Story: The Edge of Destruction
Written By: David Whitaker
Length: 2 Episodes
Year: 1964
Now we get to really meet our characters. Sure, they were all introduced in An Unearthly Child, and we've gotten to know them a bit for the last 11 episodes, but this is the first time we aren't watching them being chased and caught up in anything but themselves.
The Doctor causes a small explosion when he tries to fix the navigational controls of the TARDIS, and everyone gets knocked out. When they awake, they start to act strangely...and suspicious of each other. The suspicions grow to the point of the Doctor threatening to kill Ian and Barbara. This is heavy stuff, and for a cheap, two-part bottle episode...its pretty heavy and dramatic. All in a good way.
Of these early episodes, which all end on a cliffhanger up until the next story "Marco Polo", "Edge of Destruction" is my favorite. Its simple, and because its limited to 2 episodes, it gets everything esolved rather quickly, without a lot of lingering around. The Doctor is fierce and scary...but by the end of the episode realizes he has been wrong (since the start of the series really) in judging Ian and Barbara to harshly. He learns a lesson which changes his gruff and grumpy old man into a more caring grandfatherly old man. He is still tough as nails, but he has more heart...and thats the First Doctor I truly love.
I don't know if this story is a classic, but it does its job fairly well, and I feel its rather smart and dramatic for a story that was made very cheaply.
NEXT TIME: The first of the lost.
Written By: David Whitaker
Length: 2 Episodes
Year: 1964
Now we get to really meet our characters. Sure, they were all introduced in An Unearthly Child, and we've gotten to know them a bit for the last 11 episodes, but this is the first time we aren't watching them being chased and caught up in anything but themselves.
The Doctor causes a small explosion when he tries to fix the navigational controls of the TARDIS, and everyone gets knocked out. When they awake, they start to act strangely...and suspicious of each other. The suspicions grow to the point of the Doctor threatening to kill Ian and Barbara. This is heavy stuff, and for a cheap, two-part bottle episode...its pretty heavy and dramatic. All in a good way.
I don't know if this story is a classic, but it does its job fairly well, and I feel its rather smart and dramatic for a story that was made very cheaply.
NEXT TIME: The first of the lost.
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