Serial C, in two parts:
- The Edge of Destruction - 2/8/64, 10.4m viewers
- The Brink of Disaster - 2/15/64, 9.9m
Sound Byte:
"I remember I spent about two days and two nights writing The Edge of Destruction. It was a bit of a nightmare, in more ways than one, and though it seemed to go down well with the audience, it rather confused the cast who knew their characters but couldn't quite grasp the totally discontinuous way in which I had to make them behave!" - David Whitaker, quoted in The Doctor Who File by Peter Haining (W.H. Allen, 1986)
Comments:
Doctor Who's first two serials went over-budget, so David Whitaker was charged with writing a short, cheap third serial that would feature only the regular cast members and the already-constructed TARDIS set. The result is a somewhat static but interesting story that pits the TARDIS crew members against each other as the time-ship hurtles toward a very big cosmic boom. It starts with a small explosion in the console room, and when the Doctor and his companions wake up, they're not quite the same...
To be honest, I can't really explain the plot much beyond that. The characters act very bizarrely, as if in a trance state, while the TARDIS breaks down around them. The usually stalwart Ian is transformed into a loopy oaf (this is not one of William Russell's better performances), and Susan abruptly goes insane and starts threatening people with scissors. It's creepy stuff, but it doesn't make much sense.
For the first (but certainly not the last) time in Doctor Who's history, the special effects are a complete letdown. The melting clock doesn't work (I couldn't even tell what it was on my first viewing), and the big stellar explosion lacks impact.
On the plus side, the characters eventually resume their normal behavior patterns and are fleshed out nicely. The Doctor once again plays the bad guy role. Convinced that Ian and Barbara are sabotaging his ship, the old man threatens to cast them out into oblivion in one of the most horrifying yet hilarious scenes in the show's history. That First Doctor was some crazy old coot, wasn't he?
The real surprise here is that Barbara steals the show, becoming the most important crewmember. While the Doctor is busy hurling accusations around, she figures out what's wrong with the TARDIS and saves everybody. Even the Doctor comes to admire her intelligence, and in a very sensitive scene he manages to apologize to her. (I should like to note that, thanks mainly to Barbara's presence, Doctor Who was a lot less sexist in 1964 than it became ten or twenty years later...)
For a brief, economical "fill-in" story, this isn't bad. It furthers the development of the lead characters, and represents an important step for the Doctor as he becomes more tolerant of -- and even respectful towards -- his human companions.
Grade: B