Episode #54 : Inferno

"Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming out its rage!"

 

 

Episode 54:    Inferno.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Liz Shaw.
Air Date:        Seven episodes. 9th May to 20th June 1970.

 

UNIT is providing security cover at an experimental drilling project designed to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a previously untapped source of energy. Soon however the drill head starts to leak an oily green liquid that transforms those who touch it into vicious primeval creatures with a craving for heat.
The Doctor is accidentally transported by the partially repaired TARDIS control console into a parallel universe where the drilling project is at a more advanced stage. Thwarted by his friends' ruthless alter egos, he works to save both universes.

Inferno is an excellent story that keeps you fixed throughout. The story deals with two elements: a drilling operation that has gone too far and threatens to destroy the world, and an alternate dystopian Earth where the drilling has gone too far allowing the Doctor to learn how to avert disaster.

The story deals with a mining operation led by an unscrupulous man named Stahlman who seeks to drill down into the core of the Earth looking for something he has named Stahlman's Gas. Unfortunately all he finds initially is a strange green goo that transforms those who touch it into weird green furred primitives called Primords. The effects for these look awful and remind me far more of the old werewolf effects from the 1930's wolfman movies.

From there an accident sends the Doctor sideways in time to an alternate Earth where Great Britain is a dystopian society. Much like the classic mirror universe Star Trek stories there are evil versions of the characters from the Doctors universe, including an evil version of the Brigadier and Liz Shaw. On their world the drilling has punctured the core and the release of energy has set the Earth on the path to fiery death. The Doctor must find a way to travel back to his universe and save the Earth.

Although the story is really good elements don't make much sense. Why does the green go create Primords and why do they want to bring about the end of the world? That never gets explained. Also, considering that later on in the show we learn that Torchwood managed to drill down to the Racnoss ship at the centre of the Earth, why didn't they encounter the problems presented here? Think too much and there are continuity issues here.

Unfortuantely this is the last time we see Liz Shaw. No goodbye. She just doesn't return in the following season. The character of Liz is another strong female role and I wonder if she was replaced because it is easier to have a screamer type companion who can ask questions and needs to be rescued.