Review of The Edge of Destruction (#3)
DVD Release Date: 24 Mar 09
Original Air Date: 08 – 15 Feb 1964
Doctors/Companions: One, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright
Stars: William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill
Preceding Story: The Daleks (One, Susan, Ian, Barbara)
Succeeding Story: Marco Polo (One, Susan, Ian, Barbara)
The broadcast schedule for the current, new series has disrupted the timing for my usual monthly DVD reviews, but I decided not to let it replace my November edition of the Highs and Lows series entirely. That’s why there’s this bonus Saturday post!
Fortunately for me, the adventure that was already slated for this month is one of the shortest in Classic Who, so rewatching it was not a huge investment in time. Unfortunately, it was a decent investment in brainpower (of which I am in sadly short supply lately).
“The Edge of Destruction” (EoD) comes very very early in the history of the show, preceded only by the pilot adventure (“An Unearthly Child,” which includes the crew’s subsequent trip to “The Cave of Skulls”) and the Doctor’s first-ever encounter with the Daleks (in the eponymously titled story). Viewing it through a lens nearly sixty years of media evolution onwards, it feel surprisingly modern. Sure, it has all the trappings of ’60s Who, feeling more like a stage play than what we would recognize as television today, but it has an almost psycho-drama bent, and keeps the viewer on the back foot almost the whole way through.
Set entirely inside the TARDIS (we’ll ignore the obvious budgetary reasons for that, and pretend it’s just great storytelling), EoD begins with the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara all getting thrown to the floor and knocked unconscious. As they slowly come to their senses, disoriented and barely recognizing each other, they quickly realize something is amiss. Just what that is—and who is to blame—is much less clear.
The rapid changes in circumstances and in what each person on the TARDIS thinks they know, about both the situation and each other, keeps the viewer almost as confused as the characters. And for someone who is used to a Doctor who cares deeply about their Companions and who is always the cleverest person in the room, the way this early incarnation handles the situation can be unexpected to the point of being off-putting.
But when one remembers that none of these people quite trust each other yet—in fact, the Doctor basically kidnapped Ian and Barbara to prevent them from exposing his secrets—it makes more sense. The Doctor was still getting used to humans (though at this point we were years away from the Doctor admitting he wasn’t one), the humans had just come off of a life-threatening situation they’d gotten into because the Doctor had deceived them for his own selfish ends, and the show as a whole was still finding its bearings.
I think EoD deserves its reputation as one of the “Highs”—it’s #30 on the trusty io9 list—because it really does provide an interestingly convoluted plot line. It may be both short and somewhat pedantic, as these early stories were wont to be (with some questionable science, by current standards), but it’s a snappy and dramatic little story that doesn’t drag on. This little bonbon twists your brain in all the best ways. Give it a go!