The Edge of My Seat
Watching Doctor Who: Series 1 Serial 3: The Edge of Destruction
The Doctor clearly hasn't RTFM, and when he tries to repair the faulty navigation circuit he manages to cause an explosion that knocks the gang out for a bit. For some reason this causes some temporary and very random memory loss, with a side effect of minor homicidal rage.
Fearing the worst, that Ian and Barbara have some how learnt how to work the TARDIS in their brief stay, and are deliberately sabotaging it to get back to 1963, the Doctor throws around some wildd accusations and then drugs everyone.
After some time, and some serious next level detective work from Barbara (honourary member of the Scooby Gang), they work out that the TARDIS is actually trying to warn them of danger. With a little faffing the discover that someone must have had some space rations a little too close to the console and one of the button has become jammed causing the doors to randomly open and all the clocks to melt.
The Edge of Destruction
Always so dramatic in the TARDIS, they land with a bump and they all fall over unconscious. How did they explain that away when it started to not happen to newbies?
Oh I see... memory loss? And some whiplash.
I know I should be waiting to see what happens, but I'm really very annoyed by this episode already.
Alright Susan, no need to be shouty.
I could do with some of those bandages, very handy indeed.
Honestly, I don't care what anyone says, Susan's dramatic overacting is beyond a joke.
This bedroom set is awesome... a garden lounger coming down like a Murphy bed. Is anyone else getting vibes of 1950's Debenhams showrooms?
Now she's getting stabby... seriously?
Could something have got in? Yes Barbara, very sensible thinking, but the guys clearly think you're a loon. It doesn't matter that the Doctor says he feels like he was hit in the back of the neck.
How has no one had Susan committed yet? She is clearly deranged, these massive mood swings are ridiculous. Did the Doctor break her out of an asylum back on Gallifrey?
19 minutes of total random confusion... so... trying...
Turns out over acting is catching.
Don't take a drink from someone who is suspicious of you... that is just madness.
You'd have thought they'd all have learnt by now that Susan lurks behind things listening to conversations.
And boom... you've all been drugged by the crazy old guy.
I'm not convinced I was surprised by the hands that appeared at the end of the episode. Although this does seem like their favourite way to introduce new characters.
The Brink of Disaster
Oh it was Ian, and he's fainted from his terrible acting.
There are a lot of wardrobe changes in this one, and I'm not entirely sure why (or how) Ian has ended up in a dressing gown... does he have a pipe too?
Sure, the TARDIS tells you something is wrong and now you're convinced. He doesn't like to apologise does he?
"Every quarter of a minute." No one has ever used that as a way to describe 15 seconds.
Hartnell grabbing his lapels and proclaiming that they have ten minutes to survive... so this is where Shatner got his dramatic moves from.
Barbara is a lot more with it than everyone else, there's a lot more logic in her, and outside the box thinking.
"Barbara could be right." No shit Sherlock!
A power cut on the set worked with excellent effect there. Dramatic realisation moment coming!
This early on in the series and he works out the TARDIS is trying to tell him things... you think he'd have developed a better way to communicate with her by now.
And that ladies and gentlemen is why you should always properly maintain your vehicle at all times.
Let's all have a jolly good laugh at everything to make it all better. But, at least the Doctor did acknowledge that Barbara was the reason they all survived.
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Well... that was... not good. I can almost see what they were trying to do, but I can't help but think that the chaotic nature, and serial killer Susan, pushed it out from the mark.
There's no logic from any of the characters, apart from Barbara later on. You're in a world of (my brain instantly goes to "pure imagination") wild and fantastical things, but the Doctor automatically goes to suspicion and rage. I can't help but think there would have been somewhere else for him to go before that.
I'm also not a fan of his apology to Barbara, yes it's nice of him to do that, but you've just basically told her and Ian that you were going to essentially sentence them to death wherever you happened to be... I can't see her actually forgiving him that easily. What do I know though, as at the end of the episode we're back to gallivanting, everything forgiven.
Quite a few extras on this DVD, and the documentary bits are very interesting. I've already got myself a "further reading" list to keep me occupied.
Next up is Marco Polo, which all the hardcore Whovians will be able to tell you is a lost episode. I'm going to resist watching the short version on this DVD, I've got a reconstruction to see... it's going to be an interesting challenge.
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