LEGION OF IMPOSSIBILITIES

Saturday 20th June 1964 - Doctor Who - Strangers in Space

Note: My original plan to watch each episode weekly to coincide with the original airings in 1963-64 went wrong when I found that - during Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus - I wasn't keeping up and, before I knew it, I was weeks and then months behind schedule. Part of this is my mad behaviour of reading extensively about each episode and also reading the First Doctor novels and listening to the Big Finish audios. I've decided to be kinder to myself and watch and blog about each episode as I feel like it and however I want. So there.

"Yes, it all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a, quite a great spirit of adventure, don't you think?" 

Essentially

The TARDIS travellers materialise on a spaceship where the human crew seem to be held captive and under telepathic control by mysterious aliens called Sensorites.  

Reactions and Thoughts

It's an engaging space-set science fiction episode. We seem to have alternating historical and science fiction adventures. Something I actually like. 

There's a lovely conversation at the start where the companions reflect on their adventures together:

IAN: There's one thing about it, Doctor. We're certainly different from when we started out with you.
SUSAN: That's funny. Grandfather and I were talking about that just before you came in. How you've both changed.
BARBARA: Well we've all changed.
SUSAN: Have I?
BARBARA: Yes.
DOCTOR: Yes, it all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a, quite a great spirit of adventure, don't you think?
IAN: Yes. We've had some pretty rough times and even that doesn't stop us. It's a wonderful thing, this ship of yours, Doctor. Taken us back to prehistoric times, the Daleks.
SUSAN: Marco Polo, Marinus.
BARBARA: And the Aztecs. 

It's warm and there's a genuine sense of camaraderie among the travellers (and no sense that Barbara and Ian want to go home). The Doctor mentions an earlier encounter with Henry VIII who threw a parsnip at him and sent him to the Tower of London. There's also a sense that they have had more adventures - or at least time - between leaving the Aztec temple and now. Barbara declares that she is over her experiences there which suggests time has passed.

They exit the TARDIS to find they are on a spaceshp and discover (what appear to be) two dead humans. The Doctor is immediately intrigued by the mystery but sensibly decides they should leave.  Before they return to the TARDIS, one of the humans (Maitland) moves and asks Ian to fetch a device he calls a heart resuscitator. Once Maitland and the other human, Carol, are revived they explain that they come from the 28th Century (where the southern half of England is a single city) and don't seem at all amazed that Ian and Barbara are from eight centuries earlier. They also disclose they are kept like prisoners by an alien race called Sensorites and not allowed to leave this part of space. The Sensorites use telepathy to control the humans.

While they talk, someone - a Sensorite - removes the locking mechanism from the TARDIS. Yet again the plot looks like them getting access to the TARDIS once again (hasn't this happened in the last four adventures?). Supposedly, the alien had taken the locking mechanism back to their planet though we don't hear the whining sound that accompanies the sensorite ships.

Just like the last adventure, the Doctor plays a far more dominant role in the episode while Ian has been gently shifted to a more supporting role. After some shaky cameras as the spaceship moves and then heads towards the Sensphere, the Doctor proves to be an able pilot and manages to avoid avoid planetary impact.

The Doctor doesn't jump to conclusions about the motives of the Sensorites:

DOCTOR:  You know, I think these Sensorites have found a way to take control of your minds.
IAN: Do you think they were deliberately trying to kill us, Doctor?
DOCTOR: No, no, I don't. I think it was an exercise in fear and power. 

Of course, Susan and Barbara go off on their own looking for water which leads them to being separated from the others (again!) and threatened by a monster - this time in the form of the deranged human, John the minerologist , whose mind has been "taken over" by the Sensorites. Carol adds to the threat by saying that John will be frightened of strangers and might become dangerous. In the end, John tells the women that he'll protect them.

I'm a little concerned about Ian in this episode. Had his experiences as an Aztec warrior encouraged a more ruthless, aggressive side of him to take hold. When he's cautioned by Maitland not to fight with the Sensorites he seems quite annoyed and says:

IAN: Why no violence? Surely we've got the right to protect ourselves? 

 The episode is right to hold off the revelation of what a Sensorite looks like until the end and has to be my favourite cliffhanger so far.

After All is Said and Done

It's a claustrophobic, intense episode where characters seem under attack from the telepathy of the Sensorites. The appearance of the disturbing alien outside the spaceship window is shocking and a great cliffhanger. (On the negative side, once again it's the guest actors who aren't very good - particularly the actor who plays Maitland in a wooden, unconvincing manner.)

Next episode:  The Unwilling Warriors