Series 1 Episode 33: Hidden Danger

Serial: The Sensorites
Episode: 3 (Hidden Danger)
Doctor: William Hartnell
Companions: Barbara, Ian, and Susan

Writer: Peter R. Newman
Director: Mervyn Pinfield
Producer: Verity Lambert
Original Air Date: 11/07/1964 (Wimbledon overran, apparently)

WHEN YOU’RE SIXTEEN GOING ON SEVENTEEN WAITING FOR LIFE TO START (and other stories)

In which Susan rebels, the Doctor is the Patriarchy, Babs gets benched, and Ian gets Space Cholera from Pleb Water.

So Susan is off to the Sense Sphere to save the rest of the crew from being murdered and weirdly it’s Babs and not the Doctor who’s the first to spring to action once Susan is beyond the sliding door. The Doctor observes with weird calm that there can’t be air outside the ship and that the Sensorites must be stopped. So what does Ian do? Exactly what he did last episode! Grab the bestie and hope for the best. Pausing only to check with Ian that they’re going to try out the Doctor’s theory from last week that the Sensorites are afraid of the dark, Babs helps Ian get the door open and they…bump straight into Susan and the two Sensorites. They didn’t get far, did they?

I find this action strangely hypnotic.

Susan tells the humans not to interfere, but Babs has gone full schoolteacher and is insisting that Susan not go with the Sensorites. One of the Sensorites observes that they’re not carrying weapons but that he’s still afraid of them. So would I be, Mister Sensorite—they’ve got their game faces on. Ian says they just want to talk, but the Sensorites are having none of it; aliens always say they want to talk but always end up wrecking the place. The humans they’ve encountered on previous occasions must be real colonial bellends. Again Susan tells her teachers not to interfere, saying that the Sensorites trust her because she can use telepathy; Babs sticks to her guns; Susan says they don’t understand the Sensorites. Susan, I am loving this streak of rebellious maturity but really you picked one hell of a time for a teenage rebellion. Then again, I will never not love it when Barbara and Ian go into Space Parent mode.

Enter the Doctor, and WOW he’s being a dick. He tells Susan he doesn’t think she has the ability to represent them (literally his words), at which Susan insists he stop treating her like a child. FAMILY DRAMA! AND PATRIARCHAL BULLSHIT! IN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE! He actually tells her to do as she’s told (a rather unpleasant characteristic that gets recycled in Capaldi-era Who) and ‘come here’; when she digs her heels in, he adds ‘THIS INSTANT’.

OUCH.

Blimey. I love that we’re getting to see Susan kicking back against the Doctor’s authority and his constant infantilisation of her. I also like that William Hartnell isn’t trying to come across as sympathetic in this scene; he says some really insulting, patronising things to Susan that leave her in no doubt about the (lack of) belief he has in her and is very blunt about it, which makes the full unpleasantness of an ugly family argument to come to the fore.

And alas, Susan’s moment of rebelliousness is over: she shuffles back over to Team Tardis, and it’s interesting that it’s Ian’s arm that reaches out towards her; clearly someone wants to be Good Cop. As the Sensorites reach out with their catapult thingies, Ian hits the light switch…and the Sensorites are suddenly helpless and clinging to one another and begging for them to bring back the light and crying out that they’re afraid. It’s pitiful stuff, but nobody seems to be particularly moved. As the Doctor sends Susan back to Carol, he tells Ian to put the lights back on, and proceeds to tell the Sensorites how much power he has over them but how great he is because he doesn’t intend to use it except in self-defence. Christ he’s cold this week.

Anyway, the Sensorites ask what he wants, and he tells them he doesn’t want anything that isn’t his; Ian chimes in and reminds us all about the Sensorites having stolen the lock to the Tardis. Barbara is notable by her absence from this bit of power play. The Sensorites have to check back with Sense Sphere. The Doctor, impatient with this bureaucratic faff, tells Ian to torture them (i.e. put the lights out) if they try anything and goes off presumably to lecture Susan about obedience, raging all the while: ‘Dictated to by petty thieves and my own grandchild!’ Fuck the grandpatriarchy says I.

Once alone with Babs and the Sensorites, it becomes clear that Ian’s mind is on other things:

He is of course referring to the Sensorites' use of their little disc thingummies for the purposes of thought transference, but I am a massive child and enjoy taking these things out of context. In any case, Babs isn't listening AT ALL, which is in itself a thing of beauty:

Oh Ian, sweetie, you’re already an open book. Also, I demand a remake of What Women Want starring Ian and Babs. Also also, I demand a remake of Enchanted starring these two.

Also also also, this is classic shit from both of them, PLUS I’m going to claim that this serial as a whole is the genesis of Ian Chesterderp who has emerged butterfly-like from the chrysalis of a murderous Aztec nightmare into a world in which he gives fewer fucks. Then this happens:

YE GODS IAN IS SO CLUELESS. Young woman shows defiance towards her male elders—she must have been hypnotised! Thank God for Babs, who is on hand to point out that puberty is a thing. Which is good news for Susan, who at least has someone aboard the Tardis who knows what it’s like being a teenage girl and what’s more is a prime example of how to stand up to the Doctor and his bullshit.

And speaking of the Doctor and his patriarchal bullshit, he’s now being (grand)paternalistic as fuck. In fact he's being a complete arsehole:

GO, SUSAN. And kudos to her for staying calm and sticking to her guns.

Enter the Sensorites, who can sense her teenage angst and ask an increasingly irate Doctor why he’s making her sad. The Doctor blames the Sensorites for causing his first ever argument with Susan, because apparently he’s as clueless as Ian when it comes to these matters; Susan, miserably, agrees to do what the Doctor says just to shut him up. Anyway, the Sensorites are now in touch with their leader, the First Elder, and have agreed to transmit the Doctor’s words to him; the Doctor tells the First Elder the only treasure they desire from the Sensorites is FREEDOM. Classy.

Elsewhere, Carol is checking up on her fiancé John, whose brain has been comprehensively hijacked by the Sensorites. He knows she’s good, but he doesn’t know who she is; poor Carol. And indeed poor John, who just wants ‘silence’.

Elsewhere, Barbara is asking one of the Sensorites whether they can really do something for John; apparently they can…in time. Ian, however, isn’t keen on the waiting part, as apparently Barbara and Maitland have to stay on the ship as hostages a safeguard while they cure him.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Jackie, you don’t need a holiday! Stay and play! It’s going to be boring as fuck without you! Ahem.

But yeah, Ian really isn’t keen, and it all gets a bit meta:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh Ian, you’ve worked out the formula for Classic Who! Have a banana.

Oh and look, here comes the Doctor—exposition time! In which the following facts are established:

1. The Sensorites communicate with their little disc thingies telepathically but otherwise speak with their mouths.
2. The Sensorites use telepathy to blanket out the minds of the crew.
3. They do this because ten years ago, five humans rocked up on the Sense Sphere and were welcomed but were clearly thinking about the mineral riches of the planet; they quarrelled, two of them apparently took off in the spaceship, the other three presumably sneaked aboard and fought them from control, and the spaceship exploded; since the explosion the Sensorites have been dying from a disease or diseases unknown. (Barbara’s money is on scarlet fever, FYI.)
4. They’re allowing the Doctor & Co. onto the planet because they sense great knowledge in them and think they may be able to help.

And oh the Doctor is delightfully vain, going from belligerent to chucklesome as he speculates that there’ll be some bargaining ahead.

Anyway, their ride has arrived. The Doctor tells Babs he’s sorry to leave her behind but, y’know, he’s going to anyway; Ian also apologises for leaving Babs behind; Babs reassures both of them she’ll be fine (and is probably looking forward to putting her feet up for a bit). Then Barbara takes Susan to one side and something gorgeous happens:

BARBARA: Susan?
SUSAN: Yes?
BARBARA: Look, I know how you feel, but your Grandfather loves you.
SUSAN: Yes, I know.
BARBARA: Be patient. We're all on your side really, you know.

I LOVE BARBARA AND SUSAN CHATS. It’s like that time in Marco Polo when Susan didn’t understand why her grandfather was being a grumpy bastard and Barbara tried to make her see how the Doctor was feeling insecure and defenceless having had a ‘wonderful machine, capable of all sorts of miracles [. . . ] taken away from him by a man he calls a primitive’. Only this time we’re imagining teenage Barbara kicking back against her own parents and/or guardians (how I wish we had more details about the early companions’ families). Nailing the pastoral care, there, Babs. Also I’m getting such Maria/Liesl vibes off this scene:

Come to think of it, that song is horribly prophetic for Susan (‘lo and behold you’re someone's wife, and you belong to him’).

At this point, the Doctor, clearly meaning well but also reasserting his paternalistic authority, chivvies Susan along, telling her they can’t do without her. And it turns out it’s not just Barbara and Maitland who are staying on the ship, but also the Second Sensorite; I really, really hope that somewhere it will be revealed that the three of them resorted to teaching one another and then playing parlour games specific to their times and planets.

Ok, so now we’re on the Sense Sphere, where the Sensorites are sitting around in identical costumes but for various sashes and collars which apparently distinguish their rank. Which is handy. The First Elder has two crossed black sashes; the Second Elder has one black sash; and the City Administrator, who is listening to the conversation between the other two, has a black collar. The Second Elder is a bit sceptical about inviting the humans into the city rather than meeting them in the desert or the mountains, seeing as they are both loud and ugly; the First Elder, however, seems a reasonable and philosophical sort, and plans to fight fire with fire by getting the humans with the ‘spaceship that can cross the barriers of the universe’ to stop the Sensorites from dying; he also points out that ‘[i]t is the failure of all beings that they judge through their own eyes’. Wise words. When he asks the City Administrator for his opinion, however, said C.A. says he doesn’t dare question his great brain; the First Elder tell him ‘Jefferson has beliefs; Burr has none’ ‘No opinion can be worse sometimes than a very dogmatic one’. Burn.

Once the First Elder has left, it becomes apparent that the City Administrator does in fact have an opinion, and a xenophobic one at that: the First Elder’s decision is based on trust, and humans are not to be trusted. We get a fascinating little insight into Sensorite politics and the functions of their ruling élite when it becomes apparent that the City Administrator regards the First Elder’s mind as ‘pure’; however, he sees himself and the Second Elder as ‘realists’…which is why he’s beamed a disintegrator into the room.

Look, Sensorites are tricky to gif because of their mouths
being obscured by facial hair. Also I miss Babs already.

I’m sorry what.

Ok, so the City Administrator is going to murder the humans at the first sign of trouble because it’s his job to protect his ruler. Fab. I have to say, it would indeed be idiotic not to have a contingency plan when dealing with the same kind of colonially-minded aliens who brought disease and destruction to your planet in a smallpox-in-a-blanket sort of way, but still, this Sensorite is pretty reactionary.

Anyway, the gang has arrived on the Sense Sphere, where it becomes apparent that the Sensorites have a caste system. Susan seems surprised, while Ian has a classic Leftie Ian moment:

FIRST-SENSORITE: How else can we tell what each man is best fitted to do? The Elders think and rule, the warriors fight, the Sensorites work and play.
DOCTOR: You make it sound so very simple.
FIRST-SENSORITE: And all are happy.
IAN: But some are happier than others, eh?

OH IAN. IAN, IAN, IAN. OF COURSE YOU’RE PARAPHRASING ORWELL.

Also I’m pretty sure this is meant to be some sort of nod towards an oldschool Japanese-style caste system, seeing as how Peter R. Newman also wrote the screenplay for a film called Yesterday’s Enemy based on British war crimes against the Japanese in Burma which, as it has been pointed out, isn’t a million miles away from certain aspects of this serial. Also also, I have (by a total coincidence) been reading a hugely problematic essay by T.S. Eliot called Notes Towards the Definition of Culture and I’m pretty sure he would have considered Sensorite society pretty-much ideal, insofar as—in the words of the First Sensorite—‘[t]here is no disgrace in being in any of the castes; it is simply what one is best fitted for’. But I digress.

At this point, John starts talking about how evil is near; Carol thinks he’s just crazy, but Susan reminds her that his mind is open and that he can tell the difference between good and evil. Which is convenient.

Anyway, the City Administrator and the Engineer are setting up the disintegrator to zap the humans in their seats at the dinner table. Which would be awkward if they ended up switching seats. We learn that Sensorites’ hearts are in the centre, and that the Engineer is going to aim the beams at the centre of the humans’ chests in the absence of further information, which begs the question of how he’s going to achieve this given that he doesn’t know how long their torsos are or whether they’ll be leaning forward or scrabbling under the table to retrieve a dropped spork at the time of disintegration. We shall never know. Oh wait, I stand corrected—he can see them through infra-red. And as soon as they’re seated…ZAP!

Nice sixties future tech, though.

In the reception room, John and Carol are being sent off to get John’s brain sorted; he pronounces the First Elder ‘good’, that is to say ‘not like…’ and tails off. IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, SAY IT JOHN.

Anyway, John goes off to get his treatment, and while Ian’s busy sucking up to his new host, the Doctor says what we’re all thinking as far as the Sensorites’ handling of John is concerned: ‘It doesn't alter the fact that you're responsible for his condition. I think It's utterly disgraceful!’ DAMN RIGHT. Susan, however, thinks her grandfather should be less shouty, and they all go to sit at their places. Uh-oh.

But oh what’s this? The Second Elder has come bursting into the disintegrator room and told the trigger-happy City Administraor and Engineer to not laser everyone to death because the humans are a reasonable lot after all. The CA isn’t happy about it, but the Second Elder is insistent and confiscates the key to the death machine for good measure. Before he leaves, he tells the CA he has doubts about those who question orders and authority. Hmm. But also phew, because it seems Team Where’s Barbara Already is not going to be murdered at the dinner table.

I knew I made this for a reason. Though mostly I just
don't want to have to make Sensorite speech gifs.

Meanwhile, the First Elder is making excuses for having driven John insane because the latter was a foreigner who wanted to steal from them. It’s scary how much what is essentially a story about colonial exploitation is being told using UKIP-y language. Ian points out that this is no excuse for sending John out of his mind, and the First Elder is quick to point out that the only reason John is now crazy is because his mind was open with excitement (yikes that sounds iffy) so when the Sensorites sent the crew to sleep John’s brain was defenceless and he just heard all the voices in his head.

At this point, a waiter comes in with some refreshments, and the First Elder is outraged that his guests are not being given the same food and drink he’s being given (apparently because the CA is a massive racist); he orders the waiter to bring the crystal water (which comes from a pure spring)…which only the Elders can drink. Ugh. Caste systems. Ian, however, is too thirsty for fancy schmancy water, which isn’t surprising seeing as how when Babs and Susan went looking for water on the spaceship they got lost and then the Sensorites arrived and yeah everyone’s probably dehydrated as fuck right now. I wonder whether all this information we’re being given about the ordinary water supply coming from aqueducts that run beneath the city will be in any way significant in the very near future, said she in a voice heavy with sarcasm. Ian drinks the water; and I am starting a timer.

Elsewhere, the CA and the Engineer are plotting.

Back in the dining room, the First Elder is telling Team Where’s Barbara Already about what the different sashes mean. Ian asks about the ordinary people; the First Elder says they are ‘content with their similarity’. Then, precisely 1 minute and 15 seconds from the moment the Not Crystal Water touches his lips, Ian starts coughing. And just to make sure we’re in no doubt as to the significance of this fact, it occurs thus:

Well that’s just hysterical. The Doctor asks whether the disease affects the Elders, and when the answer is no, he muses ‘I WONDER WHY NOT’. No, this is too much. I swear that’s sarcastic line delivery from Mr. H. Also, even if Babs isn’t here to remember it from the History of Medicine module that…er…wasn’t on the GCSE syllabus in the 1960s (and for all I know probably hasn’t been on it since the mid-00s or has at least now been purged by the Tories in favour of British British Things), there’s no reason on Earth why Ian the Science Teacher wouldn’t immediately have thought of Dr. John Snow (no, not that one) and the Broad Street Pump, i.e. a major breakthrough in epidemiology to do with how cholera was spread in an outbreak of 1854. (BOOM remembering facts like it’s 2004...which was 12 years ago…unacceptable.)

Anyway, Ian is still coughing through everyone’s lines, and once it’s been established that the Sensorites will return the Tardis lock in return for aid and that the Doctor considers Susan to be ‘a fine young woman’ (IT’S ABOUT TIME), he starts hacking away in earnest. The Doctor is concerned about His Dear Chesterton, and Susan is out of her seat; Ian asks for water. The Doctor asks whether these are the symptoms of the disease; the First Elder nods; Ian collapses on the floor. WELL THAT IS ONE FAST-ACTING DISEASE. And apparently there’s no hope, because according to the First Elder, he is now dying!

SHOCK HORROR! WILL IAN DIE OF SPACE CHOLERA? WILL THIS SORT OF THING HAPPEN EVERY TIME BABS ISN’T AROUND TO KEEP HIM OUT OF TROUBLE? WILL SUSAN BE REDUCED TO BROW-MOPPING DUTY OR WILL SHE BE ABLE TO STRETCH HER TELEPATHIC LEGS? HOW HAVE THE ELDERS NOT SPOTTED THE DRINKING WATER THING? WHEN WILL JACKIE COME BACK FROM HER HOLIDAYS?

Summary (as applicable to this episode)

Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yup!

Is the gaze problematic? Nope.

Is/are the woman companion(s) dressed 'for the Dads'? No.

Does a woman fall over/twist her ankle (whilst running from peril)? No.

Does a woman wander off alone for the sole dramatic purpose of getting into trouble so she can be rescued later? Nope.

Is/are the woman companion(s) captured? No. Though Babs is essentially held hostage.

Does the Doctor/a man companion/any other man have to rescue the woman companion(s) from peril? Not as such. Susan chooses to accompany the Sensorites (well, it's not a straightforward choice, but she's determined to go) down to their planet, but Ian and Babs take it upon themselves to rescue her anyway. Also it looks like Ian's going to be in the most peril as of the end of this episode.

Is a woman placed under threat of actual bodily harm? Everyone is, really.

Is/are the woman companion's/s' first/only reaction(s) to peril gratuitous screaming? No.

Does a woman companion go into hysterics over something reasonably minor? No.

Is a woman 'spared' the ordeal of having to do/witness something unpleasant by a man who makes a decision on her behalf/keeps her deliberately ignorant? Susan is prevented from going down to the Sense Sphere.

Does a man automatically disbelieve or belittle something a woman (companion) says happened to her? Yeah, the Doctor is pretty disparaging about Susan's claims to have understood the Sensorites.

Does a man talk over a woman or talk about a woman as though she isn't there? Yes.

Does the woman companion have to be calmed/comforted by the Doctor/a man companion/a man? No. Susan has a lot to flip out about, but she stays calm; however, she's treated like an hysteric by the Doctor anyway.

Is a woman the first/only person to be (most gratuitously) menaced by the episode's antagonist(s)? The CA has it in for everyone, I think.

Is a man shamed into doing/not doing something because the alternative is a woman doing/not doing something? No.

Does the woman companion come up with a plan? Susan. And her plan is derailed.

Does the woman companion do something stupid/banal/weird which inspires a man to be a Man with a Plan? No.

Does a woman come up with a theory and is it ridiculed by the Doctor/a man? Susan's theory that the Sensorites trust her more because she can communicate with their minds is ridiculed by the Doctor. A lot.

Does a woman call the Doctor out on his bullshit? Susan!

Does a woman get to be a badass? Yup!

Is the young, strong, straight, white male lead the person most often in control of the situation? The Doctor is bossing everyone around this week.

Is there past/future/alien sexism? Nope, just good old fashioned Doctor/Ian. You could argue that it's more to do with Susan being a teen than being a woman, but I think it's certainly mixed in with sexism.

Does a 'present'-day character call anybody out on past/future/alien sexism? The Sensorites call the Doctor out on making Susan sad.

Does an past/future/alien person have the hots for a woman companion and is it reciprocated? No.

Did a woman write/direct/produce this episode? No/No/Yes.

Verdict

This week is all about Susan trying to assert her independence and worth in the face of an increasingly dickish Doctor, whose patriarchal bullshit is thoroughly unpleasant. Though she ultimately agrees to do as she's told, it's an uneasy resolution, and I'm grateful that this reconciliation was played as an uncomfortable truce that's clearly not satisfactory for Susan; it makes me confident that this issue is not resolved and will be allowed to play out. Until she gets married off. There are some nice moments between Barbara and Susan, and it's good for Susan to have a female role model to whom she can look for a good example (not least in terms of showing her how to stand up to the Doctor's nonsense) and who looks out for her emotional wellbeing. Ian is clueless as hell (his notion that Susan's disobedience is down to hypnosis is something else), but I enjoy the continued leftie streak to his character. The Doctor is awful this week, but kudos to Billy and to the director for not trying to make the Doctor likeable whenever he's clearly in the wrong; one of my favourite things about One is that he's not a straightforward hero and (at this stage) only very occasionally the moral compass of the show, so there's no pressure to make him right all the time; when his behaviour is inexcusable, people don't make excuses for him. (I'll accept that Babs telling Susan her grandfather loves her really is a bit of an excuse, but she doesn't say that makes him right per se.) The Sensorites are...interesting. I mean sometimes they're boring, but they raise complicated questions at any rate. Next week, expect lots of whinging about Barbara's absence.