The Reign Of Terror is a huge step-up from The Sensorites in the sense that something actually happens during this story. The Doctor and co end up in pre-revolutionary France, a few days before Robespierre is taken down and are caught up in the events, as usual.
Unfortunately, I've never been a fan of France in general, so the story just wasn't meant for me. It started out kinda good, moved towards mediocre in the middle(seriously, how many times did they flip-flop between the prison and... elsewhere?), but the last episode was really brilliant work. The capture of Robespierre(I was genuinely horrified when they shot him in the jaw. You know, for kids!) and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte was epic for a 1960s BBC production.
The Doctor was really good in this story. Historicals seem to have a good effect on Hartnell, since he doesn't have to spout technobabble and can indulge in his drama(and comedy) talent. I must admit, the costume did kinda distract me, but other than that, he was great.
Ian was his usual heroic self(I just loved the cliffhanger where he looked out of the bars). Nothing really to add here that hasn't been said before.
Susan went really, really awful in episodes 2 and 3. What's all this fuss about a bunch of rats? You're the granddaughter of the friggin' Doctor! Act like one!! She vanished later on only to reappear in the finale, obviously because the writers don't really care about this person(no wonder she left in The Dalek Invasion Of Earth).
Barbara I really liked this episode, because she asked many moral questions like how we should judge people. If only they weren't trying to shoot us... :D
In the end of the story, Ian wonders about whether or not they could've altered the sequence of events by sending Bonaparte a letter of what's to come, but Susan says that would simply fail by default because it's history. So does that mean that 60s Doctor Who is following the Lost rulebook on history? "Whatever happened, happened." and "The universe has a way of course-correcting things."
Well, that concludes Season 1 of Doctor Who. Twenty-five more to go. Ready or not, here I come!
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