Friday 17 October 2014

032 The Sensorites Episode 2: The Unwilling Warriors

EPISODE: The Sensorites Episode 2: The Unwilling Warriors
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 032
STORY NUMBER: 007
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 27 June 1964
WRITER: Peter R. Newman
DIRECTOR: Mervyn Pinfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: David Whitaker
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
RATINGS: 6.9 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Sensorites

"I think he must have discovered something that the Sensorites wanted to keep secret, so they silenced him and kept all of you prisoners about their planet." "I see. And now they're trying to do the same to us"

The crew fall back under the influence of the Sensorites, but the Doctor snaps them back to reality and they continue to try to open the door, beyond which Susan and Barbara are trapped with the third crew member who isn't in his right mind. The Sensorites board the ship. Susan recalls a previous adventure which involved mind control and shows Barbara how to fight against the Sensorites influence as the Doctor and friends break out of the bridge. The Doctor deduces the Sensorites are trying to keep their planet a secret. Aware of Susan's resistance, the Sensorites are interested in her. The Doctor examines the spectroscope readings of the planet and deduces that John, the mineralogist found something on the Sensesphere, the rare metal molybdenum. The Sensorites attack Susan's mind....

Ian & Barbara wander the ship seeking the Sensorites who eventually find them. Ian holds them off while the others seek to seal themselves in. The problem here is that the Sensorites, who look a little like slow moving old men, present very little physical menace so you don't feel they are a threat. They telepathically contact Susan who admits them to the bridge. They tell the Doctor that the Travellers cannot leave: previous contact with Earthmen have made them suspicious of outsiders. They tell everyone on the ship that they will be taken to the Sensesphere. The Doctor demands the Tardis lock back. Having seen the Sensorites faces the Doctor works out they may have a problem seeing in the dark. Susan agrees to go with the Sensorites to their planet.

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Yeah,dragged a bit. The wandering round the ship was just so slooooooow, and there's no menace to the Sensorites at all. It's a shame because these sequences on the ship look nice and could have been quite atmospheric and tense if directed a little differently.

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The two Sensorites seen here are played by Ken Tyllsen and Joseph Greig. Grieg is credited as the First Sensorite in episodes 2 & 3, and the First Scientist in episodes 4 & 5. Grieg is the Second Sensorite in this episode and the next, the Second Scientist in episodes 4 & 5 and the Warrior in 6. As we'll see these could easily be the same character played by the same actor in each episode. Ken Tyllsen returns to Doctor Who as a Mechanoid in The Death of Doctor Who and The Planet of Decision, the fourth and fifth episodes of 1965's The Chase before making a one off appearance as a Dalek in 1967's The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 7.

This episode of Doctor who was delayed by 25 minutes due to an over running edition of Grandstand. The following week Doctor Who was missing from the Saturday schedules for the first time since it started thanks to Tennis at Wimbledon and The 3rd Ashes Test from Leeds.

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