3 out of 5

Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox

Perhaps the most confused episode to episode serial yet, Peter Newman’s ‘The Sensorites’ can’t decide if it wants to be a thriller, or a sci-fi epic, or a political parable…  But the design of the Sensorites is definitely a massive step forward for low budget creativity, kicking the Voord’s mask-ed asses (…their.. asses were masked?) for the award for best looking non-human organic aliens thus far.  (Note: this would only be vs. The Voord, methinks.  Of the mask-ed asses.)

We start out with the novel idea of having the TARDIS land inside of another ship… the two passengers of which seem quite dead, until they’re not.  Revived via some resuscitator tool, the duo explain how they are held as mental captives by ‘The Sensorites’ around their planet, the Sense-Sphere – the telepathic race occasionally taking control of the crew for reasons unclear.  The doctor pieces together that a third passenger – Peter – had discovered a wealth of molybdenum on the planet, which would obviously be valued similarly regardless of what galaxy you’re in (ahem), and so that’s maybe probably why the crew isn’t being allowed to leave.  Some other on-screen / off-screen moments stack up – Peter’s mental corruption is apparently worse than the others’, so he’s been isolated to another section of the ship; a pair of hands belonging to person’s / alien’s unknown uses a device to remove the locking mechanism from the TARDIS, preventing doc and gang from getting back inside.  Then some silliness: where’s water?, Barbara and Susan want to know.  Why it’s through those doors back there NO NOT THOSE THAT’S WHERE CRAZY PETER IS WHY DID I TELL YOU THAT AND WHY DOES THAT DOOR LOCK AUTOMATICALLY ON BOTH SIDES AFTER YOU GO THROUGH.  But, whatever, silly plottings have been committed before, and Peter’s madman stumblings are interestingly quirky, and the episode ends with a truly batshit odd shot of a Sensorite outside of the ship, peering in.

The next episode maintains some momentum initially, before we find out that Peter is a pussycat and Susan is, uh, telepathic, and The Sensorites hate the dark and loud noise.  Aw shucks, evil villain.  But that’s the thing – they’re not evil.  They’re trying to ward off disease that past human visitors carried (though I might have missed how this ties in to toying with the ship’s humans – temporarily taking control, making them almost crash their ship, making them… dead?  And not to mention those resuscitators, which I don’t believe come up again) and are actually quite the logical race.  This is definitely a disappointing slate-clearing of tension, but the fleshing out of The Sensorite world is worthwhile.  Doc proclaims that he’ll find them a cure for the sickness in exchange for the lock to the TARDIS; the head Sensorite agrees, but his advisor is all human-hatin’ and starts devising double-crosses.  The Sensorite to Sensorite discussions of what the humans are up to just stretch on a bit too long and carry some world-building details that don’t enhance the plot but are obviously there because they were written AND SOMEONE WANTED TO SHARE.  But again, things swing around with a cliffhanger – the doc in search of the cause of the disease is down in the Aqueducts, and then he hears a frightening growl… meanwhile, Advisor-Sensorite has kicked off his double-cross by kidnapping Susan.

Rest assured, the growl and the double-cross are also executed by pussycats.  ‘The Sensorites’ was good practice for fleshing out the Who world, but the balance of ep to ep antics and world-building were way off, causing the serial to lurch between exciting curiosities, talking heads, and superfluous details.  It does feel ‘shorter’ than the longer serial Marco Polo, meaning its certainly more watchable, but it’s nowhere near as satisfying as the highlights thus far, like Daleks and Marinus.