Doctor Who (TV Series)

The Brink of Disaster (1964)

Jacqueline Hill: Barbara Wright

Quotes 

• Dr. Who : Yes, you haven't forgiven me, have you?

  Barbara Wright : You said terrible things to us.

  Dr. Who : Yes, I suppose it's the injustice that's upsetting you, and when I made a threat to put you off the ship, it must have affected you very deeply.

  Barbara Wright : What do you care what I think or feel?

  Dr. Who : Well, as we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves.

  Barbara Wright : Perhaps.

  Dr. Who : Oh, yes. Because I accused you unjustly, you were determined to prove me wrong. So, you put your mind to the problem, and, luckily, you solved it.

• Barbara Wright : Oh, Doctor, don't you see? Something terrible is happening to all of us.

  Dr. Who : Not to me. Nothing's happened to me. This is a plot between the two of you, to get control of my ship.

  Barbara Wright : Oh, that isn't true.

  Dr. Who : Can't you see I've found you out? Why won't you admit it, hmm?

  Susan Foreman : Yes. Why don't you?

  Barbara Wright : Susan!

  Susan Foreman : You've been behaving very strangely. Both of you.

  Barbara Wright : But...

  Susan Foreman : I think you're right, Grandfather.

  Barbara Wright : But you're wrong. I swear, we haven't done anything.

  Dr. Who : I told you I'd treat you as enemies.

  [looks at Susan] 

  Susan Foreman : No!

  Dr. Who : There's no other way.

  Barbara Wright : Well, what are you going to do?

  Dr. Who : That is my business.

• Susan Foreman : Grandfather, they couldn't have done all the things that happened.

  Dr. Who : Oh, yes, I admit they were very smart.

  Susan Foreman : No, it's not a question of being smart.

  Dr. Who : Don't you see I wouldn't allow them to hurt you, child? They're very resourceful and cunning. And it only leaves me one recourse. They must be put off the ship.

  Susan Foreman : No, you can't do that!

  Dr. Who : I can and I must.

  Barbara Wright : But you can't open the doors.

  Dr. Who : Don't underestimate my powers, young lady.

  Susan Foreman : Look, Grandfather, you've no means of telling what's out there. There may be no air, it may be freezing, it may be too hot to exist.

  Dr. Who : Yes, or it might be the Earth in the twentieth century. Hadn't it occured to you? My ship is very valuable, remember?

  Barbara Wright : Why are you so suspicious of us?

  Dr. Who : Put yourself in my place, young lady, and you'd do precisely the same thing, wouldn't you? Hmm?

• Dr. Who : You see that panel up there? You've heard me refer to it? The fault locator?

  Barbara Wright : Yes.

  Dr. Who : If one small piece of apparatus fails, a little bulb illuminates and tells me precisely where the fault is. Can you imagine what would happen if the whole of it lights up? Hmm? It means that the ship is on the point of disintegration. You're not to blame. All four of us are to blame!

• Barbara Wright : We had time taken away from us, and now it's been given back to us... because it's running out.

• Susan Foreman : The column!

  Dr. Who : But... It's impossible!

  Ian Chesterton : Doctor... I thought it only moved when the power was on.

  Dr. Who : Yes. The heart of the machine is under the column.

  Ian Chesterton : Well, what made it move?

  Dr. Who : The source of power. You see, when the column rises, it proves the extent of the power thrust.

  Barbara Wright : Then, what would have happened if the column had come out completely?

  Susan Foreman : [Quavering]  Well, the power would be... free to escape.

  Dr. Who : Can it be possible then... that this is the end.

  Ian Chesterton : The end? What are you talking about?

  Dr. Who : We have ten minutes to survive.

  Barbara Wright : Ten minutes? As little as that?

  Dr. Who : Maybe less.

• Dr. Who : I don't know even where to begin, Chesterton. If only I had a clue.

  Barbara Wright : I think... I think, perhaps, we've been given nothing else but clues.

  Ian Chesterton : Have we? Like the food machine, you mean.

  Barbara Wright : Yes.

  Ian Chesterton : It registered empty, but it wasn't.

  Barbara Wright : But the clock is the most important. It made us aware of time.

  Ian Chesterton : By taking time away from us?

  Barbara Wright : Yes. And it replaced time by the light on the fault locator.

  Ian Chesterton : Yes, it did!

  Dr. Who : "It"? "It"? What do you mean? My machine can't think.

  Barbara Wright : You say it has a built-in defense mechanism?

  Dr. Who : Yes, it has.

  Barbara Wright : 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 Chesterton : A machine that can think for itself?

  Barbara Wright : Yes.

  Ian Chesterton : Is that feasible, Doctor?

  Dr. Who : Oh, think not as you do or I do, but it must be able to think as a machine. You see, it has a bank of computers.

  Barbara Wright : You say the power is under this column?

  Dr. Who : Yes.

  Barbara Wright : And the column holds it down?

  Dr. Who : Yes.

  Barbara Wright : Well, then, what would make it want to escape?

  Dr. Who : I've been racking my brains. I don't know.

• Dr. Who : Yes, of course! It's our journey.

  Barbara Wright : And the ship refused to destroy itself.

  Dr. Who : Yes, yes.

  Barbara Wright : The defense mechanism stopped the ship, and it's been trying to tell us so ever since!

  Dr. Who : Of course, of course!