Edge of Destruction

Susan, give me the scissors please.

As is typical for British television, the original order for Doctor Who was thirteen episodes. The popularity of the The Daleks gave an immediate renewal to the series and Season 1 of the classic series went on for five more stories (30 additional episodes or 43 episodes total). But until that order came down, Edge of Destruction was the two episode bookend to the season and potentially the series.

In some ways you can sort of tell that in episode two with the Doctor's big speech about time and space and his apology to Barbara. I would imagine that if the show had ended, instead of large footprints in the snow, the last shot may have been it looking like they had landed back in the junkyard, but that's just speculation on my part.

But before you get to the wrap up in the second half of episode two, you have to get through episode one. Someone remarked once that this was a good example of Sixties experimental theater and they are not far off. After the initial blast that we see at the end of The Daleks the episode goes like a drug trip. Not one that we grew so familiar with in Seventies television with flashes of light, color and creatures from The Wall; but instead that hyper-paranoia and malevolence that grows out of fear.

In some ways, episode one feels like a bit of a sop to Barbara and Susan. They had got shunted aside in most of the previous episodes (and future episodes) due to Sixties sexism, but here they are front and center while Ian and the Doctor are out of commission. Barbara is the protagonist as the only one who seems to have been both not injured and with her full wits about her. Susan on the other hand is the antagonist as someone who is acting completely out of her mind. Her use of the scissors not only as a threatening weapon but then as an actual vent of rage and frustration in front of Barbara on the bed would probably never fly on a show intended for minor viewers today.

Episode one is bizarre but I wish it had either stayed bizarre or kept to the sanity of episode two. That's where the story goes off the rails for me. Episode one is paranoia and trippiness while episode two whips back realism and then the understanding that there was an undetectable fault in the TARDIS control mechanism. Such a huge change in tone and style just creates the feeling that one story was planned and then aborted in favor of a quick and dirty fix. It sells what you feel they were trying to do in episode one short.

About the only way to reconcile the differences is to play with your own "head cannon". My own version says that the accident pushed a portion of the TARDIS consciousness out on to Susan and that her attempt to communicate overrode Susan's own mind into a fit of schizophrenia. The Doctor too was affected both by the TARDIS and the concussion he sustained in the accident. As the team became more and more aware of the fault, the TARDIS pulled back and rationality began to be restored to everyone's mind. It's a bit of a stretch, but it does provide something of a bridge between the two episodes. Idris' lack of coherence and behavior in The Doctor's Wife does give something of a basis for this rationale.

This is definitely not a story one shows to a novice Doctor Who fan. I probably wouldn't show it unless they were already somewhat comfortable with the classic series. It is a genuine character study with almost no action at all. That being said, there is a charm about it. Maybe it's just me and my appreciate for surrealism, but I didn't dislike it. In fact, if it had either been better bridged or stayed completely with it's surrealistic nature, I probably would have liked it even more. It's just not something I feel any particular need to go back and watch again.

Overall personal score: 2 out of 5