31. The Sensorites, Part I: Strangers in Space

I’m sure I have this story on a VHS tape and have watched it before as an omnibus version broadcast on PBS (USA public broadcasting). But I didn’t watch it regularly and I remember almost nothing about it except the appearance of the Sensorites. I’ve since picked up via various podcasts that this is not a well-regarded story and I’ve been somewhat dreading watching it. So I thought I’d make it more interesting:


They had this at Costco! Okay, I live in the suburbs and had like one drink and can barely feel it. Too much more and I’d have a headache tomorrow!

Anyway, I almost never notice things like camera shots, but I was surprised when they appeared to go from the TARDIS interior to the spaceship in one shot. I guess it was two adjacent studio sets?

Beyond that, it didn’t seem like the worst episode I’ve ever seen. Sure, there was some unnecessary dialogue that felt like padding. And it didn’t make sense that a Sensorite could burn out the TARDIS lock while 20 feet away from the crew without them noticing. Oh, and the Sensorites going back and forth to the ship multiple times in the span of a few minutes didn’t make sense. Oh yeah, and the cliffhanger of an odd-looking, mustachioed alien bobbing up and down in the cold vacuum of space wasn’t exactly terrifying.

Okay, it’s probably not the greatest episode ever made. But at least having low expectations for it made it not a total slog and didn’t fill me with existential dread at the prospect of watching five more episodes in this story.

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