BBC / 1964 / 150 mins / NR

THE EPISODE:
One of the featurettes on this disc has our host stating the following:

“The Sensorites.” Poor, unloved “The Sensorites.” Nestling, lost, somewhere down the back of the fans collective sofa.”

That pretty much sums up the feeling of the seventh story ever made for the longest running science fiction television series of all time. We Whovians don’t hate it (like, say, “The Twin Dilemma”); we’re not embarrassed for it (like, say, “The Gunfighters), we certainly don’t love it; we feel bad for it.

The story has The Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford) and travelling companions Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) materializing inside a space ship orbiting the planet-like Sense Sphere. After reviving the occupants, they learn that the inhabitants of the planet, the Sensorites, can control their minds and are keeping them in perpetual orbit, refusing to allow them to return to Earth. One of the crew has even lost his mind entirely. When the Sensorites return to the ship, The Doctor attempts to communicate with them and come to an arrangement to release the ship and allow everyone to go home. However, thanks to a ruthless and hostile previous expedition from Earth, the Sensorites are untrusting of humans. With the Sensorites in possession of the locking mechanism for the TARDIS and a plague killing the inhabitants of the Sense Sphere, The Doctor has his work cut out for him to set things right.

So, why do we feel bad for this story? First off, there is an amazing amount of on-screen flubs and mistakes. At one point or another almost every member of the cast either forgets or badly trips over their dialogue. This happens in every episode and fairly consistently throughout the episode. Second, the story is just weak. It’s not bad; it’s just meandering, which is not uncommon for a six part story. There is always something happening; it’s not boring, it’s just… blah. There is potential for a strong story here, but it was told is such a weak manner that all you can do is feel sorry for the resulting episode. But I think the one aspect that really puts “The Sensorites” on fans’ pity list is the Sensorites themselves. They are so wishy-washy. They have scary powers, but apart from making people freeze they don’t do anything with them. They are not really villainous and when they try to be, they come across as childish. If THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES existed back in 1964, this is the type of story she would have tackled.

It is great to have “The Sensorites” available on home video as so many of the early DOCTOR WHO stories are now lost. ANY WHO from this era is a treasure. However the featurette host referenced above nicely summed the story up when he said it would probably have a much higher regard if it was one of the lost stories and we could only imagine what a gem we are missing.

THE DISC:
This is British black and white video from the 1960’s. If you have seen any of the previous released DOCTOR WHO stories from this era, you know what to expect. Thankfully, the masters of these episodes still exist in the BBC archives, so the full frame 1.33 picture quality is not bad at all with a fairly good gray scale and decent detail for a program of this vintage.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack has also been cleaned up and restored and sounds decent. Dialogue is clear. Although at times (particularly throughout episode 6) soft consonants are slightly distorted but this is due to the original recoding equipment. The Sensorites also sound slightly muffled due to their speaking through their masks (no post dubbing here) but everything is clearly understandable. These will never be great looking or sounding. They will always have that unique feel of British television from the 1960’s and The Doctor Who Restoration Team has always made the show look and sound the best it can possibly be.

THE EXTRAS:
A light batch of supplements this time around, but as always what is here is interesting and informative.

We start out with an excellent commentary track featuring a very full house of participants: actors William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Joe Greig, Martyn Huntley and Giles Phibbs are joined by director Frank Cox, designer Raymond Cusick and make-up designer Sonia Markham. Well worth checking out.

There is no proper making of featurette in this set but what are here kicks off with the excellent “Looking for Peter” in which Toby Hadoke tries to track down information about the mysterious writer of “The Sensorites,” Peter R. Newman.

“Vision On” is a short look at what a “vision mixer” actually does with the vision mixer of this story, Clive Doig.

There are several instances in “The Sensorites” where a female voice can be heard off camera. Doig returns to explain exactly what this “Secret Voices of the Sense Sphere” actually is.

The supplements are rounded out with the usually “Photo Gallery,” always excellent Production Notes option and a trailer for next month’s DVD release of the “Revisitations 3” box set (they’ll be released individually here in the States.)

MY SAY:
Not one of the best DOCTOR WHO stories out there for sure, “The Sensorites” is pretty much only for the die-hard Whovians. And they will be first to tell you that as well.

Reviewed by Jeff Allen