The Sensorites

Sensorites (episode 1)
Strangers in Space

 

 

So the crew don't now where the TARDIS has landed and all the signals are wonky, so they open the doors, but first a quick reminder of all the adventures you missed:

IAN: There's one thing about it, Doctor. We're certainly different from when we started out with you.
SUSAN: That's funny. Grandfather and I were talking about that just before you came in. How you've both changed.
BARBARA: Well we've all changed.
SUSAN: Have I?
BARBARA: Yes.
DOCTOR: Yes, it all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a, quite a great spirit of adventure, don't you think?
IAN: Yes. We've had some pretty rough times and even that doesn't stop us. It's a wonderful thing, this ship of yours, Doctor. Taken us back to prehistoric times, the Daleks.
SUSAN: Marco Polo, Marinus.
BARBARA: And the Aztecs.
DOCTOR: Yes, and that extraordinary quarrel I had with that English king, Henry the Eighth. You know, he threw a parson's nose at me.
BARBARA: What did you do?
DOCTOR: Threw it back, of course. Take them to the Tower, he said. That's why I did it.
BARBARA: Why?
SUSAN: The Tardis was inside the Tower.

I'd have preferred that last one - unseen - over some episodes of Keys of Marinus tbh. The Doctor and crew are no longer adversaries, they are now firmly friends, joking about historical murderous tyrants. 

Anyhow, never mind that, Mervyn Pinfield then steals the entire show with an effect shot so incredible for its time, and yet they complete undersell it as entirely normal. The TARDIS doors open and we follow the Doctors crew leaving the TARDIS to join the new surroundings in what appears to be the one camera shot. It's a standout bit of cinematography, even more so on a Doctor Who budget, and we just carry on like nothing happened. Pinfield was brought in early to Doctor Who to make sure Verity Lambert knew the ropes, but worked out early she was more than capable of the full producers job. He directs bits and bobs here and there for the show, and was also the inventor of the BBC auto-cue. Sadly, he never got to see the show become the cultural juggernaut it was to be, as he took gravely ill while preparing to direct Galaxy Four, and died a year later before even the first regeneration took place. Pivotal but understated role in the genesis of the show. Much like his direction here.

And we've walked into a spaceship, with what appears to be dead bodies. Ian checks the first man, and yes, he has no pulse. The entire crew are dead.

SUSAN: This one's a girl.
BARBARA: I'm afraid she's the same. What could have happened? I can't see a wound or anything.
IAN: Suffocation, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I never make uninformed guesses, my friend, but certainly that's one answer. Oh, dear, dear, dear, what a tragedy you know. She's only a few years older than Susan.

Doctor's into full on broody mood. This explains his companion picks for the next 57 years - Susan Surrogates!

The Doctor then references a "non-winding watch", which used to be labelled as a Billy Fluff but it makes sense within the rest of the dialogue - ie the watches haven't been wound ergo the time of death is recent. (Apparently.)

Then everyone jumps as the dead guy they were investigating slumps forward and stops gasping for help. Well, I'm sure that didn't terrifying any kids at the time.

They revive the crew and it turns out they were just in a deep sleep for space travel. That explains that.

IAN: Barbara and I, we come from London. Tell me, is Big Ben still on time?
MAITLAND: What century do you come from? The twenty first, perhaps?
BARBARA: No, the twentieth.
MAITLAND: I see.
CAROL: What's Big Ben?
BARBARA: Well, it's a clock. Near Westminster Abbey.
MAITLAND: Yes, you see, the whole lower half of England is called Central City now. There hasn't been a London for four hundred years. We come from the twenty eighth century.

I love how Maitland is perfectly OK with Ian and Barbara being 800 years old but not with their grasp of modern English geography. Carol wants them to leave ASAP as there is great danger, as a mysterious alien race called the Sensorites are preventing their spaceship from leaving this part of space. They control the craft, they have control over the crew, they can put people into a death like coma, and the Doctor agrees it's time to ¤¤¤¤ off quickly. Unfortunately, these Sensorites can also walk into a crowded room without anyone noticing and steal the opening mechanism to the TARDIS door. Cunning sods! But then if they have some control over people's brains, is it much of a leap to say they have, in the words of MR James, "some control over the eyes"?

So the crew are stuck on this spaceship with a scared crew and some dangerous aliens trying to get to them.

"Not a deal of curio-curiosity" is a Billy Fluff, mind. But I find them charming.

And apparently while the Sensorites nearly murdered the crew, they also carefully fed the crew of the spaceship too. Odd bunch. Ood bunch? Oh, never mind.

The camera shakes wildly and the lights go funny - its the Sensorites playing with the spaceship. So far they've been more impressive than new WWE faction Retribution, and funny enough, this story is all about retribution too...

They just casually chuck in a line about how Maitland can't even control his own mind due to the power the aliens have over him. This is sneaking a lot of horrible SF ideas just past the radar. As the Doctor veers the ship away, Maitlands choked "why couldn't I do that?" would have been given full focus in later years, but here, it's sort of an understated nasty side effect just out of the corner of the eye.

DOCTOR: Yes, well, I rather fancy that's settled that little bit of solution.

I love this line, I don't care who come up with it.

DOCTOR: Tell me, have either of you ever met any of these creatures or seen them?
CAROL: John has.
IAN: Ah, he's the other member of your crew, isn't he.
MAITLAND: Yes, our mineralogist.
DOCTOR: I'd like to have a talk with him.
MAITLAND: I'm afraid that's out of the question.
DOCTOR: Oh? Why not?
MAITLAND: I'd rather not talk about it.

"Oh sorry, totally forgot to tell you we have a crazy 3rd member of the crew on board. Probably should have mentioned it before you sent Susan and Barbara off to go find water for us. My bad."

The shuffling man who appears looks absolutely bloody knackered, like someone forced to stay awake for an ungodly amount of time. He starts to stalk Barbara and Susan who react like a murderous person is chasing them and then he... starts crying. This is John the mineralogist, and he can barely talk after whatever Lovecraftian thing he's seen. John is played by Stephen Dartnell, who camped it up as Yartek in Marinus, but here is vastly improved as the tortured spaceman, showing why he was a stage regular before his premature death in 1994.

We juxtapose Maitland warning the Doctor that John can be violent, and his reaction to seeing Susan and Barbara, by pitifully asking "Have you come to help me?" The Sensorites are yet to be seen, but all the more powerful for the damage they've done to normal people.

And now the creatures are coming, precursed by an ear splitting sound coming from space. It feels very Langoliers now, I wonder if Stephen King got bored and watched this. for ideas...Hah.

DOCTOR: Yes, and now they're coming back, with what orders? To take over our minds? Hmm? Or to kill us?

You can tune in for more life affirming positive messages from the Doctor after the break...

And as the Doctor prepares everyone, the sound stops. Silence. And then, a creature opens at the window of the spacecraft, looking in from the vast void of space. I like how it looks gawping as if like a child at a zoo.

25 mins of disturbing moments and implications, this one moved at an atmospheric pace, and did the little plot moving it did very well.

 

 Sensorities (episode 2)
Unwilling Warriors

 

Ever so slightly odd title.

So, yes, a creature is standing outside the spaceship, in the middle of space, looking in at everyone. Creepy.

The Doctor and Ian notice that just looking at the creature turns Maitland and Carol to the living dead again until the Doctor does that medical technique of shaking the man awake...

Meanwhile, John is too scared to open the door to let Barbara and Susan back. And on the other side, Maitland tries to open it, and we've pretty much forgotten about the whole alien at the window thing for now.

DOCTOR: But that man John's with them.
CAROL: The Sensorites have control over John's mind. They may force him to obey their orders.

Carol from The Sensorites, randomly trying to freak out passing Time Lords since 1964. On John's side of the door, he randomly talks to folk who don't appear to be there and then suddenly we see that two of the creatures are just casually walking down the spaceship's corridors. Man, they really do have some control over the eyes.

Luckily, Susan turns out to be telepathic and sends a message of disobedience to the Sensorites who collapse in pain. We cut to the Doctor basically go "Oh yeah, Susan's always been very telepathic" and you can assume Barbara or Ian are thinking that might have been useful info a few stories ago. Like when they were taking on telepathic brains in jars?

SENSORITE 1: The first elder said that they have less fear of us. We are to stay here and watch, and listen to them closely. If they try to attack us with force, we are to summon our warriors to destroy them.

And then the Sensorites talk. And when they talk, all menace disappears.

Carol has just noticed how odd it is for the TARDIS crew to show up out of nowhere. Peter Newman's good at atmosphere, less good at basic dialogue so far.

Top marks for the Doctor's monocle, however.

DOCTOR: What? What is this? What was it Chesterton said? Rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Yes. Of course. Of course! I know what he found.
IAN: What?
DOCTOR: Molybdenum. It's here, in the graph, but it's all mixed up with the lines so it doesn't make obvious reading.
IAN: Molybdenum?
DOCTOR: Yes.
MAITLAND: It resists very high temperatures.
DOCTOR: Yes. It's used as an alloy in steel. In fact this machine would be useless without it. Now let me see. Iron melts at one thousand five hundred and thirty nine degrees centigrade, and molybdenum melts at two thousand six hundred and twenty two degrees centigrade. So, you know, we've some idea. Yes, I see now just what John found. I wonder if he was excited. Yes, that planet must be full of it. Full of it! It's a veritable gold mine!

So the planet below is full in resources that can make humans very rich. Colonialism subtext #1

Ian goes looking for the Sensorites and finds them inside about 2 mins. That is a surprisingly small spaceship. I do like the spaceship sets though, and William Russell and Jackie Hill treat the suspense as if there was a Dalek hiding round the corner, not the presenter from Crackerjack.

BARBARA: It's strange they didn't harm you.
JOHN: No.
IAN: I think they were as frightened of me as I was of them.
BARBARA: They're not very aggressive, are they.
IAN: No.
BARBARA: Come on, let's get back to the others.

Ian half way to solving the plot less than a 1/3rd of the way through the story.

Then Susan decides to announce she's been talking to the creatures telepathically all episode. This is sort of Susan Ex Machina so far.

SENSORITE 1: Which one is the Doctor?
SENSORITE 2: The one with the white hair.
DOCTOR: Speak up. I can't hear you.
SENSORITE 1: We have been speaking to each other.

Well, I laughed...

And by now the Doctors gone into a right old Billy Huff, which is always hilarious.

Anyhow, the Sensorites explain the plot. They can't trust humans because the last bunch brought an affliction to their planet, so they don't trust outsiders. Although they plan to let the humans take asylum on their home planet, so already they are painted as scared and ignorant but mostly well meaning, which is a complete shift from 99% of the aliens seen so far.

DOCTOR: Now listen to me, both of you. You've taken the lock of my ship and I want it returned immediately.
SENSORITE 1: You're in no position to threaten us.
DOCTOR: I don't make threats. But I do keep promises. And I promise you I shall cause you more trouble than you bargained for if you don't return my property!

Doctor's not had many moments in this episode so takes the opportunity to go all gangster.

Then Susan decides to elope with the Sensorites much to the disdain of the Doctor.

25 minutes of running on the spot when one of the regulars discovers new powers after 30 odd episodes.

 

 Sensorites (episode 3)
Hidden Danger

Susan heads to the planet, the Doctor huffs, and this is brought to you with the aide of whisky.

MAITLAND: You can't stop them.
DOCTOR: We must!
IAN: Come with me, Barbara.
CAROL: Don't. They'll only harm her or kill her if you try and interfere.

Carol is the sort of person who you say "my sister had a baby" and they bring up child mortality rates, or you win the lottery and they bring up tax interest rates. Life and soul of the party. Marvin the Paranoid Android told her to cheer up.

The Doctor turns off the lights to terrify the Sensorites.

DOCTOR: Put on the light, Chesterton. You could have been left here in the darkness. We have power over you, but we don't intend to use it. Only in our defence.

"I am evil Doctor, I am evil Doctor, I am evil Doctor..."

Barbara says she's never seen the Doctor so angry, which is saying something given their barney in the Aztec temple.

DOCTOR: What is all this, setting yourself against me, hmm?
SUSAN: I didn't, Grandfather.
DOCTOR: Oh, I know you thought you were doing your best, child, in the circumstances, but I think I'm a better judge of that.
SUSAN: Well, I have opinions too.
DOCTOR: My dear girl, the one purpose in growing old is to accumulate knowledge and wisdom, and to help other people.
SUSAN: So I'm to be treated like a silly little child.
DOCTOR: If you behave like one, yes.
SUSAN: Oh, look, Grandfather. I understand the Sensorites. They're timid little people. Because their minds and mine can communicate sometimes, they trust me.
DOCTOR: Yes, and I assure you we shall make good use of that fact, but not without discussions. You will not make decisions on your own accord. Now, do you understand? Is that quite clear? Well, is it?
SUSAN: Look, I'm not saying I'm as clever as you, of course I'm not. But I won't be pushed aside. I'm not a child anymore, Grandfather. I'm not.

Ignoring the imperialist mindset of Susan, Carole Ann Ford clearly loves finally getting a proper two hander with Hartnell and has some of her best responses since her debut.

Then the Sensorites show back up and accuse the Doctor of upsetting his granddaughter.

SENSORITE 2: We can read the misery in her mind.
DOCTOR: Yes, and it's a good thing you can't read the anger in mine. In all the years my granddaughter and I have been travelling, we have never had an argument. And now you have caused one.

Great line. So far this is a clash of the well meaning extremists. The Doctor is ¤¤¤¤ed off because he doesn't know why folk wont just explain things to me. The Sensorites dont want to harm anyone but are acting out of scared self interest.

"The only treasure we wish is freedom", says the Doctor in another great line.

John wakes up and is increasingly getting more chatty. Carol is there to console him, a bit like sending the Reverend IM Jolly to talk down a bridge jumper, but then Maitland shows up and says "you're looking much better, mate."

Carol disagrees.

CAROL: It's no use, is it. He might as well be dead.
MAITLAND: That's foolish, Carol.
CAROL: Oh, is it? Look at him. Listen to him. Can you imagine what it's like being in love with someone, to look at them, to see them and know they've been destroyed.

He's right there next to you listening to this, Carol. FFS look at yourself in the mirror. "Bring out your dead" "I'm not dead yet"

Also, Carol's clearly never met an old couple with one of them suffering from dementia.

The Sensorites say they'll cure John on their home planet. Meanwhile, rumours Carol is offscreen phoning up Dignatas on his behalf cannot be confirmed...

The Doctor Docsplains Sensorite abilities to the Sensorites so the audience will understand them, in a hilarious bad bit of exposition.

SENSORITE 1: Ten years ago, five human beings landed on the Sensphere. Our planet welcomed them. Their minds were closed against us, although we sensed they thought our planet was a rich one.
DOCTOR: Yes, rich in minerals, yes, quite. Go on.
SENSORITE 1: Then the five men quarrelled. Two of the humans took off in a ship. It exploded a mile in the atmosphere.
BARBARA: What happened to the other three men?
SENSORITE 1: We imagine they hid themselves aboard, then fought the other two for control. Anyway, all were killed.
IAN: Yes, but that still doesn't explain why you attacked Maitland and the others.
SENSORITE 1: Ever since that day of the explosion in the sky, our people have been dying in greater numbers every year.
DOCTOR: Yes, some kind of disease I imagine, Chesterton.
IAN: Maybe.
BARBARA: Could be as simple as scarlet fever.
SUSAN: And yet you're allowing us to visit your planet?
SENSORITE 1: Our people are dying, and the First Elder says he senses great knowledge in you.
DOCTOR: Ah ha! I thought so. Yes, yes, yes, some kind of bargaining ahead of us.

So that's the gist of the plot background, and the Doctor getting a spring in his step back. The ego on that chap!

1ST ELDER: Then what is the point of a ruler if he's not allowed to rule? I have decided to invite these humans because I hope to use them to end the deaths of our own people.
2ND ELDER: But how?
1ST ELDER: I will explain. Sometimes one must use fire to make fire.
2ND ELDER: The First Elder makes a wise decision. In one degree I confess I am anxious. These creatures, these Earth people, are loud and ugly things. Why could we not have met them in the desert or in the mountains?
1ST ELDER: It is a failure of all beings that they judge through their own eyes. To them, we may appear to be ugly. What we must create between us is trust. That is why I have invited them to my palace.

The Sensorite leaders chat among themselves, while the City Administrator stands over them. It's Peter Glaze, who looks like he's enjoyed a few Sense-dinners more than the rest of the alien race so far.

2ND ELDER: You need not fear me. You may speak your mind.
ADMINISTRATOR: I am cautious. You are his second opinion, yet he makes his decisions without you.
2ND ELDER: He makes a wise decision.
ADMINISTRATOR: Based entirely upon trust. Do you trust these Earth creatures? No more do I.
2ND ELDER: The decision of the First Elder cannot be set aside.
ADMINISTRATOR: I would not suggest such a thing. His mind is pure. We are realists. That is why I have beamed the disintegrator to this room.
2ND ELDER: Without permission? You are presumptuous.
ADMINISTRATOR: I am the city's administrator. It is my duty to protect the one who rules. Can you say that these Earth creatures will not use force? I am only guarding the First Elder. One suspicious act and the disintegrator will destroy them.
2ND ELDER: Very well. But you will do nothing further until I have considered the matter.

We get a proper antagonist set up here - the Administrator - and we note that, as with Yesterday's Enemy, Peter R Newman really livens up his game when he is able to look at events from the perspective of the "other side". In many ways, The Sensorites is a lot like the war film, and both were based on his war service.

Although why such a peaceful race have warriors and disintegrators, I do not know...

John can now tell the difference between good and evil people and tries to point out some of the Sensorites are involved in a plot. From good writing to over-simplistic in one scene change...

Meanwhile, it turns out the Administrator wants to kill the humans straight away, no matter. But then the Second Elder shows up and tells them not to do so. So they don't. Nearly danger of a plot breaking out there.

The Elders show their hospitality by sharing food and drink with the TARDIS crew. Unfortunately they don't mention it might be infected, and Ian collapses, victim of the Sensorite plague...

1ST ELDER: There is no hope. Your friend is dying.

The First Elder auditioned for the role of Carol first.

By parts clunky, by parts quite good, you can see the story Newman is dying to tell, and if he's not got the skill of a Lucarotti to tell it, he certainly has the heart so far. The lessons may seem simplistic, but these lessons still need to be learned in many places.

Also, I wish Carol had become a regular. "There's no hope, Doctor, the Daleks have won." "There's no chance of stopping the Moroks!", "The Clantons surrendered as soon as they had to spend time with me..."

Anyhow, here she is years later in a comedy classic...

Fr Carol McGuire: Flip! They'll win, Ted. We might as well give up now.
Fr Ted Criley: That's a very defeatist attitude!
Fr Carol: Oh, it is. Sorry about that.

 

 Sensorites (episode 4)
A Race Against Death

Ian has collapsed to the floor, and the Doctor immediately works out the water is responsible for the whole dying thing.

None of the Elders ever got sick because they had their own special water. These pacifist warrior types have a hell of a class system.

DOCTOR: It's incredible. The build-up in body temperature. This disease, as you call it, is it contagious?
1ST ELDER: No.

I wouldn't trust him, he's got a modern politician approach to this Sensovid-19...

SUSAN: How long has he got?
1ST ELDER: I hear the distress in your mind. I respond to it. I wish I could be more reassuring.
SUSAN: How long?
1ST ELDER: From the first symptoms, no one has lived longer than the third day.

He had to hear it from her mind because you couldn't hear it in her voice.

2ND ELDER: Now be guided by me in this matter. The one they call the Doctor may not be sincere.
1ST ELDER: But his friend is dying.
2ND ELDER: Or pretending to die. Then you let the Doctor into his spaceship.
1ST ELDER: Would he leave his friends at our mercy?
2ND ELDER: But who knows what power he has in the ship? Once inside it, we may be at his mercy.
1ST ELDER: Well, I believe in him.
2ND ELDER: The Doctor may go away to fetch an army of human beings and a fleet of spaceships.
1ST ELDER: This is a terrible picture you paint. Do you mistrust them as much as all that?

Once more, Newman prefers writing about the interplanetary strife. 2nd Elder's a bigger racialist than the 2nd Elder on the X-Files.

Meanwhile, John is strapped into a chair with a silly hat, while the Sensorites plot right in front of him assuming he wont take it in. This is his role in the plot, to be right there while people talk like he isn't there. Carol did it last episode, Barbara did it before.

ADMINISTRATOR: These are absurd names they all have. None of them wear any signs of authority or badges of position. How are we to distinguish them? What is wrong with the other one?
2ND ELDER: He has caught the disease. Their commander, the Doctor, believes our water supply is to blame.
ADMINISTRATOR: What a brilliant scheme. Evil, but undoubtedly brilliant.
2ND ELDER: Explain.
ADMINISTRATOR: To attack our confidence in one of the necessities. There is nothing wrong with our water supply. Nothing at all. This is a trick to get us at their mercy.
JOHN: Evil. Evil.
ADMINISTRATOR: Do you see? Even this half-broken creature here admits the truth.

So the 2nd Elder is a bigot but the Administrator is a bigger bigot, however the Administrator is but an underlying to the Elders. They even manage to save John's plot convenient ability to sense evil by claiming he means the Doctor. The Administrator then twirls a mustache.

Also, all the stuff about them looking the same would work better if the Sensorites looked the same. They all look completely different!

But then we get one of the greatest lines in all of Doctor Who...

CAROL: How's John? Oh, I am sorry. I thought you were one of the scientists.
ADMINISTRATOR: You can see my collar of office. I am the city Administrator.
CAROL: Yes, I'm sorry, but when your backs are turned, it's very difficult to see. I don't know what we'd all do if you changed your badges and sashes. We wouldn't be able to tell you apart.
ADMINISTRATOR: I have never thought of that.

Oh look, it's Carol, showing up to give advice to the villain. Taking her "might as well give up" philosophy a bit far. And the City Administrator had clearly never thought of that because its a load of bollocks served up by the same sort of mind who thinks all Japanese people look the same, but then he decides to make it the basis of his entire evil plot from now on. Perhaps Carol's pessimism has some control over your brain?

Given the plot nearly works, it must be contagious.

The Sensorites don't allow the Doctor to access his TARDIS so he yells at them.

The Engineer and Administrator plot together before the First Elder arrives and one of them loudly goes "Shhhhhh!" I laughed. Get the guy from Crackerjack, play it like Crackerjack. D'oh!

ADMINISTRATOR: Bring the Second Elder to me. Alone. The girl Carol gave me an idea. How would you recognise the Second Elder at a distance?
ENGINEER: By the sash he wears.

See, Contagious Carol Syndrome. It's deadlier than that poisoned water.

DOCTOR: Yes, well, I have to say, very comprehensive. Now, gentlemen, time is not on our side. I believe your people have been dying because there is atropine poison in the aqueduct water. Now, allow me. I've made a few notes here which might interest you. Now these are the symptoms. Atropine causes dilation of the blood vessels. Temperature rises and pulse rate becomes very rapid. A rash may appear. The mouth and throat both become extremely dry. Now what we have to do is this, gentlemen. Isolate the poison and then prescribe the remedy.

They gave William Hartnell this entire thing to say as live. Those sadistic bastards.

Some nice scenes of the Doctor looking at test tubes, and William Russell rolling about on a bed with Susan.

The Doctor finds out what it is, and a cure is discovered off screen in the same 20 seconds. And yet we spent 40 mins doing ¤¤¤¤ all earlier...

The Administrator kidnaps the Second Elder and takes his sash.

ADMINISTRATOR: I wear your sash of office. Who is to know that I am not the Second Elder now? Bind him. Keep him here.

You look nothing alike...

CAROL: You're tired out, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes, but a happy tiredness, my dear. How's our friend?
CAROL: Oh, he's improving, but he still seems to go back sometimes to that old state of confusion.

Carol moans that John is still tired and "there's no antidote for him". John immediately tries to warn the Doctor of the plot, but instead the Doctor patronises him.

ENGINEER: Supposing your disguise is seen through?
ADMINISTRATOR: You must remember that the First and Second Elders are well known only to those in powerful positions. The people see them rarely, and mostly at a distance.
SCIENTIST: I greet the Second Elder.
ADMINISTRATOR: I return your greeting, Scientist.
(The Scientist starts to leave)
ENGINEER: Success!

I mean, Peter Newman or the script editor clearly twigged the Sensorite masks look nothing alike.

The Administrator then smashes the antidote destined for Ian on the floor to prove he is lying about being ill. However within a scene, Susan just got more from the labs and gave it to Ian. I'm not sure they've really thought through this evil master plan...

The Doctor enters the Aqueducts, spots some nightshade, and then hears the roars of a monster up ahead.

How very odd.

Also, this episode badly missed Barbara.

 

 Sensorites (episode 5)
Kidnap

I get the impression something or someone might be held against their will in this episode...

So the Doctor finds nightshade in the water supply only to hear the loud groans of a monster.

Meanwhile Ian is back to his old self and he and Susan find an unconscious Doctor. "Scene Missing" feels appropriate tbh. Susan sees something which could be plot relevant - some old equipment - but Ian tells her to ignore them.

Elsewhere, Carol tells the First Elder "you can't just give up". I repeat. Carol. Tells someone else not to be defeatist. I can only assume this was meant to be a Barbara line given at the last minute to Miss Defeatist Capital City. The Elder lets her know that loud noises paralyses a Sensorite brain. Sounds like an evolutionary flaw to me.

1ST ELDER: Let us speak of your companion, the man John. The senior scientist told me that he's making excellent progress. The final treatment will be given today.
CAROL: Thank you.
1ST ELDER: You are sad for the friends you have lost. Rejoice for the friend who is being returned to you. Scientist, you will report to me on your progress.

But Carol returns to form by looking dubious that "the man John" can ever be fixed.

The Doctor tells Susan that something monstrous rushed up in the darkness and knocked him to the ground.

SUSAN: We didn't get the antidote. I had to go all the way back to the laboratory and get some more.
DOCTOR: What?
IAN: Yes. Surrounded by enemies.
DOCTOR: Then it's true. True. The water, and those monsters in there, and now it appears that there's someone among the Sensorites that bear us ill-will. That's two separate enemies.
IAN: Don't you mean three?
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. No, don't mistake me. The water and those monsters are distinctly connected. I've more or less solved that problem. But this Sensorite who's against us is a much greater danger. Now I suggest we go back and try and find out which one it is.

Not great material for William Russell so far, this one. Hartnell sounds like he's in dire need of a Lemsip too. And as they walk off, the City Administrator;s pal sneaks out from behind a barrel. He was there all along and nobody noticed!

CAROL: I'm sure he's discovered something or he's overheard someone and he's trying to tell us.
JOHN: Yes. Tell you. Warn you.
CAROL: You see?
SCIENTIST: It must be illusion. Our society is based upon trust. Treason or secret plotting is impossible.
CAROL: That's rather a sweeping statement.
SCIENTIST: But why should a Sensorite make any secret plans against anyone? We have the perfect society. All are contented.
CAROL: Some people always want more than others.
SCIENTIST: That is a human value, surely.

Suddenly Carol believes in John because the scientist thinks his brain is fuzzled. She even sneers at the poor guy. Although I suppose in 2750 whatever the British are still trying to fix Brexit... But jokes aside, she is so patronising to the aliens (to be fair, she is the alien, its their home), John, even the Doctors team. She then Carolsplains what eyes are to a creature with eyes.

Never mind that, as we get one of the all time great Doctor Who fluffs. The City Administrator meets up with his henchman who says:

"I saw the Doctor and the other two leave the aqueduct. I heard them over... over...ttt...talking!"

Take a bow Arthur Newall. That was truly special. You can hear the panic increase with each bungled syllable.

The City Administrator says its Friday and that means one thing: Crackerja... no, wait, they must kill John.

He then smacks the desk in front of the Second Elder and causes him pain.

ADMINISTRATOR: Whimpering betrayer of our people. Coward! I should imprison you in some room wherein no light can shine, and fill that room with noise!

Turns out the Administrator has kidnapped the Elder's entire "family group" and threatens to kill them.

ADMINISTRATOR: I shall be listening. Stand over him. Stab him if he sends his mind to anyone other than the Senior Warrior. Now send this thought. Senior Warrior, this is the Second Elder. Go on! Send it! Good. He's answering. Tell him to bring the firing key and meet you in the courtyard of the Palace of the Elders. That is enough. I shall keep the appointment you have made. The Senior Warrior shall know me by the sash I wear. Your sash. Guard him well.

I don't know what is sadder. That he carries on a plot based on Carol's racism, or that it seems to work so well.

Doctor tells off Ian so we can pretend he is actually recovering from the poison. Ian wants to run away and leave everyone to their fate, and then the Doctor says that the Second Elder (actually the Administrator in disguise) ran away from him, Susan pretends to be a penguin on flippers mimicking him and they laugh. What the hell, heroes? You know, I think WW2 POW Newman is a bit cynical about colonialism. But it doesn't have make the regulars look a bit like ¤¤¤¤s.

Well, the Doctor doesn't laugh at comedy racism.

Elsewhere, the Second Elder is murdered by the Engineer over a scrap to get the weapon key. So now they plan to use it for their advantage.

1ST ELDER: Yes, I have asked questions. The first supply of the antidote you sent, Doctor, was intercepted by my Second Elder, my advisor. He has since disappeared.
SUSAN: We saw him in the courtyard.
1ST ELDER: His behaviour is a mystery.
DOCTOR: Yes, strange indeed, sir. I tried to talk to him and he ran away.

The Elder gives the Doctor a new cloak because his jacket got ruined in the aquaduct. The City Administrator brings in Arthur Newall who says the Second Elder is dead and the Doctor killed him, but then says he saw him in the Doctors brand new cloak. Its worrying to think that Carol might be one of the smartest people in this episode by default, on multiple levels.

1ST ELDER: This is a grave charge.
IAN: But obviously untrue, sir.
1ST ELDER: Why?
IAN: How did you recognise the Doctor?
ENGINEER: His hair is different.
IAN: Yes.
ENGINEER: So are his clothes.
IAN: Oh, yes, his clothes. You say that you saw him take an object from his pocket.
ENGINEER: Yes.
IAN: You could see quite clearly? You're sure it was from his coat pocket?
ENGINEER: I tell you yes! All the Sensorites know the Doctor by his
(The Doctor stands, and poses grandly in his cloak)
IAN: The Doctor's coat is outside the aqueduct. You are lying.
ENGINEER: Then, then it was a cloak he was wearing! Yes, it was. I'm sure of it now. It was a cloak.
1ST ELDER: I have just presented the Doctor with that cloak. Your story is a tissue of lies. Remove him.

He does pose grandly. That is true.

But then the City Administrator strikes with the smartest bit of on the ball thinking in the story:

ADMINISTRATOR: Sir, you must forgive his wild accusation, but I felt his story should be brought before you.
1ST ELDER: You acted correctly. What can have possessed my advisor?
ADMINISTRATOR: The Second Elder, sir, was always opposed to our visitors. Perhaps he stole the firing key in order to attack them with the disintegrator?
SUSAN: I bet he stole our antidote too. He was our enemy.
1ST ELDER: A sad matter. But since he has deceived us, my sympathy shall not be wasted. As to his replacement.
ADMINISTRATOR: I have his sash of office here, so that you may select a new advisor immediately.
IAN: Perhaps he ought not to look further than this room.
SUSAN: Yes. If he thought he got promotion because of us, he'd be a useful ally.
DOCTOR: Just what I was thinking. Yes, of course, we have no wish to interfere in your affairs, but the City Administrator appears to have all the qualifications.
1ST ELDER: Well, what do you say? Can you accept such power, such authority?
ADMINISTRATOR: My only ambition is to serve the Sensorite nation.
1ST ELDER: Then accept this sash. I make you my advisor. From now on you will be know as the Second Elder, second only on the Sensphere to me. And once this order is made, only a betrayal of trust can set it aside.

Who knew it was possible to look smug through a Sensorite mask? This is the crowning glory of the City Administrator's madcap plan.

John is better but because his mind was muddled he can't identify the Sensorite doing all the plotting, so the new Second Elder is able to convince everyone it was the previous Second Elder.

Incidentally, a well John's first move is to happily shake hands with the Sensorite scientist who cured him.

JOHN: I know there was a plot. Yes, that's it. Someone was plotting against you
ADMINISTRATOR: And this Sensorite. Can you identify him?
JOHN: No.
ADMINISTRATOR: Is he in this room?

You're the only Sensorite in this room! And yet no one thinks "what an oddly specific question..."

DOCTOR: Yes, now just a moment. This is rather important. This is a rough plan of the aqueduct.
SCIENTIST: One of the human beings was very interested in the aqueduct.

The missing astronauts were interested in the aqueduct. I wonder if that is plot relevant...

Suddenly Susan has a plot convenient brain wave...

SCIENTIST: This is only a sketch. I can let you have a plan in detail if you need.
DOCTOR: Very valuable, very valuable.
SCIENTIST: The City Administrator can have no objection.
SUSAN: The City Administrator! Of course!
DOCTOR: What about him? What about him?
SUSAN: John, you know you said that there was something odd about the Sensorite? Was it his collar?
JOHN: Collar. Yes, that was it.
SUSAN: You see, the City Administrator. He was our enemy.
IAN: What, the one who's just been made the Second Elder?
SUSAN: Yes! When John was ill, he must have given himself away.

I mean, I applaud this story for the heart Peter Newman gives it, but man is the plotting a bit clunky. Even Scooby Doo works harder to solve his cases.

The Administrator/New 2nd Elder.... ok, I'm just calling him Peter Glaze from now on, to avoid confusion. Peter Glaze has busted his henchman out of prison off screen.

Doctor and Ian get permission to go into the aqueducts and find the enemies down there.

Also, Barbara is given permission to rejoin the story. Phew!

The Sensorites give the Williams weapons. For a peaceful race they have more weaponry than an NRA festival. But the Glaze-ite Sensorites have swapped their weapons for broken ones. And he swapped their map for an inefficient one!

ADMINISTRATOR: Now, not only shall they go down into the aqueduct with useless armaments, but they will be hopelessly lost as well.


He can kill you, or he can make you hopelessly lost. What a scoundrel!

The First Elder realises the Second Elder got murdered by a Sensorite and has a crisis of faith. John wants to eat food, and Ian and Doctor enter the tunnels of darkness.

Elsewhere, John plans to settle down on Earth and get married to Carol. Not sure his mind was properly healed after all.

And Carol is randomly kidnapped. That's the cliffhanger. They must have had trouble naming this episode. I suggest the obvious choice: I heard them over... over...ttt...talking!

 

 

 Sensorites (episode 6)
A Desperate Venture

What's that then? Me trying to watch this?

Carol was kidnapped by Peter Glaze. I know, you're stunned.

Oh the incidental music has a sudden kick to it.

ADMINISTRATOR: Write to the man John. Tell him you have gone up into the spaceship. In this way, he will not suspect your disappearance.
CAROL: You can't force me to do this.
ADMINISTRATOR: I can see that you stay alive. Your life means nothing to me. Let us strike a bargain. You will write the note, I will see you live.
CAROL: Very well.
ENGINEER: Be wary of her. We cannot read her thoughts. She may
ADMINISTRATOR: Be quiet. Write! You will stay here and guard her. She will guarantee the success of all my plans.

And despite none of the Sensorites being able to read English, Carol does as is told. Only for John to immediately see it as a plot.

But never mind that, a hero has returned among us...

We need a hero
we're holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
She's gotta be strong
And she's gotta be fast
And she's gotta be fresh from the fight...


Oh yes. There's nothing like Jackie Hill going on holiday for 3 episodes to make you really miss Barbara's quiet intelligence, fierce bravery, and ability to understand one dimensional plots. She outwitted Tlotoxl, is it any wonder Peter Glaze's scheme doesn't last 20 minutes of Barbara being in his homeland?

The First Elder greets Barbara and Barbara instantly treats him as a living intelligent being. The First Elder points out Carol couldn't move without his permission and when John gets grumpy, Barbara warns him to lower his voice. It's as if she came back and said "no, you're not giving me that bollocks to say..."

Ian and the Doctor are lost in the tunnels.

ENGINEER: But surely you did not think you would be released? All human creatures are naive. They live while they have a purpose. As soon as that purpose is achieved, then their life has no value left.

Bit of cheek coming from him. John immediately saves Carol and the formerly imprisoned Engineer is captured again by the Elder.

1ST ELDER: Come in, my friends. You have been questioning this Sensorite who has acted so treacherously?
SUSAN: Yes, and what he told us is terrifying.
ADMINISTRATOR: Has he identified his accomplice?
BARBARA: No.
SUSAN: Not yet.
BARBARA: But he did say that the maps and the guns given to the Doctor and Ian are quite useless.
1ST ELDER: Outrageous. This Sensorite will die for this.

So for those of you keeping score at home, the peaceful utopia Sensephere also has the death penalty.

IAN: Doctor, it was a man! I know it was.
DOCTOR: Are you sure?
IAN: Yes. Look. This came away in the struggle.
DOCTOR: It looks like a shoulder flash. I-N-E-E-R. Yes, just as I suspected. It must be one of those survivors from the spaceship that exploded.
IAN: Why should they come here?
DOCTOR: To hide and poison the water.

Plot moves on in the tunnels.

The Elder allows Barbara to borrow one of their telepathy machines.

BARBARA: Well I can't. Do you mind if I try your invention?
1ST ELDER: Hold it to your forehead and try to close your mind to everything but the person to whom you wish to communicate. It is safe provided you do not allow your concentration to slip.

And if you are a Sensorite with ADHD, yer ¤¤¤¤ed?

Two seconds later, Barbara has mastered its use. Competency, how we missed you...

1ST ELDER: A very capable human being.
SUSAN: Yes, she is.
1ST ELDER: Gentle, yet with strong determination and courage.

Trope codifier for the best companions in a nutshell?

SUSAN: Trust can't be taken for granted. It must be earned. I trust you, but only because I know you.
1ST ELDER: But Susan, our whole life is based on trust.
SUSAN: Yes, and that might be your downfall. Look you don't trust the ground you walk on until you know it's firm, do you. So why trust your people blindly?
1ST ELDER: When I listen to you, you who are so young among your own kind, I realise that we Sensorites have a lot to learn from the people of Earth.
SUSAN: Grandfather and I don't come from Earth. Oh, it's ages since we've seen our planet. It's quite like Earth, but at night the sky is a burned orange, and the leaves on the trees are bright silver.
1ST ELDER: My mind tells me that you wish to see your home again, and yet there is a part of you which calls for adventure. A wanderlust.
SUSAN: Yes. Well, we'll all go home some day. That's if you'll let us.


That bit in bold guides the show to the present day, just see the Jodie Whittaker/Gallifrey thing.

The Doctor gabbles on about how excited he is to see various clues not realising too men with weapons are watching him and Ian, all while Ian tries to warn him in a very funny moment. Some badly done up spacemen show up and whisper loudly at the Doctor.

Barbara uses the toll to communicate by telepathy with Barbara. "Speak the words as you think them" says Susan, allowing us to hear them as we cut back to Barbara!

Barbara and John find the tampered map. John is apparently an expert at following marks in the dirt.

Although what all this does is give the hint that the tunnels are bloody massive. So, well done, production team.

The Doctor and Ian meet the Commander of the previous team, who has a wonderfully plummy voice as if he walked in off a Colditz drama. It's hard to keep a straight face. And this is John Bailey, later father of Victoria in Evil of the Daleks, Hans in the grim Holocauste miniseries, guest of many Avengers episodes and a regular in TV theatre. He was a pretty good actor, and you can see what his motivation for the role is, but oh the direction or something has gone badly wrong.

The Commander blew up his own spaceship because he's gone nuts from the telepathy thing that did for John in Episode 1. Continuity.

COMMANDER: Yes. Still, I suppose I'll get another one. I'll be able to afford it now. Planet's very rich
IAN: Oh, yes. Molybdenum.
COMMANDER: Oh, you know about that, do you? You do realise this war has been fought by me and my men here. Any treasure trove is ours.
DOCTOR: That's quite understandable, isn't it, Chesterton.
COMMANDER: And I'm prepared to back that statement up with force, if necessary. I have good supplies here. Loyal men. Of course, we're just discussing this. But you are alone, aren't you. Hardly in a position to fight me. And I have my men, and my organisation.
MAN 1: Commander. Warning in route two.
COMMANDER: What? Have you been telling me lies? You've brought other people with you, haven't you?
MAN 1: Perhaps they're really allies of the Sensorites.
COMMANDER: No, Number One, not allies. Spies. The war isn't over at all, is it. I thought it was a bit too good to be true.
IAN: Now just a minutes. We knew nothing this warning system of yours
COMMANDER: No, of course you didn't, and it's tripped you up, hasn't it? Number One, there'll be a court martial. Immediately. Treason.

Quickly Ian turns it to his advantage, introducing Barbara as her navigator. They claim the war is over, and lead the Commander out of the tunnels to be captured.

The Warrior takes them alive.

DOCTOR: Pitiful fellow. Oh, I know he did your people incalculable harm.
WARRIOR: I could have killed him. I wanted to. But that would not be the way, would it.
DOCTOR: No.
WARRIOR: He could have destroyed the entire Sensorite nation.
DOCTOR: Yes, but the fact is, you didn't kill him. Shows great promise for the future of your people.

Peter Glaze is captured and banished off screen. The regulars say goodbye to the Elder.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor takes a random huff and says he will throw Ian and Barbara off the TARDIS when it next lands, for no bloody reason. What an odd end to, frankly, an odd story.

There's so much to love about the Sensorites that it makes the fact that, on the whole, a lot of it doesn't really work, hurt all the more. Oh well, at least Carol didn't join the TARDIS crew. She'd be working with Robespierre next week...