The Edge of Destruction

The Edge Of Destruction

Series 1
Title - The Edge Of Destruction
Production Code - C
Story # - 003
Episodes:
"The Edge Of Destruction"
"The Brink Of Disaster"

Doctor - 1st - William Hartnell

We've crashed. Everyone is hurt. As they all wake up in various states of confusion, the TARDIS doors are inexplicably open. Could something have gotten in?

The Doctor is injured, but carries on, trying to figure out where they've landed. Susan, though, has a momentary memory lapse and tries to attack Ian and isn't acting like herself.

Could something have gotten in - and be in Susan?

And why is everyone fighting with each other?

We have a mystery on our hands, and one that could be very dangerous. Something is messing with the TARDIS and everyone in it.

It's interesting to see a story completed in only two episodes rather than four or five. Is it wrong to say that sometimes those longer arcs have seemed, well, too long? Drawn out to fill the episodes?

This is the first time we get the feeling that the ship isn't just a machine - the TARDIS is alive, in it's own way. It tries to tell them that something is going wrong - but that doesn't necessarily come across as evidently as the show would like you to believe. The "fast return switch" seems like a bit of a left field explanation as to what caused the problem in the first place. The "clues" the TARDIS gave are about as clear as mud. Until Susan and Barbara explain it, I didn't understand why they both screamed when seeing the clock. And why exactly did they need to be fighting with each other? Yes, it does resolve the story nicely so that we see the Doctor actually apologizing to Barbara for how he acted and we see the four of them are friends, but I wonder if there was another way to have gotten them to work together.

I also get the sense that the Doctor really is still learning how this ship works. He knows the knobs and switches alright, but doesn't seem to know that it is alive and can think for itself - yet this is something in NewWho that is very evident and considered obvious. "She" is just as alive as the Doctor is. His TARDIS, her TimeLord. One example of how the concept of the TARDIS has evolved over the last 50 years.

The Edge Of Destruction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_of_Destruction


Now I have a decision to make - do I watch the recreated fourth arc, "Marco Polo," or do I skip it and keep watching the episodes whose videos are still available?

Foreshadowing: Part...Whatever (Four...I think)

Ok so things in my Real Life have been busy. HORRORS! LOL This is probably the first time I've had to sit and properly watch a full episode in a while. In fact, its been a few weeks since I watched the first episode mentioned here, Vincent and the Doctor, and the second, The Lodger. 

There are a few things of note for foreshadowing here between these eps but most of this entry is just things I've noticed or that seem like they might be of some note later on in my rewatch, or just thoughts I've had while watching the eps. 


Vincent And The Doctor

21.) We start with Amy not knowing why the Doc is being "so nice" to her. The viewer knows, however that she still doesn't remember anything about Rory or what happened to him, thanks to the crack in the wall. The Doc IS being nice to her.

But anyone else catch that she's not flirting with the Doc (or Vincent) anymore?

And we do have a moment where the Doc forgets himself and says Amy, Rory...and she's all Who?

Another little bit, more of a theme beginning this season, is the Doc mentioning getting old. We have multiple shots of the 1st Doc, Hartnell, in little places like the library card in Vampires in Venice. Here when the Doc digs out his gadget to identify the monster, it sees his face and prints out Hartnell's image, then shows Troughton's. When he realizes that he made a mistake in not recognizing that the creature is blind, which is why it got left behind, he calls himself stupid...and says he's growing old.

Obviously with the 50th coming up later this year, we can see mentions of it going all the way back to Moffatt's and Smith's first season.

Once again an ep that isn't overall plot advancement, but this time more about feelings...or the ones Amy lacks at the moment.

Btw, I absolutely hate their pronunciation of Van Gogh. Look I know its supposedly "correct" but its still annoying when no one else in the world really says it that way...

The Lodger

(Starting with an interesting note here - there is a shot of Amy in the TARDIS alone at 0:40 (or so) that is an upshot of the console room. Not seen this angle before and those rings at the top of the center console...we'll see them later in the S7.2 redesign...just a detail I noticed. Not important LOL)

22) Throughout the episode, we see/get all sorts of references to Smith being the 11th Doctor - from the fact that this is the 11th episode of the season to the number on the jersey he wears to the very literal of the Doctor telling Craig that he is the "Eleventh" (So for future reference, whatever a certain new character may turn out to be, he is NOT going to be among those numbered regenerations. Eleven is CLEARLY established as ELEVEN.)

(MATT IN A TOWEL ALERT!! I REPEAT MATT SMITH IN NOTHING BUT A TOWEL ALERT!!)

(Oh and the Doctor speaks Cat btw...)

(And oh Sweetie...you do know you don't need to headbutt to transfer info between minds? Poor Craig! But then again the Madame was able to see into places you didn't intend when you were more gentle with her...)

Okay finally something else. 

23.) The 2nd floor. That shouldn't be there. Looks like someone has built themselves a Time Engine and is trying to go...somewhere. But who? And why? Will we ever get that answer?

Yet ANOTHER note - a bit has been made about how the Doctor gave Amy a key but then took it away...though seemingly she and Rory can come and go from the TARDIS at will, so there must be a key involved, or the TARDIS just lets them in. Or whatever. So its cute to note that at the end of the episode, as the Doc is trying to quietly leave the flat, Craig stops him and gives HIM back the keys to the place he was trying to leave. Gives him the knowledge that he's got more friends here on Earth than he realizes :)

24.) AGAIN! A CRACK! This time behind the refrigerator in Craig's flat. 

25.) And...BAM! Amy finds the engagement ring in the Doctor's coat pocket. This after making a crack about him being a matchmaker. This very obviously stirs something in her head, though what, we don't know. But she finally realizes SOMETHING is...off. 

Gonna stop here because...well...BIG things are about to happen!