“It all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard… “
Watching this was slightly delayed as I awaited Amazon delivery of the DVD. I know what you’re all asking – “What self-respecting 35 year old man doesn’t own a copy of The Sensorites?” but there we are.
The ideas in episode 1 are nice – the suffocating nature of the spaceship, for one – but they are poorly executed. Some unknown alien burns a hole in the TARDIS door, stealing the lock (another “Oh crap, we can’t get out of here” plot device, ahoy) a few feet from 6 people who smell the burning but don’t think to look behind them? Barbara sent off for water ignores a massive sign that says “Water” in the direction she’s walking and wanders off through a random door instead? It gets a little irritating…
Oh, and while I don’t generally care about production values, high pitched whines are generally going to get on my tits. Maybe they watched this story when they thought about bringing Bonnie Langford on board...
The Doctor is very proactive is this story – and very angry - “I don’t make threats, but I do keep promises”. Good lad. There is also some nice banter between The Doctor and Ian but this is still a very different Doctor to the one we know today – again, angry and obstinate:
“Dictated to by petty thieves and my own grandchild”
It gets better when they get off the dodgy spaceship, though. The Sensorites themselves are an interesting race – They have a caste system, which usually brings instant indignation in this show but in this case is actually dealt with sensitively. I must confess to being vaguely amused by the fact they can’t tell each other apart but don’t actually realize that until our heroes point that out to them.
The parallels with The Ood much later down the line are obvious: “Our whole life is based on trust”. Also, the Ood have communicator balls (tee hee, “balls”) while these guys have the telepathy wotnots. Altogether it makes me think the audiences of today are more forgiving of dreary pacifist aliens – these guys are a lot like the Ood who seem to be somehow more popular. All of that being said, being shouted at is a pretty rubbish weakness and it makes you wonder why people don’t try that every time the Sensorites point a gun at them.
The revelation of the original earth ship survivors is dealt with fairly quickly but is, I think, quite a nice little plot point.
Episode 6 also has one of the first references to Gallifrey (although not named):
“At night the sky is a burnt orange and the leaves on the trees are bright silver “
And the story concludes with a lovely moment between the Doctor and Susan as they discuss going back home. This is another story where the travellers really seem like a proper group.
In honesty, this is badly made but a nice story. I’m aware that there are fans that hate this story. I am not one. I will admit it might have been better as 4 part story, but frankly, there are a few stories in this era that could have done with a bit of scaling down.
This is a story with a terrible reputation it just doesn't deserve. It’s not well made but that is an accusation that could be leveled at a lot of stories. This is a tale of internal politics, suspicion of other races and covert warfare. And it’s not half bad.
Watching this was slightly delayed as I awaited Amazon delivery of the DVD. I know what you’re all asking – “What self-respecting 35 year old man doesn’t own a copy of The Sensorites?” but there we are.
The ideas in episode 1 are nice – the suffocating nature of the spaceship, for one – but they are poorly executed. Some unknown alien burns a hole in the TARDIS door, stealing the lock (another “Oh crap, we can’t get out of here” plot device, ahoy) a few feet from 6 people who smell the burning but don’t think to look behind them? Barbara sent off for water ignores a massive sign that says “Water” in the direction she’s walking and wanders off through a random door instead? It gets a little irritating…
Oh, and while I don’t generally care about production values, high pitched whines are generally going to get on my tits. Maybe they watched this story when they thought about bringing Bonnie Langford on board...
The Doctor is very proactive is this story – and very angry - “I don’t make threats, but I do keep promises”. Good lad. There is also some nice banter between The Doctor and Ian but this is still a very different Doctor to the one we know today – again, angry and obstinate:
“Dictated to by petty thieves and my own grandchild”
It gets better when they get off the dodgy spaceship, though. The Sensorites themselves are an interesting race – They have a caste system, which usually brings instant indignation in this show but in this case is actually dealt with sensitively. I must confess to being vaguely amused by the fact they can’t tell each other apart but don’t actually realize that until our heroes point that out to them.
The parallels with The Ood much later down the line are obvious: “Our whole life is based on trust”. Also, the Ood have communicator balls (tee hee, “balls”) while these guys have the telepathy wotnots. Altogether it makes me think the audiences of today are more forgiving of dreary pacifist aliens – these guys are a lot like the Ood who seem to be somehow more popular. All of that being said, being shouted at is a pretty rubbish weakness and it makes you wonder why people don’t try that every time the Sensorites point a gun at them.
The revelation of the original earth ship survivors is dealt with fairly quickly but is, I think, quite a nice little plot point.
Episode 6 also has one of the first references to Gallifrey (although not named):
“At night the sky is a burnt orange and the leaves on the trees are bright silver “
And the story concludes with a lovely moment between the Doctor and Susan as they discuss going back home. This is another story where the travellers really seem like a proper group.
In honesty, this is badly made but a nice story. I’m aware that there are fans that hate this story. I am not one. I will admit it might have been better as 4 part story, but frankly, there are a few stories in this era that could have done with a bit of scaling down.
This is a story with a terrible reputation it just doesn't deserve. It’s not well made but that is an accusation that could be leveled at a lot of stories. This is a tale of internal politics, suspicion of other races and covert warfare. And it’s not half bad.