January 6th, 2011 40 comments

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Doctor Who DVD – The Ark

Doctor Who DVD – The Ark

The TARDIS arrives some ten million years in the future on a giant spaceship carrying all the Earth’s surviving plant, animal and human life (much of it miniaturised and in suspended animation) on a 700 year voyage to a new home on the planet Refusis II.

Dodo is suffering from a cold – an unknown affliction in this era – and as the human Guardians of the ship and their servant race the Monoids have no resistance, a plague breaks out.

The Guardians place the travellers on trial and Steven is forced to defend them against allegations that they spread the disease deliberately.

Fortunately, the Doctor finds a cure. The TARDIS leaves the spaceship, which Dodo has nicknamed the Ark, only to arrive back there as it is approaching the end of its voyage. Partly as a result of the earlier plague, the Monoids have now grown strong and enslaved the humans.

They plan to make Refusis II their own but, with the help of the invisible Refusians, the Doctor is able to persuade the two races to live together in peace.

Special Features

* Commentary with cast and crew
* Documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage
* Photo gallery
* Digitally remastered picture and sound quality

Synopsis source www.amazon.co.uk

Original VHS Cover and details

The Ark
starring William Hartnell

Materialising in what appears to be a jungle on Earth, The Doctor, Steven and Dodo soon realise that things are not what they seem: the sky is made of steel, and the jungle merely a colossal life chamber in a craft that has embarked on the most important expedition in the history of mankind…

It is 10 million years in the future, and the Earth is soon to be engulfed by the sun in a catastrophic explosion.

A gigantic space ark has been launched, taking the last humans to a new life on the distant planet of Refusis, and serving the’^guardians of Earth are the Moniods, mute reptilian aliens.

But the Ark’s mission of deliverance is threatened by the arrival of the time travellers: Dodo inadvertently passes her cold to the Guardians – to them it is a long-forgotten virus against which they have no defence. It is not long before people start to die and the Tardis crew are on trial for their own lives.

This thoughtful and intelligent story, made during William Hartnell’s third and final year as the Doctor, was originally transmitted 5th – 26th March 1966.

Categorised under: Doctor Who DVDs, DVD