The Sensorites

BARBARA: I don't know why we ever bother to leave the ship.

(That's the spirit, Barbara!)

DOCTOR: I don't make threats. But I do keep promises. And I promise you I shall cause you more trouble than you bargained for if you don't return my property!

BARBARA: But Doctor, assuming you're right
IAN: Which he is, of course.
(Suck up!)

SUSAN: Stop treating me like a child.
(No comment)

SUSAN: I understand the Sensorites. They're timid little people
(Again, no comment...)

SENSORITE: I saw the Doctor and the other two leave the aque-aqueduck. I heard them over over er talk-talking
(Great line)

PERSON: Perhaps they're really allies of the Sensorites.
COMMANDER: No, Number One, not allies. Spies
(Which would make them allies)

• Lorne Cossette is almost as brilliant a name as Heron Carvic. It's a shame his performance is more Perfect Victim. He's not awful on that scale of terribleness, but he is pretty wooden. Not only that, he seems unable to say "Carol". The first time it took a minute to work out what he meant when he mumbled "Kell". 
• Very very picky point, I admit, but when the Sensorites return to the ship at the end of episode one, they make a loud noise which scares everyone. Yet they'd already visited the ship and left without making that noise. How? 
• The First Doctor and Susan met Henry VIII and we didn't get to see it! That is an absolute tragedy. AND they met Beau Brummell. That would make for a fun adventure! Still, I do like these pre-Ian and Barbara references. 
  
• I like slow-moving stories. I like stories that build. But there is a limit. In episode two we have a ridiculous scene where Ian and Barbara VERY slowly wander through a corridor. Ian enters a room, looks around, then gestures to Barbara to join him. They then look around together at what we now see is an empty room. They then slowly wander a bit further and encounter two Sensorites, then wander all the way back through the corridors backwards this time (but just as bloody slowly). Not only that, Barbara highlights how daft it is that Ian backed away from the Sensorites by pointing out they had no interest in attacking. I still don't understand why Ian made absolutely no effort whatsoever to communicate with them. 
• I believe this is the first (but certainly not the last) story in which proper, important characters don't actually have names. The Sensorites admit that telling each other apart isn't easy. Not having names must make it a bloody nightmare! 
• The City Administrator is basically Nigel Farage, so it's quite pleasing John condemns him as evil. He is a complete moron, too. None of what he does makes any sense, even accounting for rampant xenophobia. How could Ian possibly be faking his body temperature or any of the other symptoms of the illness? Why would Sensorite scientists deliberately produce a fake cure? "It's a trick!" he randomly claims. He's Doctor Who's first pantomime villain, but nowhere near as interesting as others.
• There's a montage scene in episode four! It would be better without those irritating incidentals that have plagued the whole story, though. There are very few scores over the 26 seasons that I really dislike. This is one of them. 
  
• I won't go on about it, but: John's mind is "open", so he can tell who is good and who is evil. What a load of nonsense! The whole veil stuff is hilarious rubbish, even worse than the "science" in the Ice Warriors. 
• Carol is kidnapped right at the end of episode five (in a really rubbish cliffhanger). She's held prisoner, but she isn't actually tied up or threatened with a weapon (until John comes to rescue her). Since she knows what noise does to Sensorites, why doesn't she just scream as loud as she can and calmly walk out? Not that it really matters as she's rescued right away anyway, since the whole kidnap of Carol was simply for a cliffhanger (in spite of being given the actual episode title!)

Verdict

There's not really a whole lot to like. I always try hard to like this story, but the pacing is just horrible. It's not that it's slow, it's that all the most interesting parts are skipped over in favour of long scenes of very little happening. As baddies go, the City Administrator is amongst the worst. It also has some ridiculous concepts. Apparently people are either good or evil. Apparently we all have a veil in our brain which when it gets stuck open leaves us permanently afraid. Apparently the concept of caring for others is bizarre, whilst absolute trust in everyone (even when you've already seen many are untrustworthy) is sensible. And apparently names aren't very worthwhile things, particularly for a species who struggle to tell each other apart anyway. The weakest story so far. Bring on Dennis Spooner!