The episode’s decent. The plot is good and I like the idea of everyone turning on each other. Susan is annoying and I do like some moments with her here and there.
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I’m a hater. I really don’t get the love for this one. It’s confusing, convoluted, and worst of all, boring.
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The Edge of Destruction - 7/10
A beautiful little bottle episode that I don’t think could have been made at any other point in the show’s history.
Firstly, I want to praise the episodes titles, The Edge of Destruction going into The Brink of Disaster feels very Revival Season 9 to me, and in the best way possible.
This story is just so strange and I kind of love that, there’s a real sense of tension and building dread. These characters the audience would’ve been coming to get to know and love over the last 2+ months are now trapped together, and the worst is being brought out in them. I’ve seen others comparing it to Midnight or Class’ Detained, and I absolutely agree that this feels very much like a precursor to those, but I love that here, unlike Midnight, The Doctor is almost the antagonist of a lot of the story here.
When I say that it’s a story you couldn’t tell at any other point in the show’s history, The Doctor is the main thing I’m talking about, he’s brash and rude, and even effectively threatens to kill Ian and Barbara at one point. This story wouldn’t work with any other doctor, you just wouldn’t believe that he’d do that, but here, where the character’s not fully formed yet, where he’s still a mystery, you really don’t know what he’s willing to do.
It’s also a great story to help showcase the wide variety of stories that can be told with the show. Often-times the new series will start with a trio of episodes, one in the past, one the present, one the future, and here, The Edge of Destruction finishes out that trilogy that the first two eras of the show tend to do. An Unearthly Child shows the past, The Daleks shows the future, and The Edge of Destruction is more of a ‘sidestep’.
The character acting here is also great here, I especially love the way The Doctor uses a light to explain what happened to Susan, or the moment where he admits to Ian that they only have five minutes, and they both sort of share a moment.
The only reason this isn’t higher is that, where other stories are somewhat let down by the stylings of the time, I feel this story is really let down by it. I think different camera angles, or more use of darkness could have really improved this story, but of course that wasn’t the done thing at the time.
So the last thing I want to mention then, it Barbara. The way she stands up for herself against The Doctor, how she’s not taking any ■■■■ from him, even when Ian is so ready to forgive and forget, she’s not, she needs to hear that apology, and she can’t move on in their relationship without it, it’s a great point of characterisation which I just adore, and absolutely moves Barbara up my companion ranking
6 Likes
The Edge of Destruction is my next story in my Project: Blue Box. I may or may not watch it today. But Jay’s post made me want to write a lil bit about it and I’ve seen it enough times that I can actually recall most of it from memory.
I love The Edge of Destruction. Not just my favorite story from season one, also my favorite from the First Doctor on TV. It’s a culmination of every bit of character work built in An Unearthly Child and The Daleks - the tension between the Doctor and Ian and Barbara was always bubbling, at times exploding, but the situation they find themselves into this one makes it all up to 1000.
Ian is more receptive to the Doctor and less accusatory because they have been somewhat working the tension between them in the previous stories (Ian stopping One from killing the caveman; Ian pointing out to the tribe that the Doctor was their leader, not himself; Ian guiding the characters through their conflict with the Daleks as a moral obligation to the Thals, also because it’s the Doctor who put them into that situation), but Barbara hasn’t. She sided with One when it was convenient (she is the first of the two to believe the Doctor is a time-traveller; argumenting they should either leave Skaro or convince the Thals to fight), but they never worked out their issues - and they finally do. That scene when Barbara lays down to him that he should be on his knee thanking her and Ian because he wouldn’t be alive without them is one of my favorites from the entire show. And then it gives way to the Doctor saying that he is sorry - that moment between him and Barbara is so, so, so sweet.
It’s when everything changes. The Edge of Destruction ends a chapter in the lives of the recurring cast - there is no guarantee Ian and Barbara can get home; and hey, maybe they can have some fun on the way. They truly become friends to the Doctor, who begins to enjoy travelling with them. A lot. They’re a unit when we see them next, in Marco Polo. Even when in later episodes the Doctor gets offended and swears to take them home “right now!”, Ian and Barbara can tell he doesn’t really mean it. When they say farewell from each other, you can feel how much he’ll miss them. When his life goes to hell, much later in his life, he laments how many friends have left him - Ian and Barbara amongst them.
And it’s all framed briliantly by a psychological thriller. Weird stuff is happening nonstop in the TARDIS, they’re all accusing each other - even trying to kill each other. Hi Susan -, they all say things they can’t take back… and the justification is brilliant.
And there is so many more incredible character bits - I love, love, love that scene when the Doctor finally understand what’s been happening and go on a monologue about the wonders of science. There is so much love put into his words, into the performance. The Doctor is entranced by the unknown. It’s chilling, it’s emotional, I love it.
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What is Project: Blue Box?
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It used to be me working through most of Doctor Who chronologically and writing reviews for all of it. Now it’s more of a “I divided a lot of it in seasons in a order I think I’ll enjoy better”. Currently rewatching season one of classic.
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There are so many great points made in this thread. I recently rewatched this story, and the one thing I’ll add to the discussion is a quote from my review: “Throughout the first two stories, the goal of making it back to the safety of the TARDIS was paramount, or nearly so. Now the show asks the question, ‘What if this place isn’t safe, either?’” To me, this is one of the highlights of the first season, warts and all.
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Making it back to the safety of the TARDIS continues to be a goal throughout the rest of the season. The Aztecs is another prime example and in stories like The Keys of Marinus and The Sensorites, the Doctor’s hand is forced into involving himself because his entry back into the TARDIS is prevented. I don’t think I’d ever appreciated the twist The Edge of Destruction does on that idea before, so that’s a great point.
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Just finished up Marco Polo episode 1, and it seems to be the big point of that story too
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I just finished Marco Polo Ep7 last night!
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