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| The Brigade Leader: The Brigadier in a fascist alternate timeline! |
7 episodes. Written by: Don Houghton. Directed by: Douglas Camfield, Barry Letts (uncredited). Directed by: Barry Letts.
THE PLOT
The "Inferno" is the name given to an ambitious drilling project overseen by Professor Stahlman (Olaf Pooley). He believes that piercing the Earth's core will release a gas that will provide a tremendous new energy source, and he is very close now to proving his theory. All is not well, however. Stahlman is over-anxious to complete the drilling quickly, disregarding safety and ignoring dissenting voices. This has put him at odds with Sir Keith Gold (Christopher Benjamin), the executive director whose calls for caution have led the professor to regard him as an enemy.
As drilling nears completion, a green liquid begins to emerge from the #2 drill - a substance which, when touched, transforms men into Primords, murderous savages. The Doctor should be on hand to find answers to these transformations. But an attempt to repair his TARDIS console has carried him sideways in time - to an alternate dimension where the UK is a fascist government, with fascist versions of all of the Doctor's associates. In this parallel dimension, the drilling is more advanced, with the problems leading the Doctor to a horrifying yet inescapable conclusion: If Stahlman's project is not stopped, it will mean the end of the world!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: None of the Doctors exactly suffers fools gladly, but this is particularly true of the Third Doctor. He needles and belittles Stahlman from literally their first seconds on screen together. It is not a particularly constructive approach, as it makes it all the easier for the pig-headed Stahlman to dismiss him as a crank. It's actually rather refreshing, in that the Doctor's own faults act against him.
Pertwee continues to bring a refreshing intensity to his performance, commanding the viewer's attention at every turn. When he shouts that the Earth is "screaming out its rage," his delivery really sells it, making a line that could have been laughably melodramatic into something chilling. More than any other actor to play the role, he dominates the screen. Future seasons would only rarely see the same level of intensity from him; still, in his first run of stories, he has been consistently outstanding.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: In many ways, the Brigadier and the alternate-universe Brigade Leader are not far apart. Note the scene in Episode One in which the Doctor mocks the Brigadier's appearance in an old troop photo. The Brigadier (barely) tolerates the Doctor's good-natured mockery - but when Benton smiles along with him, the Brigadier wipes that smile instantly away by fixing him with a vicious glare. The harsher tendencies of the Brigade Leader are there... but kept in check by a basically good man, in a system where military authority has its limits.
They are not the same man, however. We have already seen how the Brigadier reacts when faced with his own death. When he was caught unarmed, at the mercy of an enemy he had every reason to believe would shoot him, he responded with discipline and courage. The Brigade Leader reacts to the prospect of his own death with savagery and cowardice. Courtney is quite strong in both personas, but he clearly relishes the villainous turn he's allowed to give in the middle episodes.
Liz Shaw: Has become a real friend to the Doctor, and she feels concern when he disappears. When the Brigadier dismisses her worries by stating that he can take care of himself, she replies with a curt, "He's not indestructible, you know." The Doctor has shown enough of himself to her that she realizes that he is a great deal more vulnerable than he lets on. We also see how much faith he places in her judgment, notably in his interactions with her parallel counterpart. He dismisses the Brigade Leader as an oaf almost instantly. However, he never stops trying to reason with Section Leader Shaw, and eventually succeeds in convincing her of the truth of his story. Their relationship has been well-played all season, and it remains so here. When the Doctor says, "I'll miss you, Liz," to her at the end, I could not help echoing the sentiment.
THE LAST 7-PART STORY
Inferno is the series' final 7-parter. It's easy enough to see why the 7-part format was abandoned. Outside of Seasons One and Seven, it was never a common format, and both script editor Terrance Dicks and producer Barry Letts were vocal in their dislike of it. I also suspect that Inferno's low ratings were partially due to audience fatigue after back-to-back 7-parters. The stories were good - but that many long stories in a row, particularly screened at a pace of one episode per week, just became tiring for the viewers.
Still, the format has its advantages. One of these is obvious simply from reciting the titles of the series' 7-parters: The Daleks, Marco Polo, The Evil of the Daleks, Dr. Who & the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno. What do all of these wildly different stories have in common? They are all quite good!
I think one of Dicks' chief complaints about the format points to a potential virtue. Dicks has commented that with a 7-parter, there is a constant need to keep the story alive to maintain interest over such a long period. This makes the job of the writer and script editor more difficult, but the resulting stories are much sharper for it. The series' 7-parters rarely feel as padded as some of the 6-parters have, and I suspect much of that is because the writers knew that they couldn't get away with just stretching the story to fill the extra time.
Don't get me wrong: The 7-parter should never have been a dominant length, and three in one season was genuinely too many. But I think there should have been a place for the occasional 7-parter in later Who seasons, and their curtailment may have been more of a loss than a gain for the series.
THOUGHTS
It's an even question as to whether this or Dr. Who & the Silurians is the season's best story. I can see either argument. Silurians had a noticeable lull in its middle episodes, getting bogged down during the transition between set up and its climax. Inferno is much snappier in its pacing, retaining intensity throughout. Still, Silurians just pips it for me by being more substantial. Inferno is more immediately gripping while watching, but Silurians sticks more in my mind. Both are outstanding - among the very best serials in Doctor Who's enormously long history.
This is another superbly structured serial, a strength of the entire season. Everything within the story is established in the first episode. The parallel universe subplot? The Doctor makes his test run in Episode 1, running into that intriguing barrier that makes him determined to try again. Sir Keith preparing a complaint to the Ministry about Stahlman's instability? Well, we see Stahlman's obsessive stubbornness right at the start, along with his antagonistic attitude toward Sir Keith. The Primords provide the first cliffhanger. Even the harsh characterization of the Brigade Leader is given some groundwork in the "real" Brigadier, when he gives Benton that glare for laughing along with the Doctor at his expense.
I could pick a few nits if I wanted to. There's a continuity gaffe between Episodes Five and Seven: In Part Five, Sir Keith has persuaded the Minister to suspend drilling pending an inquiry. In Part Seven, he suddenly doesn't have the authority to stop the drilling. Um, oops? Also, the Primords do look a bit silly. Not bad by regular Who standards, but tacky by Season Seven standards.
Still, these issues aren't enough to make me lower my score. As with the rest of the season, Inferno is not only excellent Doctor Who - It's flat-out excellent television.
Rating: 10/10.
Previous Story: The Ambassadors of Death
Next Story: Terror of the Autons
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