X4 - The Bomb

And so the John Wiles era ends almost as quickly as it began, but its after effects would be far reaching. Wiles and Donald Tosh were saddled with the mammoth The Daleks' Master Plan when they started their tenure, but made a move to ensure that the remainder of the stories in Season 3 were short four-parters. Four episodes has always been the optimum length for classic Doctor Who stories, and Wiles was the first producer to make it a template for the series (even if the budget couldn't stretch far enough to cover the number of different sets needed).

Even though Wiles and Tosh were never credited on the following serial, The Celestial Toymaker, but they made potentially the most important decision in the history of Doctor Who during its creation. But I'll get to that in a couple entries from now...

As for The Ark, it's kind of like the Final Fantasy movie - an impressive technical achievement that you still really never feel like watching. A lot of Monoids waste each other with laser guns in the final episode, which is both fun and funny to watch, especially when you realize you're watching a bunch of blind extras trying to run for cover with their knees tied together. Also, the fact that it's a late Hartnell serial that actually exists makes it that much more watchable.