A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 34. A Race Against Death (The Sensorites, Episode Four)

...and it was going so well.

I have been keen on how Peter Newman’s script has been portraying the Sensorites as fairly decent and open to collaborating with the Doctor and crew on their problem.  Then last episode I bemoaned the fact that Newman gave us a Sensorite in the City Administrator who isn’t just evil but EEEEEEvil.

Well in this episode, we don’t get just the City Administrator but his two lackeys who are also EEEEEEvil, and this trio takes over the bulk of this half hour.  They try to prevent the antidote from getting to Ian, kidnap the Second Elder so the Administrator can take his place, scheme to get the key to the Disintegrator back and overall stink up the joint.  While they’re all capering about being Evil and Stuff, the Doctor does figure out the cure for the disease--except it’s something poisoning a section of the aqueduct that’s supplying water to part of the city.  The Doctor goes to investigate, even though he’s warned against it by one of the Sensorite scientists because it’s dark and noisy.  There he discovers that there is evidence of Deadly Nightshade growing around the Aqueduct--just before something offscreen roars.

It’s hard for me to concentrate on the many good things Peter Newman does in this serial when he lets me down with the cliched antics of the City Administrator.  Having such obvious villains suddenly taking center stage is putting a sour taste in my mouth.  It also doesn’t help that this new emphasis seems to have made the caste situation disappear completely, as it’s not been referenced once.  So far, nothing has contradicted what I suspect is going on, but giving us such obvious villains gives me a sinking feeling.

I also have another nagging feeling about the Sensorites....namely, that it seems this is a society where recognition is based solely on the decorations you wear.  We see that there are subtle differences in individual Sensorites; certainly The City Administrator’s seeming tonsure of hair could distinguish him from the Second Elder to his people.  It betrays a laziness in the script I haven’t seen before, a laziness I do not like.

With Ian on the sidelines for much of the half hour (and Barbara noticably absent), it’s mainly the Doctor’s show...with some grace notes from Susan.  I like how Newman seems to have found a way to put elements of Hartnell’s original interpretation of the Doctor into the present version--the aggravation he expresses at not being allowed access to the Tardis would not seem out of place in the earliest serials.  We’re reminded that Susan is supposed to be psychic now as she listens in on a telepathic conversation...and she doesn’t cry or whine once, so Good Job.  The best character moment for me is the last scene, where we get a Doctor who is so overwhelmed by curiosity that he forges into danger, discovers what’s wrong, congratulates himself and is reminded how dangerous the danger is....Hartnell seems to relish these moments of discovery and extrapolation, and I get the impression this is what he lives for.

My enthusiasm for this serial is waning, and I have a sinking feeling it’s going to disappear before we’re done, considering the next episode is titled, rather bluntly, ‘Kidnap’