6 episodes
Aired between 20th June 1964 and 1st August 1964
Written by Peter R Newman
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Frank Cox and Mervyn Pinfield
Synopsis
The group explore their surroundings and realise that they are on board a spaceship, hence the reason for the discrepancy of readouts on the TARDIS console.
Inside this spaceship, the group find two crewmen dead at their posts. After examination, the group notice that the bodies are still warm despite the lack of a pulse, meaning that they must have been killed recently. More curious however is the fact that there are no obvious injuries, and both of the crew's watches had stopped at exactly the same time.
The Doctor decides that he doesn't want anything to do with it and urges the group to leave until one of the bodies begins to move. The crewman motions for Ian to help him grab a device from the nearby cabinet which he uses to resuscitate himself and his other crewmember: Carol. Once revived, he introduces himself as Captain Maitland, and advises the group to leave as quickly as they can.
The Doctor is all for following their advice, but Barbara and Ian want to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Maitland and Carol explain that they are stranded in space by an alien race known as the Sensorites. The sensorites never directly attack the ship, indeed, they seem to place the crew periodically in a trance and feed them, but they will not allow them to leave, going so far as to control the crews minds from time to time. Maitland says that if they don't get out of the ship, then they will be stranded too.
The Doctor insists on leaving, and the group reluctantly agree, only to discover that the TARDIS door lock has been removed, thus permanently locking them out. This is followed by a great heaving of the spaceship, causing them to hurtle towards a nearby planet that Maitland and Carol call the Sense Sphere. The Doctor and Ian run to the controls when the crew find themselves incapable of steering the ship, and narrowly manage to avoid a collision with the planet.
Everyone calms down and they all have something to eat as they try to figure a way out of the predicament. Barbara and Susan go off to hunt for some water, and end up entering the back end of the ship, where Maitland and Carol trapped their other crewmember months ago.
Low and behold, Maitland and Carol discover the girl's wanderings too late and the pair find themselves locked in the back half of the ship. They invariably come face to face with the zombie shuffling madman called John. Luckily for them, John just clutches his temples and does a lot of crying.
Carol explains tearfully that John was her fiance, but the Sensorites messed him up, effectively melting his brain until he became erratic and violent.
The Doctor and Ian insist that the crew help them rescue Barbara and Susan, so Maitland begins cutting through the locked bulkhead door.
The Sensorites don't like this so they send a detachment to intervene on their baked bean shaped spaceships.
Maitland hears the craft approaching and readies himself at the controls of the ship, whilst inside the bulkhead, John grasps at the girls and says the rest of the crew are dead and he will protect them.
As everyone waits nervously for their arrival, Ian sees the Sensorites for the first time, drifting across the viewport.
Maitland and Carol are frozen by the Sensorites, but the Doctor manages to wake Maitland back up. He tells the Captain and Ian to ignore the Sensorites outside the window as they're not actively trying to get into the command deck, so it buys them time to get Barbara and Susan. Maitland instinctively knows that the aliens have entered the ship at the loading dock, so returns to cutting through the bulkhead door.
On the other side, John begins having a telepathic conversation with the two Sensorites who have entered the ship. He refuses to scare Barbara and Susan (so they can use their mind powers on them) leaving them no choice but to inflict pain on him.
Based on adventures that she had with her grandfather before meeting Ian and Barbara, Susan comes up with the idea of telepathically reaching out with their minds and mentally calling out "we defy you" at the same time. This trick works and disrupts the Sensorites telepathy, causing them to clutch their heads in pain, and it gives Ian and Maitland enough time to get the doors open and rescue them.
The companions regroup and begin to try and work out what the Sensorites want. In fevered dreams, John mentions "the dreams of avarice" which leads the Doctor to believe that he found something of great wealth on the Sense Sphere, forcing the Sensorites to drive him insane so he couldn't capitalise on it. Maitland mentions that John was the crews mineralogist, and sure enough, as the Doctor checks the samples he's taken from the Sense Sphere, he finds traces of Molybdenum, a rare and valuable alloy.
The Sensorites attack again, mentally freezing Maitland and Carol once more. Ian and Barbara rush off to try and find their attackers, which they do. Ian stays behind to threaten them, whilst Barbara runs back to find out how to lock the doors and seal them in. The Sensorites cautiously advance on Ian, but never attempt to attack. Ian backs off until Barbara returns with an awakened John to seal them in.
Not one's to give up easily, the Sensorites reach out their minds and speak telepathically to Susan. She asks the group if they would be willing to speak to the aliens, which they agree. However, once the Sensorites approach they declare that no one on board the ship is allowed to leave the orbit of the Sense Sphere ever again. This is because they've trusted the humans once before to their loss. It's not all bad, however. At least they've prepared a nice living area onboard the planet. The Doctor is having none of it and demands that they return the TARDIS lock to him.
The Sensorites discuss what to do and resolve to convince Susan to go to the Sense Sphere with them, otherwise they will kill all the companions.
As the Sensorites leave, the Doctor insists they must try to stop them before they end up holding all the advantages. Ian, Barbara and the Doctor confront the aliens but Susan pleads with them to stop. The Doctor grows furious and orders Susan back to his side "this instant!" Susan reluctantly obeys, forcing the Sensorites to debilitates the Sensorites to try and stun the group. Ian quickly debilitates them by turning out the lights (the Doctor noticed that their eyes were fully dilated in sunlight, meaning they contract in darkness and go virtually blind).
Ian snatches the Sensorite's weapons from them and when the lights go on again, the Doctor angrily demands that they return the TARDIS lock.
The aliens confer with their home base via the use of telepathy enhancing stethoscope devices.
Susan moodily complains that she is being treated like a child and the Doctor gives her a lecture about the fact that he knows better and she should do as she's told or he will treat her like a child.
The Sensorites return and tell the group that they have talked with the first elder and been commanded to bring the humans before him. The one condition of this is that one shall remain on the ship as a hostage. Barbara and Captain Maitland agree to be the hostages and the rest go down to the planet, even crazy John.
On the Sense Sphere, the first elder argues with the city administrator that they should be able to trust and use the humans to help cure a terrible plague that's been affecting the sensorites. As the first elder leaves to prepare for the humans arrival, the second elder speaks of his doubt to the city administrator. In secret, they prepare "the disintegrator", an awesome weapon that will kill the humans should they make any suspicious moves.
Once on the Sense Sphere, the Doctor, Ian and Susan are given peach tasting food, and fresh water from the city's aqueduct. The group graciously accept, but first elder doesn't think the drink is good enough, and orders them provided with a sample of water from a spring he personally found. The water is for use only by the elders themselves. Ian can't wait and tries some of the aqueduct water anyway, saying it tastes good.
The Doctor agrees to help cure the plague in return for the Sensorites returning the TARDIS lock, curing crazy John, and letting the spaceship crew leave. The first elder agrees.
As the group negotiate, the administrator and one of the Sensorite lackey's prepare the disintegration, aiming it at each of the humans chests. As soon as it's ready, the administrator orders the lackey to fire, but the previously skeptical second elder enters and orders the device to be dismantled and the firing key removed. He has since come to believe that the humans mean the Sensorites no harm. The administrator protests, but the second elders orders cannot be disobeyed. The firing key is removed and the second elder becomes very doubtful about the administrator.
Suddenly, as the group reach an agreement to help the Sensorites, Ian grows ill and collapses. The first elder proclaims that he has the symptoms of the mysterious plague, and that Ian is dying.
The Doctor and Susan quickly discern that the water is behind it, and declare that the Sensorite disease isn't in fact a disease at all, but poison! The Doctor says that he needs a lab to work up an antidote and asks for the TARDIS lock to do the work from there.
The second elder remains a little skeptical of the group, thinking that Ian may have just been faking it, so the first elder only allows the Doctor to work from the Sensorite labs themselves.
The city administrator is less than pleased with the whole affair, and orders the head scientist to poison the humans instead. Crazy John, who is sat nearby hooked up to a mind machine (to repair his brain) exclaims that there is evil among the Sensorites, The city administrator retorts, revealing that he intends to wipe the humans out for the good of the Sensorites.
Before he can do this however, the second elder overhears and reprimands the administrator for his aggressive actions, threatening him with removal of his position.
The Doctor ignorant to all this briefs the scientists on his theory of atropine poisoning in the water. They quickly set up a way of checking each of the water supplies from the cities ten districts, discovering the poison from district eight. Thankfully, the Doctor is able to instruct the scientists how to mix an antidote whilst he investigates the water supply in district eight.
As the city administrator skulks off, he is mistaken by Carol for the second elder. She apologises and tells him they all look the same, which gives him the idea to kidnap the second elder and steal his sash. The administrator puts his plan into place by convincing the scientist to pass the antidote meant to Ian onto him, so that he could deliver it personally. The scientist obeys and as soon as he leaves, the administrator smashes the phial on the floor, declaring that if Ian survives then they are obviously lying about the poison.
Meanwhile, the Doctor goes to the aqueduct and becomes suspicious when the Sensorite Scientist with him warns that monsters lurk nearby. He thinks it's too much of a coincidence that the tunnels carrying the water are both dark and noisy, the two things that Sensorites find difficult to deal with. He decides to enter the tunnels and find out what's going on.
With time running out for Ian, the first elder chases up the delay with the antidote and finds another phial just in time for it to be administered to Ian. The scientist that went with the Doctor returns to the first elder and reveals that the old human has entered the tunnels. Susan and Ian fear the worst and go after him.
Inside the tunnels, the Doctor finds copious amounts of deadly nightshade growing around the place, it being obviously the source of the poison, and soon hears the terrible roar of the monsters in the tunnel. Ian and Susan eventually find the Doctor laid on the floor, unharmed, but his jacket has been shredded. He didn't get a good luck at the monster, but managed to fight it off.
When a Sensorite loyal to the administrator discovers they are alive, he informs his boss, who then comes up with the plan to pose as the second elder and request the disintegrator key. The real second elder is forced to set up the meeting in the courtyard.
The group return to the Sensorite city and encounter the administrator in the courtyard, just as he has received possession of the key. The Doctor tries to ask him if they would bring Barbara down from the spaceship, but the administrator (whom they think is the second elder) runs off.
The administrator runs to the disintegrator and begins to power it up. Unfortunately for them, the real second elder manages to break free and snatches the key, bending it before being beaten to death by the administrators helper. Forced into a bad position, the administrator comes up with yet another plan to finish the humans. He quickly changes into his administrator collar and takes his helper to see the first elder who is just hearing about the Doctor's encounters down at the aqueduct. The administrator gets his helper to explain that he found the second elder dead, and that he saw the Doctor take something out of his coat and use it to kill the elder with. The administrator is pleased with himself until Ian cross examines the witness, explaining that they left the Doctor's shredded coat back down at the aqueduct so it couldn't possibly have been true.
The first elder orders the administrators helper imprisoned and thanks the group. The unsuspecting Doctor decides to try and play things to his advantage by helping the administrator become the new second elder, therefore his gratitude will help them get the TARDIS lock back or even Barbara down from the spaceship. The first elder appoints the new elder, but there is very little gratitude shown.
In the meantime, crazy John has now been returned to sane John. He explains that in his mania, he saw one of the Sensorites were evil, but he cannot remember who, other than the fact that his clothes were funny. They soon realise that it's the former city administrator.
The administrator (now officially the second elder), knowing that the group are about to re-enter the aqueduct tunnels, springs his helper from prison and gets him to deactivate the strange weapons Ian and the Doctor will be taking in with them, as well as making false routes on the map they will be given.
The Doctor and Ian go to see the first elder, and are given the guns and map of the tunnels. They decide to go in there alone, so as to not trouble Susan, but request Barbara's return. The first elder agrees and Ian and the Doctor depart.
John, Carol and Susan are preparing a meal and are awaiting the Doctor and Ian's return before they start. Carol eventually volunteers to see what's keeping them, but is kidnapped by the administrator and forced to write a letter stating that she has gone to the spaceship.
The letter is delivered to John and Susan who get instantly suspicious and with the help of the newly returned Barbara, convince the high elder that something's wrong.
They begin searching the areas nearby, as the ink on the note was still wet, and find Carol imprisoned in the disintegrator room. The administrator's helper is there and threatens Carol, but is soon defeated and imprisoned again. The group discover that the Doctor and Ian have gone to the aqueducts, and that the equipment they were given is faulty. Barbara and John go after them, taking a Sensorite stethoscope with them in order to keep in touch with Susan via telepathy.
Meanwhile, in the caves, the Doctor and Ian discover that their map is lying to them and begin working their own way around. They are attacked by a human who runs off when defeated by Ian, who manages to tear a fragment of a space rocket badge from him. They continue until they are ambushed by human men who look like castaway's with long beards and tatty clothes.
The men take them to their leader, who turns out to be the captain of the original human expedition. They have obviously been driven quite mad and are convinced that they are fighting a war with the Sensorites. The Doctor and Ian manage to successfully convince the humans that they have wiped all the aliens out and they have come to rescue them.
Barbara and John find the discarded map in the tunnels and telepathically arrange with Susan to have Sensorite guards placed at the entrance to the aqueduct.
Shortly after they are captured forcing the mad captain to question Ian and the Doctor's story. They somehow manage a convincing lie, and the captain leads all three of his men out of the tunnels and into the waiting arms of the Sensorite guards.
The first elder thanks the group profoundly and explains that he has banished the administrator to the outer wastes. For their help, the first elder allows both the group, and the crew of the spaceship to leave the Sense Sphere, stating that the TARDIS lock has been repaired.
Once they get to their ship, Susan mourns the loss of her heightened telepathic gift once they leave the charged atmosphere of the Sense Sphere, and says she would like to "belong" somewhere. The Doctor shrugs and agrees but says that the TARDIS is aimless.
The group watch Captain Maitland's ship depart on their scanner, and Ian comments that at least they know where they are going. The Doctor has a massive strop and vindictively tells Ian that he's throwing him out at the very next stop.
Trivia
- Now it's Jacqueline Hill's turn for a holiday (I never knew these hols were so close together before I began watching them in sequence!) This is why she's kept hostage on the spaceship above for two episodes.
- This may have been the point when Susan was beginning to be written out. She mentions the fact that she would like to belong to somewhere instead of travelling around all the time.
- The author of this story, Peter Newman had only one film credit to his list (a hammer film called Yesterday's Enemy). He never succeeded in publishing another script and it is rumoured he became quite depressed about it. In 1975, he fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head, going into a coma from which he never recovered.
What Worked
- The Sensorites heads do seem quite good for 1960's effects. When you compare them to some of the monsters in later stories (Kandy Man anyone?) they can at least demonstrate an effort to look alien. I think they would be perfectly fine Doctor Who monsters if you got rid of the disc feet and give them a better beard that doesn't look like cotton wool stuck on to their faces.
- This story finally gives us an explanation why Susan is so highly strung and tries to stab people with scissors. It's because she's a telepath, of course!
- The mystery at the beginning of the first episode is quite intriguing.
- The Doctor's story about Henry VIII at the start of the story is quite jovial which is a refreshing change from his grumpy old self.
- It's nice to see Susan taking an active part in the story and not screaming all the time. Although, for Carole Ann Ford, this may have been too late to change her mind about wanting to leave.
- The discovery of the deceitful Sensorites in episode 5 has similarities to finding out how you can break the laws of robotics. It's quite satisfying
- Crazy John does a good job of being crazy, which is made especially hard when you talk with a BBC English accent.
What Didn't Work
- When Susan is discussing trust with the Sensorites, you hear the voice of a production assistant calling the upcoming shots.
- The production team obviously added a scene at the beginning of the first episode that sumarises everything the group have been through. When you're a young kid watching these episodes week on week, it's been seven months since the series began, so it's worth having a recap. The problem is, it was done in such an obvious way that the dialogue, especially Ian's is just cringeworthy.
- The abrupt stopping and starting of the atmospheric music is off putting
- The Doctor's pet surname of the week for Ian is now "Cheston".
- Barbara asks Carol where to get water from any yet totally bypasses the cabinet clearly marked "Water" and goes through a bulkhead door into danger.
- With the fact that the Doctor ultimately helps solve the problem out of the goodness of his own heart, it seems at odds with his behaviour in the start of episode 1, where he's more than willing to leave the human crew stranded there in deep space!
- There are more appearances of the production crews shadows and boom mike cameo's than you can shake a, well, a boom mike shaped stick at!
- Why do Ian and Barabara rush off to find the Sensorites in episode 2, only to back off and nearly let them on the command deck
- The Doctor only a minute after he says himself that the TARDIS is aimless in its wanderings, declares that he's going to throw Ian off the ship at the very next stop for daring to say a similar comment!
There's a lot I want to like about this story, from the intriguing mystery of the deceased crew at the beginning of the story; the building of apprehension as to just how ruthless the Sensorites are; to the the unique way that it shows us an alien race that for once, doesn't want to conquer the planet. Even the twist at the end of the crazy human survivors is ok on the face of it.
But...
This story just feels like it's executed very badly, to the point where I can see it means well, but it just becomes farcical at times, and it's not all the fault of the crew. There are just too many instances of things not making sense, like Barbara and Susan exploring the back half of the ship in episode 1 for very little reason; the fact that Ian and Barbara rush off to confront the Sensorites in the next episode, only to back off again as soon as they find them.
Things like this continue all the way through to the point where the Doctor is seemingly attacked by monsters in the aqueducts and has his coat shredded but yet the creature doesn't do any other harm to him???? Then, apart from one final roar in the tunnels when Ian and the Doctor go back in, we never ever hear from it again once it's obvious it was a red herring.
And what was the resolution of all the plotting with the city administrator? He's never confronted, we just get a throw away line about him being banished.
It was a noble effort, but coming off the back of some of the other stories in this series, it just doesn't stand up.
Rating
6 out of 10
The show is let down by a lot of silly red herrings and things that just don't make much sense. The twist at the end is a bit of an anti-climax as well.
On top of that, the atmospheric music stops and starts too abruptly, ruining all sense of suspense it tries to create.
Rewatchability Factor
4 out of 10
As you'll hear me say frequently with early Doctor Who stories, this would be far better if it was only four episodes long. The fact that it's six, means that we have to sit through a lot of argy-bargy about the Sensorites seizing control and the fact that they won't just let the crew leave and be rid of them.
Watch this if you liked...
- Planet of the Ood (Doctor Who Series 4)
- The Doctor's Daughter (Doctor Who Series 4. This is about aliens portrayed as bad guys who turn out to be not so bad guys).
Consulting the Matrix
Do you prefer the Sensorites to the Ood, or not? and why or why not?
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