Doctor Who Re-Watch: Inferno ends Season 7 on an apocalyptic high

Jon Pertwee’s first season of Doctor Who ends with a bang, in the explosive parallel world story Inferno.

The final story of Jon Pertwee’s debut season is the undisputed classic Inferno. A lot has been said already about how brilliant this Doctor Who serial is, and honestly, you won’t find anything different in this review. Like Spearhead from Space and The Silurians, it’s not just one of the best stories for the Third Doctor. It might be one of the very best stories of the Classic Series.

One thing that helps with Inferno is its extremely strong pacing. Seven episodes is extremely lengthy for any story, but writer Don Houghton justifies that length nicely by shaking things up in a big way every two episodes.

For example, the first two episodes focus on the Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier looking into an ambitious drilling project, lead by Professor Stahlman. Stahlman is a rather arrogant man who believes that nothing should interfere with his ambition, even when there are murders suddenly occurring around the project, without motive.

These two episodes set the scene nicely, giving us a strong sense of foreboding. As the story goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer that the drilling project is headed towards disaster if it isn’t stopped. But just how bad could things get?

Another Earth

That question is looked at when the Doctor finds himself on a parallel Earth in the third episode. And that’s when the story starts to get really good.

Parallel worlds weren’t exactly a new idea when Inferno was made. In fact, even another universe that featured darker versions of our heroes had been explored in the classic Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror. But that doesn’t stop Inferno being extremely satisfying to watch when it explores the idea.

It’s clear that the whole world in this reality is darker, even openly fascist. With none of his friends to help him, the Third Doctor is stuck in one of his most desperate situations yet.

We meet another version of Liz, colder than the one we know. But at the same time, the Doctor recognizes that there’s still some hope for her. The faintest gesture of a more open mind. Caroline John clearly had a lot of fun playing this different version of Liz, and it’s great to watch.

But I think the standout performance of the story is Nicholas Courtney as the Brigade Leader. It’s extremely easy to believe that this is a completely different character to the Brigadier. Not just because of his eye-patch or the lack of mustache. But everything about him is so contrary to how the Brigadier acts. Whereas the Brigadier would show at least some restraint, the Brigade Leader has none. The latter is also far less moral than the former. It’s an interesting character, and allows Courtney the chance to play a villain in the series for once, which he does brilliantly.

Apocalypse

Things are shaken up again in the fifth episode, when the drill penetrates the Earth’s crust in the other universe. Because that’s when we get to see the end of the world.

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This is what makes Inferno stand out. We’ve seen other parallel universes or alternate timelines in Doctor Who. But none have dared to show a version of Earth that starts to tear itself apart like Inferno does. Episodes five and six take a dystopian vision of Earth society and make it even bleaker. We get some truly horrifying moments, and the cliffhanger for part six is probably one of the most haunting in Doctor Who history.

The final episode returns the Doctor to our world. It almost feels like a relief, but the Doctor is still under pressure to save the world in time. Considering he failed to save one Earth already, can he hope to save the other?

Inferno is such a fantastic story. You really feel the pressure increase as the story progresses, and taking the Third Doctor to a parallel world without friends was a genius move. An excellent final story for an extremely strong debut season.

Are you a fan of Inferno? What did you enjoy most about it? What “evil” version of your favorite character did you enjoy seeing? Let us know in the comments below.