She’s ok, that’s about all I can say about her. Dodo debuts here, seemingly losing her working-class accent with each successive episode. land on an alien planet and go exploring and meeting the locals. It’s then so refreshing to have The Doc and co. 12 episode Dalek epics, dispatching companions,gaining companions, twin Doctor characters and so on. The Ark comes as a welcome treat in this era of Hartnell’s run, where it seems every story is either missing, or doing something a little bit different to normal. Gallifreyan Buccaneer | September 27, 2014 On the other hand, I don’t want to rate overly low in case I end up marking down for something in the story I forgot or simply failed to catch on my own. There were some interesting concepts, and it’s always fun to see a first-time occurrence for the show, but I just don’t feel there was anything to warrant rating higher. I’m going to take the middle ground and round it up to a 3 out of 5. I wouldn’t call “The Ark” a bad episode, but other than a few minor points I don’t feel anything particularly stood out for me. They just want to make sure they like their new roommates. The Refusians, while probably another budget cop out like the Visians from the Daleks Master Plan, are is an interesting concept in that they’re a disembodied alien race that would actually enjoy having people living on their planet again. I procrastinated some between re-watching the story and writing this review, so maybe I missed something or am misremembering, but even with the 700 year gap in time it seems that the Monoids went from decent fellows to “Humans Must Die” very quickly within the story. Yet the moment humanity declines they’re on top and ruling humanity with a hairy iron fist. They’re presented as partners with humans and, even if that weren’t completely true and they were servants, they never seemed anything close to the kind of slave race we’ve seen in the modern-day Ood. My one serious complaint about the Monoids would be how they seemed to just turn evil. The Monoids make me think of alien Beatles fanboys with their various moptops, their language collars in the second half look like they’re made of paper mache, and you can see the zippers in the backs of the costumes throughout. Won’t stop me from talking about them, though. My rule has been not to mark down for them even if they’re silly. I’ve said plenty of times that I forgive poor special effects. While pre-dating the film (though not the original novel), my first thought went to the ending shot of Planet of the Apes. We also have humanity’s turn of fortune as the Troupes’ doesn’t prevent humans from being weakened to the point that the Monoids take control, as immediately demonstrated by the revelation of the Monoid statue at the halfway mark. I can’t think of anything else offhand that does this until Jon Pertwee’s “The Curse of” and “The Monster of” Peladon episodes. It’s also the first I can think of to revisit a location that the Troupe had previously been to. I think this is the first episode to directly show the direct consequences of the Troupe’s involvement in a world’s affairs. This was an interesting episode in a few ways. On the con side, I can’t tell if she was exceptionally slow on the uptake or just in denial about traveling through Time and Space. His annoyance at her slang was good for a few chuckles. I do like her interactions with the Doctor, as he deals with a granddaughter figure who is a very different creature from his beloved Susan and adventurous Vicki. That said, I don’t have any particular like or dislike towards Dodo. That took work! Dodo nearly wiped out humanity within twenty minutes by sneezing. That took running into the path of a speeding vehicle. Yeah, sure, Rose Tyler nearly broke Time in “Father’s Day”, but that took eight episodes into her run. “The Ark” is the first TARDIS adventure for companion Dodo Chaplet and, in it, she sets what has to be the record for the most damage done by a companion in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of effort.

Ark dodo fan art