User Reviews

William Welch's 'Edge Of Doom' harks back to the straighter days of Season 1. Seaview is ordered to take a new top secret defence device ( we never find out exactly what it is ) to Pearl Harbour. An unfriendly foreign power wants to steal it, and replaces a crew member with an impostor. Washington thinks it might be Captain Crane. Nelson tells Sharkey and Chip to subject the Skipper to a number of psychological tests to see for sure. But Sharkey's go a little too far - he almost destroys the sub in the process...

After a run of stories about monsters and aliens, it is good to see a straightforward mystery yarn for a change. To those who might find it cause for complaint, I must remind them that such variety was commonplace in Season 1, which is probably why it is regarded as the best of the four seasons. David Hedison gets one of his best scenes as Crane; his anger at having his orders continually countermanded by Nelson erupts, leading to a heated showdown.

I'm not going to reveal the identity of the traitor. Once you know who it is, there's no point in watching the episode.

Admiral Nelson has to deliver a top secret defence weapon in Seaview in a big hurry...

Washington have been really helpful and told him one of the Seaview crew is an imposter and it all points to...Captain Crane. Nelson wants to abort the mission or have Crane booted off Seaview until he delivers the defence weapon (which is in a piddly little box! I guess even defence weapons can be small) Washington tells him he MUST go ahead and not tip off the Crane imposter otherwise he will know their code has been broken. He is instructed to "test" Crane and find out if he is the real deal or not! After Nelson leaves his office at the institute with his piddly little box (and after calling Washington "idiots") we then see someone in officer uniform (just the legs) get knocked unconscious by a man wearing what appears to be a Childs Halloween mask! (Ideal not to draw attention to yourself) We then move to the Seaview and Chief Sharkey turns up late offering some lame excuse as to the huge plaster on the side of his face.

The Admiral totally blanks Crane and asks Chip and Sharkey to come to his cabin.

In his cabin Nelson tells Chip and Sharkey all about the defence plan and Captain Crane possibly being and imposter. He also tell them it might not be Crane and everyone is under suspicion, Sharkey points out that if it's Chip or him then the Admiral has just tipped them off. Nelson tells them some cock and bull story about how he will be watching them too! The first "test" or "experiment" as Nelson calls them gets underway. It basically involves Chip giving Crane some course settings from the Admiral on a piece of paper and then switching them for a different course on an identical piece of paper when Crane isn't looking and after he has ordered the first course. Nelson comes down and orders a course check then humiliates Crane by not shouting but instead putting it down to a mistake on Cranes part

Nelson again makes Crane look stupid in the control room over a sonar contact that Kowalski spotted but worse is to follow... The Chief quietly leaves his post and goes down to the infamous Circuitry room! (now you know there is going to be trouble) he fiddles about with the life support controls (nice to know Nelsons test involve risking everyone's lives) he then switches a sign over from one control panel to another. Back in the control room Crane is getting more wound up. The Chief calls him on the intercom and tells him the life support system has failed. Crane rushes into the circuitry room and Sharkey points to the panel where the problem is (the one with the switched sign) Crane spots its been switched and works on the correct panel but Sharkey tells him he's working on the wrong panel and will cause a fire. Crane pushes him out the way and then promptly causes an explosion and huge fire. Sharkey drags Crane out and the dumps him out in corridor (he seems oddly unaffected by the smoke) he then switches the signs back. Nelson arrives and once again Crane is left feeling humiliated as it looks like he has caused the whole thing by working on the wrong control panel. (but he wasn't??) Crane orders the ship surfaced so he can clear the ship of smoke but Nelson tells Chip to cancel the order. This leads us to a great scene of Crane barging into Nelson cabin and the two having a big standoff. Crane tells him not to countermand his orders again! After Crane leaves Nelson grins having realised that Crane is the real deal.

Nelson tells Chip he went too far with the circuitry room fire but When Chip denies doing it the two conclude it was Sharkey and that he's going too far! Meanwhile someone's set fire to a box of explosives and locked Crane and Patterson in the arms locker with them, they free themselves and Crane reports to Nelson there is a saboteur onboard.

Sharkey denies the explosives "experiment" but admits he caused the circuitry room fire. I'm afraid it was obvious he was the imposter from the start. After Crane has been put in the picture about the imposter by Chip, Sharkey having already karate chopped sparks (Nelson would be proud) and wrecked the radio he then tips off the ships position to an enemy bomber by releasing a surface marker. He then decides to casually leave the ship by the flying sub. Crane spots him and violent struggle ensues in flying sub, naturally Crane wins and it's the old pull the fake looking mask off the imposter routine (by the way the imposter looks more like an insurance salesman) Another rushed series four ending with a brief scene in Nelsons cabin as he gives a brief explanation to Crane... oh and he's riffling through the top secret defence weapon box! No silly monsters here, the real let down was plot holes.

Having been through years of life and death situations together Nelson would know the real Crane without a doubt and even if he wasn't sure, a casual chat about past events would determine the truth. Why all the need for those silly experiments that almost got everyone killed is beyond me.

The very idea of Washington letting the whole thing go ahead with a saboteur onboard is ridiculous.

Why didn't the fake Sharkey just kill Nelson when he was alone with him in his cabin and grab the secret box? What was with that silly plaster on the fake Sharkeys face? Why set fire to explosives? Did he decide to commit suicide then change his mind later and try and get away in the flying sub?