The Edge of Destruction

2 episodes
Aired between 8th February 1964 and 15th February 1964

Written by David Whittaker
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Richard Martin and Frank Cox

Synopsis

Shortly after leaving the planet of Skaro, something goes terribly wrong with the TARDIS, causing all the passengers to be knocked unconscious.  When they awake, each have a moment of amnesia to varying degrees.  Susan acts like a puppet on a string, nodding her head and being drowsy, Ian thinks he's on Earth still, and the Doctor begins mumbling that he can't take Susan back.

The doors to the TARDIS stand open, but every time Ian tries to go out, they close all by themselves.

As they all begin to come around, Barbara bandages a cut on the Doctors head whilst Ian tries to get some water for Susan who promptly threatens him with a pair of scissors before stabbing the couch.

Ian successfully calms her down and asks her to get some rest.

Once awake, the Doctor begins to check the TARDIS' fault locator with Ian and finds that there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, except a curious series of images on the screen of different planets causing Barbara to hypothesize that something must have entered the ship and is affecting them.  The Doctor's having none of it, and Susan's gets really attached to the scissors again, this time threatening Barbara.

The Doctor comes to the conclusion that Ian and Barbara must have sabotaged the ship in order to force him to take them home. Susan decides she agrees with him and they both plan to throw Ian and Barbara off the ship.  After a blazing row, Barbara goes out of her mind when she see's the TARDIS' clock melting in the same manner as all their wrist watches are.

The Doctor goes and fetches everyone water in a surprisingly calm manner suggesting that they all sleep on it.  Turns out the water was drugged (I know, shocking, right?) and believing he's knocked out Ian and Barbara, he tries to look at the console and figure out what's wrong, only to be strangled by Ian.  The Doctor pushes him away, causing Ian to dramatically faint as they are quickly joined by a revived Barbara and Susan.

The Doctor gloats at his ability to outwit the would be saboteurs and still threatens to throw them off the ship.  Susan changes her mind though just in time for all the faults on the locator to go off at once and explosions begin to rock the ship.

The Doctor changes his mind and believes that the "heart" of the TARDIS is trying to force itself free and they will all be destroyed in ten minutes if they can't work together.

Barbara has the idea that the TARDIS is actually trying to tell them something with the doors, melting the clocks and showing the planets on the scanner.  Working it through, the Doctor finds out that the problem is the fast return switch is stuck down, therefore not sending them back to their last location as he thought, but instead sending them further and further back until they reach the big bang.

He fixes the problem and sheepishly apologises.  Ian is quick to forgive but Barbara is having none of it for at least five minutes.

The Doctor pilots the TARDIS away from the big bang and goes and gives a personal apology to Barbara again, who this time is willing to put it all behind them and go on the next adventure.

The TARDIS has landed in a snowy landscape and is the perfect place for a snowball fight and merriment until Susan and Barbara find a giant footprint in the snow...


Trivia

• This story is a bit of a filler as the original run of the show was only commissioned for 13 episodes (4 for the first story, 7 for the second).  What made it worse was that due to the fact that two episodes from the previous stories had to be re-shot, and the enormous cost of building the TARDIS; it meant that there was simply no budget at all for new sets, actors or props.  So David Whittaker who was the script editor at the time, took it upon himself to come up with the solution and this is what we get.

• It's widely believed that the writing above the fast return switch was there for William Hartnell to find it, but the production team had forgotten to rub it out before the filming began!

What worked

• Although threatening people with scissors in a children's TV show isn't the best idea in the world, it adds a great bit of tension to the story.

• The atmospheric music when the Doctor is sneaking about at night is quite apt

• The basis of the story is to make people believe that the TARDIS is in some way mythical, and alive.  And yes, this does work.

What didn't work

• I can't place the blame solely on Carol-Ann Ford's performance here as all the cast are guilty of some really over the top acting.  There are some moments where it works great, but make no mistake the hysterical screams are in full flow this time.

• The melting clock doesn't come through right on monochrome TV, and I distinctly remember the first time I watched this episode, I sat there thinking "what have I just been shown?"

• The changes in attitudes are a little too sudden for me.  

Overall feelings

This is Doctor Who trying to do Alfred Hitchcock, and getting it half right.

If we look at the the story as if it were the final part of a trilogy, where a crotchety old man and his weird Granddaughter kidnap two school teachers there's lots to like.  The story gives us a resolution to the ongoing problem of dealing with the villain (the Doctor) and sets up the relationships for the rest of the series.

The story also gives us insights into the much larger Who mythology, such as the Doctor's throw away line of "I can't take you back Susan".  We see glimpses that something's not right, bearing in mind that as an audience of 1964, we have no idea who the Doctor really is, or where he came from, and not even an iota of an idea of what he was doing on Earth or what his current goals are.

The TARDIS is also revealed here as something more than just a time machine.  It thinks, it can get inside our heads and it can melt clocks.  This was the beginning of something that would be developed a lot more in the future.

When we look at the story as a psychological thriller however, things begin to fall apart.  There are some great scenes in there that, again, putting ourselves in the position of not knowing HOW this will end, show terrific tension.  The argument between the Doctor, Barbara and Ian is great, even Susan going round the twist is really great, if in fact that's what's happening.  But that's the problem isn't it?  Susan isn't actually going around the twist (she's already around it), and the other plot thread of something inside the TARDIS with them could have been fantastic, but it never delivers what it promised.  The characters have some great interaction ,but change opinion on a dime, going from willing to stab them to throwing them out, to being on their side.

When we finally discover that the problem is a simple fault locator being held down, all the things that have gone before seem illogical, even if we assign their doing to the TARDIS, then it seems a bit heavy handed that the machine that's trying to save them is damn near causing them to kill each other.

This type of story has only been tried a few times since and arguably done better (they were all after the classic series).  If the story began with all in amnesia and used flashbacks to work its way backwards to the fault occurring and the eventual discovery of the fault locator problem, then it would have worked better, but as the story was cobbled together with barely a budget and no time, it does an admirable job.

Rating

5 out of 10

The story is ok, but just doesn't do well at delivering on all it promises.

The music is ok, and eerie in places.

The sound effects aren't great.

The acting is good and awful in different scenes.


Rewatchability factor

4 out of 10

The show has its good moments, but it's not a story I would find easy to watch independently of the previous two.

Watch this if you liked...

• Amy's Choice (Doctor Who Series 5)

• The Doctor's Wife (Doctor Who Series 6)

• Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (Doctor Who Series 7)

• Psycho

• ...to run around with scissors as a kid

Consulting the matrix

"Do you think the fast return switch resolution was a good enough ending for the story, or would you have preferred the alien entity plot thread to be explored further?  Or, would you have done it differently?"