Day 138 — May 18th 2021
Inferno Episodes One and Two
Inferno — Episode One
There’s a rather lovely sequence in this one where Doctor Who tells Liz exactly how he feels about being exiled to one time and place;
Liz: ‘Doctor, you’re not still thinking of making a run with the Tardis console, are you?’
Doctor Who: ‘Indeed I am. That’s why we came here.’
Liz: ‘Now be sensible. It’s too dangerous.’
Doctor Who: ‘Look, Liz. Look, without the Tardis I feel rather lost. A stranger in a foreign land. A shipwrecked mariner.’
It feels rather special to hear the character being so genuine about his own feelings — they’re not an area the series touches on very frequently. This also feels far more genuine than his attempt to escape in Spearhead From Space. You get a sense here that he really trusts Liz and is appealing to her by opening up a little. It’s another side being introduced to this incarnation, and it certainly doesn’t help for him to have some of his bravado let down a little.
This episode is very good all round for Pertwee; he gets the lovely speech I’ve already quoted, and some brilliant material playing around with the Brigadier, laughing at an old picture of his friend (‘ I can see why you grew that moustache,’ he says, much to the amusement of Benton).
But he also gets to showcase his usual pomposity. It’s a sign of Don Houghton’s skill as a writer that even in these moments you’re always on his side. I’m particularly fond of him over-hearing a complaint about him from Professor Stahlman and turning it back on the man;
Stahlman: ‘All those so-called experts. It’s a waste of valuable time and money.’
Doctor Who: ‘Give that more lateral compensation, old chap, or you’ll blow the main condenser banks. Cost thousands to put that right. Waste of valuable time and money. Hmm?’
When I said last week that the Third Doctor Who was my least favourite for a long time, it was his pomposity I always seemed to recall. He gives off an air of feeling better than those around him, and not in an enjoyable way. But watching his stories so far, that streak hasn’t been as prevalent in the character as I recalled.
He even gets to be involved in some brilliantly trippy material when the TARDIS control unit is sent off to… well, to wherever it’s gone. It feels like ages since we had Douglas Camfield on the series, but it’s very nice to welcome him back here for this story. I’m surprised I couldn’t remember this trippy sequence, which is like the best bits of The Mind Robber and the Kroton’s torture combined. I imagine it would have stuck in the memory of any children watching at the time.
I think it’s fair to say that this is probably the best episode we’ve had so far for both Pertwee himself and his incarnation of the lead character.
On the other hand, I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Caroline John watching this one. Across the whole series it feels like she’s often sidelined and given very little to do, and this might be the ultimate example. She doesn’t show up in this episode until around 16 minutes in, and once she does her entire purpose is to pull a couple of levers and look concerned when Doctor Who disappears. I know full well that they’ll be giving John plenty more action as this story unfolds, but you get the sense that the show just isn’t all that interested in Liz as a companion. She’s certainly given far fewer opportunities to shine than pretty much anyone else so far.
I’m hoping that as Inferno plays out, she’ll at least get to go out of the series on a high. This story is always very well thought of among fans (we’ve not looked at the 2014 Doctor Who Magazine poll results for a while, but this one charted at number 18, the highest Pertwee adventure on the list) and on the basis of this opening episode it looks like we’re in for something a bit special.
The episode opens with the same rather leisurely pace that has characterised the stories of Season Seven, but by the end I think we’ve been treated to perhaps the most action-packed episode of the series. It’s to the episode’s credit that even fairly lengthy scenes of characters being told how the drilling operation works are still interesting, when they risk being more than a bit dull.
I’ve a fair bit more I could go into here — from the guest cast to the setting to the studio sets — but I’m going to hold fire for now and see how the story develops. The danger with these long seven-part stories is that I spend Episode One praising everything up front and then run out of things to say by the end of the story!
A 9/10 for this opener.
Inferno — Episode Two
I reckon that every Doctor Who has one ‘perfect’ shot during their era. A frame in an episode where everything — framing, lighting, expression — all comes together to create a powerful shot that stands out as especially good. I think Hartnell’s was probably during his standoff in The War Machines, though I can’t think of one for Troughton off the top of my head.
We’ve an early contender for Pertwee’s ‘perfect’ shot in this episode, though. It comes early on when he’s confronting Slocum in the power plant. Everything about this shot just gels, and it makes Pertwee look better than ever before as Doctor Who.
Indeed, I think Inferno might be the best he ever looks in the part. His hair has reached the perfect length, he’s still wearing my favourite version of his costume… yeah, it works. I’ve a line up of the Old Testament Doctor Whos on a shelf in the hallway, in the form of Eaglemoss figures, and it’s the one based on this story that I’ve gone with for Pertwee because it just looks right.
I’m afraid that in discussing the rest of the episode I’m largely going to be repeating myself from Episode One, because this is another great episode for Pertwee’s Doctor Who. It feels like Don Houghton has really cracked how to write for this incarnation, and I’m loving that. I particularly enjoyed his very mild confrontation with Stahlman;
Doctor Who: ‘Isn’t anybody going to pay any attention to that computer out there?’
Stahlman: ‘That computer is over-sensitive. Its data is unreliable.’
Doctor Who: ‘You talk about the thing as though it was your maiden Aunt.’
Stahlman: ‘My own calculations are more specific.’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, well I’ll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you, Professor.’
Stahlman: ‘Well, what?’
Doctor Who: ‘That you, sir, are a nitwit!’
It goes on from there, of course, and the on screen chemistry between Pertwee and guest star Olaf Pooley is electric. In many ways this is the same old ‘Base Under Siege’ formula that we saw so much of in the Troughton era, but the difference of incarnation gives everything an injection of energy. Troughton’s Doctor Who would get frustrated with the obstructive and paranoid figures in charge of these institutions, while you genuinely feel as though the Third Doctor Who and Stahlman might start knocking lumps off each other.
And indeed we come close… I wondered yesterday if Inferno would introduce anything anything that would go on to be a recurring element in this era and it does — we get our first look at Venusian Akido (although here it’s described just as Venusian Karate). I’ll confess that I’ve always thought of it as a bit silly, but in context here I totally buy it. The idea fits this incarnation so well — especially as he’s presented in this story — and you honestly wonder if he’d have kept it up had the Brigadier not intervened.
There’s another introduction to the era in this episode, and it’s one I’m a little sad about. Most UNIT personnel in this one have switched over to more standard military uniforms. They’re not quite the costumes we’ll have in the rest of the era, but it’s certainly a sign of things to come. Only the Brigadier here retains the lovely costume designed by Bobi Bartlett for The Invasion, which I’ve always really liked.
The tone of the programme will be changing from the next story, when Barry Letts’ ideas properly start to supersede ones put in motion by Derrick Sherwin, and losing these costumes feels like another element that helps set Season Seven apart as distinct from the rest of the era.
From the basis of these two opening episodes, I can certainly see why Inferno has such a stellar reputation. I’m going with another 9/10 here.
There’s one last thing I want to touch on today, and that’s the Sonic Screwdriver. Or, rather, the lack of it.
I’m not sure if there’s a consensus on whether or not Doctor Who has his Sonic in this story. He certainly has a Sonic-like device in these opening two episodes, but he doesn’t describe it as such in Episode One;
Soldier: ‘Yes. Still, you should be safe in there. I’m sure this Harry Slocum character won’t have one of your funny gadgets.’
Doctor Who: ‘Funny gadgets? It’s only a door handle.’
We know the Third Doctor Who certainly has a Sonic Screwdriver by this point — it’s mentioned in Doctor Who and the Silurians — but do we think this is the Sonic?
There’s also a bit of a continuity error with the prop in this episode, too. When Liz is duped into leaving Doctor Who alone so he can make his escape she has to wait for him to open the door with him possibly-a-Screwdriver. But a couple of scenes later, on her return to the hanger, Liz has her own device.
