A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 12. The Edge of Destruction (The Edge of Destruction, Episode One)

Since I don't have a screen grab of the episode title, here's
the cover of an audiobook adaptation.

Bottle shows--shows which only use the standing sets, thus saving money for the producers to spend on other episodes--are very rare in the history of Doctor Who.  This is the first one, and may be the only one in the Classic run...I certainly can’t recall another serial that takes place solely in the control room and the two bedrooms of the Tardis.

And boy, is it creepy.

The crew wakes up from last episode’s disaster to find things have gone...wonky.  All of our quartet have some form of memory loss, the Doctor has a nasty gash on his head, and both we-don’t-know-they-re-Gallfreyans-yet have a pain in their neck.  The Tardis has stopped but they don’t know where; the video monitor is only showing photos from their past travels.  The doors are open, but close when one of our heroes approaches them.  Any attempt to look at some representation of time--a countdown clock, a watch, what have you--is difficult.  And the Doctor and Susan are acting more erratic, paranoid and aggressive.  Susan, in particular, is convinced that something has entered the Tardis....something that may be hiding in her teachers.

This episode is so effective because it takes full advantage of the enigma surrounding the Doctor and Susan.  I mentioned in the past that I find Carol Ann Ford’s features a little...off, and boy, does her moments of derangement take full advantage of her look.  There’s one moment where she is ranting at Barbara where she looks positively demonic...and the moments of her threatening Ian with a pair of scissors is prime slasher-movie nightmare.

And Hartnell gets to really let loose, taking full advantage of his enigmatic status to come off as legitimately terrifying.  There is no doubt that Hartnell believes Barbara and Ian are against him, and there is no doubt that he might be doing something malicious in the cliffhanger.  But the real star of this half hour is Jacqueline Hill.  Barbara is the first person we see in the episode, she’s the one that is most lucid throughout...and she is the one who gives the Doctor a great defiant response to his bullying.  I find it intriguing that in this rewatch Barbara is the character that’s standing out, even though Ian has most of the action.

For a serial that was apparently made on the fly, this is a great piece of work that illuminates the characters in a way we haven’t had a chance to see.  I like it.  I like it a lot.