The Sensorites
In the distant future, the TARDIS lands aboard a human spacecraft whose crew claims that they are under siege by creatures called the Sensorites, who can influence their thoughts. Captain Maitland warns the Doctor and his friends to leave immediately and assures the time travelers that they can do nothing for the ship’s crew, but by the time they return to the TARDIS, it’s too late – the lock has been removed and the doors cannot be opened. The Doctor resolves to help the human crew fight the influence of the Sensorites. The ship is boarded by spacewalking Sensorites, who are able to exert mental control over Maitland and his crew, though the Doctor and his companions are able to fight off that control, and they begin to show the humans how to do the same. But the Sensorites quickly detect that someone aboard has powerful telepathic abilities of their own, and they use that mind-link to open peaceful negotiations – through Susan. The Doctor and his friends, and the ship’s human crew, are invited to visit the Sensorites’ home planet, Sense-Sphere, where the Sensorites reveal their fear of humanity visiting their world to exploit it for the molybdenum on its surface. Worse yet, a previous human expedition to Sense-Sphere has come and gone, but many of its crew died after leaving the planet. When Ian falls ill, the Doctor discovers that the water is poisoned – and Ian is only the latest victim. But are the Sensorites – who claim that they are peaceful – behind the plot? Time is running out for the Doctor to find out.
written by Peter R. Newman
directed by Mervyn Pinfield (episodes 1-4) & Frank Cox (episodes 5-6)
music by Norman KayGuest Cast: Stephen Dartnell (John), Ilona Rogers (Carol), Lorne Cossette (Captain Maitland), Ken Tyllson, Joe Grieg, Peter Glaze, Arthur Newell (Sensorites), Eric Francise, Bartlett Mullins (Elders), John Bailey (Commander), Martyn Huntley, Giles Phibbs (Survivors)
Notes: Again due to actress Jacqueline Hill being on vacation, the character of Barbara is absent for much of The Sensorites. This episode leaves no doubt that the Doctor and Susan are from a world other than Earth; her description of orange skies and trees full of silver leaves was taken on board in numerous later novels, and was finally depicted – briefly – in the 2007 episode The Last Of The Time Lords. (Previous episodes that visited Gallifrey – which wasn’t named until 1974 – usually didn’t adhere to that description, likely for budgetary reasons.)
Broadcast from June 20 through August 1, 1964
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
It’s just another episode of Anglia TV’s Science Report series, albeit one in which a trail of disappearances of bright, healthy young scientists, engineers, and other thinkers, and a series of unexplained mysteries about the American space program going dormant following the seemingly promising start of the international Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, and a videotape handed over to a member of the press for safe keeping by a radio astronomer who died in a mysterious car crash shortly afterward, and troubling reports of climate change lead to an astonishing conclusion: Earth is doomed, and the human race is secretly sending its best and brightest to a colony on Mars to preserve itself.
written by David Ambrose
Notes: Originally intended to air on April Fools’ Day (hence the date given at the beginning of the show’s end credits) but delayed by broadcast industry strikes in 1977, Science Report: Alternative 3 was a hoax from beginning to end, devised jointly by its writer (David Ambrose, with credits aplenty on previous Anglia TV series such as Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries) and its director. It’s another entry in that rareified category of “faux newscast” dramas that includes such greats as Special Bulletin, 
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Imperial Technician #2 / Stormtrooper Commander), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Keone Young (Commander Sato / Imperial Technician / Imperial Technician #3), James Earl Jones (Darth Vader), Sam Witwer (The Emperor / W1-LE / Imperial Technician), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Dee Bradley Baker (Old Jho / Stormtrooper #3 / Phoenix #3 / Admiral Konstantine / Rebel Technician), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua), Matthew Wood (Phoenix #1 / Stormtrooper / Stormtrooper #3 / Imperial Captain)
Notes: An hour-long “movie”, The Siege Of Lothal serves as something of a new pilot for Rebels, recasting the Ghost crew as a band of star warriors rather than a group of resistance fighters tied to Lothal. Several more months passed before the rest of the second season began to air, with this adventure being aired as a stand-alone event.