7. The Sensorites

One of the things I always loved about Doctor Who was the imagination of their writers. Star Trek's aliens were okay but not nearly as imaginative as Who. Star Trek aliens were, for the most part, humans. They had wrinkly faces or pointy ears or different colors but Doctor Who always pushes the limits, despite the shaky sets and tiny budgets, especially when compared to Star Trek.

I think a big reason Doctor Who had to go further than Star Trek is aliens in DW were often monsters and monsters can't be too human. I don't want to come across as being critical of Star Trek, so let's not go any further on the comparison.

Needless to say I always appreciated Doctor Who for their monsters and at least trying...even when they failed -- the Nimon, the Myrka and sadly...the Sensorites.

They almost pull off a scary monster, even with the limitations of the time. The strange facial hair wasn't a good addition. The problem with this scary monster is as soon as we start learning about them we discover they are actually pretty lame. They have a boring caste society, they are afraid of the dark, they don't like loud noises and they need a stethoscope to communicate (old fashion Ood communications device?).

I had never seen this episode before and was looking forward to it, but my excitement waned with each of the seven episodes. It took a few goes to get through them all but it's over now.

There was some things that I did like. The Sensorites were creepy early on. The episode had an quasi-epic scope to it - covering a new alien race with strange powers, trapped space travelers, a rare and valuable mineral, sabotage, a war, domestic political plots in a society where such plots aren't supposed to exist (decay of a civilization?). The main problem is so much of the time is wasted on the boring political ambitions of the city administrator -- or rather his ridiculous plots.

This episode also begins a familiar pattern that would become the backbone of so many classic who stories to come: an alien world, a new race, multiple intrigues and of course travel into the future. There is even a reference by a Sensorite about how intriguing humans are...a sentiment that will be repeated many times in the future, usually by the Doctor himself. It just isn't enough to save this story.

Ranking: 5/10 (below average)