Possibly long overdue for a
DVD release is the first season adventure, “The Sensorites.” “Long overdue”
because the titular alien race were the influence for the prominently featured
new series race, the Ood; “Possibly” because the Sensorites aren’t particularly
fascinating figures, and Ood fanatics (surely
you exist?) dying to get a peek at the mysterious species’ origins, are likely to
come away wondering how the Sensorites were the inspiration for anything.
As I understand it,
according to Russell T Davies, the Ood come from the same general area of the
universe as the Sensorites, and as such are related. Even their planets of origin
have similar names: The Ood-Sphere and The Sense-Sphere. This is a terribly
clever way, I think, of taking a faulty idea from the classic series and
finding ways to make it work in the new show, without ever using words like
remake, reenvision, or reimagine. Saying that the two species are related does
two things: It provides due reverence for the original idea, and it adds a nice
layer of continuity for long term fans. These days Moffat gets all the credit
for being the clever one, but let’s not forget that mad Uncle Russell wasn’t
missing any crayons from his box of colors, either.
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| An Ood and a Sensorite |
“The Sensorites” sees the
show taking a detour into the realm of science fiction, smack in between two
historical stories, “The Aztecs” and “The Reign of Terror.” The first season of
Doctor
Who was pretty fair about evenly taking turns between the two types of
stories. In the second season there was more of an emphasis on the sci-fi, even
though from today’s vantage point, the historical tales of the Hartnell era
seem to be the ones that hold up better. When the show wasn’t featuring the
Daleks, its sci-fi wasn’t as strong, which speaks to how tight of a concept the
Daleks really were way back then. But since sci-fi is an ever-evolving artform,
it dates itself in ways that these old historical stories tend not to. Back in
1964, “The Sensorites” probably seemed like a pretty cool story, especially to
kids, at whom the show was squarely aimed at that point.
It begins with a lovely,
warm scene of the TARDIS crew discussing their numerous journeys up to this
point, and the impact they’ve all had on one another since Ian (William
Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) first stumbled into the time machine, as
well as the Doctor’s (William Hartnell) and Susan’s (Carole Ann Ford) lives.
The scene is followed by a tracking shot of the crew walking out of the console
room through the TARDIS doors, and outside the ship to the interior of another
spaceship – a series of moves that’s quite the rarity in the classic series,
let alone its first season! It’s quick and subtle, and yet once you see it, you
simply can’t unsee it, and the marveling at the decision to connect the two sets together to achieve the desired effect begins. For the first five minutes alone, it’s
impossible to dismiss “The Sensorites” altogether.
More is learned about the
Sensorites when the action moves to their planet below, the Sense-Sphere. It
turns out they’re just as afraid of the humans as the humans are of them, and
the more the story explores the Sensorites, the less alien they become, despite
the fact that they’re telepathic, afraid of the dark and loud noises, and most
peculiar of all, they’re unable to tell each other apart - ideas that aren’t
ever taken to any kind of proper conclusions. New mysteries pop up on the
Sense-Sphere, as well as some fine character development for Susan, who
gets some good stuff in this piece, including an exploration of her own
telepathic powers, an aspect of Gallifreyans that got minimal play on the
original series, but Davies explored further with the Tenth Doctor. One of the
great Susan moments of this serial is in its final episode, “A Desperate
Venture,” when she speaks of her home planet, of which she says, “At night the
sky is a burnt orange, and the leaves on the trees are a bright silver!” Years
later, Davies would use similar words to describe Gallifrey in “Gridlock.”
Indeed, one cannot help but
wonder what influence this story might have had on Davies at some point, or
maybe he just saw it as a flawed work, worthy of borrowing bits and pieces from. “The
Sensorites” has an unsophisticated kind of earnestness about it, which might be
why it’s so difficult to dislike. I must also admit that my opinion of it was
somewhat colored by the documentary included in the extras entitled “Looking
for Peter,” in which Toby Hadoke searches for information on Peter R. Newman,
the writer of this story. “The Sensorites” is not just Newman’s sole Doctor
Who credit, but aside an obscure non-horror Hammer film called Yesterday’s
Enemy, it amounts to 50% of the deceased writer’s only official
credits. If Newman had some massive resume, I might be more inclined to pull
apart this work, but as is, I feel the need to label it a mild curiosity, even
if not an altogether successful effort and one that should be given some reappraisal in the
name of all that’s decent.
