By Jessica Holmes

Can I admit to something silly? I am a little bit scared of mind-readers. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually believe in telepaths. Then again, who knows what sort of freaky experiments certain entities get up to.

I just think the idea of someone reading my mind, or even manipulating it, is one of the most horrifying concepts out there.

And it looks like Doctor Who agrees with me.

STRANGERS IN SPACE

Before setting off on their next adventure, the companions take a moment to reflect on how far everyone has come, in the literal and metaphorical senses.

"Yes, it all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a…great spirit of adventure!"
The Doctor

Nice quote aside, the conversation feels a bit like it was yanked out of a children’s television programme, where the viewer needs the moral of the story spoonfed to them. It doesn’t belong at the start of this serial, for another thing. It just feels wrong for the pacing. We should be diving head-first into an adventure, not cautiously dipping a toe.

After stumbling over that scene, we can at last slide into the next adventure. Where has the TARDIS landed? A spaceship! And what should they find but a dead bloke slumped by the controls.

Bodes well, doesn't it?

There's another crew member nearby, also dead. Both are still warm.

Sensing danger, the companions turn back to the TARDIS, when the dead man suddenly moves.

The not-so-dead man grunts out a request for an unknown device, which revives him within seconds. He tells Barbara to use it on the dead woman, Carol. The man, Maitland, explains the device is a heart resuscitator, and that they weren't dead, just very deeply asleep.

Maitland explains that they’re orbiting a planet called the Sensesphere. Its people have been preventing them from leaving this region of space. How? By controlling their minds. Whenever the astronauts have tried to get past them, the Sensorites have used the control they have over the astronauts' brains to put them into a death-like sleep.

While he explains, we cut away to see a mysterious hand probing at the keyhole of the TARDIS, before waving an unknown device in front of it.

When we cut back, Barbara catches a whiff of something burning, and by the time we return to the TARDIS, the device has managed to extract the lock, as the Doctor and company discover a few minutes later, when they attempt to leave before running into any trouble. That’ll be the day.

No time to worry about that now, as the ship begins barrelling towards the surface of the Sensesphere. It’s only with the Doctor’s intervention that the ship doesn’t go smashing into the surface of the planet, leaving Maitland to wonder why he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

The Doctor postulates that it was the Sensorites' doing; an exercise in fear, to remind everyone that they could take control of their minds and kill them with ease, if they wanted to. However, it seems that the Doctor and his companions are immune to their influence.

Puzzled, the Doctor asks the astronauts if they've ever seen any of these Sensorites. Carol informs him that John, the third member of the crew (who we have yet to meet) has. However, when the Doctor expresses his desire to talk to John, he’s firmly shut down by Maitland.

Susan and Barbara go off to look for a drink, but someone closes the door behind them, and it’s not long before they find themselves trapped with a man who we can only presume must be John. The fellow doesn’t look particularly well as he shuffles about, blank-faced and glassy-eyed.

When Ian wonders aloud where the women have got to, the astronauts dart for the doorway Barbara and Susan just went through, but find it locked. They remark that they should have warned them. That your crewmate is a zombie? Yeah, probably worth mentioning!

Carol admits to Ian that John's brain has been pretty much turned to mush by the Sensorites. He gets violent sometimes, and is frightened of strangers.

This doesn’t bode well for Barbara and Susan, who have just been cornered by him. Rather than attack them, however, he breaks down in tears and asks who they are. Barbara, he says, looks like his sister. Have they come to help him?

Oh, poor bloke.

He's clearly just frightened and upset, so being decent human beings Barbara and Susan do what they can to comfort him.

I sense a metaphor here for the treatment of the mentally ill. Think about it. The other astronauts have locked him away, they're terrified of him, thinking him violent, when the poor chap is just scared, confused and unhappy.

A god-awful noise distracts the others from their attempts to break through the door, probably for the better. The last thing John needs is any hostility. There's something outside the ship, approaching fast.

Here come the Sensorites.

A pretty good start to the serial, with a nice build of tension and dread. Interested to see where it goes from here. 3.5 stars out of 5.

THE UNWILLING WARRIORS

Everyone tries to remain calm, but the astronauts seem a bit too good at it. They're completely frozen.

John breaks down again and starts speaking in response to an unseen voice. He's refusing to do something for them. To frighten Barbara and Susan. But why do the Sensorites want him to frighten the women?

It seems that the key to resisting the Sensorites is not allowing yourself to give in to fear. Fear opens the mind up to their influence, and that’s why our companions have been able to resist the Sensorites thus far. With everything they’ve been through, they’re hard as nails.

Susan suggests that she and Barbara could try using their minds to help resist the Sensorites. They have to be thinking in unison, and concentrating hard. To my surprise, it actually works, but the mental exertion makes Susan faint. It looks like she was doing most of the psychic heavy-lifting, as the Doctor discusses with Carol, once they manage to get the whole group back together.

He mentions it might be possible for Susan's thoughts to resist the Sensorites. Now, it's interesting that he specifically singles out Susan, not Barbara. Does Susan have an increased level of psychic ability? Why? How different exactly are the Doctor and Susan from the rest of the companions?

Meanwhile, Maitland and Ian are worrying about John, and trying to figure out why he bore the brunt of the Sensorites’ attack. Ian suspects that, as the ship’s mineralogist, John discovered something the Sensorites wanted to keep secret.

And now it's time for the science lesson, because there is probably someone at the BBC who is paid to come into the production offices of Doctor Who every so often and remind everyone that the programme is supposed to be educational.

The lesson doesn't get far before Susan tells Ian that she knows what a spectrograph is.

The Doctor takes a closer look at the spectrograph, and has a eureka moment. John found molybdenum.

We get another science lesson as Ian explains the properties of molybdenum, mainly its very high melting point, which makes it highly valued in certain industries. And the Sensesphere is a veritable goldmine of the stuff.

At his proclamation, there's a psychic attack, rendering the astronauts helpless, and Ian and Barbara go to look for the attackers.

After a long scene of them walking through the ship that feels like it goes on forever, they find the aliens. However, the Sensorites don’t attack, and once everyone’s calmed down, Ian figures they were probably as scared of him as he was of them.

Susan begins speaking to an unheard voice. Apparently the Sensorites have made contact, and are asking if they can talk. The Doctor agrees, as long as the Sensorites do them no harm.

The Sensorites reveal that the reason that they won't let the astronauts leave the Sensesphere is that humans have been to the planet before, bringing with them a terrible affliction. They won't let it happen again. However, knowing that this isn’t an ideal situation, the Sensorites have prepared a place for the humans to reside on the Sensesphere, where they’ll be well looked after, and everyone will be safe.

To be honest I think that’s fair enough, though it would have been helpful if they’d just explained that earlier. You’d think people with telepathy would be better communicators.

The Doctor doesn’t agree, however. He just wants the lock to his TARDIS back. Or else. That’s not a threat, but it is a promise.

The Sensorites go away to think about it. While they're making their own plans, the Doctor figures that they probably can't see in the dark, because their eyes were fully dilated in the full light of the ship’s bridge. I’ll take his word for it.

However, the Sensorites have another mental chat with Susan, and to everyone’s surprise, she declares that she’s made a deal with them. She’ll go with the Sensorites down to their planet.

In return, they won’t kill everyone else.

The serial is continuing strongly. 4 stars out of 5.

HIDDEN DANGER

This is why you don't accept lifts from strangers.

Ian and Barbara promptly go into surrogate-parent mode and leap into action to try and rescue Susan. They offer to talk to the Sensorites, who are resistant; they've had bad experiences in the past where other species have come offering peace, only to turn around and deliver destruction.

With the Doctor also attempting to intervene, the Sensorites contemplate stunning the humans and making their escape. However, before they can do that, Ian kills the lights, leaving them cowering in fear as they’re completely blinded. It’s quite pitiful to watch.

The Doctor tells the Sensorites that he simply want his lock back and to go home, so the Sensorites, the poor, timid things, start communicating with their superiors on the Sensesphere.

Ian wonders if he and Barbara were to use the Sensorites’ telepathy devices, could they read each others' minds? Gee, Ian, that's a bit intimate. At least buy her a drink first. Ian wonders if the Sensorites hypnotised Susan, but Barbara says, (with perhaps a hint of pride) that no, she's just growing up.

The Doctor and his granddaughter butt heads over her decision to go with the Sensorites. I don’t think the Doctor is quite ready to face up to the fact that his granddaughter is becoming more independent and starting to make important decisions on her own.

The Sensorites finally agree to let the Doctor talk to their leader, and at last everyone’s happy. Ish.

Well, everyone except for John. He’s tormented by the voices in his head. He’s so unhappy, I desperately want to give the poor man a hug. Carol is dismayed to see him like this, saying that he might as well be dead. Gee. How supportive. Poor man's desperately unwell and his fiancée abandons all hope. Oh, yes! They were planning to get married!

Before heading down to the Sensesphere, the Doctor interrogates the Sensorites further on why they attacked the astronauts.

They explain that ten years ago, five humans came to the Sensesphere. The Sensorites welcomed them, but the humans' minds were closed off. In time, they quarrelled, and two of them took off, their ship exploding a mile into the atmosphere. The other three, the Sensorites assume, must have snuck aboard, and in their struggle for control of the ship, caused the explosion.

Ever since that day, their people have been dying in greater numbers every year. The situation seems similar to how Europeans brought smallpox to the Americas.

Barbara, Maitland and Carol stay with the ship, and the others go down to the Sensesphere.

Meanwhile, the ruler of the Sensorites argues with his fellow elders about his decision to invite the humans down to the planet. He explains his rationale to them, and it's perfectly sensible. The Doctor’s a man of learning. Perhaps he can help them.

I'd have them go through decontamination procedures and keep them in an airtight room, to be on the safe side.

One of the other Sensorites objects on the grounds that humans are ugly. For one, rude. For two, the ruler observes that ugliness really depends on cultural context. The Sensorites think humans are very ugly, but the Elder acknowledges that the humans could well think them ugly.

Not wrong there, mate. You look like a partially-deflated rugby ball with a bad toupee glued onto the wrong end.

No offence.

Still, the Sensorite leader seems like a nice, very reasonable chap. I like him. It’s interesting to see human-alien relations from the other perspective. It does a lot to underline that the Sensorites are just people. Weird-looking people who can read minds, but still people.

The others are rather uncertain about the Earth creatures, untrusting of them. I think both sides of this discussion have merit. They have perfectly valid concerns about potential aggression.

Well. One of them does.

The other doesn't think they'll be safe until all the humans are dead.

I'd argue with him but I’ve read history books and I know what humans are like.

Upon arriving on the Sensesphere, our companions learn that the Sensorites have a caste system. The Elders think and rule, the Warriors fight, and the Sensorites work and play. Everyone's happy, and some are happier than others, as Ian remarks. The Sensorites don't get his point.

Curious. I’d have thought they’d have a more egalitarian society, what with their advanced technology. Then again, technological advancement does not necessarily equal enlightened attitudes.

Also, is Sensorite the name of the species or just that one caste?

Unbeknownst to them (I do so love that word), one of the Sensorites is preparing an assassination. Once everyone is seated, the humans will be struck in the heart with a disintegrator beam.

Meanwhile, the other Sensorites say they can help heal poor John, who seems to be able to tell if people are good or not. Somehow. He's in good company…for now.

Barbara goes with him, and the others go to sit down. The suspense is killing me!

Before they can be assassinated, however, another Sensorite foils the plot, admonishing the murderous Sensorite. I do with they had names. It’d be much easier to keep them straight.

The Elder confirms the group’s assumptions about how John came to be the way he is. He found out about the molybdenum, got overexcited, opening up his mind, and the Sensorites caught him thinking about human mining fleets coming in to mine the resource, so they decided they had to imprison him. They didn’t mean to drive him out of his mind. They put the others to sleep, but his mind was so open, it was as if they hit him with the psychic equivalent of a bus.

The Elder notes that his guests have been brought different water to him, and orders that some of the better water be brought for them. Isn’t water just water?

Ian, not being too fussy, drinks some of the bog-standard water, and a few minutes later, begins to cough. As we all know, coughing in any story is a sure signifier of doom. Nobody ever coughs unless they’re about to drop down dead.

And I've already worked it out:

• Fact the first: The Elders do not get the disease that plagues their people.
• Fact the second: The Elders drink water from a different source to the water the common people drink.
• Fact the third: Ian had some of this poor-people water.
• And now Ian is coughing.

Something is polluting the water supply.

They don’t call me Holmes for nothing, you know.

I get to feel clever for figuring it out before the Doctor, who takes forever to notice that Ian sounds like he’s about to bring up a lung. The key to understanding the mystery plague is sitting right next to you, man!

However, he can’t fail to notice when Ian begins to choke, and drops to the floor, unconscious.

According to the Elder, there's no hope. He's dying.

Now look here, Mr. Newman. You are not allowed to kill Ian. I like Ian, and I shall be very cross with you if you kill him.

Some nice character moments in this episode. This is shaping up to be a very good serial. 4 stars out of 5.

Final Thoughts

So, that’s the first half of the Sensorites. Personally? I really like it. It’s already taken us to some pretty dark places, and I have a feeling it’s going to get darker before the end. Telepathy has no real limit to how disturbing it can be; it all depends on how brave the writer is feeling (or what the BBC will let him put on television).

I’m also enjoying the presentation of the Sensorites not as villains, but as people with their own problems and their own perspective. Can they work together with the Doctor and company to solve their problems, or will sinister forces hinder their efforts at every turn?

We’ll have to wait and see.

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