Inferno Episode 2

The one where the Doctor uses Venusian karate for the first time...

The opening scene, where the rabid Harry Slocum is cornered in the switch room by the Doctor and UNIT, is a tense way to start, although I had to snigger when the Doctor says "There's nothing to be frightened of, old chap", and then Slocum looks in horror at the ringing trimphone! That trimphone continues to ring throughout the scene too, like a troublesome wasp that won't go away!

This is followed by a lovely scene shot on location at the Berry Wiggins and Co oil refinery in Kent (known as KCA International since 1977), with the Brigadier and the Doctor just chatting calmly atop the walkway. It's just two characters having a thoughtful and honest chat about what's going on and what they can do next. It's all punctuated with some well-chosen stock music entitled Galaxy Atmosphere which gives everything a doomy, solemn air, with its deep, resonant bass drum. Director Douglas Camfield notoriously disliked Doctor Who's regular musician Dudley Simpson's work, but his library choice here is arguably much more effective than what Simpson may have composed.

All of the footage shot on location by Camfield is done beautifully, and Jon Pertwee looks magnificent scuttling along gantries and climbing ladders, his red cape billowing behind him as he chases the infected Wyatt (I also like how Pertwee slides down the ladder rail like he's back in the Royal Navy!). Marion Richards' make-up for Wyatt is effectively gruesome, and the character's demise is really rather sad. We've seen this loyal UNIT soldier before he was infected, helping Benton and the Brigadier to overpower Slocum, but now we see him regressed to some kind of creature. His fall from the gantry is heart-in-mouth stuff as he screams like a distressed Quark and then hits the ground with a terrible double thud, indicating that he hit several of those metal bars on the way down. Horrible.

Another highlight of the episode is the fantastic interplay between Jon Pertwee and Olaf Pooley, who spark off one another so well in their numerous scenes of confrontation. Stahlman is such a raging egotist who refuses to put a computer's findings before his own. He claims the computer is inaccurate and oversensitive, and that he prefers to trust his own judgement. I've no idea how people like Stahlman are allowed to be in charge of (literally!) earth-shattering projects like this, but Doctor Who seems to thrive on them. Pertwee is firing on all cylinders in the Doctor's quest to disprove Stahlman, culminating in the classic moment where he says: "You, sir, are a nitwit!" That is perfectly Doctory!

The Doctor tries his level best to get Stahlman to stop what he's doing, to listen to the computer's warnings ("Well look at it man, are you blind?"), but to no avail. In the end, the Doctor just gives up, and returns to his experiments in getting the TARDIS to work again. But despite his repeated attempts, surely he realises he cannot let this run its course, it'll be catastrophic for the entire planet. I must say that I feel a bit uncomfortable with the Doctor just giving up like this, as if he thinks we all deserve what's coming to us and that it doesn't concern him. Other Doctors would go all out to stop Stahlman, whereas the Third Doctor has merely tried words of persuasion and nothing more.

There's also the debut of the Doctor's Venusian karate here as he arrests Stahlman just before he destroys the computer's micro-circuit. We'll be seeing a lot more of this alien martial art, which makes a welcome (but unexpected) return in the Thirteenth Doctor's era.

Liz Shaw is being poorly used in this story, I must say. Writer Don Houghton doesn't seem to have anything for her to do, and in both episodes now, he almost forgets to include her (she appears a whole 15 minutes into episode 1, and 10 minutes into episode 2). When she is around, she's just holding a clipboard or fiddling with a circuit, not taking any active role in the plot. It's really annoying when the Doctor sends Liz away to look at the tri-gamma circuits on the TARDIS console, effectively removing her from the main action, and again later when he asks her to feed epsilon coordinates into the computer. This second time, he sends her away so she doesn't stop him from zipping off in the TARDIS, but still, it all feels like Liz is being treated very cursorily, both by Houghton and the Doctor (I clenched my teeth when the Doctor told her: "Don't ask any questions, that's a good girl", and she smiles "alright"!).

The climax sees the Doctor manage to dematerialise himself, the TARDIS console and - unexpectedly - Bessie when the nuclear power finally manages to energise the console. Where he's gone, we don't know (perhaps into limbo, where he went before), but what puzzles me most is the practicality of the console dematerialising as a separate component of the ship itself. Presumably the rest of the TARDIS is standing console-less at UNIT HQ. Has the police box shell and its capacious innards dematerialised as well? How did Bessie disappear with the Doctor, because that's not part of the TARDIS. All very puzzling, and I'm sure something never resolved. It just is, that's all!

First broadcast: May 16th, 1970

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Pertwee is top notch in this episode, whether racing around refinery walkways, or facing down against Olaf Pooley.
The Bad: The treatment of Liz Shaw is disappointing.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 5 - The Doctor instructs Wyatt to listen to him.
Neck-rub tally: 0

NEXT TIME: Episode 3...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 3; Episode 4; Episode 5; Episode 6; Episode 7

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/04/inferno.html

Inferno is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Inferno-Special-DVD/dp/B00BEYWVGW