Inferno

Finally an amazing stand out of the 3rd doctors era on tv Liz and the doctor are bloody brilliant in this I love every moment of them and parallel Liz is also a treat

After only four stories we have reached the end of The Third Doctor's first series - it continues to be a delight.

Inferno could have very easily been overly similar to The Ambassadors of Death, and indeed it began that way. If one criticism can be put towards Pertwee's first season, it is that they spend too much time inside corporate headquarters talking to business leaders / heads of projects. The key differentiating feature of Inferno is of course the parallel universe feature revealed at the beginning of Part Three which changes everything.

Variety is the essential nature of Doctor Who. What has worked with the back to basics approach to season seven is its stark contrast to what went before. However, in this story the audience is offered here is a journey into another dimension - a long awaited TARDIS trip which throws everything into the air. Once again, the change feels good, seeing the new Doctor in other worldly surroundings (even if they are parallel!) is an exciting novelty.

The regular cast appearing as evil versions of themselves is a brilliant concept. Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart is running an alternate version of UNIT and expects answers from suddenly present Doctor. Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw is perhaps 10% more fierce than the character we are familiar with (joking).

The creatures in this story are spread by infection and rather than the familiar foam of Troughton's time, this is spread by a green goo. The infection idea is another very distinct concept for a monster, something this season has excelled at. In terms of the monsters themselves its half and half. As the initial stages of the Primord infection begin to take hold, they look brilliant, uncanny and dangerous. However, when the Primords go 'full werewolf' they look a little more dodgy (I was longing for a return of those Silurian masks). The consistent use of conveniently placed fire extinguishers to deter them is also tiring, but this is the plague of having to fill a seven part story. Shout out to plagued Benton though!

Once The Doctor has convinced the alternate versions of the various characters that they are doomed he somehow gets them to stop thinking about their impending death and begin preserving this newly introduced 'other version' of their universe. It is interesting to see The Doctor vacate a version of events in which everyone present is destroyed. Nicholas Courtney is wonderful as the cowardly Brigade Leader here, he is relishing this opportunity.

One of the preferable things about our version of events is the wonderful character of Sir Keith Gold who unlike his parallel self has survived. Its rare to get a bit part in Doctor Who which stands out like that. He of course helps The Doctor save his version of events.

The Doctor unsuccessfully attempts to leave in his TARDIS, so we are still on Earth for a while yet. Inferno has given me a taste for what is to come. I want more of Pertwee is space.

I'm still not sure what to make of Liz Shaw. I love the actor, but I feel like the character has been positioned somewhere in between Benton and the Brigadier. She is more of a UNIT member than a companion, which is odd. I don't feel like I have ever properly felt that spark between her and The Doctor, which is a shame as there are so many intriguing aspects to her performance. She is certainly not bland and we have had much worse! This feeling of liking but not loving makes this a difficult final outing. I feel like I want to see more, I want to see her character develop.

Inferno might have suffered from its reputation for me a bit. It comes highly recommended, widely considered one of the best Third Doctor stories of the original show run (if not the best Third Doctor story like this). Even before I had ever even heard of Time Scales, or checked out the Third Doctor's era for myself, I had heard of Inferno and how good it was. So I came into it with pretty high expectations, and enough rough knowledge of the story to be pretty excited about it.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is my personal favourite when it comes to the Third Doctor. There are quite a few serials out there I quite enjoyed more and felt were more tightly produced than Inferno, which is a little bloated at seven parts. For example, in Part 1, we get a pretty solid set-up of everything, get a sense of the stakes, our main characters, and the central drama unfolding. Then, Part 2 pretty much reiterates the whole thing again.

Inferno gets a little repetitive around these things and I can't tell you how sick I got of watching the Doctor wrassle with a Primord in the same outdoor industrial set. It's very tiring, but also important to remember that this story is doing a lot of novel things, is assuming you are watching it week-to-week, and is extremely ahead of its time in terms of ideas like alternate universes and travelling between them

That stuff with the alternate Earth is fantastic and by far the most memorable aspect of Inferno. Watching it all go so wrong on another world does wonders for the sense of urgency in the Doctor's actions. It's also really fun seeing everyone much more militaristic and fashy. The Brigadier is great and Nicholas Courtney is clearly having a blast with this part. Liz Shaw on the other hand, once again not only feels wasted but is a lot more awkward around this material. I also found some of the scientists a little underwhelming, and Petra's actor was a little awkward with the dual roles as well, at least in my opinion.

Still, there is some very interesting underlying politics that makes Inferno quite compelling. Doctor Who has always explored these ideas of fascism throughout its history and as early as the first appearance of the Daleks. To see it all so clearly expressed in something like Inferno makes it feel very essential to this era and the general history of the franchise.

I also was not a fan of some of the special effects. With bad green screen, goofy camera effects to indicate switching dimensions, and silly looking make-up in our monsters, I just really got taken out of this story time and time again. This was especially true with the big ending and monster transformation.

Still, in spite of my criticisms, I am really only defending a relatively low score. It should speak very highly of Inferno that I'm rating it fairly well and feel like this is a scathing criticism. It's not. I just found it a more flawed and average story than I would have expected. I certainly have found stuff like Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons, and The Sea Devils more fun, but they are also less thoughtful than Inferno. This serial definitely had cool ideas and I absolutely would recommend it. In spite of its limitations it is a great expression of the Third Doctor era in a lot of ways, and the general politics of Doctor Who.