Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Edge of Destruction

Susan goes barking.

 Doctor Who, Season One, Story Three (1963)

I end my Beginnings Trilogy by taking a look at The Edge of Destruction, the twelth and thirteenth episodes of Season One. Used to fill the series' initial thirteen episode quotient, the story was written on the fly with almost no resources to hand except the main cast and the Tardis interior. Thus, here is where the character arcs established in the first two serials hits an end and where our core characters mature into the final incarnations as they would have stood had the series not been taken up. A lot of fans won't give The Edge of Destruction (known also as "Inside the Spaceship" and "Beyond the Sun") the time of day, but of the three beginning stories it's my particular favourite by a mile.
     Our heroes gather around the Tardis console after having escaped the Daleks, and there is a blinding flash of light. All of them fall to the floor, and Barbara wakes up to find her fellow passengers unconscious. The doors continually open and shut, and the Scanner keeps showing multiple images. The Doctor accuses Barbara and Steven of sabotaging the ship in an attempt to return home. Susan, who appears initially to have been posessed, sides with her father until a tired Steven appears to strangle Barbara, proving that someone is influencing them. They work through the information at hand; the Tardis fault locator itself is broken, and so the partially sentient machine was continually giving them warning signs. Somehow the machine had gone to the Big Bang, and the Tardis had stopped itself from being destroyed. The problem is tracked to a faulty spring on the "Fast Return Switch", and soon the characters reconcile with one another stronger than they were before. 
     Because of its claustrophobic atmosphere and character-focused dialogue, The Edge of Destruction feels very much like a recorded stage play. The break between the two episodes is like, say, an intermission. This falters slightly, because the two parts had two different directors, and thus the second half is a lot more structured and confident than the first. This is perhaps for the better; the first half is more about creating the fear and tension regarding the possibility that some outside influence is masquerading as a member of the Tardis crew, while the second is a Sherlock-esque solving of the mystery.

The Doctor has one last fit, but his character mellows.

     Here is where The Doctor finally mellows. In realistic character development, his encounters with his human companions over the past 13 episodes have turned him from a grouch prepared to kidnap and kill into a kind-hearted if crotchety grandfather figure. The development over the Beginnings Trilogy for all of the characters is incredibly well done, and in a way this particular arc is actually better written than Moffat's today or RTD's a few years ago.
     The Edge of Destruction is a story that, despite its rushed conception and creation, is an enteraining 50 minutes of suspense and mystery, where acting styles are manipulated to compliment the script and characterisations are played off against one another. It's very well-made for what it was and perfectly rounds out the 13 episode arc that is The Beginning of Doctor Who.

Thanks.

P.S. That's the last Doctor Who Classic review until after Christmas! Over this Holiday, you can expect my reviews of the Merlin finale, the Misfits finale and, of course, the Doctor Who Christmas special.
Merry Christmas.