User Reviews

No sooner have the Doctor and his companions left the planet of Skaro and the Deleks behind then the TARDIS has control trouble and knocks everyone out via small explosion, seemingly no control over the ship and strange occurrences happening, combined with Barbara and Susan both having slight cases of amnesia suspicions of each other come to the forefront. While this minimalistic two-parter wasn't as good as the two serials that preceded it, it was still watchable in it's on way. And was the first episode to deal with TARDIS having conscience and being alive, a plot point that would be revisited later in the Who mythology. Now seeing that the serial after this, Marco Polo, is sadly lost to time at this point, I'll continue my reviews with the Keys of Marinus.

My Grade: B-

Slight spoilers to both episodes

After leaving the Planet Skaro the occupants of the Tardis are stunned by a powerful shock . Regaining unconsciousness the crew are left confused and strangely suspicious , so much so they all start becoming paranoid of one another and start worrying that the Tardis has been invaded by something

This has a strange genesis , because of a delay in an upcoming story the production team found that they'd need to pad out two weeks of the show in order for the sets to be completed . Unable to change the production order the only way around this problem was having a two part story featuring only the regular characters and the Tardis set so producer Verity Lambert locked script editor David Whitaker in to a room and wasn't allowed out till he wrote a workable two episode in what would be known as a " bottle episode story " . It says something about the talent of TV production members in those days that they were talented enough to pull rabbits out of creative hats . We all know Russell T Davies wrote Midnight from season 4 of NuWho which effectively had one set but all this was planned in advance . That The Edge Of Destruction is more compelling than it deserves to be says something about the talent of everyone associated with early DOCTOR WHO

Let's be honest , a lot of narrow minded Nuwho fans will not like this story down to the fact the action is so limited . Even I noticed that coming so soon after the Dalek debut it appears unambitious in comparison but the trick is to view every episode on its own terms . The cast are somewhat stilted in their performances when they regain consciousness but this is in keeping with their confusion as they awaken and they quickly get in to character . What is so refreshing is that the amount of distrust that exists between Ian and Barbara on one side and The Doctor and Susan on the other and it would absolutely impossible envisaging this ever happening on the new show . Ford especially gives a sometime chilling performance as she threatens Ian with a pair of scissors and the scene where Barbara remonstrates with the Doctor is something you wouldn't see in the show now . The emotion seen here feels genuinely earned

One problem is the resolution that is a little bit too much of a cop out which might make the rest of the story redundant but you have to remember the circumstances it was written in . That said I'd seen this story after a gap of several years and knew how it ended but within minutes I was still gripped by it as the drama unfolded on screen . It's a story that's built upon the cast and the material they're given and with the exception of the resolution neither can be faulted though you might have to be forgiving as to how TV production was in those days

(Note: A review of both episodes of the serial.)

When it comes to those earliest serials of Doctor Who, there is one that seems to get overlooked. An Unearthly Child gets lauded as the opener of the series while The Daleks provided the template for its narratives and the villains. They deserve their place, no question about it. But it's a shame that The Edge of Destruction gets overlooked as a result. Because, though lasting only two episodes, is as essential to the establishment of the series as its two predecessors. Perhaps, as we will see, even more so.

Why? Because, by and large, it's a character piece. Unlike the previous two stories, Edge of Destruction features only the TARDIS crew. Picking up from the cliffhanger ending of The Daleks, everyone wakes up inside the TARDIS, no one sure what is going on. Soon, the tensions that have existed between the travelers boil over. Accusations fly, threats get made, and strangeness reigns supreme. As the Doctor says towards the story's conclusion, "As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves," and that is true here. As a result, the story features an exploration of the series' lead characters, done so in a manner which wouldn't reappear until the Wilderness Era novels and the revived 21st-century series.

And it is something that the cast has a field day getting the chance to do. William Russell's Ian isn't so much the action hero this time around, but the serial offers up something else for him instead. The character's intelligence and Russell's chemistry with his fellow actors gets displayed instead. Carole Ann Ford as Susan still falls victim to the screaming companion trope in places while also getting more of an opportunity to play the strangeness of the character up more so than at any other time since the pilot. The scene where Susan, seemingly possessed, grabs up a pair of scissors and threatens Ian, is a powerful one for exposing a darker side to the character that never really gets glimpsed anywhere else in the series. As good as they are, the real stars of the story are elsewhere.

If anyone's star shines in this star, it is Jacqueline Hill as Barbara. With all the high strangeness abound, the accusations flying, the out of character moments, it is Barbara who ultimately acts as the voice of reason for everyone. Hill's performance is fascinating to watch, taking in a wide range of thoughts and feelings as the narrative unfolds from confusion to horror to realization. Just as important at the end, when everything seems back to normal, both character and performer stand there silent as a reminder that they haven't. For a series that has been keen on escaping consequences, it's a powerful moment. It's a testament to Hill's skills as a performer that's the case.

The serial is also a turning point for William Hartnell's Doctor. Earlier serials had seen him with a harder edge to his characterization. After all, he'd all but kidnapped two teachers and came close to bashing in a caveman's skull in An Unearthly Child. Later on, he'd manipulated events to get his way in visiting the Dalek city, putting everyone's lives in danger as a result. Here, faced with an impossible situation, he turns on the teachers, even going so far as to threaten their lives at one point. It is only when the Doctor finally listens to Barbara that he begins to sort out the situation, doing so after delivering a fine (if inaccurate in terms of its science) monologue. But his harsher moments, often forgotten about in the rush of past adventures, isn't forgotten about here. Instead, he confronts those moments in a conversation with Barbara. It's a humanizing moment for the Doctor as a character, an important one. It marks the moment that the character moves from the abrasive man we met in a junkyard to the adventurer in time and space we think of when it comes to the First Doctor.

Edge of Destruction also benefits from having a strong sense of atmosphere. The TARDIS console room, often portrayed as bright and welcoming, becomes threatening and strange, a place of odd events cloaked in shadows. It's a move which gives it back the extraordinariness it might have lost since its introduction. Indeed, the entire ship as we encounter it takes on the feeling of a home out of Gothic literature, large but looming over the characters. It's also here that we get the first hints that the TARDIS is more than a machine, possessing both great power and intelligence. Seeds that will remain planted throughout the next 25 years before harvesting in 21st-century episodes such as Boom Town and Neil Gaiman's Hugo awarding-winning The Doctor's Wife. While the denouement comes across as simple, there's no denying the atmosphere that proceeds it is palpable and immensely effective.

Often overlooked in favor of the stories around it, The Edge of Destruction has plenty to offer. Its combination of atmosphere and character would be unique for Who in these early years, adding to its uniqueness. More than that, it laid the seeds of much of what was to come for the series both with the Doctor as a character and with the TARDIS itself. Indeed, it should be essential viewing for any Doctor Who fans wanting to explore the history of the show and how it is Doctor Who became Doctor Who.

"Well now, we can all start again?" The Doctor asks towards the very end. With this story, it did and we're still watching the results more than fifty years later.

As they slowly recover from the shock of being thrown to the TARDIS floor, the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara all start acting strangely. Unexplained events occur and the travellers start to turn on each other as they contemplate what is happening on the TARDIS.

Review of both parts -

Honestly, this was a great two-parter. We get to see the rest of the TARDIS and see some superior character development, The Doctor went from like a Grumpy Old Man to a Caring and Nice Old Man, this episode just works well! The ending was charming.

10/10

With the first serial "An Unearthly Child", "Doctor Who" got off to a flying start, and although the second, "The Daleks", has its flaws, it does at least possess a commendable ambition and introduces the Doctor's most iconic adversaries. The third, however, "The Edge of Destruction", is very strange indeed. It was written by story editor David Whitaker within two days and broadcast in only two weekly parts. It is sometimes referred to as a "bottle episode", in that the entire story is shot on a single set, in this case the inside of the TARDIS. No characters appear apart from the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan and her teachers Ian and Barbara.

I used to think that the term "bottle episode" implied that Whitaker was locked in a room with pen, paper and a bottle of whisky and not allowed out until he had completed the script. (In fact the expression derives from the "ship in a bottle"). Such serials are rare in "Doctor Who", and I have heard two explanations as to why "Edge of Destruction" was produced in this way. The first is that shooting on what was to have been the third serial, the now-lost "Marco Polo", was for some reason delayed for two weeks and the producers needed a story as quickly and as cheaply as possible to fill the gap. The other is that the first season was originally only scheduled to last thirteen weeks, of which eleven had already been taken up by the first two serials, so the third had to be very short.

Whatever the explanation, the serial is a most peculiar one. The basic idea is that the TARDIS appears to have been taken over by an outside force; its occupants begin acting strangely and turn against each other, although in the case of the Doctor it is not always apparent that his behaviour is any different from normal. William Hartnell's First Doctor, especially during the early seasons, could always be a charmless old git, and when he accuses Ian and Barbara of sabotage or of trying to steal the TARDIS we wonder whether this is evidence of some form of mental breakdown or merely his natural cussedness coming to the fore. Certainly his conduct here does not seem markedly worse than some of his behaviour during the first two serials.

The explanation eventually given for these bizarre events is a complicated one, but the root cause of the problem would appear to be a broken spring in a vital switch on the TARDIS's control panel. And there was I thinking that the Time Lords possessed immense scientific knowledge and technological abilities far in advance of ours. It's nice to know that one of their most sophisticated pieces of machinery can nevertheless suffer the sort of malfunction more often associated with dodgy second-hand motors.