4 out of 5

Directed By: Richard Martin & Frank Cox

An interesting twist on a mystery, ‘Edge of Destruction’ only really suffers from being a little ham-fisted and forced with its conclusions, a consequence, I’m sure, of short shooting time.  But for eps that make use of only the core characters and one set, ‘Edge’ is also a prime example of commodity, and how to drum up tension (and unique concepts) from seemingly very little.

Our crew wakes up after leaving the Dalek planet (Skaro) and things are… strange.  The TARDIS doors are open but close when approached, and people don’t seem to really remember each other.  And then, hey, look, Susan’s got a knife.  A weird vibe of paranoia starts spreading through the ship, not helped by the headaches and blurred vision that seem to occur when anyone touches the main panel or investigates the instruments.  Finally they get the scanners to show what’s beyond the doors and though it appears to be Earth, the doc dismisses it as a photograph, a notion supported by the image on the scanner changing on subsequent views.  So just what is going on?  Barbara and Ian turn on The Doctor, as he’s done nothing to thank them for their assists with the Daleks or the primitives, just taking them on one wild ride after the other, and The Doctor turns on the teachers, believing they’ve sabotaged the ship in an attempt to get back home.

Of course, neither one of those scenarios is correct, but they draw it out for a bit and end part one with a cliffhanger along those lines.  In episode two, Barbara starts to piece some things together – when further oddities with the ship occur, she supposes that, perhaps, the ship is trying to tell them something…  Which is absolutely novel and an exciting revelation so early in the series, especially combined with Hartnell’s boastful Doctor, who proclaims to have an answer to everything but is seemingly so clueless at the same time.  It’s smart that ‘Edge of Destruction’ strengthens Barbara’s character by having her take the lead on this one (instead of Ian) and we get a nice shade added to Susan / Doc’s relationship when she coaxes him – making him understand that its the right thing to do – into apologizing to the teachers for the accusations.

There are more line flubs than usual, and the jump to paranoia (though influenced by the ship) is a little clumsy and adds just a little too much to this two parter, which could have easily been tightened up to an effective single episode.  That being said, it’s incredibly interesting and definitely instills you with a ‘what the hell is going on’ sensibility right from the get-go.  And as with The Daleks, the way it broaches its sci-fi themes seems so bold for a then-young show in the 60s.  Fun stuff.