DVD Review: Doctor Who - The Sensorites
10:13pm Sunday 15th January 2012
STARRING William Hartnell as the First Doctor, this six-part adventure was first broadcast in the summer of 1964.
When Doctor Who first started, the remit of the show was to be partially educational and the stories generally alternated between historical adventures and futuristic ones.
The Sensorites comes between The Aztecs and Reign of Terror (which ended the first season).
The TARDIS with Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Wright) and Susan (Carole Ann Ford) materialises on the deck of a gigantic spaceship in the 28th century.
The crew are under control of The Sensorites, who live in the Sense-Sphere.
Susan is then contacted telepathically by The Sensorites who invite the TARDIS crew for talks.
It appears that the humans have discovered quantities of molybdenum on the Sensorites planet and the inhabitants are wary of being exploited.
Many aliens have mysteriously died after being in contact with the humans and The Doctor discovers deadly nightshade in the water supply With tensions rising, The Doctor must discover the source of this poison.
This six-part story gave us our first hint that people of the Doctor’s race (which had yet to be divulged) had telepathic capability, and whilst this is one of the least remembered stories, it certainly isn’t as far-fetched as some of the other space-set adventures.
One of the Sensorites was played by Peter Glaze – who was one of the stalwarts of the BBC TV series ‘Crackerjack’.
The extras are a bit limited on this release: Looking For Peter focuses on trying to find out information on the writer of the story – the enigmatic Peter R Newman.
And Clive Doig of ‘Vision On’ fame, tells us of his work as a vision-mixer on the show.
Release Date: January 23rd 2012.
Catalogue No: BBCDVD3377.
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