Review of all 4 episodes:
Whether there is a direct influence from this on Ridley Scott's 'Alien' I do not know but either way it clearly foreshadows ideas seen in that film. It has humans in stasis for space travel, a claustrophobic atmosphere on a space vessel under attack, 'body horror' as aliens attack humans parasitically and a strong and intelligent female crew member taking a lead role. It is striking how this story has many similarities with that famous film which came a few years later and all those similar aspects are really good ones.
This story is top notch Doctor Who. It is intelligent, very entertaining, sometimes very funny, sometimes scary (particularly for children), atmospheric and exciting with brilliant scripts by John Lucarotti, overseen by the show's greatest script editor Robert Holmes. It is superbly acted by the whole cast.
The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry arrive by accident on the space station Nerva which is an Ark of human knowledge, Earth history, culture and life. It contains specially selected representatives of the human race sleeping in stasis and being sent out from Earth at a time when the planet was threatened by solar flares. The time in stasis has gone way longer than intended (10,000 years) due to the station being attacked and sabotaged by an alien creature. This creature is a giant insect called a Wirrn. It has laid larvae on board and the Wirrn are multiplying and attacking with the intention of absorbing the humans and gaining all human knowledge into their collective intelligence. The human leader is touched by a Wirrn larvae and begins to slowly metamorphose into a Wirrn.
The space station setting is superbly created and it is a pity that alongside such excellent sets, machinery and backgrounds the creature effects are unable to match that quality. Effects are no worse than any other productions of the day (Doctor Who or many other TV shows). It was hard to make great effects at that time, on that budget and schedule so it is actually not a real criticism and the sets etc are so good that overall the production is great and glosses over these lesser effects.
The story itself is interesting and thoroughly good quality throughout. The guest characters are excellent with the convincing acting and clever characterisation of 'Noah' (Kenton Moore) who is being gradually taken over by the alien parasites as well as the aforementioned strong female guest lead character, Vira, played beautifully by Wendy Williams. When you add this to the wonderful Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) it gives us two top class strong female roles. As well as the always great Sarah Jane we have Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) in his second story and first trip in the TARDIS. He is a high quality addition as he is well acted, funny, likable and adds to the story. The technician Rogin is another good character.
This is a top class story and a true classic with Tom Baker really establishing himself as an incredible Doctor in only his second story. He still maintains some wonderful humour but is more serious and deep thinking than in his first adventure. New Showrunners, Hinchcliffe & Holmes, are putting their stamp on the show straight away in a powerful and hugely impressive way and nobody could be better as The Doctor than Tom Baker.
All 4 episodes 10/10.
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