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?