A.K.A.  Ladies Wear Snuggies. Today's two-parter was a complete story in one day, and a bottle episode to boot. But before I get to that -- I made lots of tweaks to the site last night. Thanks to some helpful comments by reader Michael Montoure, I corrected some issues with the Comments feature. Now the commenter name shows up correctly, and the links to comments work correctly as well (previously they were badly broken.) I also replaced the large banner image with another version that is 1/4 the file size, which helps the site load much faster. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions I am all ears.

Anyway, getting back to The Threshold of Eradication....

The Edge of Destruction / The Brink of Disaster

At the end of the previous episode, some calamity caused the TARDIS to shudder violently, throwing the Doctor, Ian, and Susan to the ground. Barbara was off in the next room, changing out of her Thalian pants and probably still thinking inappropriate thoughts about the man that gave them to her.

Seriously, you go, girl!

The bulk of the story consists of everyone suffering from temporary memory loss, mood swings, and extreme paranoia. Meanwhile the TARDIS reports no system faults and yet keeps sounding alarms, electrocuting anyone who touches the console in the wrong place, and just generally being ominous. At one point the Doctor sanctimoniously blames Ian and Barbara for everything, and Barbara gives him a royal talking-to. You want to talk about The Oncoming Storm? I'm just sayin', don't get on that woman's bad side because she will pummel you with a truly righteous fury like no other. Frankly, the Doctor deserves it. This is a very early example of why the Doctor should never be trusted to travel without companions, particularly companions who will not hesitate to call him on his B.S.

Get stuffed, Doctor!

Over the course of the episode, both Barbara and Susan totally change into Snuggies before going to their respective rooms to take a nap. Ian, being a proper gentleman, abandons his tragically-damaged Nehru jacket and changes into a proper English robe before bedtime because he wouldn't be caught dead in a Snuggie. The Doctor, of course, never sleeps but rather ponders the imminent unfolding disaster.

Ultimately, it turns out that a button on the console has been jammed down without releasing properly, causing the TARDIS to hurtle back to the very beginning of time. With no actual mechanical faults to report, Sexy isn't going to let her thief die so easily. The TARDIS finds a way to communicate the issue, which Barbara successfully parses well enough for the Doctor to find and unstick the recalcitrant button.

In the end the Doctor finally does apologize to Barbara, but manages to do it in a backhanded way that suggests that it was his dickishness that spurred Barbara into interpreting the signs that led to their rescue, so he's not going to come out and say it but really, isn't he the hero here?

Barbara graciously accepts his apology, while no doubt planning to shank the arrogant bastard the first chance she gets. Because Barbara rocks, and she is my new hero.

Tomorrow: I'm so excited, I'll be watching my first reconstruction - Marco Polo!

STATS:

Doctor(s): First
Companion(s): Ian Chesterton, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright
Episode(s): The Edge of Destruction, The Brink of Disaster
Obvious Pratfalls: 1
Steps Walked: 6,493 today, 47,512 total
Distance Walked: 2.84 miles today, 20.64 miles total
Weight: 305.22 lbs (five day moving average), net change -2.08 lbs