Doctor Who Retro Review: Serial 007—The Sensorites
Doctor Who Retro Review
Serial 007: "The Sensorites"
Starring: William Hartnell
By T. Scott Edwards
The
Sensorites has long been
regarded by many Who fans as a bit of a miss – Neil Perryman on the Adventures with the Wife in Space blog
jovially remarks "67% fail halfway through this story" when
attempting to watch the series from the very beginning. Whether this comment is
true or not is irrelevant. It cements the group-culture idea that it is not a 'good'
serial.
As the serial starts, the TARDIS crew are nonchalantly regaling their high adventures through time and space, with Barbara dismissing the Aztec affair with a wave of the hand, saying that she's "over" that. The whole group feels lovely and tightly knit, tactile and jovial as they discuss their past tales. There is a lovely sense of unity amongst the travellers here, one which we've never really felt before. They have become a family unit, one which audiences could no doubt have identified with strongly. Once they step through the TARDIS doors, with a tracking shot reminiscent of Scorsese's Goodfellas, there is a heightening of tension. As they discover the two 'dead' bodies of Maitland and Carol, there is a feeling of adventure, heightened by Norman Kay's incidental music. The music feels rather patronising, with heavy clangs on words like "death!", but all in all this entire first episode gradually ramps up the pressure nicely. As Maitland and Carol are revived from their catatonic state, and deliver background story information to the crew – and therefore us, the viewers – we are treated to possibly the worst existing case of poor peripheral sight in all of Doctor Who's history – stood a mere few metres from the TARDIS, whilst commenting about a burning smell, they fail to see the hand of the unseen Sensorite plunge into the screen, attempt to remove the lock by hand (just like the Voord a few weeks earlier) and then return with some sort of cutting device, removing the entire mechanism.
Yet it has certain elements which make
it tremendously good fun to watch. Some of the performances are excellent –
Peter Glaze, Stephen Dartnell and John Bailey are particularly good – and the
central ideas of xenophobia, and the dangers of war, are strong. It is the script
and direction here which let the story down. Just like with Nation's script for
The Keys of Marinus, the central
idea, whilst a good one, is let down by plodding and unnatural exposition. Peter
R Newman's script works at times, and at others slows everything down too much.
Mervyn Pinfield's direction at times is stylistic and filled with flair – such
as at the beginning of episode 1, as the camera tracks from within the TARDIS
onto the deck of the spaceship – but at other times feels clunky and uninspired.
When Cox takes over for episodes 5 and 6, the whole affair feels slightly
tighter, and episode 6 is one of the strongest, but part 5 still feels hindered
by poor scripting and so still lags.
As the serial starts, the TARDIS crew are nonchalantly regaling their high adventures through time and space, with Barbara dismissing the Aztec affair with a wave of the hand, saying that she's "over" that. The whole group feels lovely and tightly knit, tactile and jovial as they discuss their past tales. There is a lovely sense of unity amongst the travellers here, one which we've never really felt before. They have become a family unit, one which audiences could no doubt have identified with strongly. Once they step through the TARDIS doors, with a tracking shot reminiscent of Scorsese's Goodfellas, there is a heightening of tension. As they discover the two 'dead' bodies of Maitland and Carol, there is a feeling of adventure, heightened by Norman Kay's incidental music. The music feels rather patronising, with heavy clangs on words like "death!", but all in all this entire first episode gradually ramps up the pressure nicely. As Maitland and Carol are revived from their catatonic state, and deliver background story information to the crew – and therefore us, the viewers – we are treated to possibly the worst existing case of poor peripheral sight in all of Doctor Who's history – stood a mere few metres from the TARDIS, whilst commenting about a burning smell, they fail to see the hand of the unseen Sensorite plunge into the screen, attempt to remove the lock by hand (just like the Voord a few weeks earlier) and then return with some sort of cutting device, removing the entire mechanism.
This is, of course, a staple of the
early Doctor Who stories – the crew
are forced away from the safety of their ship, and thrown into the danger. In
past stories they have had failed mercury links, stolen keys, force fields and
tomb walls separating them from the safety of the TARDIS. Here, the threat
becomes somewhat more perverse – the TARDIS is shown to be penetrable,
destructible in some way. Rather than being the indestructive force we later
see, the ship has been attacked, and damaged – it has been vandalised.
So, the crew are forced to help Maitland's
ship – as it is drawn careering towards the Sense-sphere, and the Doctor has
never been so proactive. He saves the day, managing to draw the ship out of the
influence of the unknown Sensorites, but the threat continues, as it is hinted
that something is walking the corridors of the ship – behind the door which
Susan and Barbara have unknowingly crossed the threshold of. An amusing side-note
is the way in which Susan exclaims "That's funny!" about the door
mechanism, opening based on motion – in exactly the same way the doors worked within
the Dalek city on Skaro – the Daleks must have had the same carpenters as this
expedition. The reveal of John, wondering about maniacally mumbling about
voices in his head are superb, and Dartnell's performance is incredibly
convincing. His looks to camera don't seem out of place, as though beseeching
the unknown forces to silence the endless droning, making the audience feel
uncomfortably aware that it could be coming from anywhere.
Whilst the music is good, the moments during
which this first episode is most effective are the eerie silences –
particularly as the crew stand around, in expectation, waiting for something to
happen – anything at all. And then, from the corner of the window, creeping up;
it's a Sensorite! And it's waving! At least, it is in the cliff-hanger of
episode 1. The reprise for episode 2 has been reshot, and instead of the
creeping, ominous feeling we get as it works its way up the window, it is just
a man in a costume, stood around outside a window. It is these little touches
which let the production down. Interestingly, part of the brief provided for
this serial from Sydney Newman was that he wanted the show to portray normal
jobs in a favourable light. He knew that a high number of children wanted to
grow up to be doctors and scientists, yet the uptake into engineering was
limited. Here, we see the practical application of science wonderfully.
Carole Ann Ford's performance as Susan
is incredibly strong throughout this serial – indeed, whilst The Aztecs was Barbara's adventure, this
is Susan's, and she steps up completely. The suggestion of her own psychic
ability, and her mature performance as she stands up to her grandfather are
excellent.
Once the TARDIS crew leave the ship and
head down to the Sense-Sphere (minus Barbara, who is sadly missed due to
Jacqueline Hill's holiday) everything seems to slow down. The ratcheted tension
of the previous two episodes stops almost completely, as we are given high
levels of jerky unnatural exposition between the Sensorites. I must say, whilst
the Sensorites get some grief over the costume – principally for the plates on
their feet making them walk all over each other – it is nice that they are so
well designed. What is a shame, however, is that each and every one of the
masks is unique. Typically, in Doctor Who,
costumes and masks are identical – indeed, sometimes even using old costumes as
new aliens, like with the Chrynoids. Here, however, each one is expressive and
unique – which would be brilliant, were the plot not hinged on the fact that
they "all look the same".
Much like the clone armies of the Sontarans
in later serials, great weight is put into the fact that they are identical and
almost impossible to tell apart – even the Sensorites themselves cannot
differentiate, although this is justified by the script. But as with Sontarans,
the crew have not even attempted to hire actors of simply stature and frame. Peter
Glaze is about a foot shorter and 4 stone heavier than any of the other Sensorites,
yet is easily mistaken for any of the others. Likewise, the scripting does not
aid us in our understanding, as no character is given individual names –
rather, they are ranked – Elders go from First to Second, whilst all other
Sensorites, many given titles such as Administrator or Scientist, are relegated
in the credits to First to Fourth Sensorite. Added to this, the confusion which
then arises as some play multiple parts, whilst others are promoted, and it
becomes relatively confusing to follow.
Episode 3 ends with what is, in
hindsight, quite a clever cliff-hanger; when Ian first coughs, the audience
might be forgiven that it is unscripted, but not worthy of a retake – since The Sensorites contains an uncountable
number of fluffs and messed-up lines, it would be forgivable. But then he
coughs the second time, as the Doctor mutters "a clue!" and all of a
sudden, he's down on the floor convulsing as the end credits roll. That the
water is poisoned is relatively clear from their heavily led discussion about
it, which is why it is a shame that much of episode 4 is spent testing water –
which we know will be contaminated – whilst the subplot involving Glaze's
Administrator continues. There are some nice directorial flourishes here, such
as the cross-fading between vial-testing and Ian, stricken in bed with
poisoning. In the subplot, there is a lovely scene which further highlights the
plot of xenophobia, as the Administrator raves that humans are untrustworthy
simply because they have "no badge of office" by which to
differentiate them. To him, they all "look the same", and so when
Carol makes this identical 'astute' observation to him, a further plot device
is revealed – subterfuge and disguise.
What is refreshing about episode 4,
plot-wise, is that it shows yet another side to the Doctor. Until now, they
have always 'saved the day' (or not, in the case of The Aztecs) and then left. Here though, even though the Doctor has
completed his end of the bargain and found a cure, he isn't ready to just walk
away. Rather than simply discovering the cause of the poisoning and creating an
antidote, he is determined to head down to the aqueduct to discover the cause,
above and beyond what was expected of him. He is no longer only acting for the
selfish desires as he did in earlier serials – now he is proactively involving
himself in events. Quite where this sits with his thoughts on involvement and
interference is unsure. As I mentioned in The
Aztecs, it seems that involvement in alien affairs is all well and good,
but one simply cannot meddle with Earth's history.
Episode 5 sees a new director – Frank
Cox – stepping in to complete the serial, and there is a quick change in style.
Cox uses deep focus, framing the action nicely between scenery and other characters
to great effect. Sadly, episode 5 is also the dullest from a narrative
perspective, and there is only so much a director can do with such dire
exposition. The scenes involving the Administrator blackmailing the Second
Elder are nicely done, although the threat to his "family group" is a
tad repetitive. Likewise, the scene with the accusation of the Doctor as a
murderer is so quickly unravelled it is ridiculous – the Sensorite making the
accusations digs himself a deeper hole by the second, as he is uncovered within
about 45 seconds of his accusation. The "Kidnap" of the episode title
doesn't happen until the final 5 seconds of the instalment.
Episode 6, meanwhile, is strong – this
serial seems bookended by two tense and dramatic episodes, with very little
happening in the filler between. Bailey's appearance as the Commander is
wonderfully played – a frightfully British chief, determined that his men make
the best of a bad lot, appearing dishevelled and filthy but insisting that "they're
a good bunch". With the emergence of the Commander and his men as the
poisoners, Newman's xenophobic discussion reaches a new point – highlighting
that racism and intolerance in war only harms those trapped in the middle. Both
the Administrator and the Commander are wrong to be acting as they are doing;
whilst each believes they are doing the right thing, it is those caught between
that really suffer. Once again, each of Bailey's men are reduced to numbers,
rather than individual character names.
The serial comes to a close with Carole
Ann Ford at her very best, reminiscing of her home world – still unnamed for
now – discussing the burnt orange skies and silver leaves on the trees. Never
has she appeared so alien as this, a young girl with no fixed abode, travelling
the skies with her grandfather, and it is an evocative delivery which has been
referred to since in Doctor Who mythology.
So, if it is true that 67% of people
fail during this series, I can feel pleased with myself that I am in that top
33%. Next up, though, is Dennis Spooner's historical The Reign of Terror, which has 33% of the story missing – and has
not yet been released with the animated missing episodes. Could this challenge
be my downfall...?
Scott Edwards is a teacher of English and Theatre Studies at Barnard Castle School in the North East of England, with a BAHons in English Literature and Film Studies. He is also a self-professed ‘ming-mong,' and in addition to http://timelordapprentice.blogspot.co.uk/ he also runs http://www.facebook.com/Classic.Doctor.Who. You can also follow him on Twitter: @TimelordTSE.
Labels: Doctor Who, Guest Blog, review, T. Scott Edwards
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