Doctor Who 1.03 Edge of Destruction
1.03 Edge of Destruction
The First Doctor with Susan, Ian and Barbara
Follows on from An Unearthly Child and The Daleks
BARBARA: "What do you care what I think or feel?"
DOCTOR: "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves."
Overview
The Edge of Destruction is not an easy serial to watch, so it is probably just as well it is only two episodes long. As Doctor Who adventures go, this one definitely falls under the category of weird! The story was thrown together in a rush because there was a gap that needed to be filled, and it shows; the concept is a strong one, but the execution is poor, which is a shame because there is actually a lot of really strong character development going on here. Everyone overacts and it is difficult at times to follow what's going on and why, so that at times the story feels impossibly surreal. Where the story ultimately succeeds, however, is in bridging the gap between the Doctor and his reluctant human companions. Since they came aboard, his attitude toward them started out hostile and antagonistic and became resentful and resigned, but this is where the ice truly melts and he begins to accept them as friends worthy of respect. They really feel as if they've started to bond properly in the last few minutes, and that hard-won camaraderie is well worth watching.
The story in a nutshell is this: upon their departure from Skaro at the end of The Daleks, the Doctor pressed the 'fast return' button on the TARDIS console, hoping that this would take them back to Earth so that Ian and Barbara can go home. The button has got stuck, however, so that instead of returning to Earth, the TARDIS is instead going back too far, to the birth of a solar system and the Doctor hasn't realised that anything is wrong. The TARDIS is aware of the danger, however, and doesn't want to be destroyed, so she attempts to warn her occupants but since she can't communicate, she has to resort to dropping clues and hoping they will be able to interpret them. These clues take the form of malfunctions and induced hallucinations, and almost backfire horribly as the travellers simply cannot understand what is going on and retreat into mistrust and paranoia the tension between them might make for a really entertaining and engrossing story, if it weren't so very confusing.
As I see it, the big problem this story has is murky character motivations. The main focus for the bulk of the story is on creating an air of mystery and suspense has something got into the Tardis? Is one of the crew possessed? Has someone sabotaged the ship? Many of the characters' actions are built around creating and enforcing that mystery but the writers commit the cardinal sin of failing to ensure that each character also always has a plausible and clearly understandable reason for their actions once the truth is known.
The end result of the story, however, once the situation has been resolved, is that the barriers between the Doctor and his human companions are finally broken down, so that this is the point where they make the transition from reluctant fellow travellers to real friends. Confusing though the story may be at times, it is well worth watching for that reason alone.
Writer - David Whitaker
Director - Richard Martin / Frank Cox
Script Editor - David Whitaker
Producer - Verity Lambert / Mervyn Pinfield
Aired - 8-15 February 1964
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
Although we think of Classic Who adventures by the names of their respective serials, in the First Doctor era every episode of the show had an individual title of its own, so that viewers would never know from one week to the next whether this particular adventure was coming to an end or would continue for another week those adventures were not considered standalone but were all part of one long ongoing story. The two episodes that comprise The Edge of Destruction are titled 'The Edge of Destruction' and 'The Brink of Disaster'; the former sets up the mystery of what is happening aboard the TARDIS, and the latter solves that mystery.
I am usually very forgiving of the theatrical acting style common to Doctor Who in this era, since the show was framed very much as a filmed stage play and the television industry was so much in its infancy; I am sure that modern acting styles will come to look just as dated in the future, as televisual fashions continue to evolve. That said, I have to say that the acting in this serial is very weak at times, giving the impression that the actors were struggling with the material as much as I do! But there are also some fabulous moments where they really get their teeth into the scenes and shine.
The story picks up where The Daleks left off the TARDIS has taken off from Skaro only for a minor explosion at the console to knock everyone out. The Doctor, Ian and Susan were all standing at the console at the time and thus are the worst affected; Barbara was in another room and is the first to recover from the jolt but everyone is dazed and confused in the wake of the accident they all seem to have a degree of amnesia and/or concussion, while Ian seems to hallucinate at first that he is back at Coal Hill School. This confusion continues throughout the two-part serial, making it difficult at times to understand what the characters are doing and why they don't even know themselves, half the time!
The Doctor was knocked out by the jolt and has cut his head badly (or so we are told, although there is no visible sign of blood). Ian checks his heartbeat and declares it to be steady. He doesn't spot the second heartbeat, which can either be read as the Doctor not having two hearts in this first incarnation or as Ian simply not noticing the second because he was neither expecting nor looking for it he is after all a science teacher, not a doctor.
The special bandage that Susan provides to bind the Doctor's head wound sounds great it contains a special ointment that soaks into the wound and heals it; when the colour fades from the bandage, it means the wound is healed. It looks hilarious, but fair play to the production team, they do a decent job of having the colour fade from the bandage so that it goes from pink-striped to white. Not bad for scenes shot 'as live'.
As the Doctor comes round, he is mumbling something about being unable to take Susan back is this about his inability to return to London 1963, since Susan was as reluctant to leave as Ian and Barbara? Or could it be a vague reference to the unknown circumstances in which he and Susan came to be wandering the universe like this in the first place?
If the bizarre things that happen in this story are meant to be clues for the group to interpret, all I can say is that the TARDIS would be lousy in a game of charades! The main doors keep opening and closing by themselves, which is why Susan and Barbara become afraid that something might have snuck aboard the ship either a physical miscreant, or something more insidious, something that could possess one of them, causing all these mishaps and the strange behaviour. Meanwhile, anyone who approaches the console receives a painful shock that knocks them out, which is what leads the Doctor to believe his ship has been sabotaged (he even suspects that someone physically attacked him, rather than believe the electric shock theory) unless they stand at a particular spot, which is safe. The images that keep flashing up on the scanner don't really mean much, either, although we do learn from them a bit more about the Doctor and Susan's travels before they met Ian and Susan four of or five trips ago, they tell us, they visited a planet called Quinnis and nearly lost the TARDIS. Every clock or watch-face in the TARDIS starts to melt, while the fault locator starts to flash wildly at regular intervals, indicating catastrophic failure. As clues go, they are all pretty vague! It would have been so much simpler if she could have just flashed up a message on the scanner screen 'my fast return switch is stuck and we are all hurtling toward a fiery death, please fix before we incinerate', or words to that effect! There'd have been no story then, though.
There is a definite gender divide in this Tardis team the Doctor and Ian tend toward logic and science, while Barbara and Susan are both more emotional and intuitive.
The growing air of mistrust and paranoia would be much more effective if the character beats tracked more smoothly. When Susan starts waving scissors around at people, we can rationalise that she is frightened and wants to defend herself, but the scenes are played in a menacing way, designed to raise suspicions that she might be possessed. It works well in terms of adding to the spooky atmosphere and the growing mystery, but once we know that she isn't possessed, these scenes become harder to explain because it is so out of character for sweet, sunny-tempered little Susan to go around threatening people with scissors, especially people she knows and cares about. I mean, she goes for Ian when he is simply bringing her water, having put her to bed because she fainted. Is her strange behaviour caused by the shock she received from the TARDIS console? It is the only real explanation, but isn't made as clear in the text as maybe it needed to be.
Susan later retrieves the scissors and hides them after hearing Ian and Barbara agree among themselves not to tell her how worried they are about the possibility of something being in the ship now that makes slightly more sense than going for Ian earlier, with no provocation at all beyond sheer paranoia.
The direction does this story no favours, I think that's another problem it has. The way the story is directed is designed to show us these events through the eyes of the characters, who are very confused, both about what's going on and about each other, which makes them very unreliable narrators; some of their actions seem extremely suspicious because we are seeing them through the eyes of the others, rather than seeing a more objective presentation of what is really going on. It's an ambitious idea that doesn't quite come off.
The Doctor's attitude is antagonistic almost from the moment he awakens, after being knocked out, but this of course is not at all out of character for him. He has learned to tolerate Ian and Barbara, having been thrown together through a couple of hair-raising adventures already, but hostility is still his default reaction under stress at this point, he hasn't yet learned to fully trust his human companions. So when things start going wrong with his beloved ship, his first instinct is to lash out at the newcomers, suspecting that they may be responsible somehow. They make a very convenient scapegoat for him, at a time when he is afraid and under great stress.
Oh, but one thing I really do love about this story is the way Barbara stands up for herself and Ian when the Doctor turns on them. Of the four, Barbara was the only one not standing at the console when it exploded and, although greatly puzzled and confused by what's going on, she remains the most clear-minded throughout. The Doctor openly accuses the two humans of sabotage rather than investigate properly, and Barbara just lets rip this is twelve episodes worth of accumulated stress coming to a head here, and boy does the Doctor deserve every word of that tirade. I love how Ian just stands back and lets her have at it, as well.
It's an important point to bear in mind for all the characters, in fact, that this serial does not standalone but follows directly on from the two that preceded it, so that their behaviour here should not be judged in isolation but is in fact a reaction to the accumulated stress of everything they have been through since their fateful first encounter in Foreman's Scrapyard weeks ago for the audience watching along at home, but only a matter of days for the characters, and days filled with culture shock, turmoil and danger, moreover. Perhaps it's hardly any wonder they are all in such a state.
It's a shame that Barbara follows up her excellent scene with the Doctor by pitching a fit at the sight of a melting clock-face, but since she is terribly overwrought, she can be forgiven this moment of hysteria.
After her scissor-wielding moments of oddness earlier, Susan is back to being a real sweetie. After urging her grandfather to make it up with Barbara, and overhearing Ian doing much the same, both to no avail, she goes and apologises to Barbara on the Doctor's behalf herself. She's a peacemaker by nature, always striving to bring about harmony among the people she cares about. Barbara is still very upset and not inclined to feel forgiving, but she can't resist Susan's innocent efforts.
We see a lot of the TARDIS interior in this serial, and I really like that it gives us a real feel for the size of the place when we get to see this many rooms. I like the look of the shaped foldaway beds in the bedroom, although I'm not sure how comfortable they'd be and I think I'd want a blanket to snuggle under even if the room temperature is kept stable enough to make it unnecessary!
The Doctor drugs his companions without their knowledge or consent, including Susan, rather than argue with them any further. Not his finest hour.
The first episode cliffhanger sees everyone going to bed except the Doctor, who waits until they are all sound asleep and then heads back to the console only to be grabbed around the throat by Ian. This is another scene where weak direction and writing and the desire for a dramatic cliffhanger really lets the characters down. The explanation eventually given is that Ian woke up, saw the Doctor heading for the console, remembered the shock Susan got from it (which the Doctor didn't believe earlier, when he was told) and is trying to protect the old man by pulling him away. All of which makes perfect sense except that he grabs the Doctor around the throat to do this, for no reason other than it makes for a dramatic cliffhanger and generates tension as the next episode opens. There is no character reason for it whatsoever unless we rationalise that Ian's sudden penchant for throttling here and Susan's inexplicable scissor-wielding earlier are both caused by TARDIS-induced hallucinations, part of the clumsy attempt at communication that is behind all the other weird stuff that goes on in this serial. They were both standing at the console when it exploded as was the Doctor, so the same excuse can perhaps be made for his worst overreactions in the story. It's just a shame it isn't made clearer in the text.
Having pulled the Doctor away from the console, Ian comes over all starey-eyed and insensible and then collapses in a dead faint flashing a lot of thigh in his dressing down, too! This might be because, in the act of pulling the Doctor away from the console, he got too close to it himself and got zapped just like Susan was earlier or it might be because he is still half-doped from the drugged drink the Doctor gave him. Either way, it doesn't come across clearly on-screen as with so much else in this story, the concept is sound, but the execution lets it down badly.
After this strange moment, however, comes an excellent scene in which the Doctor allows paranoia to get the better of him and Barbara has to face him down to defend both herself and Ian. It isn't the first time the Doctor has behaved rashly in a fit of panic that was how he came to abduct Ian and Barbara in the first place, after all, only two serials ago. Here, he convinces himself that they have sabotaged his ship and are a danger to himself and Susan, and threatens to put them off the ship whether the environment outside is suitable for them to survive in or not. This serial really isn't his finest hour. With Ian out of action, Barbara has to argue for both of their lives, and she is fierce and furious, despite also being frightened and confused. It's a long scene, all dialogue, and it is really strong the actors give it their all. Barbara is kneeling on the floor, cradling a semi-conscious and delirious Ian, and still manages to more than hold her own against the spite and venom the Doctor is hurling at her he makes some very hurtful accusations, and although Susan takes Barbara's side, she isn't really much help.
I do kinda love that Ian is the damsel in distress in this scene, with Barbara the knight in shining armour, defending him!
Then the TARDIS finally goes for the big guns and sets off an alarm which you'd think she could have done in the first place, to save everyone all this upset and confusion. And the Doctor finally, finally realises that there is actually something seriously wrong with his ship not an act of sabotage, but a serious system fault placing them all in grave danger. But before he can do anything about it, or even find out what that fault is, he has to try to undo the damage he himself has done and convince Barbara not to be afraid of him, when only moments earlier he was threatening to put her off the ship in her nightgown whether there is a breathable atmosphere out there or not. This is a valuable lesson for him a lesson not to jump to conclusions, a lesson not to act rashly based on panic or paranoia, a lesson not to lash out in anger at the people he is close to and he learns it well. He still has his moments hereafter, of course he does he is the same man, after all but he never behaves this badly toward his companions again.
The Doctor tells us that the heart of the TARDIS, and source of its power, is directly beneath the central column. Continuity! That's still true of the TARDIS today, in the rebooted show!
After everything that has happened, all the confusion and paranoia and accusations, it is Barbara who solves the mystery, putting all the clues together to allow the Doctor to work out what is wrong. Barbara has been the most clear-headed throughout, and her instincts and intuition are what ultimately saves the day.
Once the Doctor begins to understand that the fault is with the TARDIS, not with her occupants, be becomes terribly fatalistic but I really like the way he confides his despair in Ian and asks Ian if he'll face the end with him. After all the ups and downs of their tumultuous, antagonistic relationship up till this point, it's a really nice, comradely little moment that goes a long way toward building bridges.
The Doctor has a fabulous little speech about the birth of a sun and formation of a new solar system pretty much a monologue, really nicely directed. William Hartnell was reportedly rather nervous about it, so his co-stars did everything they could to help him through, which is a really sweet story.
The Doctor tells us that the events the group experienced on Skaro in the last story were in the future, relative to the time period they came from on Earth. That's kind of interesting to mull over, in terms of later Dalek stories.
I am not going to wonder why the Doctor felt the need to label his fast return switch in felt tip pen.
Having resolved the problem simply by freeing the broken fast return switch, the Doctor has a really sweet moment with Susan, who appreciates the sentiment, but points out that it is their human companions he really needs to make things up with, after saying such awful things to them. The First Doctor is a very proud man, so gets a bit flustered at the thought of having to apologise and that's all Ian needs to just let it go completely, no apology necessary. I love Ian's inability to hold a grudge. So does the Doctor although he gets Ian's name wrong yet again, and all Ian can do is laugh about it. They are starting to really respect one another now and I like that: this is the start of a real friendship for them at last.
Barbara is a very different kettle of fish, however she was deeply hurt by the Doctor's accusations and threats and isn't as ready to forgive as Ian is. The Doctor has to make a real effort to talk to her about what happened, humbly admitting his mistakes and praising her determination and intuition, which saved them all. I love the way he tells her that they have to look after her because she's so valuable! Three serials ago, when they first met in Foreman's Scrapyard, he would never have dreamed of having a conversation like this with a primitive human, could never have imagined they might have any value to him at all. He has already learned so much from them and has already changed so much just from spending time with them, from the adventures they have been through together. It is wonderful character development. In the last scenes of this serial he makes a really huge effort to be charm personified with both of his human companions, determined to make it up to them. We're starting to see the mellower personality beneath his crusty exterior now that he is getting to know and trust his new companions and learning valuable lessons from them in the process, as he freely admits in this scene and as a result he is starting to feel more like the Doctor we all know and love.
It seems that Ian and Barbara have finally been shown the TARDIS wardrobe they both get more than one change of clothes in this story, after Barbara had to borrow clothes from the Thals in The Daleks and Ian spent the whole of the last two adventures wearing the same outfit.
The Doctor does so love to name drop he tells Ian that the ulster he's found to wear in the chilly environment they've landed in was acquired from Gilbert and Sullivan!
As was common in this era of the show, the serial ends with a slight cliffhanger to set up the next adventure, when Susan finds a large, strange-looking footprint in the snow and speculates that it may have been made by a giant.
Quotable Quotes
IAN: "Have you any idea where we are, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Where is not as important as why, young man."
DOCTOR: "It's not very logical."
BARBARA: "No, it isn't. But does it have to be? I mean, things aren't always very logical, are they?"
BARBARA: "How dare you! Do you realise, you stupid old man, that you'd have died in the Cave of Skulls if Ian hadn't made fire for you? And what about what we went through against the Daleks? Not just for us, but for you and Susan too. And all because you tricked us into going down to the city. Accuse us? You ought to go down on your hands and knees and thank us. But gratitude's the last thing you'll ever have, or any sort of common sense either."
IAN: "Doctor, some very strange things are happening. I feel we're in a very dangerous position. This is no time for personal quarrels."
DOCTOR: "Meaning?"
IAN: "I think you should go and apologise to Barbara at once."
DOCTOR: "I'm afraid we have no time for codes and manners. And I certainly don't underestimate the dangers, if they exist. But I must have time to think. I must think. Rash action is worse than no action at all, hmm?"
IAN: "I don't see anything rash in apologising to Barbara."
IAN: "Frankly, Doctor, I find it hard to keep pace with you."
DOCTOR: "You mean, to keep one jump ahead. That you will never be. You need my knowledge and ability to apply it, and then you need my experience to gain the fullest results."
IAN: "Results? For good or for evil?"
DOCTOR: "One man's law is another man's crime."
DOCTOR: "The heart of the machine is under the column."
IAN: "Well, what made it move?"
DOCTOR: "The source of power. You see, when the column rises, it proves the extent of the power thrust."
BARBARA: "Then what would have happened if the column had come out completely?"
SUSAN: "Well, the power would be free to escape."
DOCTOR: "What do you mean? My machine can't think."
BARBARA: "You say it has a built-in defence mechanism?"
DOCTOR: "Yes, it has."
BARBARA: "Well that's where we've been wrong. Originally, the machine wasn't at fault, we were. And it's been trying to tell us so ever since."
IAN: "A machine that can think for itself?"
BARBARA: "Yes."
IAN: "Is that feasible, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Oh, think not as you or I do, but it must be able to think as a machine."
DOCTOR: "We have five minutes only. When the end does come, they won't know anything about it."
IAN: "There's no hope, then."
DOCTOR: "I can't see any. Will you face it with me?"
DOCTOR: "We're at the very beginning, the new start of a solar system. Outside, the atoms are rushing towards each other. Fusing, coagulating, until minute little collections of matter are created. And so the process goes on, and on until dust is formed. Dust then becomes solid entity. A new birth, of a sun and its planets."
BARBARA: "What do you care what I think or feel?"
DOCTOR: "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves."
DOCTOR [to Barbara]: "We must look after you, you know. You're very valuable."
DOCTOR: "Well, I think that's absolutely splendid, Chesterton. Yes, it suits you."
IAN: "Yes."
DOCTOR: "Always a trifle too big for me. You know, I acquired that ulster from Gilbert and Sullivan."
IAN: "Oh, really? I thought it was made for two."
The Verdict
Overall and taken as a whole, The Edge of Destruction is a bit on the surreal side at times and can be difficult to follow in places, but the end result of it all is some strong character growth and bonding, though, so it's worth taking the ride.
Re-written and edited February 2013
The First Doctor with Susan, Ian and Barbara
Follows on from An Unearthly Child and The Daleks
BARBARA: "What do you care what I think or feel?"
DOCTOR: "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves."
Overview
The Edge of Destruction is not an easy serial to watch, so it is probably just as well it is only two episodes long. As Doctor Who adventures go, this one definitely falls under the category of weird! The story was thrown together in a rush because there was a gap that needed to be filled, and it shows; the concept is a strong one, but the execution is poor, which is a shame because there is actually a lot of really strong character development going on here. Everyone overacts and it is difficult at times to follow what's going on and why, so that at times the story feels impossibly surreal. Where the story ultimately succeeds, however, is in bridging the gap between the Doctor and his reluctant human companions. Since they came aboard, his attitude toward them started out hostile and antagonistic and became resentful and resigned, but this is where the ice truly melts and he begins to accept them as friends worthy of respect. They really feel as if they've started to bond properly in the last few minutes, and that hard-won camaraderie is well worth watching.
The story in a nutshell is this: upon their departure from Skaro at the end of The Daleks, the Doctor pressed the 'fast return' button on the TARDIS console, hoping that this would take them back to Earth so that Ian and Barbara can go home. The button has got stuck, however, so that instead of returning to Earth, the TARDIS is instead going back too far, to the birth of a solar system and the Doctor hasn't realised that anything is wrong. The TARDIS is aware of the danger, however, and doesn't want to be destroyed, so she attempts to warn her occupants but since she can't communicate, she has to resort to dropping clues and hoping they will be able to interpret them. These clues take the form of malfunctions and induced hallucinations, and almost backfire horribly as the travellers simply cannot understand what is going on and retreat into mistrust and paranoia the tension between them might make for a really entertaining and engrossing story, if it weren't so very confusing.
As I see it, the big problem this story has is murky character motivations. The main focus for the bulk of the story is on creating an air of mystery and suspense has something got into the Tardis? Is one of the crew possessed? Has someone sabotaged the ship? Many of the characters' actions are built around creating and enforcing that mystery but the writers commit the cardinal sin of failing to ensure that each character also always has a plausible and clearly understandable reason for their actions once the truth is known.
The end result of the story, however, once the situation has been resolved, is that the barriers between the Doctor and his human companions are finally broken down, so that this is the point where they make the transition from reluctant fellow travellers to real friends. Confusing though the story may be at times, it is well worth watching for that reason alone.
Writer - David Whitaker
Director - Richard Martin / Frank Cox
Script Editor - David Whitaker
Producer - Verity Lambert / Mervyn Pinfield
Aired - 8-15 February 1964
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
Although we think of Classic Who adventures by the names of their respective serials, in the First Doctor era every episode of the show had an individual title of its own, so that viewers would never know from one week to the next whether this particular adventure was coming to an end or would continue for another week those adventures were not considered standalone but were all part of one long ongoing story. The two episodes that comprise The Edge of Destruction are titled 'The Edge of Destruction' and 'The Brink of Disaster'; the former sets up the mystery of what is happening aboard the TARDIS, and the latter solves that mystery.
I am usually very forgiving of the theatrical acting style common to Doctor Who in this era, since the show was framed very much as a filmed stage play and the television industry was so much in its infancy; I am sure that modern acting styles will come to look just as dated in the future, as televisual fashions continue to evolve. That said, I have to say that the acting in this serial is very weak at times, giving the impression that the actors were struggling with the material as much as I do! But there are also some fabulous moments where they really get their teeth into the scenes and shine.
The story picks up where The Daleks left off the TARDIS has taken off from Skaro only for a minor explosion at the console to knock everyone out. The Doctor, Ian and Susan were all standing at the console at the time and thus are the worst affected; Barbara was in another room and is the first to recover from the jolt but everyone is dazed and confused in the wake of the accident they all seem to have a degree of amnesia and/or concussion, while Ian seems to hallucinate at first that he is back at Coal Hill School. This confusion continues throughout the two-part serial, making it difficult at times to understand what the characters are doing and why they don't even know themselves, half the time!
The Doctor was knocked out by the jolt and has cut his head badly (or so we are told, although there is no visible sign of blood). Ian checks his heartbeat and declares it to be steady. He doesn't spot the second heartbeat, which can either be read as the Doctor not having two hearts in this first incarnation or as Ian simply not noticing the second because he was neither expecting nor looking for it he is after all a science teacher, not a doctor.
The special bandage that Susan provides to bind the Doctor's head wound sounds great it contains a special ointment that soaks into the wound and heals it; when the colour fades from the bandage, it means the wound is healed. It looks hilarious, but fair play to the production team, they do a decent job of having the colour fade from the bandage so that it goes from pink-striped to white. Not bad for scenes shot 'as live'.
As the Doctor comes round, he is mumbling something about being unable to take Susan back is this about his inability to return to London 1963, since Susan was as reluctant to leave as Ian and Barbara? Or could it be a vague reference to the unknown circumstances in which he and Susan came to be wandering the universe like this in the first place?
If the bizarre things that happen in this story are meant to be clues for the group to interpret, all I can say is that the TARDIS would be lousy in a game of charades! The main doors keep opening and closing by themselves, which is why Susan and Barbara become afraid that something might have snuck aboard the ship either a physical miscreant, or something more insidious, something that could possess one of them, causing all these mishaps and the strange behaviour. Meanwhile, anyone who approaches the console receives a painful shock that knocks them out, which is what leads the Doctor to believe his ship has been sabotaged (he even suspects that someone physically attacked him, rather than believe the electric shock theory) unless they stand at a particular spot, which is safe. The images that keep flashing up on the scanner don't really mean much, either, although we do learn from them a bit more about the Doctor and Susan's travels before they met Ian and Susan four of or five trips ago, they tell us, they visited a planet called Quinnis and nearly lost the TARDIS. Every clock or watch-face in the TARDIS starts to melt, while the fault locator starts to flash wildly at regular intervals, indicating catastrophic failure. As clues go, they are all pretty vague! It would have been so much simpler if she could have just flashed up a message on the scanner screen 'my fast return switch is stuck and we are all hurtling toward a fiery death, please fix before we incinerate', or words to that effect! There'd have been no story then, though.
There is a definite gender divide in this Tardis team the Doctor and Ian tend toward logic and science, while Barbara and Susan are both more emotional and intuitive.
The growing air of mistrust and paranoia would be much more effective if the character beats tracked more smoothly. When Susan starts waving scissors around at people, we can rationalise that she is frightened and wants to defend herself, but the scenes are played in a menacing way, designed to raise suspicions that she might be possessed. It works well in terms of adding to the spooky atmosphere and the growing mystery, but once we know that she isn't possessed, these scenes become harder to explain because it is so out of character for sweet, sunny-tempered little Susan to go around threatening people with scissors, especially people she knows and cares about. I mean, she goes for Ian when he is simply bringing her water, having put her to bed because she fainted. Is her strange behaviour caused by the shock she received from the TARDIS console? It is the only real explanation, but isn't made as clear in the text as maybe it needed to be.
Susan later retrieves the scissors and hides them after hearing Ian and Barbara agree among themselves not to tell her how worried they are about the possibility of something being in the ship now that makes slightly more sense than going for Ian earlier, with no provocation at all beyond sheer paranoia.
The direction does this story no favours, I think that's another problem it has. The way the story is directed is designed to show us these events through the eyes of the characters, who are very confused, both about what's going on and about each other, which makes them very unreliable narrators; some of their actions seem extremely suspicious because we are seeing them through the eyes of the others, rather than seeing a more objective presentation of what is really going on. It's an ambitious idea that doesn't quite come off.
The Doctor's attitude is antagonistic almost from the moment he awakens, after being knocked out, but this of course is not at all out of character for him. He has learned to tolerate Ian and Barbara, having been thrown together through a couple of hair-raising adventures already, but hostility is still his default reaction under stress at this point, he hasn't yet learned to fully trust his human companions. So when things start going wrong with his beloved ship, his first instinct is to lash out at the newcomers, suspecting that they may be responsible somehow. They make a very convenient scapegoat for him, at a time when he is afraid and under great stress.
Oh, but one thing I really do love about this story is the way Barbara stands up for herself and Ian when the Doctor turns on them. Of the four, Barbara was the only one not standing at the console when it exploded and, although greatly puzzled and confused by what's going on, she remains the most clear-minded throughout. The Doctor openly accuses the two humans of sabotage rather than investigate properly, and Barbara just lets rip this is twelve episodes worth of accumulated stress coming to a head here, and boy does the Doctor deserve every word of that tirade. I love how Ian just stands back and lets her have at it, as well.
It's an important point to bear in mind for all the characters, in fact, that this serial does not standalone but follows directly on from the two that preceded it, so that their behaviour here should not be judged in isolation but is in fact a reaction to the accumulated stress of everything they have been through since their fateful first encounter in Foreman's Scrapyard weeks ago for the audience watching along at home, but only a matter of days for the characters, and days filled with culture shock, turmoil and danger, moreover. Perhaps it's hardly any wonder they are all in such a state.
It's a shame that Barbara follows up her excellent scene with the Doctor by pitching a fit at the sight of a melting clock-face, but since she is terribly overwrought, she can be forgiven this moment of hysteria.
After her scissor-wielding moments of oddness earlier, Susan is back to being a real sweetie. After urging her grandfather to make it up with Barbara, and overhearing Ian doing much the same, both to no avail, she goes and apologises to Barbara on the Doctor's behalf herself. She's a peacemaker by nature, always striving to bring about harmony among the people she cares about. Barbara is still very upset and not inclined to feel forgiving, but she can't resist Susan's innocent efforts.
We see a lot of the TARDIS interior in this serial, and I really like that it gives us a real feel for the size of the place when we get to see this many rooms. I like the look of the shaped foldaway beds in the bedroom, although I'm not sure how comfortable they'd be and I think I'd want a blanket to snuggle under even if the room temperature is kept stable enough to make it unnecessary!
The Doctor drugs his companions without their knowledge or consent, including Susan, rather than argue with them any further. Not his finest hour.
The first episode cliffhanger sees everyone going to bed except the Doctor, who waits until they are all sound asleep and then heads back to the console only to be grabbed around the throat by Ian. This is another scene where weak direction and writing and the desire for a dramatic cliffhanger really lets the characters down. The explanation eventually given is that Ian woke up, saw the Doctor heading for the console, remembered the shock Susan got from it (which the Doctor didn't believe earlier, when he was told) and is trying to protect the old man by pulling him away. All of which makes perfect sense except that he grabs the Doctor around the throat to do this, for no reason other than it makes for a dramatic cliffhanger and generates tension as the next episode opens. There is no character reason for it whatsoever unless we rationalise that Ian's sudden penchant for throttling here and Susan's inexplicable scissor-wielding earlier are both caused by TARDIS-induced hallucinations, part of the clumsy attempt at communication that is behind all the other weird stuff that goes on in this serial. They were both standing at the console when it exploded as was the Doctor, so the same excuse can perhaps be made for his worst overreactions in the story. It's just a shame it isn't made clearer in the text.
Having pulled the Doctor away from the console, Ian comes over all starey-eyed and insensible and then collapses in a dead faint flashing a lot of thigh in his dressing down, too! This might be because, in the act of pulling the Doctor away from the console, he got too close to it himself and got zapped just like Susan was earlier or it might be because he is still half-doped from the drugged drink the Doctor gave him. Either way, it doesn't come across clearly on-screen as with so much else in this story, the concept is sound, but the execution lets it down badly.
After this strange moment, however, comes an excellent scene in which the Doctor allows paranoia to get the better of him and Barbara has to face him down to defend both herself and Ian. It isn't the first time the Doctor has behaved rashly in a fit of panic that was how he came to abduct Ian and Barbara in the first place, after all, only two serials ago. Here, he convinces himself that they have sabotaged his ship and are a danger to himself and Susan, and threatens to put them off the ship whether the environment outside is suitable for them to survive in or not. This serial really isn't his finest hour. With Ian out of action, Barbara has to argue for both of their lives, and she is fierce and furious, despite also being frightened and confused. It's a long scene, all dialogue, and it is really strong the actors give it their all. Barbara is kneeling on the floor, cradling a semi-conscious and delirious Ian, and still manages to more than hold her own against the spite and venom the Doctor is hurling at her he makes some very hurtful accusations, and although Susan takes Barbara's side, she isn't really much help.
I do kinda love that Ian is the damsel in distress in this scene, with Barbara the knight in shining armour, defending him!
Then the TARDIS finally goes for the big guns and sets off an alarm which you'd think she could have done in the first place, to save everyone all this upset and confusion. And the Doctor finally, finally realises that there is actually something seriously wrong with his ship not an act of sabotage, but a serious system fault placing them all in grave danger. But before he can do anything about it, or even find out what that fault is, he has to try to undo the damage he himself has done and convince Barbara not to be afraid of him, when only moments earlier he was threatening to put her off the ship in her nightgown whether there is a breathable atmosphere out there or not. This is a valuable lesson for him a lesson not to jump to conclusions, a lesson not to act rashly based on panic or paranoia, a lesson not to lash out in anger at the people he is close to and he learns it well. He still has his moments hereafter, of course he does he is the same man, after all but he never behaves this badly toward his companions again.
The Doctor tells us that the heart of the TARDIS, and source of its power, is directly beneath the central column. Continuity! That's still true of the TARDIS today, in the rebooted show!
After everything that has happened, all the confusion and paranoia and accusations, it is Barbara who solves the mystery, putting all the clues together to allow the Doctor to work out what is wrong. Barbara has been the most clear-headed throughout, and her instincts and intuition are what ultimately saves the day.
Once the Doctor begins to understand that the fault is with the TARDIS, not with her occupants, be becomes terribly fatalistic but I really like the way he confides his despair in Ian and asks Ian if he'll face the end with him. After all the ups and downs of their tumultuous, antagonistic relationship up till this point, it's a really nice, comradely little moment that goes a long way toward building bridges.
The Doctor has a fabulous little speech about the birth of a sun and formation of a new solar system pretty much a monologue, really nicely directed. William Hartnell was reportedly rather nervous about it, so his co-stars did everything they could to help him through, which is a really sweet story.
The Doctor tells us that the events the group experienced on Skaro in the last story were in the future, relative to the time period they came from on Earth. That's kind of interesting to mull over, in terms of later Dalek stories.
I am not going to wonder why the Doctor felt the need to label his fast return switch in felt tip pen.
Having resolved the problem simply by freeing the broken fast return switch, the Doctor has a really sweet moment with Susan, who appreciates the sentiment, but points out that it is their human companions he really needs to make things up with, after saying such awful things to them. The First Doctor is a very proud man, so gets a bit flustered at the thought of having to apologise and that's all Ian needs to just let it go completely, no apology necessary. I love Ian's inability to hold a grudge. So does the Doctor although he gets Ian's name wrong yet again, and all Ian can do is laugh about it. They are starting to really respect one another now and I like that: this is the start of a real friendship for them at last.
Barbara is a very different kettle of fish, however she was deeply hurt by the Doctor's accusations and threats and isn't as ready to forgive as Ian is. The Doctor has to make a real effort to talk to her about what happened, humbly admitting his mistakes and praising her determination and intuition, which saved them all. I love the way he tells her that they have to look after her because she's so valuable! Three serials ago, when they first met in Foreman's Scrapyard, he would never have dreamed of having a conversation like this with a primitive human, could never have imagined they might have any value to him at all. He has already learned so much from them and has already changed so much just from spending time with them, from the adventures they have been through together. It is wonderful character development. In the last scenes of this serial he makes a really huge effort to be charm personified with both of his human companions, determined to make it up to them. We're starting to see the mellower personality beneath his crusty exterior now that he is getting to know and trust his new companions and learning valuable lessons from them in the process, as he freely admits in this scene and as a result he is starting to feel more like the Doctor we all know and love.
It seems that Ian and Barbara have finally been shown the TARDIS wardrobe they both get more than one change of clothes in this story, after Barbara had to borrow clothes from the Thals in The Daleks and Ian spent the whole of the last two adventures wearing the same outfit.
The Doctor does so love to name drop he tells Ian that the ulster he's found to wear in the chilly environment they've landed in was acquired from Gilbert and Sullivan!
As was common in this era of the show, the serial ends with a slight cliffhanger to set up the next adventure, when Susan finds a large, strange-looking footprint in the snow and speculates that it may have been made by a giant.
Quotable Quotes
IAN: "Have you any idea where we are, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Where is not as important as why, young man."
DOCTOR: "It's not very logical."
BARBARA: "No, it isn't. But does it have to be? I mean, things aren't always very logical, are they?"
BARBARA: "How dare you! Do you realise, you stupid old man, that you'd have died in the Cave of Skulls if Ian hadn't made fire for you? And what about what we went through against the Daleks? Not just for us, but for you and Susan too. And all because you tricked us into going down to the city. Accuse us? You ought to go down on your hands and knees and thank us. But gratitude's the last thing you'll ever have, or any sort of common sense either."
IAN: "Doctor, some very strange things are happening. I feel we're in a very dangerous position. This is no time for personal quarrels."
DOCTOR: "Meaning?"
IAN: "I think you should go and apologise to Barbara at once."
DOCTOR: "I'm afraid we have no time for codes and manners. And I certainly don't underestimate the dangers, if they exist. But I must have time to think. I must think. Rash action is worse than no action at all, hmm?"
IAN: "I don't see anything rash in apologising to Barbara."
IAN: "Frankly, Doctor, I find it hard to keep pace with you."
DOCTOR: "You mean, to keep one jump ahead. That you will never be. You need my knowledge and ability to apply it, and then you need my experience to gain the fullest results."
IAN: "Results? For good or for evil?"
DOCTOR: "One man's law is another man's crime."
DOCTOR: "The heart of the machine is under the column."
IAN: "Well, what made it move?"
DOCTOR: "The source of power. You see, when the column rises, it proves the extent of the power thrust."
BARBARA: "Then what would have happened if the column had come out completely?"
SUSAN: "Well, the power would be free to escape."
DOCTOR: "What do you mean? My machine can't think."
BARBARA: "You say it has a built-in defence mechanism?"
DOCTOR: "Yes, it has."
BARBARA: "Well that's where we've been wrong. Originally, the machine wasn't at fault, we were. And it's been trying to tell us so ever since."
IAN: "A machine that can think for itself?"
BARBARA: "Yes."
IAN: "Is that feasible, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Oh, think not as you or I do, but it must be able to think as a machine."
DOCTOR: "We have five minutes only. When the end does come, they won't know anything about it."
IAN: "There's no hope, then."
DOCTOR: "I can't see any. Will you face it with me?"
DOCTOR: "We're at the very beginning, the new start of a solar system. Outside, the atoms are rushing towards each other. Fusing, coagulating, until minute little collections of matter are created. And so the process goes on, and on until dust is formed. Dust then becomes solid entity. A new birth, of a sun and its planets."
BARBARA: "What do you care what I think or feel?"
DOCTOR: "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves."
DOCTOR [to Barbara]: "We must look after you, you know. You're very valuable."
DOCTOR: "Well, I think that's absolutely splendid, Chesterton. Yes, it suits you."
IAN: "Yes."
DOCTOR: "Always a trifle too big for me. You know, I acquired that ulster from Gilbert and Sullivan."
IAN: "Oh, really? I thought it was made for two."
The Verdict
Overall and taken as a whole, The Edge of Destruction is a bit on the surreal side at times and can be difficult to follow in places, but the end result of it all is some strong character growth and bonding, though, so it's worth taking the ride.
Re-written and edited February 2013