OK time for another review on this blog, and as you might have guessed if you have read some of these posts that I am a bit of a Doctor Who fan, and so for this one I will look at one the classics of the original series, Inferno, which is from Jon Pertwee's era in his first season back in 1970. So let's delve into the story....
The story is set around a drilling project nicknamed "the Inferno" and is run by the arrogant and bad tempered Professor Stahlman (Olaf Pooley). Stahlamn's project is set to penetrate the earth's crust and release pockets of energy into the core to provide unlimited cheap energy. However problems abound at the project, starting with one of the workers, Harry Slocum (Walter Randall) who is called to repair a leakage of green fluid from one of the pumps on the drill, which he touches and it turns him into a primordial creature, who kills a few technicians and a soldier. The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) who is also at the project, as he is trying to use the power energy from the drill to experiment with his TARDIS to get it working again, and he is accompanied by his companion and fellow scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney). Stahlam also has to endure interference from one of his associates, Sir Keith Gold (Christopher Benjamin) who calls in a hot tempered drill expert Greg Sutton (Derek Newark) to help, but his help is soon turned down by the arrogant Stahlman. The Doctor soon encounters Slocum who soon dies as he is shot by the Brigadier's men, and later on a quantity of the green toxic fluid is siphoned into a jar, which Stahlman scalds his hand on. Stahlman slowly also starts to feel the effects of the fluid work on him as he decides to sabotage the drill's computer, which warns to stop the drilling. The Doctor despite his best efforts to warn the Brigadier of the sabotage, gives in and decides to leave using the TARDIS console and he vanishes.
The Doctor soon comes to and finds that he is the same place at the project but that he is in a parallel version of Earth, where Great Britain is now ruled under a fascist regime. The Doctor soon encounters parallel counterparts of the Brigadier, who is now the fascist Bridgade-Leader, and Liz is now Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, and Stahlman is now Director Stahlman. Stahlman's project has also advanced further ahead in time than in the other version of Earth, and the Doctor is captured and interrogated by the Brigade Leader. However as the project nears the end and the Earth's crust is penetrated, the natural forces of the planet erupt as the complex is shaken by earth tremors, the project crew all flee. The Doctor escapes his cell but is too late to prevent the events that will soon lead to the planet's destruction and he now has to try and find a way to get back to his own dimension to save the Earth from a similar fate....
Inferno is one of the best stories of the Pertwee era, and in his first season, the tone of the show was far more adult and hard hitting than in the follow seasons that Barry Letts and Terence Dicks produced. This story in particular is similar in style to Nigel Keale's Quatermass, with its apocalyptic themes. However the story itself is also brilliantly written by Don Houghton, and the script is also quite witty and there many great lines of dialogue throughout from the characters. The themes of the end of the world are common in Doctor Who but here they are put to great and dramatic effect especially in the latter episodes where the parallel world faces the end, and the Doctor is left powerless to do anything about it. And that in itself was one of the strengths of the seventh season in that dared to be dark and different and push to the series into areas that it hadn't really been before, although the show was still essentially Doctor Who.
Getting onto the performances starting with Jon Pertwee, who is perfect as the Doctor and he puts in one of his best performances in the role, especially as he is later put in an impossible situation to either try and save the parallel world and himself. Jon also get's some great lines of dialogue too in the story, especially when he is in the parallel world and he is to he will be executed but the Brigade Leader says he will stand trial first and the Doctor replies "typical beaurocrat, you can't shoot me until you've filled out all the forms!". I also liked the moment where Doctor is in his jail cell and he refuses to get up on his feet, but the Platoon leader Benton (John Levine) Sgt Benton's parallel world counterpart points his rifle at him, and the Doctor looks up and says "oh well that's different!". Jon also shares a great scene with Caroline John as Liz Shaw in the parallel world where he tries to convince her that "no matter what they taught you in this biggoted world you still have a mind of your own!". Jon also has a funny line when he angrily says to Stahlman "well I was wrong, Professor, its not your liver that's playing up, its your general disposition!".
Nicholas Courtney is also great in his dual role as the Brigadier and the parallel world counterpart, the Brigade Leader. Courtney has some great lines especially as the Brigade leader when the Doctor says to him "but I don't exist in your world!" and he replies "well you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you!". Jon and Nicholas also both share a nice moment together in the scene at the end of story where the Doctor angrily tries to leave using the TARDIS console, but soon reappears covered in dust as he reveals he materliased in a rubbish tip, and the Doctor says "my dear fellow I wonder if I could get one of your chaps to help me move the TARDIS its landed in a rather inaccessible position!" and the Brigadier replies "a pompous self opiniated idiot I believe you called me, Doctor!". Caroline John is also really good in her dual role as Liz the scientist and the section-leader in the parallel world, and its a nice change up to see her play a fascist character, although she does make that important arc in her character in the parallel world as she realises how the Doctor is telling the truth and she tries to help him towards the end. But its a pity that Caroline wasn't given a better exit to the show than she was given here, but in the end there was a joint decision between Letts and Caroline for her to leave as she was pregnant at the time and Letts decided not to renew her contract. And John Levine finally get's a larger role in the show as Sgt Benton and morely as the platoon leader Benton in the parallel world, where he get's to act as the bad guy and is pretty good at it, despite his silly metamorphisis into the primord later on. Benton in the normal dimension of Earth has a funny moment with the Brigadier when he is ordered to try and get Stahlman to come and see him but Benton says "that he is too busy to waste time bandying words with a pompous military idiot, sir!" and the Brigadier replies sharply "Sergeant I wan't to see Professor Stahlman and I wan't to see him now, and I advise you better not come back without him! Carry him in here if you have to, but get him!!".
Regarding the other cast, Olaf Pooley is really good as the stubborn and pompous professor Stahlman, and he get's some good lines, especially in his first scene with Sir Keith (played by Christopher Benjamin) whom he blames for interferring with his project, and he says "I'll make a bargain with you, you stay away from my drilling and I'll let you run your canteen!". Pooley's exasperation at the Doctor is also amusing as he grows more frustrated at him during the project, and he says "that man ought to be locked up!" and "I'm rapidly losing patience with that man!". Derek Newark as Greg Sutton is also pretty good, the drilling expert who is brought onboard the project by Sir Keith, and at times he exhibits a temper as fiery as the inferno itself. In fact there are times you imagine that Newark will burst a blood vessel with all the shouting he does in the story, and my favourite line of his in the story is when he yells at Professot Stahlman toward the end "As far I'm concerned you can all blow yourselves to KINGDOM COME!!!". Newark also has a good scene as Sutton with Sir Keith at the start where he is shown around the drill centre when Sutton arrives and Sutton asks what he is doing here and Sir Keith explains, with Sutton saying "so basically I'm a civil servant down here" and Sir Keith says "yes, how do you feel about that?" to which Sutton replies "no comment!". Christopher Benjamin is also really good in his smaller role as Sir Keith who voices his concerns to the Doctor and the Brigadier about the project. The only weak link in the cast comes from Sheila Dunn as Petra Williams, Stahlman's personal assistant, as she is rather one dimensional in the part and is largely sidelined to just gasping in shock and saying "no! and hugging Greg when things go pear shaped toward the end.
Douglas Camfield who was the director for the story does a great job here, although he acutally only directed two episodes as he fell ill with his heart condition, and Barry Letts, the show's producer directed the remaining story and he naturally deserves a great deal of credit aswell. The story despite being a seven parter is actually very well paced, something which was always a problem with the longer stories in the show, and the change up of the parallel world helps keep the story going without dragging. And the story also features some stock incidental music tracks, which are really good as well as atmospheric and creepy and the story itself is unique in that it has its own individual titles with footage of erupting volcanos at the start of each episode.
As for the story's flaws well there are one or two, for one I felt the concept of the project was a bit vague, as just how exactly would drilling into the earth's crust be a good idea, and how would they be able to utilise the pockets of energy that Stahlman intended to use???? Because if the forces of the planet are uncontrollable (which they turned out to be!) then why would they even consider it! It just boils down to Stahlman's megalomania in the end that he refuses to listen to anyone or even to the drill's computer which warns him to shut down the drilling. Also the make-up for the primords whilst its not bad, on John Levine and Olaf Pooley it does look a bit laughable, particularly on John Levine in the scene where he changes into a primord and he rolls around the floor! Also another thing is the scene where Stahlamn makes the rash decision of putting his hand on the heat resistance jar with the green liquid inside, which starts to crack due to the intense heat of the substance. Yet why didn't he lift it by the silver base of the jar??? That way he could have avoided burning himself and from turning into a Primord! Its not very bright of him to say the least, but its all about the drama I suppose. You could also argue that while the story is quite powerful, that its rather doom laden tone and of the seventh season in general at the time threatened to alienate the audience of the show. And it was unknown at the time but the show was in danger of being cancelled after this season as the viewing figures were quite low, and to ensure the show's future Barry Letts and Terence Dicks did the right thing in changing the tone and bringing in the UNIT family to make the show more accessible to its audience.
But despite all that Inferno still remains one of Jon Pertwee's finest stories, which is pretty intense and dark in tone, but is not without its moments of wit and humour, and if you are a fan of the original show and haven't seen it yet, Inferno is definitely one to check out.
And that's it for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment