The Edge of Destruction
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DVD NTSC
Region 1
"The Beginning"
3-story box set
for North America
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DVD PAL
Region 2
"The Beginning"
3-story box set
for the U.K.
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VHS Video
NTSC
PAL
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(Doctor Who Story No. 3, starring William Hartnell)
- written by David Whitaker
- directed by Richard Martin (episode 1) and Frank Cox (episode 2)
- produced by Verity Lambert
- featuring library music tracks
- 2 episodes @ 25 minutes each:
- The Edge of Destruction
- The Brink of Disaster
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Story: Attempting to return
to Earth's Solar System, the TARDIS crashes
to a dead stop in space, the controls
refusing to respond. Some of the crew
begin to act strange, and distrust one another.
Has one of them become a saboteur, as the Doctor
suspects? Or has an alien presence found its
way aboard the TARDIS?
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DVD Extras include:
- "Over the Edge" - a 30 minute making-of featurette
with interviews of the cast & crew
- Inside the Ship - featurette on the set & sound design of the TARDIS
- Origins - a 53 minute in-depth look at the creation of Doctor Who
with interviews of the late Sydney Newman
and new interviews of the cast & crew.
- Masters of Sound - featurette on the creation of the theme music
and sound effects for Doctor Who, with Delia Berbyshire,
Brian Hodgson, and Dick Mills.
- Episode 2 optional Arabic soundtrack
- Pop-up Production Note subtitles, providing behind-the-scenes info as you watch.
- Marco Polo - a 30 minute condensed version of this
lost 7-episode adventure, featuring telesnap stills
synchronized to the original tv audio.
- Photo Gallery for "The Edge of Destruction" and "Marco Polo".
Buyers' Guide Review
by Martin Izsak
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(A more in-depth analysis, containing "SPOILERS" and intended
for those who have already seen the program, can be accessed
here.)
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Doctor Who continues its success with a short "bottle story"
designed to focus on its central characters and their development
into a working team. While this story isn't quite as polished
or interesting as the previous two, it
remains unique and has a lot of good things to offer,
not least of which is the completion of "The Beginning" arc
for the four humanoid characters, and a rare exploration of the
character of the TARDIS vehicle itself.
Episode One - The Edge of Destruction - directed by Richard Martin
This story gets off to a very shaky start, as
David Whitaker's writing of
incoherent characters does not make very good television
viewing.
The director and the cast of companions do very little to
make the early scenes bearable either.
Finally, the Doctor wakes up, and William
Hartnell's screen presence quickly restores drama to the
proceedings. Now there is plot, intrigue, and realistic
emotional expression. Susan makes a comeback with some very
memorable moments in her performance, (finally some nice
direction with moving camera angles here!!) although
this quickly decays into hamminess, relying on the perfect
music to carry the scene further. (The SPOILERS required to
identify these exact moments can be read in the
In-depth Analysis version
of this review.)
Barbara also has the chance to give the Doctor the sharp
end of her tongue, a great dramatic moment that is enjoyable
to watch.
This two-part story was supposedly meant to re-introduce
viewers who may have missed the pilot to the main characters
and the TARDIS and to expand and develop them, and dig deeper
into who they are. It was poised to do so perfectly, and managed
it somewhat - The TARDIS (a fifth character) comes out of this
story with the best development, and the Doctor and Barbara
are close seconds. But all this ridiculous concussed behaviour
business really should have been under much tighter control,
because it is ugly to watch, and only shows us who our characters
are NOT.
This story is famous for being the first to really
explore the interior of the TARDIS, but it is interesting to
note that nearly ALL of the deep interior scenes beyond the
console room appear in this first episode of the story,
particularly the rooms with the strange bucket-seat beds.
Episode Two - The Brink of Disaster - directed by Frank Cox
Someone once asked what the longest scene in Doctor Who was,
and the erroneous reply was the first scene in the TARDIS
interior in
"An Unearthly Child" (story no. 1).
Well, sorry, no, I disagree.
After the reprise from the previous episode,
what follows is most DEFINITELY the longest
scene ever in Doctor Who. Recording for "THE BRINK OF DISASTER"
begins in the console room and stays there for a full 18 and
a half minutes, right past the dramatic climax of the
story. This is almost the full 25 min. episode, so I dare
any fan to show me a longer uncut scene of
original Doctor Who!
(Yes, I know,
"Midnight" (story no. 201)
has recently set a new record in the 45-minute episode format,
but that episode still has much to learn from the achievement
here.)
I have to hand it to director Frank Cox, and the cast of
Doctor Who (William Hartnell in particular) for being able to
pull this off without it seeming to become long, or boring,
or claustrophobic, or anything other than good riveting drama
all the way through. There are only a few minor glitches
in the production - chiefly making Ian seem less than credible
or inspiring.
The Doctor is largely responsible for solving the mystery
and employing the solution. This is the best example
of a heroic Doctor that the series has come up with so far.
Nice one David Whitaker!
Thus, Doctor Who's third story turns out to be a successful and
enjoyable little coda to the previous two classics that launched the
show, and the series can now continue with a better bonded team
leading us through the adventures. The best gem of season one,
however, is still yet to come....
This story has become available on DVD as the third adventure in
"The Beginning" DVD box set.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you
for pricing and availability:
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DVD NTSC Region 1
The Beginning 3-story box set
for the North American market:
in the U.S.
in Canada
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DVD PAL Region 2
The Beginning 3-story box set
for the U.K.
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VHS Video
NTSC
for North America
PAL
for the U.K.
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