32. The Sensorites, Part II: The Unwilling Warriors

I had three main takeaways from this episode. First, my ear for music must be halfway decent. I thought the music sounded a lot like the music from the Keys of Marinus – particularly the repeated two-note theme in the wind instruments. Sure enough, I checked, and the incidental music was composed by Norman Kay. Mr. Kay composed the music for only three early stories, and it did include the Sensorites and the Keys of Marinus.

Second, molybdenum seems like a really random chemical element for two races to go to war over. My operative theory was that there was a spike in demand in the early 1960s, causing it to become a plot element in this story. However, my extensive research into molybdenum – i.e., a skimming of its Wikipedia page – was inconclusive.

Third, the actor who portrayed John might have benefited from some time in the Royal Hospital for Overacting. Looking him up, he also played Yartek in the Keys of Marinus. I realize he was in a full-body costume for that role and not recognizable, but it’s still surprising that they’re only seven stories into the series and already reusing actors. Maybe he gets a bonus point for having a surname that rhymes with Hartnell. Although, I seem to remember Yartek being a good portrayal and not quite so over-the-top, so maybe he earned that extra paycheck.

Final random thought: With all the awkward silences in this episode, you can tell this was intended to be a shorter story but got padded out to six episodes.