 With no overall title being used in the original scripts this story was commonly called "Inside The Spaceship" during its production. Another alternative name was also "Beyond the Sun". However, since the Seventies various reference works and even the BBC named this story as "The Edge of Destruction" in the VHS and DVD releases. This has obviously caused a lot of confusion and controversy. The BBC are still naming this story as "The Edge of Destruction" as this is what this story is most commonly known as.
The first and only story to take place completely within the TARDIS and the only one without anyone but the regular cast.
This story was written as filler material when other planned scripts fell through.
In this story we learn that the TARDIS's power source is held beneath the central column. The TARDIS has an inbuilt memory of previous locations, and the console features a fast return switch (the malfunctioning of which causes the crisis). Also The Doctor shows astonishment at the suggestion that the TARDIS might actually be alive.
The Fast Return switch label on the TARDIS console appears to be written in felt-tip pen. Exactly why this was done is uncertain it was probably never intended to be seen. This switch is used again in the Eighth Doctor Big Finish Productions audio stories "Seasons of Fear" and "Neverland".
This story introduces the ideas that the TARDIS console and time column directly harness the energies which drive the ship, and that the TARDIS is "alive" and somewhat self-aware. These ideas would come up again on occasion as the show progressed, but would become major plot points when the show was revived in 2005, especially in the Ninth Doctor stories "Boom Town" and "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways".
When Ian examines the injured Doctor, he is heard to remark that his heart seems fine. However, in the Third Doctor story "Spearhead From Space" it is revealed that The Doctor has two hearts. A possible explanation for this can be found in "The Mind of Evil", "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Shakespeare Code", in all of which, one of The Doctor's hearts stops due to severe trauma.
This story explicitly states that The Doctor and Susan had visited other worlds before 1963 Earth. Susan mentions that four or five journeys back they had visited the planet Quinnis where the TARDIS had almost been lost.
The Chesterfield running-gag started in the previous story, "The Daleks", is used in this episode to signify that everything has returned to normal after the climax. Here The Doctor is heard to call Ian Charterhouse.
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The Firsts:
The first (and only) story to contain just the regular cast.
The first story to be set entirely inside the TARDIS.
The first time we learn that the TARDIS can revisit previous locations by the use of a Fast Return switch.
The first time we learn that the power behind the TARDIS is under the cental column.
The first Doctor Who story to be watched by more than 10 million viewers.
The first Doctor Who story to be written by David Whitaker.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Richard Martin and Frank Cox.
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(Position = 114 out of 159)
(Position = 158 out of 200)
(Position = 183 out of 241)
