EPISODE 1- STRANGERS IN SPACE
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 20 June 1964
The Sensorites is one of those stories that when I first saw it was bowled over by. It’s another long story but written by Peter R Newman and my advise to anyone reading this would be to buy the DVD and watch the documentary about him as its one of the saddest and most impressive documentaries that I remember seeing on a Doctor Who DVD. There is a mystery about whether they have landed or not. There is a nice moment when they talk about how they have all changed since that very first episode. Amazingly its been eight months since the series started and its almost like they are reminiscing with the audience about how far they have all come since that very first episode .The moment where they walk from the TARDIS into the spaceship control room was a nice bit of continuity.
It seems like the two people they encounter are dead and its quite a sombre opening. After accepting the fact that they are dead there is a surprising moment when the chap starts to move. It turns out that they were in a deep sleep.
The woman is called Carol and the man is called Maitland and their story is that the ship is by a planet called the Sense-sphere. They don’t kill them but actually go to the trouble feeding them. They don’t sound like your typical alien. It’s at this moment that we learn that Susan has telepathic abilities. It starts when she senses something. This isn’t really given much time to settle in our minds but its enough to encourage the regulars to leave and go back to the TARDIS. The taking of the lock seems like another excuse to prevent the regulars from leaving. It’s similar to what was used in ‘The Keys of Marinus’. When Barbara smells something burning I don’t get why they don’t think to check the TARDIS or how they could miss the Sense-sphere taking the lock of the TARDIS. It’s not that great a distance to the TARDIS.
The first shot of the Sense-sphere isn’t a good one as its clearly a glove. It’s good that we don’t get a good full look of them. All we get is a glove and their head. By not showing us the full creature its making the viewer want to seem them all that much more.
There is regular mention of a third member of the crew called John. He seemed to be the worst affected by what the Sensorites have been doing and seems to be lurking around parts of the ship that Maitland and Carol don’t go to. In fact they don’t seem to have any urge to look for him until they realise that Susan and Barbara are missing. This is when the story starts to get going because it becomes very tense and atmospheric. It is Barbara and Susan that get separated and are the first to encounter John. He doesn’t exactly come out of it very well. Both Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill do very well in this story.
There’s a fun moment when they are trying to get through a door to get to Susan and Barbara with the smallest device ever. It wouldn’t get you into a can of beans let alone a door.
The cliffhanger was brilliant and it was the first time since An Unearthly Child: Episode 1 that I was genuinely stunned by what I saw. It was a Sensorite popping up into the window and its must have been great to think what was going to happen in the next episode. Despite not much happening in this episode I still enjoyed it. I thought the introduction of Carol and Maitland were good additions and helped interact with the regulars. A good opening episode.
EPISODE 2 – THE UNWILLING WARRIORS
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 27 Junr 1964
After the great cliffhanger in ‘Strangers in Space’ we get our first proper glimpse of the Sensorites. It’s just as well that this story was made in black and white because I think in colour they don’t quite have the same impact that they do in monochrome. Something I never commented on in the cliffhanger was how I liked that out of the Doctor, Ian, Maitland and Carol. It was only Ian that walked around like he was the most mentally strongest of the four.
There is a moment when John is talking to thin air but he is looking just to the side of the camera. It’s a nice moment. Stephen Dartnell gives a superb performance and it helps add to the tension. It’s good who they have turned the one person who has been affected the most by the Sensorites and as a result is more strange, is the one that they turn to for help. They are still using that stupid little laser blaster to get through the door. Still cant believe they are using something so ridiculously small.
Barbara and Susan continue to be a good double act in the early part of this episode. Working together to calm John down. Susan is the one that comes up with the idea of telepathy and talks about a previous adventure that they have. She talks about the planet Esto. Susan’s involvement in this story is becoming stronger and its nice to see Susan to become better written for after the inconsistent recent episodes.
There is a nice theory about why the Sensorites are doing what they are doing and why John’s hair has turned white. Ian surmises that John has discovered something and they are trying to stop him or the team from going down to the sense-sphere. It’s all down to fear and that they don’t want the humans to go back to earth and bring other to ravage their world. When its explained you sort of understand why they have felt the need to act the way they have and it explains why they don’t actually harm them even though they are effectively kept prisoner.
Ian’s first encounter with the Sensorites is a good one as he is prepared to get violent if he needs to. It’s perhaps the downside of being the action hero of the group that he instantly resorts to this instead of trying to talk and reason with them. William Russell is good in this episode and has some good scenes. As does William Hartnell who’s best moment comes when he is standing up to the Sensorites. It was quite interesting to note that in the previous episode he was having a go a Maitland for the laser being so slow on the door yet in this episode he is a lot more calmer because he understand that anger leaves them open to attack.
Mervyn Pinfield’s direction is very good as he keeps it very tense for large parts of the story. At times it feels claustrophobic and Raymond Cusick does a good job in creating some good sets. The lighting was another thing that helped to create a wonderful spaceship and that credit goes to Peter Murray who keeps it light in the main control room but when it came to the corridor and the sleeping quarters it is a different matter and the lighting makes it look menacing.
We get the first proper encounter between the humans and the Sensorites. The Sensorites want them to stay on the sense-sphere where they will live there until they die but the humans don’t want that and there is a nice moment when the Doctor uses his anger to hurt the Sensorites.
Susan’s telepathy comes into proper use towards the end when the Sensorites contact her directly. Apparently the Sensorites and Susan work out a plan that leads to her going with the Sensorites and the humans surviving. It comes out of the blue and that is what makes it a good cliffhanger. The episode as a whole was good because it continued the atmospheric tension that we saw in the first episode and didn’t just put it to one side now that the introduction episode is out of the way but instead built on it. This story is just as good as I remember thinking the first time I saw it.
EPISODE 3 – HIDDEN DANGER
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 11 July 1964
The start of the episode sees the regulars trying to prevent Susan from going with the Sensorites. There is a nice moment of the Doctor, Susan and Barbara are teaming against Susan. We get the first bit of proper friction between the Doctor and Susan. It’s the first time that Susan has defied her grandfather and it causes the Doctor to be angry in a way that we haven’t really seen before. Ian thinks that Susan has been hypnotised by the Sensorites but Barbara tells him that she’s just growing up. Considering that she’s an alien and they haven’t really talked about alien things how would Barbara know she’s growing up.
The Doctor has another reason why he doesn’t like the Sensorites and that’s because he feels they are turning his granddaughter against him. It doesn’t really last long but it seems to be the reason why everybody goes to the sense-sphere. There is a plot contrivance to explain Jacqueline Hill’s holiday and that is she is staying up with Maitland whilst everyone else goes to the sense-sphere.
We get to learn about why the Sensorites aren’t quite trusting of humans. Due to a previous human encounter the Sensorites on their planet are dying. It makes the reason why the Sensorites do what they do more understanding and you can sympathise with them. We finally get to see something other than the spaceship and we get to encounter more Sensorites. A downside the characters show themselves in this story as we get to see their feet. They look like ducks feet.
The sets for the Sensorites is quite good. It’s a lot brighter than the spaceship and so it is a nice warming place to visit. The sets are done so that it feels like a big place and not just a couple of sets put next to each other. There is a sense of scale and its good to get out of the confines of the spaceship.
They all look the same as the only difference is the black sash that some of them wear. Otherwise there is no way of telling them apart which is going to be difficult but there is a minor difference because some are a bit portly and some are slimmer.
It’s good that the Sensorites are just as distrusting to people that they don’t know just like humans can be. This fear is something that runs through the episode quite blatantly and it’s not something that’s been explored like this before. John has the ability to tell who is evil and who isn’t and despite not really being in the episode that much his involvement is quite good and he’s been the most consistent thing in the story.
No sooner have the humans arrived than someone is trying to kill them. The city administrator is going all the way to try and kill the humans. Just when it looks like that the regulars are going to kill them they are stopped by the First Elder. However it’s just seems to delay the inevitable as Ian becomes ill. After moments of coughing he just stands up and collapses to the floor and we are told he is dying.
It’s a really good cliffhanger as it puts Ian in genuine danger. Unlike in the Aztecs when he was in the tunnel filled with water I think if I were watching this for the first time then I would wonder whether Ian was going to make it. I thought that the episode was a transitional one as we move from the spaceship to the Sensorites home world and its good that there seems like a purpose to it but also a genuine menace. Best episode of the story.
EPISODE 4 – THE DAY OF DARKNESS
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 13 June 1964
This is the first time that Jacqueline Hill hasn’t featured at any point in an episode. Barbara is still on the spaceship and with Ian sick for most of the episode. He’s up on his feet by the end of the episode but he’s not 100%. The race against death that the title suggests is more of a sprint as its dealt with relatively quickly and Ian is up and about by the 2/3 mark. The Doctor is quick to figure out what might be causing Ian’s encounter with the floor.
The First Elder is quite trusting of the humans yet the Second Elder isn’t so keen. There is a nice split with some wanting to work with the humans and let them have what they need whilst some think that they shouldn’t be allowed this courtesy. It’s an interesting bit of conflict and it plays out well in the episode. The City Administrator jokes about not being able to tell the humans apart and that they don’t carry any signs of position. This is a theme of the episode and it is Carol that gives the city administrator a way of tricking the humans. The City Administrator works quick to come up with a plan.
William Hartnell seems to be in his prime in this episode as he goes from being angry at the First and Second Elders but then progresses to being the scientist. It’s good when the Doctor isn’t just satisfied with finding a cure but finding out the source of the problem and goes on an expedition. As William Russell is playing the patient for most of the episode it falls to Carole Ann Ford to be one of the people driving the story and she does it well and the partnership between Hartnell and Ford is one of the best things about this episode.
There is a nice montage where they are trying to find out where the poisoned water is coming from. It’s not something that we have seen before but it helps pass the time.
The City Administrator stages a coup d'etat when he steals the sash of the First Elder after he goes on a rant about the Doctor pretending to look for a cure and Ian pretending to be ill. He also manages to intercept the antidote. Now this could have led to another episode of trying to find the cure but its quickly resolved and it doesn’t hold up the story. It’s strange that with so little really happening the episode moves along at a good pace.
The last part of the story sees the Doctor venture into the caverns where he starts to suspect that this isn’t just a case of water poisoning. There is a myth about there being monsters in the caverns. The Doctor is rather blasé about these so called monsters and so goes straight into the darkness without so much as a care in the world.
The cliffhanger is a cracker. The Doctor is in a very dimly lit tunnel and comes across a possible conclusion to his mission and the light focuses on his face as he is ‘looking’ at a roar. Who knows what is making that noise. This story is impressing me just as much as it did when I have watched it in one go in the past.
EPISODE 5 – KIDNAP
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 25 July 1964
The reprise is noticeably different from what we saw at the end of the previous episode. The question still remains as to what is causing that noise. I’m surprised at how dimly lit the tunnel scenes are. What makes it more striking is when the camera is focused on Ian and Susan we hear the Doctor scream out in terror which is something that I never thought I would witness. The early stages of the episode are quite exiciting and it’s down to the lighting and also the performances from the regulars. This is the second episode that Jacqueline Hill doesn’t appear though they do at least mention Barbara. At least they have remembered there is someone else in the group though they don’t actually mention Maitland which is a shame because the character was a good one and what he went through a lot with Carol yet isn’t regarded very highly as we don’t hear from him again.
John is still undergoing treatment in what looks like the weirdest hairdryer in existence. This means that John isn’t really allowed to do very much which is a shame really after he was so strong in the early episodes. Carol also suffers from not having a great deal to do as she has to play nurse to John. When John recovers you can tell this has happened because his hair is normal and now he is better his involvement is more important. He can reveal the City Administrator/Second Elder as the traitor.
The City Administrator really takes a leap in the utterly nasty stakes. His fear of the humans is getting to be quite silly (but in a good way). When the real Second Elder is killed by the City Administrator it looks like his plan has gone up the spout but the City Administrator comes up with a new plan on the spot. It led to the Doctor suggesting that the City Administrator becomes Second Elder. It’s not long before the regulars realise that they made a mistake by suggesting the City Administrator be promoted but by then its too late. It’s not long before the Doctor and Ian go back to the acquaduct but thanks to the new Second Elder the weapons they have don’t work all we see from them for this episode. The cliffhanger actually features Carol who is walking around the city and a hand (clearly a sensorite) covers up her mouth and pulls out of shot. This is a good cliffhanger and quite a shocking one considering it’s a family show. It’s another solid episode as it feels like things are starting to move to a climax with John getting better and the City Administrator/Second Elder’s plans taking strength, the final episode has a lot to live up to and my enjoyment in this episode was quite high.
EPISODE 6 – KIDNAP
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 1 August 1964
The final episode has to finish the story in a satisfactory way. Carol is forced to write a note saying that she is going up to the ship but it doesn’t fool Barbara, Susan and John. Barbara finally returns and she seems to stroll right back into the action. It is clear that Jacqueline Hill has been somewhere sunny as she looks a lot more tanned than she did the last time we saw her. The spaceship must have quite the tanning booth. I like the moment when the First Elder tries to reassure Susan that no danger will come to Ian and the Doctor and then it cuts to them realising that the guns they have are useless as is the map that they were given.
After the rather atmospheric lighting that was used for some of the earlier tunnel scenes, it’s sad to notice that they lighting has been bought up a bit. Not enough to ruin it but noticeably enough. It would have helped the scene work if the lights were turned down as the sets did look quite ordinary. The Doctor and Ian encounter someone from the crashed ship. I was personally expecting just one or two people but what we get here are several of them. They are the ones that have been poisoning the Sensorites. They have been living in the caves so that the Sensorites don’t read their minds. They look like an erratic bunch.
We get our first ever reference to the Doctor and Susan’s home world. It’s a lovely description and the look on Susan’s face shows how she really wants to be back there. Then in the final scene in the TARDIS sees Susan wanting to belong somewhere seems to start the path of her departure.
There’s a nice bit of teamwork between Ian and the Doctor. Everytime there is a moment like this I am reminded of their first encounters which were anything but friendly. The partnership of John and Barbara was good as well. I thought that this was another good episode for Susan as she was quite important in the story and normally her being side-lined would have been perfectly fine because she would be annoying but here its different because she’s being used in a good way and actually contributing something. Quite why it could have been the other way around isn’t quite clear but it wouldn’t have changed how well they all worked.
When Ian and the Doctor encounter the leader of the group there is an attempt to convince them that they have won their war against the Sensorites. They had gone made and this is what led them to try and poison the Sensorites and they believed that they were at war. The humans were stunned and they disappeared onto the ship. That was basically how it ended.
There are several instances of people fluffing their lines. No one seems to be immune to a bit of fluffing. I’m not sure for the reason and normally its not really an issue but here there seems to be so much that it almost becomes amusing. The ending of the episode sees the Doctor throwing a hissy fit after the Doctor makes a joke about the Doctor not knowing where they are going and this just moments after he admits that the TARDIS has a mind of its own.
I must admit that I was slightly disappointed with this episode as I don’t think that the story gave the ending that it should have done. It seemed like they should have spent more time with the humans in the tunnel because it seems like so much time waiting to get to this moment that when they turned up it seemed rushed. The performances were good and its was nice to have Jacqueline Hill back in the story. As a six part adventure I still like it for the reasons I did when I first saw it. It’s got some good characters and some atmospheric moments. Well worth the time and effort.
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 20 June 1964
The Sensorites is one of those stories that when I first saw it was bowled over by. It’s another long story but written by Peter R Newman and my advise to anyone reading this would be to buy the DVD and watch the documentary about him as its one of the saddest and most impressive documentaries that I remember seeing on a Doctor Who DVD. There is a mystery about whether they have landed or not. There is a nice moment when they talk about how they have all changed since that very first episode. Amazingly its been eight months since the series started and its almost like they are reminiscing with the audience about how far they have all come since that very first episode .The moment where they walk from the TARDIS into the spaceship control room was a nice bit of continuity.
It seems like the two people they encounter are dead and its quite a sombre opening. After accepting the fact that they are dead there is a surprising moment when the chap starts to move. It turns out that they were in a deep sleep.
The woman is called Carol and the man is called Maitland and their story is that the ship is by a planet called the Sense-sphere. They don’t kill them but actually go to the trouble feeding them. They don’t sound like your typical alien. It’s at this moment that we learn that Susan has telepathic abilities. It starts when she senses something. This isn’t really given much time to settle in our minds but its enough to encourage the regulars to leave and go back to the TARDIS. The taking of the lock seems like another excuse to prevent the regulars from leaving. It’s similar to what was used in ‘The Keys of Marinus’. When Barbara smells something burning I don’t get why they don’t think to check the TARDIS or how they could miss the Sense-sphere taking the lock of the TARDIS. It’s not that great a distance to the TARDIS.
The first shot of the Sense-sphere isn’t a good one as its clearly a glove. It’s good that we don’t get a good full look of them. All we get is a glove and their head. By not showing us the full creature its making the viewer want to seem them all that much more.
There is regular mention of a third member of the crew called John. He seemed to be the worst affected by what the Sensorites have been doing and seems to be lurking around parts of the ship that Maitland and Carol don’t go to. In fact they don’t seem to have any urge to look for him until they realise that Susan and Barbara are missing. This is when the story starts to get going because it becomes very tense and atmospheric. It is Barbara and Susan that get separated and are the first to encounter John. He doesn’t exactly come out of it very well. Both Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill do very well in this story.
There’s a fun moment when they are trying to get through a door to get to Susan and Barbara with the smallest device ever. It wouldn’t get you into a can of beans let alone a door.
The cliffhanger was brilliant and it was the first time since An Unearthly Child: Episode 1 that I was genuinely stunned by what I saw. It was a Sensorite popping up into the window and its must have been great to think what was going to happen in the next episode. Despite not much happening in this episode I still enjoyed it. I thought the introduction of Carol and Maitland were good additions and helped interact with the regulars. A good opening episode.
EPISODE 2 – THE UNWILLING WARRIORS
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 27 Junr 1964
After the great cliffhanger in ‘Strangers in Space’ we get our first proper glimpse of the Sensorites. It’s just as well that this story was made in black and white because I think in colour they don’t quite have the same impact that they do in monochrome. Something I never commented on in the cliffhanger was how I liked that out of the Doctor, Ian, Maitland and Carol. It was only Ian that walked around like he was the most mentally strongest of the four.
There is a moment when John is talking to thin air but he is looking just to the side of the camera. It’s a nice moment. Stephen Dartnell gives a superb performance and it helps add to the tension. It’s good who they have turned the one person who has been affected the most by the Sensorites and as a result is more strange, is the one that they turn to for help. They are still using that stupid little laser blaster to get through the door. Still cant believe they are using something so ridiculously small.
Barbara and Susan continue to be a good double act in the early part of this episode. Working together to calm John down. Susan is the one that comes up with the idea of telepathy and talks about a previous adventure that they have. She talks about the planet Esto. Susan’s involvement in this story is becoming stronger and its nice to see Susan to become better written for after the inconsistent recent episodes.
There is a nice theory about why the Sensorites are doing what they are doing and why John’s hair has turned white. Ian surmises that John has discovered something and they are trying to stop him or the team from going down to the sense-sphere. It’s all down to fear and that they don’t want the humans to go back to earth and bring other to ravage their world. When its explained you sort of understand why they have felt the need to act the way they have and it explains why they don’t actually harm them even though they are effectively kept prisoner.
Ian’s first encounter with the Sensorites is a good one as he is prepared to get violent if he needs to. It’s perhaps the downside of being the action hero of the group that he instantly resorts to this instead of trying to talk and reason with them. William Russell is good in this episode and has some good scenes. As does William Hartnell who’s best moment comes when he is standing up to the Sensorites. It was quite interesting to note that in the previous episode he was having a go a Maitland for the laser being so slow on the door yet in this episode he is a lot more calmer because he understand that anger leaves them open to attack.
Mervyn Pinfield’s direction is very good as he keeps it very tense for large parts of the story. At times it feels claustrophobic and Raymond Cusick does a good job in creating some good sets. The lighting was another thing that helped to create a wonderful spaceship and that credit goes to Peter Murray who keeps it light in the main control room but when it came to the corridor and the sleeping quarters it is a different matter and the lighting makes it look menacing.
We get the first proper encounter between the humans and the Sensorites. The Sensorites want them to stay on the sense-sphere where they will live there until they die but the humans don’t want that and there is a nice moment when the Doctor uses his anger to hurt the Sensorites.
Susan’s telepathy comes into proper use towards the end when the Sensorites contact her directly. Apparently the Sensorites and Susan work out a plan that leads to her going with the Sensorites and the humans surviving. It comes out of the blue and that is what makes it a good cliffhanger. The episode as a whole was good because it continued the atmospheric tension that we saw in the first episode and didn’t just put it to one side now that the introduction episode is out of the way but instead built on it. This story is just as good as I remember thinking the first time I saw it.
EPISODE 3 – HIDDEN DANGER
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 11 July 1964
The start of the episode sees the regulars trying to prevent Susan from going with the Sensorites. There is a nice moment of the Doctor, Susan and Barbara are teaming against Susan. We get the first bit of proper friction between the Doctor and Susan. It’s the first time that Susan has defied her grandfather and it causes the Doctor to be angry in a way that we haven’t really seen before. Ian thinks that Susan has been hypnotised by the Sensorites but Barbara tells him that she’s just growing up. Considering that she’s an alien and they haven’t really talked about alien things how would Barbara know she’s growing up.
The Doctor has another reason why he doesn’t like the Sensorites and that’s because he feels they are turning his granddaughter against him. It doesn’t really last long but it seems to be the reason why everybody goes to the sense-sphere. There is a plot contrivance to explain Jacqueline Hill’s holiday and that is she is staying up with Maitland whilst everyone else goes to the sense-sphere.
We get to learn about why the Sensorites aren’t quite trusting of humans. Due to a previous human encounter the Sensorites on their planet are dying. It makes the reason why the Sensorites do what they do more understanding and you can sympathise with them. We finally get to see something other than the spaceship and we get to encounter more Sensorites. A downside the characters show themselves in this story as we get to see their feet. They look like ducks feet.
The sets for the Sensorites is quite good. It’s a lot brighter than the spaceship and so it is a nice warming place to visit. The sets are done so that it feels like a big place and not just a couple of sets put next to each other. There is a sense of scale and its good to get out of the confines of the spaceship.
They all look the same as the only difference is the black sash that some of them wear. Otherwise there is no way of telling them apart which is going to be difficult but there is a minor difference because some are a bit portly and some are slimmer.
It’s good that the Sensorites are just as distrusting to people that they don’t know just like humans can be. This fear is something that runs through the episode quite blatantly and it’s not something that’s been explored like this before. John has the ability to tell who is evil and who isn’t and despite not really being in the episode that much his involvement is quite good and he’s been the most consistent thing in the story.
No sooner have the humans arrived than someone is trying to kill them. The city administrator is going all the way to try and kill the humans. Just when it looks like that the regulars are going to kill them they are stopped by the First Elder. However it’s just seems to delay the inevitable as Ian becomes ill. After moments of coughing he just stands up and collapses to the floor and we are told he is dying.
It’s a really good cliffhanger as it puts Ian in genuine danger. Unlike in the Aztecs when he was in the tunnel filled with water I think if I were watching this for the first time then I would wonder whether Ian was going to make it. I thought that the episode was a transitional one as we move from the spaceship to the Sensorites home world and its good that there seems like a purpose to it but also a genuine menace. Best episode of the story.
EPISODE 4 – THE DAY OF DARKNESS
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 13 June 1964
This is the first time that Jacqueline Hill hasn’t featured at any point in an episode. Barbara is still on the spaceship and with Ian sick for most of the episode. He’s up on his feet by the end of the episode but he’s not 100%. The race against death that the title suggests is more of a sprint as its dealt with relatively quickly and Ian is up and about by the 2/3 mark. The Doctor is quick to figure out what might be causing Ian’s encounter with the floor.
The First Elder is quite trusting of the humans yet the Second Elder isn’t so keen. There is a nice split with some wanting to work with the humans and let them have what they need whilst some think that they shouldn’t be allowed this courtesy. It’s an interesting bit of conflict and it plays out well in the episode. The City Administrator jokes about not being able to tell the humans apart and that they don’t carry any signs of position. This is a theme of the episode and it is Carol that gives the city administrator a way of tricking the humans. The City Administrator works quick to come up with a plan.
William Hartnell seems to be in his prime in this episode as he goes from being angry at the First and Second Elders but then progresses to being the scientist. It’s good when the Doctor isn’t just satisfied with finding a cure but finding out the source of the problem and goes on an expedition. As William Russell is playing the patient for most of the episode it falls to Carole Ann Ford to be one of the people driving the story and she does it well and the partnership between Hartnell and Ford is one of the best things about this episode.
There is a nice montage where they are trying to find out where the poisoned water is coming from. It’s not something that we have seen before but it helps pass the time.
The City Administrator stages a coup d'etat when he steals the sash of the First Elder after he goes on a rant about the Doctor pretending to look for a cure and Ian pretending to be ill. He also manages to intercept the antidote. Now this could have led to another episode of trying to find the cure but its quickly resolved and it doesn’t hold up the story. It’s strange that with so little really happening the episode moves along at a good pace.
The last part of the story sees the Doctor venture into the caverns where he starts to suspect that this isn’t just a case of water poisoning. There is a myth about there being monsters in the caverns. The Doctor is rather blasé about these so called monsters and so goes straight into the darkness without so much as a care in the world.
The cliffhanger is a cracker. The Doctor is in a very dimly lit tunnel and comes across a possible conclusion to his mission and the light focuses on his face as he is ‘looking’ at a roar. Who knows what is making that noise. This story is impressing me just as much as it did when I have watched it in one go in the past.
EPISODE 5 – KIDNAP
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 25 July 1964
The reprise is noticeably different from what we saw at the end of the previous episode. The question still remains as to what is causing that noise. I’m surprised at how dimly lit the tunnel scenes are. What makes it more striking is when the camera is focused on Ian and Susan we hear the Doctor scream out in terror which is something that I never thought I would witness. The early stages of the episode are quite exiciting and it’s down to the lighting and also the performances from the regulars. This is the second episode that Jacqueline Hill doesn’t appear though they do at least mention Barbara. At least they have remembered there is someone else in the group though they don’t actually mention Maitland which is a shame because the character was a good one and what he went through a lot with Carol yet isn’t regarded very highly as we don’t hear from him again.
John is still undergoing treatment in what looks like the weirdest hairdryer in existence. This means that John isn’t really allowed to do very much which is a shame really after he was so strong in the early episodes. Carol also suffers from not having a great deal to do as she has to play nurse to John. When John recovers you can tell this has happened because his hair is normal and now he is better his involvement is more important. He can reveal the City Administrator/Second Elder as the traitor.
The City Administrator really takes a leap in the utterly nasty stakes. His fear of the humans is getting to be quite silly (but in a good way). When the real Second Elder is killed by the City Administrator it looks like his plan has gone up the spout but the City Administrator comes up with a new plan on the spot. It led to the Doctor suggesting that the City Administrator becomes Second Elder. It’s not long before the regulars realise that they made a mistake by suggesting the City Administrator be promoted but by then its too late. It’s not long before the Doctor and Ian go back to the acquaduct but thanks to the new Second Elder the weapons they have don’t work all we see from them for this episode. The cliffhanger actually features Carol who is walking around the city and a hand (clearly a sensorite) covers up her mouth and pulls out of shot. This is a good cliffhanger and quite a shocking one considering it’s a family show. It’s another solid episode as it feels like things are starting to move to a climax with John getting better and the City Administrator/Second Elder’s plans taking strength, the final episode has a lot to live up to and my enjoyment in this episode was quite high.
EPISODE 6 – KIDNAP
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 1 August 1964
The final episode has to finish the story in a satisfactory way. Carol is forced to write a note saying that she is going up to the ship but it doesn’t fool Barbara, Susan and John. Barbara finally returns and she seems to stroll right back into the action. It is clear that Jacqueline Hill has been somewhere sunny as she looks a lot more tanned than she did the last time we saw her. The spaceship must have quite the tanning booth. I like the moment when the First Elder tries to reassure Susan that no danger will come to Ian and the Doctor and then it cuts to them realising that the guns they have are useless as is the map that they were given.
After the rather atmospheric lighting that was used for some of the earlier tunnel scenes, it’s sad to notice that they lighting has been bought up a bit. Not enough to ruin it but noticeably enough. It would have helped the scene work if the lights were turned down as the sets did look quite ordinary. The Doctor and Ian encounter someone from the crashed ship. I was personally expecting just one or two people but what we get here are several of them. They are the ones that have been poisoning the Sensorites. They have been living in the caves so that the Sensorites don’t read their minds. They look like an erratic bunch.
We get our first ever reference to the Doctor and Susan’s home world. It’s a lovely description and the look on Susan’s face shows how she really wants to be back there. Then in the final scene in the TARDIS sees Susan wanting to belong somewhere seems to start the path of her departure.
There’s a nice bit of teamwork between Ian and the Doctor. Everytime there is a moment like this I am reminded of their first encounters which were anything but friendly. The partnership of John and Barbara was good as well. I thought that this was another good episode for Susan as she was quite important in the story and normally her being side-lined would have been perfectly fine because she would be annoying but here its different because she’s being used in a good way and actually contributing something. Quite why it could have been the other way around isn’t quite clear but it wouldn’t have changed how well they all worked.
When Ian and the Doctor encounter the leader of the group there is an attempt to convince them that they have won their war against the Sensorites. They had gone made and this is what led them to try and poison the Sensorites and they believed that they were at war. The humans were stunned and they disappeared onto the ship. That was basically how it ended.
There are several instances of people fluffing their lines. No one seems to be immune to a bit of fluffing. I’m not sure for the reason and normally its not really an issue but here there seems to be so much that it almost becomes amusing. The ending of the episode sees the Doctor throwing a hissy fit after the Doctor makes a joke about the Doctor not knowing where they are going and this just moments after he admits that the TARDIS has a mind of its own.
I must admit that I was slightly disappointed with this episode as I don’t think that the story gave the ending that it should have done. It seemed like they should have spent more time with the humans in the tunnel because it seems like so much time waiting to get to this moment that when they turned up it seemed rushed. The performances were good and its was nice to have Jacqueline Hill back in the story. As a six part adventure I still like it for the reasons I did when I first saw it. It’s got some good characters and some atmospheric moments. Well worth the time and effort.
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