Check it out, the Blu-Ray release of Tom Baker's first season was successful enough that the BBC just announced Doctor Who: Peter Davison Complete First Season coming this December on Blu-Ray. For those readers who happen to be my wife: no, I have not pre-ordered it yet, and yes it would make a lovely Christmas gift. The set includes remastered versions of all 26 episodes from Season 19, including the very excellent Castrovalva, the last true pure historical story Black Orchid, and of course Jonny Lee Miller's television acting debut in Kinda. It is a really solid season with only a few missteps (I'm looking at you, Four to Doomsday), and I am really looking forward to revisiting these episodes in a few months.

Speaking of revisiting new episodes, I watched the first half of the Blu-Ray version of The Ark in Space today and it was pretty awesome. Let's talk about that.

The Ark in Space - Parts 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

(My previous watch)

I loved this story the last time I watched it, and I loved it again today. This is the first story with the magical combination of Robert Holmes as Script Editor and Philip Hinchcliffe as Producer, and their perfect alchemy is there right out of the gate. It helps that I am a sucker for pretty much any Doctor Who story set against the Great Human Diaspora. The setting is Nerva Beacon, which will return again at the end of the season as the setting for Revenge of the Cybermen. The story uses a clever slow escalation of characters, with Part One only featuring the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry on the apparently-empty station, and then adding more characters in Part Two as some of the cryogenically-frozen humans are awakened.

Oh, plus there is the husk of a Giant Space Termite, plus a slimy green Space Maggot.

Despite being very brightly lit, this story is creepy and claustrophobic as hell. Where the Third Doctor era was very much inspired by James Bond with its focus on a Dashing Leading Man and lots of High Adventure, this story marks the very clear beginning of the Gothic Horror era of the show. The dynamic between the three leads is absolutely brilliant, with Harry Sullivan really reaching his own in this story. I just love this story so much.

It is worth mentioning that for the Blu-Ray edition they added some optional new special effects, which are....  ok? For these two episodes it is just a couple of establishing exterior shots of Nerva Beacon, redone as CGI to replace the original model work. Unfortunately, the CGI is not particularly good. The planet looks amazing, but the space station itself looks like something right out of  a ten year old video game. Honestly, I like the model work better. There is just something about practical model work that reads better to me (probably because that's what I grew up with). With sufficient time, budget, and resources, updating effects with CGI can be amazing (just look at the remastered Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-Rays), but that kind of budget was never going to be thrown at this release. 

But hey, the release did well enough to inspire another one, so that bodes well. I hope they keep doing them. Especially for the ones that went out of print on DVD before I could buy them.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
Episode(s): Ark in Space - Parts 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 7,593 today, 3,660,588 total
Distance Walked: 4.06 miles today, 1,913.23 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 6,747 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 1,029 total
Weight: 250.80 lbs (five day moving average), net change -56.50 lbs