I am of two minds about this wrap-up to ‘The Sensorites'--and the serial as a whole.The Doctor and Ian are still in the aqueducts and figure out that the City Administrator has tampered with their weapons and map. They discover that a number of humans who were part of the first expedition to the Sense Sphere are conducting a guerilla campaign to, ummm, vanquish the Sensorites. They waver between thinking the Doctor and Ian are here because the war is over (something the Doctor encourages) and thinking they’re spies. Barbara uses Susan’s telepathy to guide her to where the others are, and together they trick these miscreants to come out into the sun. Susan and Barbara also figure out the City Administrator’s perfidy, which results in him being banished from the Sensorite City offscreen.
I was really let down by the discovery of the first expedition down in the aqueducts. Yes, that first expedition is mentioned in Episode Two, but only in passing. It sort of takes the onus off of the Sensorites for all the terrible stuff. It becomes not a situation of negligence (as I originally assumed) or local terrorism (as I assumed after the City Administrator was introduced); it was some outside element that was briefly hinted at but not set up. This resolution left a bad taste in my mouth, because it sort of passes off any responsibility on our alien race’s part, and the whole deal with the City Administrator seems...pointless.
Speaking of pointless, so was the concept brought up early in the serial that the Sensorites had a strict caste system. I felt, given how Newman drops this fact very early that there was going to be some significance to this fact....and, other than that silly thing about recognizing each other by their caste markings, it’s never brought up again.
And it’s a pity, because Peter Newman continues with some solid character work. This last few episodes features the most Susan has done since the beginning, and this willful, focused and proactive interpretation is how Susan should have been portrayed. Being without Barbara for two episodes (and, arguably, Ian for one, since he spends Episode Four doing his own version of a Doc-Nap) hurt it a little as well. I’ve come to really admire Barbara for acting as a sensible balance for the other adult males, and her presence is sorely missed. Newman’s interpretation of the Doctor is really good, as it keeps elements from both the recent and past version of Hartnell.
There’ just something missing here. I just wish I was more enthusiastic about it. While I do prefer ‘The Aztecs’ and ‘The Edge of Destruction’ to this, it’s still good...just not great.
And this is the end of the first season episodes available, as ‘The Reign of Terror’ was lost and only recreated as an animation, and Britbox apparently doesn’t acknowledge these animated recreations that the BBC commissioned in the last decade or so. But before we move on to the second season and a miniaturized TARDIS crew, I’ve got another Big Finish Production (or two!) to share with you....
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