Inside the Spaceship (aka Edge of Destruction) (1964)

EPISODE 1 – THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 8 February 1964

The Edge of Destruction is one of my favourites if not my favourite story ever. The cliffhanger from the previous episode had Ian, the Doctor and Susan in the console room before being thrown to the ground and a white light blinding the screen. After the a few moments everyone wakes up acting a bit strange. Barbara was the only one who wasn’t in the console room at the time so apart from a bit of forgetfulness she seems to be the best out of them all. A noticeable thing in the early stages is the lack of the humming that we have come to expect.

The early theory is that something or someone has got inside the TARDIS after they discover the doors are open. Considering we don’t hear or see anything it’s not a theory that works but the actors perform like they believe it. We have a moment where the TARDIS scanner is apparently showing them pictures of what is outside and we learn that the there was an adventure before ‘An Unearthly Child’ (this forms the story Qunnis released by Big Finish in 2010). Another strange thing that the TARDIS is doing is opening the doors and when someone moves towards them like Ian does a couple of times they then close.

William Hartnell is superb in this episode. I like how as Ian puts it he is playing the perfect butler just moments after accusing them of terrible things. He gives a solid performance though he is slightly undermined by the silly bandage around his head for a cut we don’t know how he got considering he wasn’t by the console when he fell. Ian is acting very strange, almost un-Ian like. The delivery of his lines is cold and dare I say it alien. After spending seven weeks in various versions of being a hero, William Russell gets to play a different part of his character and over the course of the episode goes through a wide ranging emotions and deals with it well. Susan is child like but given the weird circumstances that she finds herself in then it’s perfectly fine. That does change after about 12 minutes when she starts to act weirdly and is dressed in a black gown and it’s the best performance from Carole Ann Ford so far. They all have a pain at the back of their heads which is first noticed by Barbara. Barbara really shines in this episode because she stands up to the Doctor and is the one that tries to solve the puzzle. With Ian behaving oddly, it means she’s the sensible one. Barbara’s best scene was when she stands up to the Doctor after being accused and pointing out that the Doctor owes a lot to her and Ian. It’s one of the best scenes in the episode.

We get to see a bit more of the TARDIS in this story as we get to see the sleeping quarters. Admittedly its only the lounge and the sunbeds but it still good to see more than the console room. On the back of designing the Daleks, Raymond Cusick does a great job of creating the extended TARDIS sets with next to no money. So the sunbeds do look a bit out of place but it’s better and less silly than it could have done.

The scene with Susan and the scissors is one of the scenes that got Verity Lambert into trouble and it’s easy to see why. Not only is it because scissors are an easily obtained item but also it’s a superbly acted scene between William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. Richard Martin can’t really do anything special like he did in ‘The Daleks’ but he still manages to create a great episode and does have some moments of brilliance especially with the clock and Barbara’s watch melting.

What I like about this episode is how the relationship between all four characters breaks down in a spectacular way. There has always been friction between Ian and Barbara and the Doctor but Susan has always been there to calm things down but when she starts to side with her grandfather. The Doctor accuses Ian and Barbara of tampering the ship.

The final minute of the episode is fantastic. The music along with Hartnell wandering from room to room checking of Ian and Barbara before going over to the console and before he gets chance to do anything a pair of hands appear from behind him and we don’t see who it is. Now we are still to believe that someone or something has got into the TARDIS but as I don’t buy that I knew that the hands must have been Ian’s and that works as a much better cliffhanger because we have two of the series regulars who as a viewer we are suppose to like are now at each others throats. This was a great cliffhanger.

As an episode it was atmospheric and almost like a play with only two real sets and just the four regulars. One of the reasons why I love these two episodes is that there is great character development and we get to see different sides of the characters than what we had seen in the previous 11 weeks.

EPISODE 2 – THE BRINK OF DISASTER
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 15 February 1964

The previous episode saw the Doctor being grabbed around his neck, its resolved with Ian falling to the ground. This episode is about what is causing the problems. The Doctor is still not trusting Ian and Barbara and threatens to throw them off his ship. The friction added with the mystery about what is causing the weird atmosphere is one of the best things in the story.

Barbara is the one that is continuing to be the one that is trying to work things out.  She thinks that they have been given nothing but clues and put things together. Jacqueline Hill puts in another solid performance and maintains her dignity and is wonderful in the show. When Susan enters the console room she’s quite mysterious but then reverts back to her normal self. It’s great to see Carole Ann Ford get something else to do apart from shriek. She can get away with due to the plot. It’s probably going to be her best story in her time on the show. William Russell spends a large portion of the story trying to recover from falling on the floor after nearly strangling the Doctor. Russell makes way so that Jacqueline Hill and William Hartnell can shine and even with what he does its still good. William Hartnell is on fine form in this episode. The scene where the console room has plunged into the darkness and the camera focuses/zooms in on William Hartnell and his speech is one of the best moments in Doctor Who. It’s a brilliant speech and whilst I don’t understand exactly what he was saying, it was done in such a way that it wasn’t what he said but more how he said it that was why it worked.

The fault locator shows that everything is wrong. This means that the fault locator is absolutely no use whatsoever. The Doctor soon realises that something is wrong though there is the impending sense that he cant do anything about it. Soon the realisation that that the TARDIS is trying to give them clues, leads the to the Doctor not liking the idea with that notion. The idea that the TARDIS is a living thing might be perfectly normal now but back then it was something quite original. The realisation that they only have 10 minutes to survive is something that works only because of Barbara and the Doctor’s reaction. There is a nice moment between the Doctor and Ian where they are acting like comrades instead of two people pecking at each other. The dialogue is snappy and it switches from one person to another in this part of the story.

The problems have come from the fast return switch which hasn’t released itself. I like the idea that the reason for all the problems was due to a switch. What slightly ruins it is the fact that FAST RETURN is written in felt tip on the console. Now with 2013 CGI that could easily rectified but in 1964 it probably wasn’t as easy but it’s something that provides material in books and documentaries on the story.  When the problem has been resolved things go back to normal. The humming is a welcome return as is the light. It’s good to light things properly but 50 minutes of near darkness it’s good that light has been bought back to Doctor Who. Nice bit of exposition by the Doctor when he explains what happened to Susan.

The reaction of Barbara after the Doctor says that they owe her their lives is superb as Barbara seems emotional drained after what has happened. I like the scene where the Doctor tries to make up with Barbara. It is a nice moment as it repairs the damage that was done over the course of the story and by the end they have made up and it seems that the who team has made up and is stronger than the one that debuted thirteen episodes.

The cliffhanger is quite interesting. Susan and Barbara are outside and show the Doctor and Ian via the scanner of a rather large footprint. The mystery of what caused the footprint is the big selling point for ‘The Roof of the World’. It’s a good cliffhanger and reminds me of the cliffhanger for An Unearthly Child where it’s not clear who or what caused the shadow. 

As an episode it was really good and everyone was on fine form. The scene with Hartnell in darkness is a great scene and as a two part adventure, it served a purpose and it wasn’t just to give the production of Marco Polo a two week breather, it was to change and solidify the relationship of the TARDIS crew an it does it in a wonderful way.