I never used to like The Edge of Destruction. It was sandwiched between two old favorites, The Daleks and The Keys of Marinus. There weren’t any fantastic enemies, neat sets, or seemingly any plot. Needless to say I have taken a renewed stance on The Edge of Destruction (and The Keys of Marinus for that matter), and find it to be quite insightful into the minds of the main characters’ motivations and the insecurities that they still feel after being abducted by the Doctor in An Unearthly Child. I will have to say that being a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I confess to thinking that character arcs are something that is relatively new in execution, as well as feeling that the story arcs are also something new to the state of television. Thus it was refreshing to notice the exposition of both character arcs and story arcs in something as old as the first season of Doctor Who.
The Edge of Destruction is Doctor Who’s first bottle show and perhaps the first bottle show in the history of television (it certainly is the earliest instance that I could find with just a little bit of research). The setting is in the TARDIS, with a grand total of two different sets, the console room and one of the passenger dorms. And it gives us an opportunity to see the rest of the ship. It looks pretty good, but I still hate the food machine. It pulls one out of the story and makes the show feel dated, but other than that there is a lot to like in the early set design.
As far as stories go this one is pretty thin: The Doctor and his new companions are trapped in some kind of cosmic limbo as the TARDIS hurtles toward annihilation with all of its crew-members. That’s it. Now being a fan of Star Trek, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that The Ticking Clock⢠doesn’t hold the same appeal that it once might have. However in this portrayal there is a twist, the Doctor, that lovable curmudgeon that he is, suspects his passengers, namely Ms. Wright and Mr. Chesterton, to be the cause of the malfunction that will send them all to their doom. It all makes for a wonderful study in paranoia and suspicion that ends up turning all of the main characters against each other. Coping with difficult and incomprehensible situations leads to some kind of mistrust in the others around you and this is brilliantly illustrated through the straightforward and reliable plot. Sure, there are no bells and whistles, but there are wonderful character moments for nearly all of them.
The Doctor starts off by blaming Ian and Barbara for the damage as well as going so far as to suggest sabotage. When Ian logically retorts that he doesn’t know enough to cause that kind of damage the Doctor dismisses him wholeheartedly. Hartnell plays the suspicious and capricous Doctor to the T and points the fingers at his companions, whom he still views as stowaways. Barbara’s retort is just wonderful. She points out that there is no way of knowing that the Doctor might be the one who sabotaged the ship, as he had done for his own ends twice before in An Unearthly Child and The Daleks. She goes on to make the point that this paranoia serves no purpose and that they are stuck together and should be considering not tearing into each other like this on The Edge of Destruction. The most interesting part is what follows. The Doctor’s mood changes as if he has just been tranquilized. He seems defeated by her logic and withdraws, but the glint in his eye does not spell good things for the crew as he is clearly hatching a plan. Realizing that Barbara is a threat he drugs her and Ian. I’ll repeat that. He drugs them. This is huge. Only Ian is understandably furious at the Doctor and the tension reaches a fever-pitch. Then the Doctor actually threatens to kill them. Only a combination of Barbara arguing with him and Susan pleading with him is enough to pull him back from the brink.
Speaking of Susan, aside from a few nice moments, such as when she attacks Barbara with the scissors, Susan is more and more of an annoyance. The screeching, moaning, and sobbing grates to such an extent that I found it difficult to physically make it through those scenes. From day one Carole Ann Ford’s portrayal of Susan has been over-the-top and annoying. She reacts as an excitable child, more so than what seems necessary to act as a 15 year old. Her mysterious communications with the ship and with, apparently, time itself are weak and preposterous. Well more preposterous than a time traveling phone box piloted by an immortal. If Susan doesn’t get any better, I may have to write off her character, which is unfortunate because there is a lot there that would make splendid material.
Ian is a predictable as ever; trying to work with the Doctor and trying ever so hard to hide is growing frustrations with this man. Russell performs adequately, but there is nothing that shines so much so as to over shadow the true star of Destruction, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara. She is wonderful in every scene that she has, from grappling with an increasingly crazy and vindictive Doctor to dealing with Susan and her issues. Barbara is smartly written and superbly acted throughout the entirety of the serial. She is the first to figure out, both what the deranged Doctor is about to do, and exactly what the actual situation is. She is constantly portrayed as informing the other characters about the circumstance; fitting perfectly as the teacher that she has been written as. The best part is that it doesn’t feel like it was written for her, it feels as if Barbara Wright is an actual person who is reacting to this situation in a real way. Kudos to the entire team this time around. The finest moment comes when the Doctor realizes that he has erred and goes to apologize to the crew. Ian takes his apology in an “all in good fun” manner, but Barbara is much less forgiving of the situation. She realizes what might have transpired and it might be some time before the fledging trust that she had established with the Doctor can be restored. Hill does a wonderful job of playing that vulnerable state that someone is in after a large trauma and she seems just as disconnected as one would be in this situation. The Doctor for his part acts appropriately ashamed and there seems to be room for reconciliation, but the fact that it won’t happen immediately is great and entertaining.
All in all Edge of Destruction is a fine close to the opening character and plot arcs of the series. It closes off the worst of the stubbornness of the First Doctor and the distrust that he feels towards his companions and he grows into the Doctor that we know and love. While misanthropic nature is interesting, it could easily grow tiring and worn if the Doctor continued to second-guess and scheme against his companions for the entirety of Hartnell’s tenure as the Doctor. Furthermore it would have shown a lack of dynamism for such an interesting character, and the very fact that other characters have such an impact on him is refreshing and shows that there is room for grown. Also ends the era of uninterrupted Doctor Who; the next story Marco Polo is the first of the historicals as well first story to be completely lost to history. There are various reconstructions available and this is how I will be reviewing it as well as experiencing it for the first time. I look forward to it immensely and hope to bring you, Gentle Reader, my thoughts on it in the near future.
