REWIND - The Edge of Destruction

The Edge of Destruction is the only time (previous to Amy's Choice) that a whole episode is set within the TARDIS and its stars only the regular cast at the time. While not a shinning example of the Hartnell Era, it does provide more character development for the regulars and give us the first hints that the TARDIS is actually sentient in some way. Join me as we look at the third-ever episode of Doctor Who, The Edge of Destruction.

For the REWINDS regrading Classic Series stories, I will be giving a brief synopsis of the story along with my favourite moments from the regulars at the time with a brief bit of show history from the time.
At the time, the TARDIS crew consisted of four travellers:

         1. The Doctor as played by William Hartnell

         2. Susan Foreman (The Doctor's Granddaughter) as played by Carole Ann Ford 

         3. Ian Chesterton as played by William Russell

         4. Barbara Wright as played by Jacqueline Hill
Both Ian and Barbara had entered the TARDIS by accident so they became unwilling travellers on the Doctor and Susan's adventures. For their first two stories, they travelled back in time to 100,000 BC and were introduced to the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks. 

So, for their third-ever adventure we have a story set entirely inside the TARDIS but this is necessary from a production standpoint. Doctor Who was only originally commissioned for 13 half an hour episodes and as An Unearthly Child was four episodes with The Daleks taking up seven episodes that left only two episodes to fill the original production block. So, that's how the Edge of Destruction came to be, now is it any good. Well yes and no. 

The episode is a fairly mediocre affair to say the least as it details the TARDIS being taken over by a mysterious force and it's journey towards destruction (the big bang) with the Doctor and his companions becoming increasingly more violent towards each other as the episode unfolds. This episode helps to dispel the contention between the travellers that had existed between them since the first episode and to allow the travellers to get along with each other from now on. The biggest development in this episode is that the Doctor finally accepts both Ian and Barbara as his travelling companions while he still does get annoyed at Ian occasionally.

So, while The Edge of Destruction is by no way a defining and shining example of the Hartnell years. it is nevertheless an interesting two-parter that develops the relationships of our main characters while somewhat soften Hartnell's harder grandfather edge. The Edge of Destruction gains a 4 out of 10 only just missing an average mark as it takes a long time for the Doctor and crew to determine what is happening although it is saved by Hartnell and his companions convincing portrayals of their respective characters.

NEXT TIME: THE HUNGRY EARTH