Doctor Who - The Ark In Space (DVD 2002)

Starring Tom Baker as the Doctor The TARDIS arrives on an apparently deserted and deactivated space station Nerva, otherwise known as the Ark, orbiting Earth in the far future. There the Doctor, Sarah and Harry discover the last survivors of the human race held in suspended animation, Earth having been evacuated thousands of years earlier when solar flares threatened to destroy all life. The station has been visited by Wirrn, an insect life form, which has laid its eggs in the solar stacks and absorbed the mind and body of one of the sleeping humans. The Doctor's reactivation of the station's systems causes the humans to start to revive.

With his debut story an extension of jon pertwees last story The Ark In Space was Tom Bakers second and the first to show the talents of the New Production team of Writer Robert Holmes and Designer Roger Murray Leach Mixing the Fly and 2001 A Space Odyssey the Ark in Space a Story of a Wasp finding a Space Ship with its crew in cryogenic sleep pre dated the film Alien by 5 years other similarities include jetsioning the wasp in a escape pod and the creature and the crew using the viaducts as away to travel around including actress Liz Sladen as The Doctors friend Sarah Jane (Its interesting to note Liz' hostility to the script as it is the first time she was left to find her feet in the story as opposed to Being under the Cloak (metephorically) of Jon Pertwee, The extras include a News reel on the set of the Next Story Revenge of the Cybermen when Tom Baker was a relative unknown and how the set incorporated over head filming to give the space ship a idea of depth as youy could imagine rooms on different levels, one of the most popular stories ever made sure its dated and its for fans only but you have to be a real cynic not to get carried away in the fun.