The Sensorites [TV/1964.6.20 ~ 8.1]

★★★☆☆

  For a First Doctor serial rarely ever mentioned in the larger fandom except when brought up thanks to a throwaway line in Planet of the Ood, The Sensorites has a surprising amount of notable elements going for it. For instance, William Hartnell is on top form -- and I mean top -- as the Doctor, commanding and intelligent and diplomatic as the same time. It's the quintessential showcase of this incarnation during his early days in Season 1, as the audience gets to fully believe that this is a negotiator for good as well as a damn entertaining lead character in a hit television show. The sparkle in his eyes as he solves a problem, the warmth he displays for his fellow TARDIS crew, and the assured and demanding presence he has in every scene... yeah, no wonder he's my favourite Doctor.

  It's good enough that this serial (alongside another superb portrayal in the previous The Aztecs) sees the culmination of Hartnell's honing of the character, but it's also a pleasure to see Carole Ann Ford's Susan Foreman get a substantial cut of the drama this time. Far from being a shrieking damsel in distress (a role she frankly inhabited in many serials during her tenure), the Doctor's granddaughter is a mysterious and commanding character who demands her way into the serial's spotlight and acts as chief mediator between humans and Sensorites. I love how they incorporated Susan's innate mind powers as a gift she uses to be closer to the similarly psychic Sensorites, gaining agency within the narrative and allowing Ford to show that she can be a really rather terrific companion if given the chance. In a morality tale about a cry for peace between two races unwilling to sit down and talk, the added character depth is a welcome additional layer.

  As for the serial as a whole, I don't think it's as slow and boring as some people make it out to be. Pacing drops off the rails a few times, yeah, but you'd expect that in a six-parter from 1964. Conversely, I was pleasantly surprised by how meaty the premise (humans being held captive by aliens who view them as a threat and have disputes among themselves on whether or not to trust them) and execution are. If you can get behind Barbara being absent for one-third of the serial because Jacqueline Hill was on holiday, and a narrative which is pretty much that morality/anti-war story every long-running science fiction series has (albeit still an enjoyable one), go for The Sensorites. It won't harm your day.