"There is no hope, your friend is dying."
See, told you. Poor Ian, all he did was drink a glass of water and he gets left on the floor for the first half of the episode! Not to worry, the Doctor is on the case. And John has decided to get his hair done...
Lovely. There's a moment reminiscent of 'Marco Polo' as the Doctor ponders to himself, "Will they let me into my ship?" Some great scenes in this episode, but the clunky paranoid Sensorites plot drags on as it dawns on them to simply swap sashes. Add in a great bit of ventriloquism by the Administrator and we could well have been convinced except that the Second Elder also appears to have, ahem, put on a bit of weight suddenly.
The Doctor comes over all Time-Lordy with the First Elder even if he doesn't know it yet. "Don't set yourself against me!" Well, he knows it, obviously, but we don't. Not until 'The War Games' which is way, way off.
Everyone does their best close-up acting. Here's William Hartnell with test tubes...
And what neat handwriting the Sensorites have! Ten out of ten.
The City Administrator has a Professor Zaroff* moment with what is a rather bold claim in the circumstances, "I see victory for all my plans!" Well I'm glad you do, dear, because I don't think you've got a hope in hell.
Again, this episode is nicely directed (the camera even helpfully rises up to include a microphone boom in the cave sequence) and the black and white really lends itself so well to shadows and lights as the Doctor hears something growling in the dark.
Next episode: Kidnap
What fresh hell is this?
*What do you mean, who? Call yourself a fan. One of the best over-the-top performances ever to grace Dr Who occured in 'The Underwater Menace'. You've got a bit of a wait for that one, too.
