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| The Doctor, angry at being locked out of the TARDIS. |
6 episodes: Strangers in Space, The Unwilling Warriors, Hidden Danger, A Race Against Death, Kidnap, A Desperate Measure. Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Peter R. Newman. Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox. Produced by: Verity Lambert.
THE PLOT
The time travelers find themselves inside a spaceship in the distant future. The two astronauts in the control room appear to be dead, but abruptly revive and explain that they had been put into a death-like sleep by The Sensorites, the natives of a strange world known as The Sense Sphere. The Sensorites have made no move to harm the astronauts, but they refuse to let them leave.
The Doctor decides the best thing to do is to just leave this sad situation. But the Sensorites have also disabled the TARDIS, taking its lock and fusing the mechanism so that there is no way inside. Then the Sensorites come aboard with an ultimatum: Either Susan comes down to the planet with them, or the humans will all be killed!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: After fumbling his way through Episode One with more line flubs than I think he even had in Part One of The Keys of Marinus, Hartnell gets back on form for the rest of the story. A good thing, since this story puts him more in the lead role than previous serials have, with Barbara outright stating that she and Ian follow the Doctor's lead. He gets some wonderful material, from his confrontation with the Sensorites in Part Two, in which he coolly stands up to their ultimatum with one of his own, to his very rapid progress in isolating and curing the contaminated water supply. Despite Hartnell's excellent performance, though, there's nothing that could make the Doctor's abrupt tantrum at the end of the serial convincing, as he goes from jovial to snapping that he's putting Ian off the ship at their next stop with virtually no provocation.
Ian: Largely acts as the Doctor's back-up this time. He does get a very good scene, in which he essentially repays the favor of the Doctor's defense of him in The Keys of Marinus. He handily cross-examines the Sensorite guard who attempts to implicate the Doctor for a murder, and seems to relish the chance. Other than that, this is probably William Russell's weakest story to date, with the previously quick-witted Ian suddenly reduced to acting as muscle.
Barbara: In case we might have any worries over her being permanantly scarred by her experiences with the Aztecs, she chirpily assures us within the first five minutes that she's "over that now." Oh, how very nice that there won't be any lingering trauma or, you know, character development. Jacqueline Hill remains as good as ever, though, and has some good scenes opposite William Russell and Carole Ann Ford as Barbara plays the voice of reason to both of them. Unfortunately, this serial marked Hill's holiday, and Barbara is absent from Episodes 4 and 5. When she returns in Episode 6, her return gives the episode an immediate lift as Barbara is allowed to take almost instant charge of arranging a rescue for the Doctor and Ian.
Susan: Actually gets some her very best material in this story. She senses the Sensorites' telepathic abilities almost immediately, and it's her plan in conjunction with Barbara that sees the group's first effective resistance against them. More interesting on a character level is her resistance to her grandfather's control, as she attempts to assert herself, telling him, "I will not be pushed aside." This leads Barbara to observe that Susan is growing up - even if the last couple of serials appeared to see her "grow down" from her starting point. Carole Ann Ford, whose performance has been hamstrung by a devolving character, does genuinely good work here, and Susan's ending complaints about wanting a place to call home seem poised to begin the build-up to her departure.
THOUGHTS
The Sensorites is one of only two televised Doctor Who stories that I've never previously watched/listened to (the other, at the time of writing this review, was The Underwater Menace). As such, I was rather looking forward to it. Sure, the story has a poor reputation. But so does The Keys of Marinus, which I quite enjoyed. As a fan of the Hartnell era, an all-new Hartnell story definitely had some appeal.
By the end of Part One, my enthusiasm was completely dashed. Strangers in Space is the worst first episode of a Hartnell story I've yet reviewed. Director Mervyn Pinfield stages a very imaginative TARDIS exit, in which the camera actually follows the time travellers out of the TARDIS and onto the spaceship - quite an ambitious shot, for a 1964 television serial. Unfortunately, his direction of the sets, camera crews, and actors is pedestrian at its best. Barbara and Susan leave the control room without anyone noticing... despite being only a few feet away from the rest of the characters! There's nothing wrong with the set design, which is quite functional. But the way it's lit and shot really emphasizes how small the set is, and no attempt is made to separate one area from another.
Fortunately, the story begins to take hold in Part Two. From there on, the story is never exactly what I'd call "good," but it's also never less than watchable. There are a couple of series' "Firsts" here. It's the first 6-parter structured as a 2-part unit (the spaceship) followed by a 4-part unit (the Sensorite planet). It presents the first sympathetic alien race. In a power struggle subplot involving the First Elder, the Second Elder, and the City Administrator, it effectively sets the template for the internal conflict seen in Dr. Who & the Silurians and The Hungry Earth. That doesn't make the execution of these elements any good, mind you, but it does make the serial noteworthy as a part of Doctor Who's history.
If only someone could have polished the script! The flat, expository dialogue makes The Keys of Marinus seem like the works of Oscar Wilde. The cliched power struggle subplot fails to engage on any level. It also doesn't feel like an organic part of the story. Introduced late in Episode 3 and largely vanishing for Episode 6, it's clear this element only exists in order to provide a threat for the regulars in the middle episodes. Finally, the ending - in which characters we've only just met are overcome with no significant effort - is the most unexciting climax the series has seen to this point. The makings of a good story are here, with the story attempting for the first time in the series' history to present a very alien society that is ultimately benign. But the execution is flat.
Even as it stands, it's a watchable enough story. I did enjoy it, even as I internally mocked bits like the City Administrator cunningly stealing the Second Elder's sash to impersonate him. It just... should have been a whole lot better.
Rating: 5/10.
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