At a time when DOCTOR WHO, on television, had spiralled into a ludicrous light entertainment parody of itself with a production value of Saturday morning children’s programme and, personally, had disappeared off my radar (post-University days) to be replaced by a career (and all the trappings), the need to read, let alone buy, a TARGET novelisation paperback was all but forgotten.
With hindsight, Nigel Robinson’s 1988 revisit of the 1964 David Whitaker’s two-parter, DOCTOR WHO – THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION is a remarkable piece, and not only sends me scurrying to eBay to “bid” for the book but to blow the dust from the recently (2006) released DVD edition.
With the third incarnation of the story released by AUDIO GO (the home of BBC audio) the story is more than ever one that takes you be the scruff of the neck, dragging you into a once seemingly safe & secure environment of the TARDIS in order to scare, to chill, to threaten and to lose yourself in over three and half hours of adult-themed paranoia.
In the company of DOCTOR WHO companion, William Russell (played Ian Chesterton from November 1963 to June 1965), delivers a characteristically superfluous reading of Robinson’s diligent novel.
Russell’s reading is, unlike many of the NEW SERIES audio novelisations & exclusive releases, deftly unhurried (and unforced) and this is in part due to the actor’s considerable dramatic acting career. NEW SERIES actors take note!
Like a dragon fly wheeling, darting and skimming across a summer sun heated pond, Russell delivers a mesmerising performance that carries such momentum that you instinctively accept you are there, in the dysfunctional time-ship, solving the mystery alongside the characters.
Having listening to all the previous unabridged CLASSIC SERIES novelisations, I can confidently say that I haven’t been so personally involved within a story than I have with this one. Inexorably, it creeps beneath your skin, unnervingly forces you to occasionally scan your peripheral vision (that corner of your eye you think you’ve seen something move across) just in case. In case of what? Imagination.
It is perhaps the limited or isolated setting of DOCTOR WHO – THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION that is key to its success in transferring to audio. The TARDIS’s unnerving disorientation, its seeming ability to “think”, to “grow” and to “act” independently of its “Pilot” operator (though working on its behalf) is a concept that, to date, has not been further explored to such an extent in the television series (though the concept of a TARDIS “regenerating” – THE ELEVENTH HOUR – and having a “heart” – THE PARTING OF THE WAYS has been touched upon).
Whitaker’s original psychological drama (originally titled INSIDE THE SPACESHIP, The first broadcast episode of the two-parter was titled THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION) is perfect for the audio medium, stripping away the tawdry visual limitations of a 1960s television studio to leave a purity of storytelling and performance that is suitably enhanced by excellent sound effects and an unobtrusive music score (by Meon Productions).
Interestingly, there are three previously released unabridged novelisations read by Russell that AUDIO GO could/should consider, like BBC DVD, “revisit” for updating and re-release. In 2005, published as a limited edition boxset under the over-arching title of DOCTOR WHO – TRAVELS IN SPACE, his readings of THE DALEKS, THE ZARBI and THE CRUSADERS could re-issued for a new audience of fans to relish. Right, I’ll start a FACEBOOK campaign page!
The rating for this release speaks for itself. 10/10.
DOCTOR WHO – THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION is a remarkable and defining novelisation reading that deserves your undivided attention, rewarding you, with thanks to William Russell, with a memorable adventure that takes not only the TARDIS crew but also yourself to look over the precipice of self preservation and neurosis only to discover that by merely removing life’s smallest obstruction can make a monumental difference.
“It all started in a junk yard, who could say where it would end.”
