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From New Series to Classic Who: Review and Reflection

My goal here is to give my reactions to my very first experience of Classic Who, in theform of The Ark in Space. Specifically, I want to show how the classic series appearsto someone who first encountered the show via the New Series. Im sure Ill be c overing

well-trodden ground here. But another goal of mine is to celebrate the show in general,as well as the Ark in Space tale in particular. Hopefully this will be of some interest toWhovians.

As mentioned, I fell off the deep end into the Whoniverse via the New Series. Im anew fan, currently about halfway through Season (Series) 4. Also, I am an American inmy late 20s. I only mention this so you can consider the source.

Having fallen head over heels for the show after the first 3 seasons of the New Series, Iwanted at least a taste of classic Who . I chose The Ark in Space almost arbitrarily. (Ishould say I deliberately stayed away from very early episodes, because I was afraid it

would just be too old for me to be fair about my judgment.) The first note I would like to make is that with his shaggy, curly clump of hair, hisprominent nearly- hooked nose, and his striking eyes, Tom Bakers doctor bears astriking resemblance (at least to me) to Rolling Thunder-era Bob Dylan (sans themake-up!). And the scarf put me in mind of the cover of Blonde on Blonde! Thisendeared me to the 4 th Doctor immediately

The first broad point Id like to make in approaching this episode from a New Whoperspective is that I was instantly at home in The Ark in Space; that is, it fe elsimmediately like an episode of the inimitable Doctor Who as Ive come to know it

through the New Series. It has all the usual, wonderful ingredients: the Doctor andcompanion(s) appear suddenly on a spaceship in the TARDIS; the situation quickly turns grim, in the form of gruesome, menacing aliens trying to co-opt humans for theirown survival; the Doctor and his companions show great heroism and cleverness;members of the ships crew show bravery and self -sacrifice; somehow, under theDoctors guiding hand, everyone works together to save the day.

Tom Bakers Doctor, too, is instantly recognizable as, well, the Doctor. Always incommand, even when it seems all is lost; disconcertingly giddy about the danger athand, while everyone else is terrified; unwavering in his faith in humanity, unafraid torely on the humans around him; operating on a higher intellectual plane thaneveryone else in the room, and sometimes a bit condescending about it; cold when heneeds to be, warm when it s called for. Bakers performance is really ratherextraordinary to me: often he seems subdued to the point that you forget he is in theroom, yet throughout the crisis his hand guides firmly to resolution.

It was a pure joy to see the young Sarah Jane Smith in action, after having met her inthe New Series School Reunion. It is quite plain that she is a part of the mold out of which subsequent companions were formed: tough, plucky, and ready for action, but

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quick to rely on the Doctor when the rubber really meets the road. (Im not familiarwith pre-Sarah companions, obviously.)

As for Harry Sullivan, I found myself a little irked by him to start with, particularly by his condescension to Sarah. I havent seen enough of him to know whether this is just

his character as written, or more a reflection of the attitudes of the times. (I suspectthe former, since the Doctor did not seem to condescend much to Sarah, except in onebrilliant case, but more on that later.) Also, this condescension seems to be a part of their flirtatious banter, and in that light it provided some comic relief.

One thing I enjoyed about Harry was that he consistently acted like a man of medicine. This may seem trivial, but it is not. It is little things like this that ground acharacter and make him/her believable. (E.g. I feel like Martha Jones in Series 3 couldhave evinced her medical training a bit more and her pining for the Doctors affection abit less; it was too often easy to forget she was a Doctor and not a staple potentialromantic stand-in. That said, on the whole I loved Martha!)

The surrounding characters in this story were similarly well-fleshed-out and believable(something Ive always loved about Russell T Davies scripts, in particular).Particularly, Wendy Williams as Vira and Kenton Moore as Noah sold me one hundredpercent on their characters. Noahs gradual transformation into a Wirrn was brilliantand quite horrifying (even with his forearm in bubble-wrap, but more on that later).His seamless transition between a dying Noah and an emerging Wirrn soldier, mid-sentence, conveyed his struggle perfectly and made me feel for his character, eventhough my first impression of him was that he was a total jerk.

Wendy Williams such a gorgeous person! By the end of the show, she seems to be

the grown woman that Sarah strives to be, insofar as she is not afraid to assert herself in a position of command without abusing it. And she doesnt shy away from harddecisions. After appearing as initially inhuman and cold, the warmth she exudes uponthe departure of the Doctor and his companions is simply wonderful.

I dont have much to say concerning the plot of this particular narrative. Asmentioned, it is familiar, welcome fare to anyone hailing from the New Series: it isneither especially clever nor at all boring; you dont want to think it through too hard,because you would find a million holes; the fate of the entire human race is at stake;the monsters are ultimately revealed to be (at least somewhat) less than monstrous, inthat they are at least given a plausible and engaging backstory which gives rise tocoherent motive; and of course the day is saved via a rather conveniently contrivedrescue mechanism thought up by the Doctor.

Of course, I must say a word or two about the special effects, because they are almostcertainly going to be the biggest hang-up for anyone new to classic Who, particularly

younger viewers. Yes, they are bad by todays standards, and sometimes evenlaughable or ridiculous. I a m of a mind that substandard special effects are tolerable

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as long as they are not so deplorable as to distract from the story theyre being used todevelop. Of course, how much they might distract depends on the viewersexpectations and tolerance range. I went into the show prepared to be charitable onthis score, and I was not disappointed. After all, what other choice does one have?Miss out on classic Who simply because its monsters are clearly people dressed in

costumes that would barely rate respectably at a grade school play nowadays? Never!

That said, in all honesty I did have to make an effort to enjoy certain parts of the showdespite the dodgy effects. Theres no denying this is an important difference betweenthe New Series and classic Who. B ut if you truly love the show, it wont stop youenjoying it.

Aside from the special effects, the production design is solid and, again, familiar to any fan of the show. You never feel like youre in a fake spaceship or on a TV set, and thepassengers s uits were cool and elegant. I would wear one.