This is the first serial where I've managed to fully write up my entry for every episode before watching the next, and that has worked well. I've always made notes before, but not always got around to researching any extra material and typing it all up before my next viewing. I spent a week on holiday in Cornwall with the family over half term, and because I have a bad back there were times when I couldn't go out with them; so I got into a routine. I would watch an episode in the evening with my son, making very brief notes and expanding on them immediately afterwards. I would then let it mull overnight, and in the morning type up my entry. I couldn't do much research because there was no Internet connection; though I'd saved a couple of pages before I left. In this way, I did the last episode of The Aztecs and the first three of The Sensorites, and I decided to continue the pattern. It's been hard, because opportunities to watch haven't interleaved nicely with opportunities to write, so I probably won't continue (I'm writing this a fortnight later); but it was good while it lasted.
This is the earliest surviving story not yet out on DVD, which caused me a dilemma. It's available for free online (at blinkbox), but I knew I wouldn't be able to access that while away; yet the holiday was going to be my best opportunity for writing. In the end I did download a copy, but I will definitely get the DVD when it comes out. The same will be true of the next two TV serials, as well (although I have the audio for the next one); after that I've got everything until The Tenth Planet, which will probably be out by the time I get there!
Because of the way I've written these I did miss a couple of things. The attitude to authority is interesting: there's an explicitly anti-colonial message, but the travellers are happy to support an absolutist, authoritarian state with a death penalty. I also didn't mention the neat way the Sensorites gradually changed from monsters to victims, while at the same time splitting into white hats and black hats. The pace makes this serial another that works much better when viewed episodically. It's still too slow, really, and would have worked better as a four-parter; but it has consistently good-to-excellent cliffhangers.
Before watching I knew less about this story than Marco Polo - just that Susan gets to be telepathic, it features the aliens that inspired the Ood, and that the Doctor threatens to chuck Iananbarbara off the ship. That made a pleasant change, and happily I know even less about the next televised story.
With no DVD to comment on, and since my nine-year-old son watched the serial with me, I asked him if he could tell me his opinions to publish. He said he didn't mind, so here's a new feature, which you'll hopefully see again:
Isaac's Corner
The plot was good, particularly the excellent cliffhangers; my favourite was the one where Ian collapses and starts dying. The acting was good, too - the City Administrator slash (or sash) Second Elder really stood out as the best, although Ian was good when he was dying and the people in the aqueduct did their part well. It was also great that Susan finally got to do some of the things she was supposed to do from the start! On the other hand, there wasn't enough variety of sets: only three, the spaceship (which didn't appear after the third episode), the palace (which was very dull) and the aqueduct. It was the same with the costumes - only two, really, apart from the Doctor, his friends, and the people in the aqueduct.
So there you have it - the verdict from the other end of the family. See you next time!
Rating:
Episodic: 4.5/10.
DWM Mighty 200: 54.06%, 183rd.
2011 Gallifrey Base Non-Dynamic Rankings: 5.12, 197th out of 222.
Next Time:
Voyage of Discovery. Wait - what?!
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