The Ark (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1966 television story The Ark.

1987 edition
It is ten million years in the future and the Earth is about to plunge into the Sun. A gigantic Space Ark has been launched to take the last of humanity to a new life on the planet Refusis II. Accompanying the humans on their journey are the Monoids, strange reptilian creatures from an alien world.

When the TARDIS materialises on board, the First Doctor and his friends are greeted with suspicion which soon turns to open hostility when Dodo inadvertently infects the Ark's crew with a long-forgotten virus.

It is an accident which will have a terrible effect on mankind, an effect which will last for seven hundred years...

Chapter titles

 * 1) The Steel Sky
 * 2) Capture
 * 3) The Plague
 * 4) The Fight Back
 * 5) The Return
 * 6) Refusis
 * 7) Search
 * 8) The Final Conflict

Deviations from televised story

 * The human on tral and minimised in the first episode is named Niash, who is later restored at the end of the book by the TARDIS crew, along with the other minimised humans and monoids, and goes to start a new life on Refusis II.
 * The story adds the Doctor and Manyak visiting other environment regions on board the Ark that have been hit by Dodo's spreading cold virus. These include a polar region, a desert region and several farming regions as well as including several animals belonging to certain regions unseen in the televised serial.
 * Whilst in the polar region, the Doctor and Manyak are forced to move the dead bodies of some Guardians and Monoids in order to stop the spread of the virus.
 * As they continue their travels around the regions of the Ark, the Doctor and Manyak are secretly observed by Guardians and Monoids who relay the medical actions to Zentos via visual communicators.
 * The novel expands on how the Monoids appear to be servants to the Guardians. This happens whilst on one of the farming regions, the Monoids are working on the fields. When the Doctor asks why there are no Guardians working in the fields, Manyak explains the Guardians do not prefer to do manual labour, whilst the Monoids apparently embrace it.
 * Some Refusians are given names in the novel by Dodo, e.g. Charlie is the leader of the Refusians and Mary is his daughter.
 * The novel explains how Monoid One is the leader. He is Monoid One XVII and is a descendant of the original Monoid revolutionary leader, Monoid One I the Great.
 * Rather than being shot in the televised version, Monoid One flees from the rebel Monoids and tries to scale a cliff in order to reach a cave on Refusius II. However, he is shot at by a rebel Monoid causing a fall. He is then caught up in the river where he falls over a deep waterfall and presumably drowns.
 * The climax in which the Doctor turns invisible leading to the domain of the Celestial Toymaker is removed. Instead, the novel ends with the Doctor trying to teach Dodo 'proper' English as the TARDIS flies on through the universe.
 * The future humans are presented as having two hearts and a smaller brain.

Writing and publishing notes

 * The cover for the original Target Books edition featured the artwork of David McAllister.

Additional cover images
to be added

British publication history
First publication:
 * Hardback
 * W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK


 * Paperback
 * Target

Re-issues:
 * Paperback: Target / Virgin Publishing Ltd. UK December 1992 Cover by Alistair Pearson (£2.50 UK)