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For Completists Only

By:Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA
Date:Sunday 19 August 2007
Rating:   2

Wow. The Sensorites is really, really bad. Perhaps more than nearly any other story, The Sensorites demonstrates that Doctor Who was a children's series, but even a children's series has no excuse for being this bad. At times, it gets pretty difficult to keep watching.

The weird-looking Sensorites, with their floppy, circular gumdrop feet, are embarrassingly designed and characterized, and the human characters, with the exception of the regulars, give some really grotesque performances, due in no small part to the writing they were forced to work with. And everyone, including the regulars, flubbed their lines constantly. I just can't give this one more than a 2.

However, over the course of the six episodes, there are a few interesting bits (very few). In addition to Hartnell's eccentricity now and then, other points of interest include a clear indication that Susan is from the Doctor's home planet (still unnamed at this point, of course), as she demonstrates some advanced telepathic ability that she and the Doctor talk about at the end, as they discuss when they might return to their home. This same conversation also serves to make a little more sense of the Doctor's decision to leave Susan on Earth in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in the following season, as she states that she would like to belong somewhere again. And I must admit that the brief scene in which Susan describes her home planet, where the sky at night is burnt orange and the leaves on the trees are bright silver, is a classic that, if I'm not mistaken, is apparently the source of inspiration for one or two scenes much later in the show's history in which the Doctor gives a similar description.

If you feel an unquenchable desire to watch The Sensorites, make sure you're caffinated, and keep the fast-forward button handy.



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