The Edge of Destruction.



 

The Beginning Boxed Set
includes the first 3 serials.
For around $20
you can't go wrong.

It's very easy to overlook this episode. Unlike many episodes of Dr. Who there are no monsters, no mad scientists; and no historical backdrops. The Edge of Destruction is a character piece and a very important one for Dr. Who.

The music is very ominous in this episode which as you'll see is very fitting. Last episode we left our time travellers just as an explosion had hit the TARDIS and this episode starts appropriately enough with the repercussions of that. Ian Chesterton, Susan; and The Doctor are all unconscious when our story begins. Barbara Wright is awake and doesn't seem to remember who any of them are. Soon Susan and Ian awaken with a similar ailment.

We see alot more of the TARDIS
in this serial.

We soon learn that the equipment on the TARDIS is acting strangely. The food machine is claiming to be out of water when it isn't, the view screen is randomly displaying their past adventures; and the doors of the TARDIS keep opening and closing on their own. The Doctor has a gash on his head and he seems as out of it as everyone else. Something is amiss amongst our adventurers and none of them can quite put their finger on what it is.



BARBARA: Yes, but, but where would it hide?
SUSAN: In one of us.

Barbara is as usual right on the money when she questions if something has snuck aboard the ship. Susan agrees suggesting that maybe something came aboard inside one of the crew. (wonder if a young Ridley Scott saw this episode?) And they're both right because the crew is being slowly poisoned and scared by energy fluctuations (the explosions) on the ship. As they become more frightened they begin acting more and more irrational and giving vent to their very real suspicions of one another. The danger in this episode comes from within.

Susan attacks Ian (and the weird TARDIS bed) with a pair of scissors. The Doctor himself accuses Ian and Barbara and of tampering with his ship, threatening to throw them out of it. And disturbingly Susan believes he will. In fact she seems to know that The Doctor is suggesting this very act by merely saying he will treat the school teachers as his enemies. Makes you wonder who has been thrown out of it in the past.

This leads to one of the best parts of the serial when Barbara tells off The Doctor, accusing him outright of kidnapping them; and telling him he should drop down on his knees thanking them for saving him so many times since. Not that he'd know anything about gratitude. Yet. We also see more of Ian's concern for Barbara. His biggest problem with the preceding events were the fact The Doctor hurt her feelings and wants him to apologize to her. Nearly getting stabbed with scissors is apparently nothing to him next to her feelings. He also questions whether the Doctor's adventures and research are conducted in the name of good or evil. Something not really clear at this point in the show. And as usual The Doctor gives an ambiguous answer to keep us all guessing.

DOCTOR: Oh, a mere harmless sleeping drug.
IAN: I thought so.
DOCTOR: Yes, you rather suspected
I was up to some mischief.

He then shows up whistling with drinks. To which Ian tells him that he doesn't get him. "One moment you're abusing us, and the next, you're playing the perfect butler." Real nice summary of The Doctor really. Of course the drinks are drugged and he puts everyone, Susan included to sleep. That rascally Hartnell. The first episode ends with a great cliffhanger as a pair of hands come from offscreen and wrap themselves about The Doctor's throat. Is this the mysterious visitor Barbara and Susan alluded to earlier?

Longwinded and somewhat
confusing monologue time
bitches!

We soon learn that it is loveable Ian Chesterton?! He seems in the mood to strangle anybody now even going for Barbara. Luckily that doesn't work because Ms. Wright once again discovers the cause of all the strange goings on. She mentions that the TARDIS appears to be alive and is attempting to warn them with all of these minor malfunctions. The Doctor is incredulous at first but as more energy explosions wrack the ship he begins looking for an answer.

Much like Batman;
The Doctor labels everything.

He realizes that the TARDIS' fault locator is telling them that the entire ship is at fault. But how can that be? He informs the others that if the answer isn't found soon the result will be the total disintegration of the ship! With the help of Ian he learns that the problem stems from the Fast Return Switch on the TARDIS. He hit it after their encounter with the Daleks and apparently it got stuck. A broken spring nearly sent our travellers hurtling toward the brink of destruction at the beginning of the universe. The Doctor fixes the switch and the crisis is averted.

But the damage has been done among our travellers. Many hurtful things had been said over the course of the episode. Many suspicions and grudges uncovered. Susan suggests to her grandfather that he should apologize to the schoolteachers but he doesn't seem to know how. One fascinating aspect about The Doctor is that with all his vast knowledge and resources; he really doesn't know how to interact with other people. He must've been a social outcast prior to his adventures. Perhaps it was his reason for leaving.

 

BARBARA: What do you care what I think or feel?
DOCTOR: As we learn about each other,
so we learn about ourselves.
BARBARA: Perhaps.

Easy going Ian overhears this and as usual he goes with the flow. He tells The Doctor sometimes he can read on his face what he wants to say even if he doesn't say it and accepts his "apology." The two have a good laugh at this. (Ian's a ham) Barbara as usual is a tougher sell but after a fairly heatwarming scene with her alone with The Doctor they seem to at least put their differences aside; with The Doctor acknowledging that disaster was averted because of Barbara. Maybe he really does need help sometimes.

And with them ends the first major storyarc of Doctor Who. The

David Whitaker
screenwriter of
The Edge of Destruction, The Rescue,
& The Crusade; among others. 

Edge of Destruction was written as a throw away filler episode; and it easily could have been. But to David Whitaker's credit he turned it into something very important to the series. Because this is the episode where the companions give voice to the fact The Doctor is fallible (something the new series could use more of), that his companions aren't just pests; and where the time travellers aboard the TARDIS begin to feel like an actual crew. They aren't friends yet; but they're getting there.

With these admissions the show can now move forward in new directions. On their first stop they need some heavy jackets because it's snowing outside... and Susan just found a huge footprint in the snow. This looks like a job for...




Figured this would be a good time to show off
the custom figures of Barbara, Susan; & Ian I made.