Rate and Discuss: Edge of Destruction

[SiHart]

A massive explosion... and then, nothing. Has something got inside the ship, or is there an even less rational explanation for the melting clockfaces, the dire but oblique warnings on the scanner and for the odd behaviour of the crew?

What do you think of Edge of Destruction?

[Si Hunt]

You make it sound so good Si!

Si.

[SiHart]

I know. The reality is that it's a load of very well acted old tosh!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

A load of differently acted old tosh. William Russell suddenly thinks he's doing Brecht or something, when nobody else does.

I gave it 4 because it's quite creepy and atmospheric in places. But really it's a load of rubbish and doesn't even make any sense.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I remember watching this on BSB's Doctor Who weekend, and really found the story quite backward. They were lost, they seem to realise they're trapped in a planetary system, then they become lost again. Huh?

Mind Robber wierdness, but without the shot of Wendy Padbury's arse on the console ...

[Dino]

Bad fan me, I can't remember much about it, but I love the clip both in Arabic and the English version of The Doctor's speech that ends with him going "And it's planets!" I just love the way William Hartnell acts that out. So it's going to get some marks for that alone. Could someone transcribe that speech for me please? Or is it up on You Tube?
I'll be back to vote later.

[Stephen Morgan]

I remember watching this on BSB's Doctor Who weekend, and really found the story quite backward.

Is that a dig at them playing the episodes in reverse order the first time.

I find the story quite creepy, and surely that scene with Susan and the scissors would never be allowed in that timeslot these days.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Is that a dig at them playing the episodes in reverse order the first time.

It is indeed lol. Reminds me of my local Odeon when they did a double bill of Superman 2 followed by Superman. Erm ...

[Rob McCow]

It's over quickly though. And I do think the acting is still on form.

Although it's not the best script, I remember the Target novel being rather wonderful. It made it all the more disappointing when I saw the screen version.

[Si Hunt]

What's the Target Audio Book like Steve?

It's not very good really is it. Without any sets, you're reliant on two things - acting, direction and script. Ok, that's three things isn't it? The direction is lacklustre - I can't think of any flourishes or moments or eerie-ness, the script is nonsensical, with everyone wandering about acting demented and then everything put down to a stuck spring, and the acting is mediocre. Carol Ann-Ford stabs a bed wildly like she's some kind of repressed, feral, sexually awakened wild woman, while William Russell wanders around with his dressing gown flapping open, acting confused.

At the end of the day, if you haven't got a proper story (which this hasn't) or any monsters or sets (ditto) then all you've got left is your characters. And here, everyone doesn't know who they are so you don't even have that! Doh! It's a double Doh when you've got Hartnell and Hill on your rosta. This would literally be better if it was the cast sitting on a chair chatting to each other. I bet if you used these great actors and tried to explore the characters, that would actually be quite good.

I can't really think of anything to recommend it.

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

The most impressive thing about this story is how brilliant Hartnell's performance is, considering someone decided he should have a ridiculous oversized stripy bandage wrapped around his head for most of it!

[Stephen Morgan]

someone decided he should have a ridiculous oversized stripy bandage wrapped around his head for most of it!

Which changes wildly between episodes.

[J.R. Southall]

I gave it 5, but I was being generous. I always say that this is my least favourite Doctor Who story of all time (although there's something worthwhile in every single story, so none of them would get votes lower than a 4 or a 5), because the only decent thing about it really is that it's an extra 50 minutes of Ian'n'Babs... The trouble is, the script requires all the characters to spend so much time behaving extraordinarily unlike the people we've spent 11 weeks getting to know, and it's really difficult to watch even as an example of the original TARDIS crew. It has its moments, but the reveal of the button at the end isn't one of them!

[J.R. Southall]

Incidentally, I saw a repeat of The Monster of Peladon on Gold a few years ago, that skipped half an episode after the end of Part Three (presumably for time reasons).

So you had the reveal of the Ice Warriors, an ad break, and then the next thing you know, they're all over the place and in charge already. Very odd choice of half an episode to skip...

[Antony Cox]

I’ve always loved this story, even on first viewing which was actually episode two then episode one due to the cock-up on the BSB DW weekend back in the 1990s! I know I’m in the vast minority as most people seem to hold it in very low regard, but the reasons I like it are nothing to do with the plot.

I’ve always loved the cosy, almost domestic atmosphere in the TARDIS in those early Hartnell stories, and we’re treated to two whole episodes in The Edge of Destruction. But the atmosphere in this story is rather different to its near neighbours in that the whole story takes place in the TARDIS and there’s no cosy lead up to the usual exit and exploration of wherever the regulars have landed.

The plot is weak, I admit that; very little happens at all in the first episode and the climactic deus ex machina is just silly, but I still find it all rather gripping, again largely to do with the tense atmosphere.

As much as I have moaned about the last series of Doctor Who, I reckon they could re-make this now with the current TARDIS crew and it would work really well...

[J.R. Southall]

Didn't they call it Amy's Choice...?

[Stuart Wallis]

Carol Ann-Ford stabs a bed wildly like she's some kind of repressed, feral, sexually awakened wild woman

Send her round...

Edge Of Destruction - WTF?! The plot and common sense were left behind on Skaro; William Russell forgets he can act for the first third of the story; and I'm fairly sure that the TARDIS' bedrooms would have something a little more comfy than camp beds. I've given it 3/10 purely for Billy and Jacquelin's acting.

[Nyder]

It's a real shame the "melting clockface" didn't really work. If it had it would have been quite scarey.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Hmmm - if they remade this, it'd end up being 40 minutes around how Rory and Amy's marriage is failing, and how the Doctor always gets in the way. Followed by a crash-bang-wallup 5 minutes as they realise they're in a Black Hole, and the only way out is if the Doctor retriggers the Big Bang. Again.

[Rob McCow]

Although unpopular now, if this were 1964 still then I'm sure this would have been a lot more fascinating. These days everyone accepts that the TARDIS is a living, thnking machine, but back then it would have been a shock. It would have been as though a sea-ship were communicating with it's passengers.

And without this story, the TARDIS might never have been considered 'alive'. It may have been just a room with a console in it...

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I rather like this one, although I think the book is better than the TV version. I agree with Ant about the atmosphere of the early TARDIS scenes. The fact that the atmosphere in the TARDIS during this one is eerie should make me not like it, but somehow it works - even though it is very weird!

[Antony Cox]

"Oh, my hair!"

[Jason Thompson]

A rather strange thing about this adventure: at the beginning Susan has evidently taken some time out to clean up and change her clothes. Ian and Barbara, on the other hand, are still standing around in the togs they spent three days crawling through swamps and caves in.

And something that only seems strange in retrospect: in the next serial Barbara is talking to Susan and says the TARDIS is their home and they feel safe in it. A rather strange observation when the last time they were in it all this happened!