. I know, I'm quite mad.
I think the reason why I am not the biggest fan of the post-regeneration phase is that it renders it harder to cipher what are the characteristics of the newly regenerated Doctor and what is simply part of the, 'phase.' I think that's what puts me off the silliness in Robot, because you can't be sure if this is just the Doctor's loopiness from the process of Regeneration, or if this is genuinely the Doctor's newfound sense of silliness. In the same way, in the Time and the Rani, you can't be sure if the clumsiness of the Seventh Doctor is a part of this new Doctor's persona or just the post-Regeneration phase. In the case of Robot, the Fourth Doctor's sense of childishness was part of his new persona, but in the case of Time and the Rani it was just part of his post-Regeneration phase (given the direction the makers of the show took the Seventh Doctor in). It could be said that's the same with Deep Breath, you can't tell if the Twelfth Doctor's irritable nature and thirst for asking deep questions is part of his post-Regeneration phase or his new persona. I think often this is not clearly displayed in most Doctor's debut episode, thus it feels like the Post-Regeneration phase device wastes the audiences time for establishing the new Doctor. If anything the Doctor Who Movie clearly makes a better switch- there is a clear moment when the Eighth Doctor comes out of his Post-Regeneration phase, when he's at Grace Holloway's house, and the memory of Puccini jogs his memory of his recent death, and after that moment the Eighth Doctor is not the 'post-regeneration' phase Doctor, he is the Doctor, the Eighth Doctor to be exact! When he recalls the skies of Gallifrey to Grace, it merely affirms that he is the Doctor! Thus, I think its important that the post-regeneration phase be confined and clear, so the audience have easy access to discover the new Doctor.
Is Harry the only companion to travel in the TARDIS, but we never actually see him inside it? We never saw Sarah Jane’s reaction to the TARDIS interior, and we won’t see Leela’s either. So thinking about it, there isn’t a proper companion entering the TARDIS moment until Tegan; ten years after Jo in Colony in Space. Or is it Adric? Can’t quite remember, but it’s still pretty much ten years.
I put up a post explaining issues I'd been having and have been working hard over the last week to rectify them as well, as dealing with a whole load of other personal and family stuff which isn't something I'm willing to discuss on a public platform. I'm sure you didn't mean your comment to come across as rude as it does, but I will just point out that this is a very small channel and income from it is currently therefore also small. I do these videos and maintain this channel out of a real desire to and not for financial gain or anything else. Working for free to make content that is also free is therefore secondary to making a living and living that living. Nevertheless, I have been working quite hard to sort out issues with the next video and, luckily, I think it's OK to drop later today. But that is down to 5 days solid trying to fix the problem.
@@chris_stokesHi Chris, no offense was meant, I was simply curious, not complaining, I'm a new subscriber and I love your videos, and I appreciate the work you put in. Apologies if it came off rude
![OhGeesy x Lefty Gunplay - What It Iz [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/L0yzW9t2ixk/mqdefault.jpg)
I really like this one, there is something genuinely unnerving and even mature about it. It’s a different sort of horror to the rest of this era. As someone who gets a bit fatigued with the constant gothic horror stories of this era this this is something quite special. I really wish Harry had carried for longer.
Bubble-wrap wasn't that well known in the UK back then. It was first used commercially in the USA in 1968, apparently, and I'd never seen any. Noah's transformation certainly spooked the hell out of the young me!
Blimey Chris - such a brilliantly concise and insightful take on this pivotal moment.
Was there ever so magnificent a match between a writer and this series - so sublime a symbiosis between a writer and a Doctor?
‘The answer must be never, sir. Never!’😉
End of episode 2 - seen in black and white - was the single most frightening cliffhanger of my childhood; and that’s Holmes doing something brand new in the programme - only hinted at once or twice before - the slow psychological terror of monstrous metamorphosis.
I swear we didn’t question that reality in 1975 - so I’m intensely grateful for your rare defence of the bubble wrap! 🤣
Chapeau! (Preferably a battered broad brimmed felt one)
👌😁
@@stephennoonan8417 Thanks Stephen! Great work on Deathworld by the way - loads of fun!
@@chris_stokes
Ah, thanks Chris!
Well, if you head over to Mr TARDIS’s channel, there’s a three hour quiz - with questions spanning An Unearthly Child to The Three Doctors - that I wrote to celebrate it.
I reckon you’re about as well equipped as anybody to handle it!
See how you get on…
😁
@@stephennoonan8417 I did see it pop up actually and have it bookmarked to watch when I have a quiet evening! Looking forward to it. Expecting it to be a challenge!
@@chris_stokes
A challenge I’vs no doubt you’ll effortlessly rise to!
Really great vid this though, Chris.
It is wonderful how the Hinchcliffe/Holmes/Baker project here seems to magically arrive almost fully formed - paying, as you say, homage to the show’s past, absorbing it organically; while simultaneously stepping forward into a brilliant new phase.
Symbiotic atavism!
😁
I think the reason this feels like such a throwback is because it essentially is one - a script written by John Lucarotti who worked on the shows first season, rewritten by Holmes, back to three companions, back to exploring spaceships. And yet this makes the show feel fresher than it has in a while, because its something we simply haven't seen! A story commissioned by Letts, executed by Hinchcliffe, and yet its a new approach, one that was needed, and so much darker and grimmer than anything than Pertwee did. Tom's first season feels very much like grimmer approaches to older styles of story, before becoming its own thing come his second
Well said, season 12 is the closest thing to what make season 1/2 work so well
Can't remember why, now, but Part One of this was the first time I watched "Doctor Who" in a room on my own! I remember jumping out of my skin when Harry opened that cupboard door at the cliffhanger!
I'm biased, because this is my era but I genuinely think that we're now entering the most consistant era of Who quality wise! And it began with "Ark In Space", an absolute classic!
There a line in one of the episodes where the Doctor uses a colourful metaphor, something like 'digesting memories' and Sara Jane complains 'don't make jokes'. I remember Tom Baker's reply chilling me (in a good way) to the bone.
The earliest story I've personal memories...everyone remembers the bubble wrapped arm,but I love this story and would've loved them to return (excluding the later cameo corpse)🎩👍❤️
following on from my comment on 'robot' I was as a kid genuinely wondering if I was getting too old for this 'kiddie show' but ark in space knocked that on the head. fell in love with this quirky, cheery, unpredictable new doctor. instead it was another baker in the '80s that drove me away for a decade
My earliest memories are of watching this episode. To me, The Ark in Space is the quintessential UR example of Doctor Who. It's as close to perfect as the show ever achieved. Atmosphere, music, performances, writing, set design, this episode hit every single note perfectly. When asked for an intro to classic Who, this is where I begin. Yes, it's bubblewrap, but that was a brand new thing not really available to the public when the episode came out! Just go with it!
The grub is utterly terrifying, Noah's transformation is pure body horror, and the unsettling sound and movement of the Wirrn gets me every time.
The second Classic Who story I ever watched and I absolutely adore it. Probably nostalgia. But I think the set design is some of the best by Roger Murray Leach . The Wyrrn in concept and most of the execution are really unsettling and terrifying for me. The atmosphere and the characters are engaging.
Oh and Dudley’s score is terrific. Yeah, love this story to bits.
The differences between Robot and Ark in Space are as great as the changes from The War Games and Spearhead from Space. You can tell a new producer is firmly at the helm. The three leads are strong enough to carry a full episode on their own (bar voice artists). The costumes, the sets, the script and the acting are all top notch and I don’t know what Dudley Simpson had for breakfast but his score was the best he composed up to then. This is genuine scary Doctor Who and my Mum refused to let my 6 year old brother watch part 4 he was so frightened by part 3. This story firmly takes second place in my top ten at this point and remains in my top 10 to this very day. I adore it.
❤❤ this little era is really really good you're very lucky to watch this all back-to-back it's sort of like a little mini series or a mini movie open till Terror of the zygons
Not my first marathon but it is a big improvement on Season Eleven, yes. Even if I wouldn't say it's "really really good"
I’ve been watching along with you up until you got to pertwee because I had just watched his era last year. But you watch these so much faster than I do, I just finished talons in season 14. I have to say Bob Holmes certainly has a great vision for the doctor. I love the almost twisted and gothic (although i think unintentionally gothic) vibes of his work and I think season 12-14 is called the golden era for a reason. I’ve sort of always shied away from Tom bakers era, maybe because I am very defensive of Davison, baker and McCoy - and I get sort of offended by Tom Bakers distain for the doctors that followed him, but I am starting to change my mind. Wow.
Ps I think the ark was my favorite episode I’d seen of classic who to that point. And I LOVE inferno
The actor who played Rogin was in the Web of Fear.
Love opening episode being just our trio❤️👍🎩
Shame Harry didn't get a Tardis interior scene🎩
Wonderful discussion
I love ark in space actually season 12 is My fave accept robot
This should have been the first story of the season with Robot wrapping up the previous one ala The Twin Dilemma. And “Terror of the Zygons” should have ended this year.
Personally, I believe that with the exception of the Eleventh Doctor, that every other Doctor's second episode is stronger than their first. I think this is for a few reasons. In story terms, since the Power of Daleks, the Doctor seems to go through a Post-Regeneration phase when the character is higgledy-piggledy or half-asleep or both (with the exception of the Unearthly Child and Rose). I'm not saying this isn't used to good effect, but I think it doesn't enable that iteration of the Doctor to fully establish themselves. For example, I love Spearhead in Space, but we get to see the Third Doctor more fully formed in Dr Who and the Silurians. Although I've grown to like A Christmas Invasion, I've not been the biggest fan of the Tenth Doctor sleeping through most of his first episode, even though I get the point they were trying to make (I'm more of a New Earth fan, sorry). I think the Post-Regeneration phase was utilised to the best effect in the Eleventh Hour (sadly I'm not sure if the Eleventh Doctor fully ever emerged out of the Post-Regeneration phase until...he regenerated!). I think on a production level, the production are finding their feet with the new era, just as the actor is finding their feet in the role. Robot is a good example of being a hangover from the previous era, and The Time and the Rani was rushed together before the new script editor could get his feet under the table. That's why I think the second episodes tend to be a better statement of intent for the bold new era. I think that's why I prefer the Daleks to an Unearthly Child, and The End of the World to Rose- because I feel more of the scale of ambition in the second episodes.
What are your thoughts? Do you think a Doctor's second episode serves as a better debut than their debut? Or, do you think it sometimes takes longer for a Doctor to receive their proper debut? Or do you think you can't beat the OG (original)?
Ps... I have a confession to make for the confession dial... I've always really enjoyed Revenge of the Cybermen and out of the Nerva Station based episodes it definitely beats the Ark in Space for me. I know, I'm quite mad.
I think the reason why I am not the biggest fan of the post-regeneration phase is that it renders it harder to cipher what are the characteristics of the newly regenerated Doctor and what is simply part of the, 'phase.' I think that's what puts me off the silliness in Robot, because you can't be sure if this is just the Doctor's loopiness from the process of Regeneration, or if this is genuinely the Doctor's newfound sense of silliness. In the same way, in the Time and the Rani, you can't be sure if the clumsiness of the Seventh Doctor is a part of this new Doctor's persona or just the post-Regeneration phase. In the case of Robot, the Fourth Doctor's sense of childishness was part of his new persona, but in the case of Time and the Rani it was just part of his post-Regeneration phase (given the direction the makers of the show took the Seventh Doctor in). It could be said that's the same with Deep Breath, you can't tell if the Twelfth Doctor's irritable nature and thirst for asking deep questions is part of his post-Regeneration phase or his new persona. I think often this is not clearly displayed in most Doctor's debut episode, thus it feels like the Post-Regeneration phase device wastes the audiences time for establishing the new Doctor. If anything the Doctor Who Movie clearly makes a better switch- there is a clear moment when the Eighth Doctor comes out of his Post-Regeneration phase, when he's at Grace Holloway's house, and the memory of Puccini jogs his memory of his recent death, and after that moment the Eighth Doctor is not the 'post-regeneration' phase Doctor, he is the Doctor, the Eighth Doctor to be exact! When he recalls the skies of Gallifrey to Grace, it merely affirms that he is the Doctor! Thus, I think its important that the post-regeneration phase be confined and clear, so the audience have easy access to discover the new Doctor.
Although I wasn't a fan of the bi-regeneration, at least it avoided the trappings of the post-regeneration phase. Okay, I'll be quiet now.
Is Harry the only companion to travel in the TARDIS, but we never actually see him inside it? We never saw Sarah Jane’s reaction to the TARDIS interior, and we won’t see Leela’s either. So thinking about it, there isn’t a proper companion entering the TARDIS moment until Tegan; ten years after Jo in Colony in Space. Or is it Adric? Can’t quite remember, but it’s still pretty much ten years.
Technically you don't see Liz in the interior just at the console
First!
Been a week now...whens the review for the next story dropping?
I put up a post explaining issues I'd been having and have been working hard over the last week to rectify them as well, as dealing with a whole load of other personal and family stuff which isn't something I'm willing to discuss on a public platform. I'm sure you didn't mean your comment to come across as rude as it does, but I will just point out that this is a very small channel and income from it is currently therefore also small. I do these videos and maintain this channel out of a real desire to and not for financial gain or anything else. Working for free to make content that is also free is therefore secondary to making a living and living that living. Nevertheless, I have been working quite hard to sort out issues with the next video and, luckily, I think it's OK to drop later today. But that is down to 5 days solid trying to fix the problem.
@@chris_stokesHi Chris, no offense was meant, I was simply curious, not complaining, I'm a new subscriber and I love your videos, and I appreciate the work you put in. Apologies if it came off rude