Doctor Who (TV Series) A Desperate Venture (1964) User Reviews

Strong finale to what's a very good story.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 2 February 2019]

I am at odds with many fans, as I have nothing but positive comments overall for The Sensorites, the show is still in its infancy, yet manages to introduce so many themes, it is very original and well balanced.

The concluding episode is very good, we learn who's been poisoning the water, and why, plus the rogue Sensorite is brought to justice. Some quite dark themes, with that band of soldiers clearly malicious through insanity.

A wonderful story for Susan I thought, she has a terrific scene with the elder where she discusses her home planet, I thought her character throughout was terrific. I'm glad Barbara was brought down from that Spaceship.

Much maligned, but have to say I really enjoyed.

The Sensorites: Part 5 - Slightly below average adventure with some good, interesting aspects

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 7/10 · 5 July 2014]

Review of all 6 parts:

The Sensorites

This story has some good ideas and has its moments so it is a decent effort and not bad at all. Overall, though, it has too many flaws and less interesting parts to be anywhere near top quality classic Who - it is ok but nothing special in my opinion.

The Doctor, Ian and Barbara are up to their usual well written standard and the story has very interesting aspects. The alien race The Sensorites (relatives of the Ood from 21st Century series of 'Doctor Who') are interesting as they at first seem very menacing but turn out to only have a few members of real menace with the majority being gentle and friendly. They are pretty well realised aliens, somewhat more three dimensional than your usual TV or movie alien race and imaginatively designed within the limitations of early Who.

The adventure involves tension at times, trust issues and devious schemes. It maintains some interest overall but it sometimes loses momentum and drags. It is good in some ways but has flaws in execution at times. A slightly unexceptional adventure by classic Who's very high general standards, not among the best at all but certainly nowhere near the worst.

Given the limitations the inventiveness and effort to create this is admirable.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 7.5/10, Episode 2 - 7/10, Episode 3 - 7/10, Episode 4 - 7.5/10, Episode 5 - 7/10, Episode 6 - 7.5/10

Overall: 7/10.

A Desperate Venture

[guswhovian · 8/10 · 19 June 2020]

The Doctor and Ian travel into the aqueducts to find the source of the poison, but the City Administrator's meddling may kill them.

"A Desperate Venture" is a satisfactory ending to The Sensorites. John Bailey's brief performance as the insane commander is a highlight. There's also a wonderful scene where Susan describes Gallifrey to the First Elder.

Overall, The Sensorites is one of the most underrated stories of the early Doctor Who episodes. At times it's intelligently written, but sometimes it devolves into silliness. However, the overall quality is strong, with "Strangers in Space" in particular being excellent.

This also marks Carole Ann Ford's best acting moment on the show. The guest performers are overall good; Stephen Dartnell gives a wonderful performance as John. Peter Glaze makes the City Administrator a very memorable villain.

One has to give credit to Peter R. Newman for crafting one of the most alien worlds in Doctor Who history.

S1: The Sensorites: Solid if disjointed story with good design but delivered too slowly and with too little consequence

[bob the moo · 14 August 2013]

Having really enjoyed the previous story, it was a little disappointing to find that this story did not really maintain the standard. It starts well enough with the alien race offering a sinister presence but this is minimized after the first two episodes and what remains is a bit of a mystery story combined with race-against-time elements and also a slippery member of the Sensorites trying to thwart the Doctor at every step. These elements are all decent enough but they don't really slot together as well as they should and generally I felt it stuttered and stumbled a bit in the telling.

This isn't helped by the rather slow pace that some of the episodes have, not too much of consequence happens and it happens slowly. I never really disliked any of it but it didn't spark or have the sort of content that I had enjoyed with The Aztecs. It is a shame because I really liked the Sensorites as characters – at least at first, before the plot became a bit ordinary and they seemed a bit "human" in their delivery. Their design is the main thing that appeals. The Ood of the new seasons clearly owe these creatures a debt since they have a similar look and in particular carry something to aid their telepathy. The masks are great and look very alien – like the Daleks they are very imaginative in terms of their look, particularly for a show where so far the humans or humanoids seem to be predominately used. I wasn't so keen on their body shapes being that of the actors (some are pretty tubby and don't look "alien" in their tight tracksuit) and I also thought it was a shame that the mask moved when the actor moved their mouth - I would have prefer them to not have a "mouth" in this way, but overall I liked them.

The cast are decent but not as good as the previous story. This time I guess it is Hill's turn to head off to the beach for a few weeks as she is sidelined for much of the story. Hartnell is mostly good and sells his lines even if he is trying to be dramatic within some so-so developments. Russell is solid but not great although it was nice to see Ford continue to be more than a screaming presence. The aliens are mostly good – although the villain of the pack does ham it up somewhat. The humans are mostly pretty wooden for some reason, although I liked the moments where Dartnell's John was suffering. It isn't new to this story, but I did notice a lot more stumbled lines and small errors in these episodes. Perhaps I was less engaged and more prone to notice them, but it did amuse me to think of the approach of the BBC then – they carry on shooting and figure "close enough" while the cast are professional enough to carry on and not break character or say "cut".

The Sensorites as a race interested me but as a story arch it only did a solid, so-so job. Coming off the back of The Aztecs probably didn't help me but the plotting is a little bit messy and it doesn't flow or have any of the tightness that it needed. Things happen slowly which hurts them where maybe a bit more urgency and pace to the delivery would have helped? Has good aspects but as a whole it is only a solid story.