The Passionate Anti-War PLEA - Doctor Who: The Sensorites (1964) - REVIEW 

"I had never thought of that..." Thanks for watching my review of 'The Sensorites'!. If you liked it, please "like" the video and leave a comment to appease the almighty RU-vid algorithm!

I really like the bit where The Doctor randomly requests a cape and then 5 minutes later the fact he is wearing a cape now but wasn't earlier becomes a vital plot point!

“Did you know that I also have a patreon?” “I have never thought of that.” I laughed way harder than I should’ve at that point 🤣

The Sensorite City Administrator really feels like a Saturday morning cartoon villain right down to his plan and not so subtle screen presence. It’s kind’ve hilarious if you think about it.

"...the one with the fwhite hair". Valid criticisms aside, by the end of the story we've seen the Doctor act altruistically towards strangers for the first time. He has developed so much more towards the character that we know and love.

I do not make threats, but I do keep promises.

I feel like the theme of the story is about being suspicious and paranoid of others. The city administrator is suspicious of the humans, and in fairness the humans have proven untrustworthy in the past. Idk, I think the city administrator's motives make plenty of sense. It's a story that could be resolved by everyone talking to each other, but paranoia distrust and suspicion prevent that happening, which as i say is the theme of the story. Also I treasure this story coz it depicts a properly alien society. When do we EVER get that? The Web Planet is the only other story that does that. The Rings of Akhaten glimpses at it too, but I think that's pretty much it. Very surprising for a show like this.

The way the Sensorites were gradually, indirectly revealed, gave me the creeps. It was perfect.

D’oh! The City Administrator has such a distinctive voice It’s odd more people don’t recognise him as Peter Glaze, the ever-present, puffed up straight man of weekly comedy skits in BBC kid’s favourite “Crackerjack” throughout the 60s and 70s.

I'd like to see a new story about the Sensorites.

I've started rewatching every story, I'm currently rewatching "The Web Planet", I really liked the Reign of Terror

Great masks & face makeup for the aliens. Worthy of even Outer Limits. Star Trek never had anything quite so good, which makes me wonder if the Sensorite or any of the Outer Limits aliens would've worked in color? I mean, if such makeup was possible years earlier then I can only guess being in black & white was far more forgiving.

Susan does say the NIGHT sky of her planet is burnt orange (much like London's these days). But not the daytime sky.

One of my favorite doctor who stories from William Hartnell 's first season!

My husband and I refer to the Sensorites as "the Worst Telepaths in the Cosmos"!

So the Doctor was just going to casually abandon Ian in Revolution France to die?

I enjoyed the Sensorites' return in "Susan's War". I also agree with your multiple Twilight Zone comparisons and it's kind of interesting that in both 1963 and 2005 the Tardis was directly interfered with.

My Dad and step mom just found the cliffhanger to episode 1 to be silly- Oh well:(

I like The Sensorites

"The logic does fall apart" Literally doctor who in a nutshell.

Your analytical prowess never ceases to amaze me, Trilbee

The Sensorites are kind of like the OOD in the way they communicate, are they sister species like the Silurians and Sea Devils?

Very under rated and tied favourite season 1 story with the Aztecs

Actually, Susan and Barbara were looking for water and walked right past the container because they didn't look down.

another trip into the far future? isn't this the show's first definite trip into the future? Skaro and Marinus were both alien planets, they could have been at any point in time relative to the contemporary date of broadcast.

Its actually established thatbthe reason the Sensorites keep them in orbit and dont let them leave is because they know if they do leave a fleet of Earth ships will come back to the Sense Sphere.

It's stories like this that make me wanna go back and rewatch them... which I can't afford to do that because I've got like, 4 decades of stories to catch up on hahaha

Pretty amazing that you have somehow managed to include my top three favourite series ever within a span of a minute by playing The X-Files theme and giving a shout-out to The Twilight Zone within a Doctor Who review! Keep up the good work!

I’ve been meaning to pick up a few more Hartnell serials to add to the collection, so I’ve been using this as a guide to work out which ones I should get next….you’ve successfully convinced me to get both this and The Aztecs :D

The gorgeous Ilona Rodgers of Prisoner Cell Block H fame.

Thanks

It's not uncomfortable an controlling whatsoever that the Doctor doesn't let Susan go to the planet. What kind of grandfather would he be if he did? We're not talking about her going off to university or deciding her own career path. We're talking about her travelling to an unknown planet with unknown aliens who they have every reason to believe could be hostile. And she is still a child, we don't know her actual age but both in appearance by human standards and in the way she comes across by gallifreyan standards, she's a child. I thought it was an excellent bit of character development for both her and the Doctor. She gets to demonstrate her altruism and willingness to sacrifice herself for the sake of the rest of them. The Doctor gets to demonstrate his paternal care and love for her as the thing he's most upset about is that this is the first time they've fallen out. And she learns the valuable lesson that good intentions alone aren't enough. Experience and wisdom is needed to consider all the factors.

Now i bring up the question if the Sensorites have been enslaved by humanity like the Ood

I'm broadly in agreement with you on this one, the story starts well with the first 2 episodes but all the stuff with the City Administrator and the stealing of each others sashes was just straight-up hack writing and really bogged the serial down. It's a really awkward middle. It's an interesting story but not an overly engaging one.

These guys live in the same system as the ood I

I'm not buying that the Doctor and Susan never had a fight before, Dr.1 gets annoyed by the slightest thing and Susan must have been going through puberty for a few decades now...

Ood nods in approval

"I have never thought of that..." - make it a fourth wall break and what would your reaction be?

Great review. I'm really enjoying these Hartnell reviews because you approach it with both an open mind towards the era and what the show is trying to do, but also an attention to detail. It's been a while since I had seen the story and I had basically forgotten all about the human soldiers underground at the end, which says something for how well the anti war theme was handled huh?? The serial looks great and has nice atmosphere at the start but kind of just limps along to nothing.

Yay!

#bringbackthesensorites

Why! Are! They! CONSTANTLY! Going on holiday????? Surely there's tons of potential holiday schedule available during the time that they create the sets rather than, I dunno, during the filming??

Never seen this episode and tbh after watching this I don't think I will rush to watch it. Some bits sound cool but I just don't know if I wanna go through 6 episodes to get to them

👍

"What would Adjudicator That think?" "I had never thought of That." "That's why That hates you." Great review. Very on point.

Love the sensorites

Will you eventually cover The Time Meddler?

I must admit that the appearance of the Sensorite at the window really creeped me out!

This one’s okay.

Is that David Graham, voice of Parker from Thunderbirds?

Not quite Mervyn Pinfield’s Director debut. Could be said he directed the title sequence..

Fans, watch the Sensorite at the cliffhanger scene, then watch the Sensorite at the start of the second episode. Two very different Sensorites. BTW, this is Ilona Rogers' first major screen appearance. She spend the next 50 years doing soap operas in Australia and New Zealand.

The sensorites are proper simpletons its hilarious. When you think about it their accidentally being creepy and it's not there intent as they don't know how to act normal

Sensorites were the inspiration to the Oods.

I would have enjoyed this story more if it were cut down to 4 parts with the padding and filler removed. There's also the issue where the poisoning plot requires that all the other Sensorites be too stupid to live without the Doctor's intervention. Supposedly advanced society we have here. Why aren't they in a state of emergency over this disease and running all kinds of tests on it? The fact that this supposedly intelligent species hasn't developed any way to handle their issues with darkness and noise also bothered me. I say all this because this story could have been good with a little more thought and polish, but it's very forgettable apart from Hartnell's amazing performance. And you made a very good point about Susan. I think this is the only serial she appears in that she actually gets development and opposes the Doctor to do her own thing. Severely underutilized character that all the other writers at the time made into a damsel and a screamer. (And it didn't help that her actress was laughably bad at making her distress seem realistic.)

One creepy, intriguing episode, five boring episodes, and a top 5 Hartnell dressing-down. Worth a watch!

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The Sensorites is a bit bloated and doesn't have the greatest writing, but I admit I have a soft spot for it.

AT THE END OF PART 1 A SENSORITE COMES TO THE WINDOW...........BUT......AT THE START OF PART 2 ..THERE IS A DIFFERENT SENSORITE AT THE WINDOW...

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