7x04. Inferno
Writer: Don Houghton
Directors: Douglas Camfield & Barry Letts
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Producer: Barry Letts
Synopsis: The cutting-edge
drilling project of the obsessive Professor Stahlman draws suspicion
when several staff members and UNIT soldiers are transformed into
savage werewolf-like creatures ("Primords") who commit a series of
assaults and murders. The Doctor, who is also still working on repairs
to the TARDIS, is accidentally transported to a parallel dimension,
where Britain is ruled by a fascist dictator and where the Doctor
witnesses the horrible outcome of the drilling project: the release of
uncontrollable energies from inside the Earth that destroy the planet.
Returned to his own dimension, the Doctor finds that he has only a
short time to avert a similar outcome.
Review: If I had to describe
"Inferno" in one word, it would be "intense." After taking the first
two episodes to establish the cast of characters and the fact that
Professor Stahlman's drilling project is heading in a dangerous
direction, writer Don Houghton's script kicks into high gear with the
Doctor's arrival in the parallel universe and rarely lets up. The
serial delivers fast-paced action, complex and subtle characterization,
physical and psychological terror, and even the end of the world,
putting the still relatively new Third Doctor through his toughest
ordeal yet and resulting in a story that succeeds at a number of
different levels.
Before I start dissecting plot, character, and
subtext, I should first say that "Inferno" represents the series' high
point thus far in terms of production quality. The interior of the
drilling facility is a very well-designed set, with the numerous extras
in lab coats and the ever-present background hum of the drill adding to
the realism and to the ominous sense of approaching danger. Episodes 5
and 6, as the alternate Earth heads towards its inevitable demise, set
a new standard for on-screen horror and chaos on Doctor Who: earthquakes
mercilessly toss the characters about, an oppressive red glow settles
over the atmosphere, and Benton suffers an agonizing transformation
into a
Primord. The Primords emit inhuman shrieks as they attack with
increasing frequency, coming off almost like biblical portents of the
apocalypse, their barely-human appearance conveying the sense that the
natural order is not merely being destroyed, but twisted into something
perverse and bestial. To put it simply, this a supremely effective
rendering that
actually justifies a line like, "Listen to that! It's the sound of this
planet screaming its rage!" Delivered by the Doctor as the drill
achieves its fateful goal of penetrating through the Earth's crust, it
could have come off as overwrought, but after seeing the planet's
screaming rage let loose, we realize that he has it exactly right.
"Inferno" probably could have been a success on spectacle alone, but
there's much more to it than that. The universe of fascist Britain
offers some unique insights into the characters themselves as well as
the circumstances that have shaped them. Many have remarked on Nicholas
Courtney's skill in making the Brigade Leader of the alternate universe
convincingly cruel, selfish, and generally unlikeable. His tendency
towards intimidation and violence as a means to get his way is
complemented by his small-mindedness, at first insisting that "if this
place goes up, we go with it," but later proving himself a coward when
he realizes his superiors are not going to save him. He is by far the
most frightened at the prospect of his own death, he nearly murders
Sutton in a loss of temper, and he threatens to kill the Doctor if he
will not take him back to his own universe. One might read the Brigade
Leader's temperament (and that of an equally nasty alternate Benton) as
implying that inside every military officer lurks a fascist
sympathizer, but I don't think that's the point. Rather, I think the
Brigade Leader is simply a product of his fascist society, which values
the
raw exercise of hierarchical power and which enables him to feel
powerful himself without granting him any real control or
responsibility over anything, the result being that he descends into
despair and rage when he can no longer rely on those above him. By
contrast, the Brigadier of the Doctor's universe, who has more autonomy
in how he runs UNIT, exercises considerably more patience in dealing
with the situation at the drilling facility. When he does finally read
Benton off for failing to bring a stubborn Stahlman to
his office as requested, he tells Benton to "show some initiative" --
precisely the last thing anyone wants from a low-level military officer
in a fascist regime. Though he values precise command structure and
obedience to orders like any military officer would, he is still the
product of a democratic society that values individualism and prefers
persuasion to coercion.
Individualism is perhaps best personified by Greg Sutton, who,
ironically enough, is actually a little less likeable in the democratic
universe, where he sometimes seems like a verbal bully (what makes
*his* opinion so much more important, we might ask, in this society of
equals?), than in the fascist universe, where his outspokenness is a
refreshing sign of life amongst all the rigidity and conformism. He
also seems to have the easiest time accepting the fact of his own
imminent death when the Doctor explains that nothing can reverse the
disintegration of the alternate Earth. Not only has he rejected the
Brigade Leader's falsely comfortable view of the world that comes with
being a cog in a totalitarian machine, but he's well aware that his
refusal to suffer fools gladly might prompt the government to arrange
an "accident" for him, and he doesn't really seem to care. He's used to
living with the
expectation that someone or something bigger and stronger is going to
kill him, and it doesn't slow him down for
a second when the Doctor enlists his help. Petra Williams, meanwhile,
is a sort of Everywoman, reluctant to rock the boat but still capable
of thinking for herself. She shows great courage and selflessness in
the fascist universe by spending her last moments alive rigging up a
complex power supply for the Doctor while the Primords attack and the
world literally disintegrates around her, and she similarly acquits
herself in the democratic universe when she realizes that Stahlman is
out of control and refuses to continue following his dangerous
instructions. The alternate version of Liz Shaw is also an intriguing
case: she's just as capable of coercion and violence as the other
"Republican Security Force" officers, but she does eventually come
around to the notion of helping the Doctor. The critical moment for
her, I think, is when the Doctor asks if she once studied physics
before joining the military: Caroline John effectively and subtly
conveys a crack in her aloof pose at this moment, as if he's awakened
a repressed and carefully concealed longing for something more
fulfilling than the cold and brutal existence of Section Leader Shaw.
The underlying theme of all this, as acknowledged by the Doctor in
Episode 7, is that of the exercise and the limits of human free will.
The limits are particularly evident in the fascist universe: the
alternate versions of Lethbridge-Stewart, Liz Shaw, and Benton
demonstrate that almost anyone who becomes part of a repressive
regime's authority structure will absorb some of its values, in this
case the notion that, as a propaganda poster says, "Unity Is Strength"
-- and that disunity should simply be eliminated by force. "Inferno"
also picks up on this theme to tackle mortality in a way that previous Doctor Who serials, despite the
ever-present threats of death from one villain or another, really
haven't. The slow unstoppable destruction of the alternate Earth and in
particular the Brigade Leader's fear and panic reflect the grim fact
that we cannot will our physical bodies to survive when certain
inexorable
forces are arrayed against us. It almost goes without saying that this
entire scenario is not so much a serious and scientific attempt to
understand the effects of drilling through the Earth's crust, but
rather a metaphorical warning against the arrogance that would have us
believe we can take on the forces of nature and win.
At the same time, free will, and a society more conducive to it, is a
large part of what
makes the difference between survival and catastrophe for the
inhabitants of the Doctor's Earth. I don't know that there's any one
single decision that alters the outcome, but we do see that, in the
democratic universe, Stahlman's course of action is fiercely debated at
every turn, the result being that Sir Keith Gold, Greg Sutton, the
Brigadier, and finally even Petra Williams (who in this reality is not
a scientist but Stahlman's personal assistant) grow increasingly
skeptical and the stage is set for some last-minute emergency
countermeasures. Another of the script's curious ironies, however, is
that the choices made by the characters in the fascist universe are
arguably even more important. It's unclear whether the inhabitants of
democratic Britain, despite their skepticism of Stahlman, could have
averted the impending disaster without the Doctor's help, and of course
the Doctor could not have returned had not the alternate versions of
Greg Sutton, Petra Williams, and Liz Shaw accepted their own fates and
chosen to help the Doctor anyway. Even a horribly repressive structure
does not completely destroy the better aspects of humanity, and they
are able to act as individuals once they start to question their
assumptions and the orders from their superiors (indeed, Section Leader
Shaw even shoots the Brigade Leader to keep him from killing the
Doctor).
"Inferno" also features some good character work for the Doctor, who is
proving both more proactive and more fallible than his two
predecessors. His failure to broker a peace between humans and
Silurians seems like peanuts to what he endures in the alternate
universe, where, despite his insistent warnings to anyone who will
listen (as well as anyone who won't) that they are headed for disaster,
the entire world is destroyed. While he's not the type to dwell on all
the lost lives, the experience has clearly affected him when he returns
to his own universe and, at one point, just starts smashing a console
in the drilling facility in what he must know is probably a futile
gesture. I certainly can't imagine Hartnell reduced to such
desperation; Troughton, maybe, but he never exuded the control and
confidence of Pertwee's Doctor in the first place. At the same time,
his refusal to take any of the people from the doomed alternate
universe with him because it would damage the spacetime continuum
reminds us that he is, after all, an alien, whose experience and
knowledge far exceed ours. Under normal circumstances, he would try to
save them all, even the loathsome Brigade Leader, but he's prepared to
die himself (as he shows when he stares down the Brigade Leader's
threat) and to let both worlds be destroyed rather than unleash a far
greater disaster on the entire universe.
There's one aspect of the Doctor's characterization that I feel like
"Inferno" doesn't quite handle properly, and that's the fact that the
script actually seems to be implying a parallel between the Doctor and
Stahlman at times. After all, the Doctor is conducting irresponsible
experiments with the TARDIS that he knows might be dangerous, even
deceiving Liz and telling her not to ask questions in order to obtain
the necessary energy from the nuclear power source fueling the drilling
facility. Later on, when the Brigadier expresses his irritation at the
Doctor's absence during much of the crisis, he responds with a put-down
that sounds similar to one of Stahlman's insults. Of course, the Doctor
didn't know how critical the situation was about to become and thus
thought he was only endangering himself, and he probably intended to
return to the same time and place even if his experiment had worked.
What's odd is that the script doesn't sidestep this issue entirely, but
instead attempts to deal with it in the form of a joke. The Doctor
walks off in a huff after arguing with the Brigadier, tries once more
to operate the TARDIS, and materializes in the middle of a garbage
dump, finding himself having to smooth things over when he realizes
he's going to be around for a while after all. I suppose that's better
than nothing, but it still seems like a bit of a cop-out.
That said, I realize that the series was being written for a family
audience, and after all the preceding darkness and the recent downbeat
ending to "The Silurians," I can understand why the writers might not
want to push it too far. In any case, I have a rule that any serial
that gives me this much to write about gets the benefit of the doubt,
and given that "Inferno" does so many things right, I'm not inclined to
be too harsh about the one thing it does wrong. This is another
first-rate serial and possibly a new high-water mark for Doctor Who in general, and it's an
appropriate finish to an excellent first season for a new Doctor and a
new setting.
Other notes:
- I am, of course, not a scientist, and in truth I don't have the
slightest clue what
might happen if somebody drilled through the Earth's crust, but I'm
assuming it wouldn't be anywhere near as cataclysmic as this, and I
feel pretty safe in saying that there wouldn't be any green goo turning
people into monsters.
- We learn from the Brigade Leader that the royal family was executed
and this new regime installed in 1943, implying that it was an outcome
of World War II. It's unclear whether fascist Britain is the product of
defeat at the hands of the Axis powers or if they willingly destroyed
their democracy because they thought it would be expedient to do so
during wartime, but either possibility is intriguing.
- A small nitpick about the Doctor's insistence that he "doesn't exist"
in the fascist universe. Why does he assume that to be the case simply
because there isn't an alternate version of him present at the drilling
facility? I can easily imagine that the First Doctor and Susan, had
they arrived in a totalitarian Britain in 1963, would have high-tailed
it out of there and vowed simply not to return to Earth. Then again, I
suppose we can just attribute this to some advanced Time Lord
understanding of alternate universes that would have been too
complicated to explain.
- The effect used to signal a transition between one universe and
another looks like an out-of-focus zoom on a disco ball. I guess a
"Disco Inferno" joke here would be a little too easy?
- "Inferno" nicely avoids anti-intellectualism in its invocation of the
"mad scientist." Stahlman's error is not trying to discover something
new (in fact, his goal of providing an alternative energy source is
laudable), but in ignoring the warnings of his advisors and his
computer that his theories are unsound.
Rating: **** (out of four)
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