Old Who: Inferno
Aug. 13th, 2008 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSo, remember when I visited the Doctor Who exibition and there was a DVD of Inferno, signed by Nicholas Courtney, which I just had to buy? Among other things, it reminded me that while I had seen Inferno before - in fact due to the weird order in which I saw Third Doctor stories, I saw it early on, after first watching season 10, and that was a odd jump, let me tell you - I hadn't properly reviewed it. This must be remedied.
According to a recent poll, Inferno is a lot of people's favourite Third Doctor story. It definitely isn't mine - too many other candidates from later seasons, plus if I had to pick a season 7 favourite, Spearheards from Space would be it, followed by Silurians - but I can see why, as this conclusion of the seventh season, Jon Pertwee's first as the Third Doctor, is certainly one ambitious tale and has a lot of great elements to recommend it. Starting with Barry Letts trumpeting the environment cause years before this was fashionable, as he was going to do again and again, most blatantly in The Green Death, bless. Though it's interesting that here we don't actually have the greedy capitalists/ higher up officials as the cause of potential and in one case actual doom, though it's implied this is why Dr. Stahlman has goverment funding, but the only civil servant, Sir Keith, is a decent and reasonable fellow, concerned about everyone's safety. It's Stahlman the egotistic scientist going crazy who is the true villain in two universes. Which is an intriguing choice, given that in the Alt!verse, Alt!Liz Shaw's being a security officer instead of a scientist is clearly meant to be a part of her Alt!character's darkness, and the Doctor-as-scientist is an angle the UNIT stories, including this one, usually play up. I suppose with the Doctor, Liz and Petra as responsible scientists you can have one crazy scientist without falling in the 50s movies cliché where the crazy scientist endangers everyone and then the sensible military has to deal with the alien menace. (Especially given what else happens in this story.)
Of course, what Inferno is most famous for isn't the crazy scientist angle, or indeed the environmental message. It's the fact that mid-story, the Doctor, as is typical for the era, tries to get around his memory blocks and sabotaged TARDIS by trying yet again to fix the TARDIS on his own, uses the power of the nuclear reactor at hand to kick-start it, and ends up in an alternate universe, a parallel world. Which is a very British one. In an American show, it would be populated by alter egos of the regulars in cat suits or black leather who clearly have a lot more sex than their counterparts as part of them being evil. Not so on Doctor Who. Here, scriptwriter Don Haughton went for the Orwell angle instead, both literally (there is a sign saying "UNITY IS STRENGTH" complete with a Big Brother photo in the Alt!Brig's office) - and atmospherically, as fascist Britain is if anything more bureaucratic, plus drained of vitality. The uniforms aren't black, they remain the same, just with different insignia, which I thought was a good decision as it heightens the sense of disturbing familiarity. And while Alt!Brig (i.e. the "Brigade Leader" instead of the Brigadier) has a look which depending on your other fandoms will either remind you of Space Commander Travis or Nick Fury (black eyepatch, scar, no moustache, which is a rare chance to see Nick Courtney without one in Doctor Who), he's very intentionally not glamourized. As opposed to "our" Brig, he turns out to be a coward under pressure and without back up, as is all too often the case with bullies, but when he has both, he's no cackling evil overlord indulging in sadism, either; he is a bureaucrat. (The one torture sequence we get consists of him and Alt!Liz shouting at the Doctor relentlessly under bright lights in a series of face close upswe couldn't be further from torture porn.) Meanwhile, Alt!Liz Shaw, as opposed to Alt!Brig, isn't just ruthless but actually brave under pressure, and I appreciate that her ultimate switch in loyalties comes from not one but several reasons - the Doctor appealing to her inner lost scientist is but one, sure, but there is also the fact she sees the Brigade Leader crumbling and ready to desert everyone else, and her increasing belief there is in fact another Earth they can save by allowing the Doctor to go back. It's arguably Caroline John's best performance in her one Doctor Who season.
The other thing Inferno is famous for is that because it has a parallel world, this is the first time Doctor Who gets to destroy Earth (with some of the footage later reused for the Doctor's worst nightmare in Mind of Evil). This must have been quite revolutionary, as of course generally speaking as often as Earth is in danger, the viewer expects and knows the Doctor and friends will save it in the last minute; Inferno got to have its cake and eat it by showing us the failure to save and the planet's destruction and then the saving once the Doctor is back in "our" universe. The whole sequence still holds up pretty well, with everyone's fear and/or determination and the heat and lava overwhelming. (Is this the first time we get the Doctor/destruction of planet in fire imagery? I think it might be.)
Weaknesses: the primords are pretty obviously just around so Inferno can have some traditional Doctor Who monsters to menace everyone. Mind you, they are a well beloved idea of the show (i.e. humans or at least humanoids devolving into mutated murderous creatures), from Terry Nation in the early 60s to Russell T. Davies with the Toclafane in New Who's third season, but this is one of the lesser examples of that motif, and the cross between Hulks and lion-maned beastie boys are just not frightening. Also, in the last episode of the serial, after the Doctor's return there is an illogical turn of events who simply seems to be there so the suspension can be dragged out some more and the punchline of the tag scene can be set up, i.e. the Brig and Sir Keith, both of whom tried their best to stop Stahlman earlier (and Sir Keith now has the ministerial authority to do so), are suddenly passive and when the Doctor stops the planet-threatening drilling by smashing equipment drag him away. This as I said just doesn't fit with what's been going on earlier. It also leads to the final scene where the Doctor, hoping he can still use the remaining power for the TARDIS console, after an argument with the Brig says he's had enough of him, dematerializes and because of course the TARDIS is still not functional rematerializes in the local waste dump, so to Liz' amusement he has to sort of apologize and be nice to the Brig after the realization he's still stuck on earth. This reminds me of other episodes where the writer goes for a laugh in the end but the scene feels disconnected to what went on earlier and only artificially justified, for example Babylon 5's Sic Transit Vir, where Vir's "what relationship doesn't have its problems?" after Lyndisti kissed him goodbye is utterly inappropriate with the rest of the episode and what's been going on with Vir there, or Blake's 7's The Trial where the exchange between Blake and Avon re: "philosphical flee" at Vila's expense is the only blemish of an otherwise great episode and again doesn't fit at all with the rest of it. In Inferno, I suspect they wanted to wrap up the season with a light-hearted funny scene, which is kind of tricky after what was arguably their darkest episode, and so we get an artificial argument between the Doctor and the Brig artificially resolved. (Not that there aren't great disagreements between the Doctor and the Brig at times, but in this episode, they're actually in agreement all through, which is why the sudden obstructing behaviour by the Brig just so the Doctor can rant in the final scene feels so fake.) Ah, well. At least it means the very last glimpse we get of Liz Shaw is her laughing face.
Speaking of Liz and amusement: in the alt!verse, the Doctor tells alt!Liz that real Liz would know he's not in the habit of lying. As it happens, he's not lying to alt!Liz as to where he's from, but just a measly five to ten minutes earlier he lied to real!Liz exactly in the same way he lied to her in Spearheads of Space, smoothly and without regret; he sends her on a fool's errand to get her out of the way while he tries to make his getaway with the TARDIS. (Note that the Brig, as opposed to Liz, sees through him and expected this both times.) I think it's a pretty consistent trait from One onwards (ask Ian and Barbara about that first time on Skaro), but the Doctor has no problem with lying if it suits him, and not just to villains, either. (Or to officials like Flavia in The Five Doctors and the Shadow Proclamation lady in the mirror scene to that one in The Stolen Planet.) He usually does it when he wants to go somewhere, either leave altogether or see something new and shiny. What's peculiar to Three, though, is that he lays on the charm just before the lies (taking Liz by the shoulders, looking into her eyes and being, well, charming). Or maybe I notice because Three's usual mode with people is arguing. (He also is deliberately charming with Sarah Jane in Invasion of the Dinosaurs when he gives her the "don't leave me, I can show you the stars" speech.) But it's one of those things that are part of the Doctor's characterisation as someone who is as much a trickster as he is a hero.
re: the more usual heroic stuff: Inferno also has Action Man Jon Pertwee in his element, between car chases (btw, it makes absolutely no sense that there is an Alt!Bessie for the Doctor to do car chases in, because Bessie was something the Doctor specifically requested from UNIT and then remodelled and worked on, and the narrative makes sure to tell us there is no Alt!Doctor in the parallel world, but what the hell), Venusian Aikido, which makes its first appearance here, and lots of running, partly across roofs, which the documentary tells me was actually the only time he wasn't so keen on the action element because he had vertigo, but did his own stunts anyway. My own Watsonian explanation for Three's relish in these things is that this is a direct response to what happened to Two, who had to rely on Jamie and Zoe for physical protection and in the end wasn't able to save either himself or them from the Time Lords, and to Three's own sort of caged situation - that need for running, racing, whether by car or on foot, which makes its first appearance here but remained with the Doctor since in most regenerations. If he can't travel through space and time, he can do this.
The documentaries: are very informative, and quite honest about the early 70s sexism that was involved in how Liz Shaw was handled, from the occasion where they wanted her to go in her mniskirt into the caves in The Silurians (Caroline John whose first tv job this was didn't dare to protest, but Jon Pertwee did, bless, and so she ended up wearing a sensible boiler suit like everyone else) to her being dismissed because her character while being able to converse with the Doctor on the level was hence too smart to do the usual companion exposition duty of asking variations of "Doctor, what's that" which are necessary for the audience. Lots of nostalgia otherwise, and no rancour from Caroline John who was pregnant at the time and says she would have had to take leave of absence anyway, but back then it was a blow.
In conclusion: a deserved classic, though not a favourite, and very enjoyable to watch.
According to a recent poll, Inferno is a lot of people's favourite Third Doctor story. It definitely isn't mine - too many other candidates from later seasons, plus if I had to pick a season 7 favourite, Spearheards from Space would be it, followed by Silurians - but I can see why, as this conclusion of the seventh season, Jon Pertwee's first as the Third Doctor, is certainly one ambitious tale and has a lot of great elements to recommend it. Starting with Barry Letts trumpeting the environment cause years before this was fashionable, as he was going to do again and again, most blatantly in The Green Death, bless. Though it's interesting that here we don't actually have the greedy capitalists/ higher up officials as the cause of potential and in one case actual doom, though it's implied this is why Dr. Stahlman has goverment funding, but the only civil servant, Sir Keith, is a decent and reasonable fellow, concerned about everyone's safety. It's Stahlman the egotistic scientist going crazy who is the true villain in two universes. Which is an intriguing choice, given that in the Alt!verse, Alt!Liz Shaw's being a security officer instead of a scientist is clearly meant to be a part of her Alt!character's darkness, and the Doctor-as-scientist is an angle the UNIT stories, including this one, usually play up. I suppose with the Doctor, Liz and Petra as responsible scientists you can have one crazy scientist without falling in the 50s movies cliché where the crazy scientist endangers everyone and then the sensible military has to deal with the alien menace. (Especially given what else happens in this story.)
Of course, what Inferno is most famous for isn't the crazy scientist angle, or indeed the environmental message. It's the fact that mid-story, the Doctor, as is typical for the era, tries to get around his memory blocks and sabotaged TARDIS by trying yet again to fix the TARDIS on his own, uses the power of the nuclear reactor at hand to kick-start it, and ends up in an alternate universe, a parallel world. Which is a very British one. In an American show, it would be populated by alter egos of the regulars in cat suits or black leather who clearly have a lot more sex than their counterparts as part of them being evil. Not so on Doctor Who. Here, scriptwriter Don Haughton went for the Orwell angle instead, both literally (there is a sign saying "UNITY IS STRENGTH" complete with a Big Brother photo in the Alt!Brig's office) - and atmospherically, as fascist Britain is if anything more bureaucratic, plus drained of vitality. The uniforms aren't black, they remain the same, just with different insignia, which I thought was a good decision as it heightens the sense of disturbing familiarity. And while Alt!Brig (i.e. the "Brigade Leader" instead of the Brigadier) has a look which depending on your other fandoms will either remind you of Space Commander Travis or Nick Fury (black eyepatch, scar, no moustache, which is a rare chance to see Nick Courtney without one in Doctor Who), he's very intentionally not glamourized. As opposed to "our" Brig, he turns out to be a coward under pressure and without back up, as is all too often the case with bullies, but when he has both, he's no cackling evil overlord indulging in sadism, either; he is a bureaucrat. (The one torture sequence we get consists of him and Alt!Liz shouting at the Doctor relentlessly under bright lights in a series of face close upswe couldn't be further from torture porn.) Meanwhile, Alt!Liz Shaw, as opposed to Alt!Brig, isn't just ruthless but actually brave under pressure, and I appreciate that her ultimate switch in loyalties comes from not one but several reasons - the Doctor appealing to her inner lost scientist is but one, sure, but there is also the fact she sees the Brigade Leader crumbling and ready to desert everyone else, and her increasing belief there is in fact another Earth they can save by allowing the Doctor to go back. It's arguably Caroline John's best performance in her one Doctor Who season.
The other thing Inferno is famous for is that because it has a parallel world, this is the first time Doctor Who gets to destroy Earth (with some of the footage later reused for the Doctor's worst nightmare in Mind of Evil). This must have been quite revolutionary, as of course generally speaking as often as Earth is in danger, the viewer expects and knows the Doctor and friends will save it in the last minute; Inferno got to have its cake and eat it by showing us the failure to save and the planet's destruction and then the saving once the Doctor is back in "our" universe. The whole sequence still holds up pretty well, with everyone's fear and/or determination and the heat and lava overwhelming. (Is this the first time we get the Doctor/destruction of planet in fire imagery? I think it might be.)
Weaknesses: the primords are pretty obviously just around so Inferno can have some traditional Doctor Who monsters to menace everyone. Mind you, they are a well beloved idea of the show (i.e. humans or at least humanoids devolving into mutated murderous creatures), from Terry Nation in the early 60s to Russell T. Davies with the Toclafane in New Who's third season, but this is one of the lesser examples of that motif, and the cross between Hulks and lion-maned beastie boys are just not frightening. Also, in the last episode of the serial, after the Doctor's return there is an illogical turn of events who simply seems to be there so the suspension can be dragged out some more and the punchline of the tag scene can be set up, i.e. the Brig and Sir Keith, both of whom tried their best to stop Stahlman earlier (and Sir Keith now has the ministerial authority to do so), are suddenly passive and when the Doctor stops the planet-threatening drilling by smashing equipment drag him away. This as I said just doesn't fit with what's been going on earlier. It also leads to the final scene where the Doctor, hoping he can still use the remaining power for the TARDIS console, after an argument with the Brig says he's had enough of him, dematerializes and because of course the TARDIS is still not functional rematerializes in the local waste dump, so to Liz' amusement he has to sort of apologize and be nice to the Brig after the realization he's still stuck on earth. This reminds me of other episodes where the writer goes for a laugh in the end but the scene feels disconnected to what went on earlier and only artificially justified, for example Babylon 5's Sic Transit Vir, where Vir's "what relationship doesn't have its problems?" after Lyndisti kissed him goodbye is utterly inappropriate with the rest of the episode and what's been going on with Vir there, or Blake's 7's The Trial where the exchange between Blake and Avon re: "philosphical flee" at Vila's expense is the only blemish of an otherwise great episode and again doesn't fit at all with the rest of it. In Inferno, I suspect they wanted to wrap up the season with a light-hearted funny scene, which is kind of tricky after what was arguably their darkest episode, and so we get an artificial argument between the Doctor and the Brig artificially resolved. (Not that there aren't great disagreements between the Doctor and the Brig at times, but in this episode, they're actually in agreement all through, which is why the sudden obstructing behaviour by the Brig just so the Doctor can rant in the final scene feels so fake.) Ah, well. At least it means the very last glimpse we get of Liz Shaw is her laughing face.
Speaking of Liz and amusement: in the alt!verse, the Doctor tells alt!Liz that real Liz would know he's not in the habit of lying. As it happens, he's not lying to alt!Liz as to where he's from, but just a measly five to ten minutes earlier he lied to real!Liz exactly in the same way he lied to her in Spearheads of Space, smoothly and without regret; he sends her on a fool's errand to get her out of the way while he tries to make his getaway with the TARDIS. (Note that the Brig, as opposed to Liz, sees through him and expected this both times.) I think it's a pretty consistent trait from One onwards (ask Ian and Barbara about that first time on Skaro), but the Doctor has no problem with lying if it suits him, and not just to villains, either. (Or to officials like Flavia in The Five Doctors and the Shadow Proclamation lady in the mirror scene to that one in The Stolen Planet.) He usually does it when he wants to go somewhere, either leave altogether or see something new and shiny. What's peculiar to Three, though, is that he lays on the charm just before the lies (taking Liz by the shoulders, looking into her eyes and being, well, charming). Or maybe I notice because Three's usual mode with people is arguing. (He also is deliberately charming with Sarah Jane in Invasion of the Dinosaurs when he gives her the "don't leave me, I can show you the stars" speech.) But it's one of those things that are part of the Doctor's characterisation as someone who is as much a trickster as he is a hero.
re: the more usual heroic stuff: Inferno also has Action Man Jon Pertwee in his element, between car chases (btw, it makes absolutely no sense that there is an Alt!Bessie for the Doctor to do car chases in, because Bessie was something the Doctor specifically requested from UNIT and then remodelled and worked on, and the narrative makes sure to tell us there is no Alt!Doctor in the parallel world, but what the hell), Venusian Aikido, which makes its first appearance here, and lots of running, partly across roofs, which the documentary tells me was actually the only time he wasn't so keen on the action element because he had vertigo, but did his own stunts anyway. My own Watsonian explanation for Three's relish in these things is that this is a direct response to what happened to Two, who had to rely on Jamie and Zoe for physical protection and in the end wasn't able to save either himself or them from the Time Lords, and to Three's own sort of caged situation - that need for running, racing, whether by car or on foot, which makes its first appearance here but remained with the Doctor since in most regenerations. If he can't travel through space and time, he can do this.
The documentaries: are very informative, and quite honest about the early 70s sexism that was involved in how Liz Shaw was handled, from the occasion where they wanted her to go in her mniskirt into the caves in The Silurians (Caroline John whose first tv job this was didn't dare to protest, but Jon Pertwee did, bless, and so she ended up wearing a sensible boiler suit like everyone else) to her being dismissed because her character while being able to converse with the Doctor on the level was hence too smart to do the usual companion exposition duty of asking variations of "Doctor, what's that" which are necessary for the audience. Lots of nostalgia otherwise, and no rancour from Caroline John who was pregnant at the time and says she would have had to take leave of absence anyway, but back then it was a blow.
In conclusion: a deserved classic, though not a favourite, and very enjoyable to watch.
