May 18: Inferno Episodes 3 & 4

The Doctor has disappeared into a strange dimension -- "sideways in time", he says -- which is close to but not quite the same as the world he's just left.  All the characters seem to still be present, but they're all slightly different.  Yes, it's time for the "evil parallel universe" story.

To be fair, it's not like it's an unreasonable idea for a serial, and as it's the first time Doctor Who has done this type of story we can forgive them a bit of indulgence.  And unlike, say, every episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine involving Trek's "Mirror Universe", this isn't simply a chance for the regulars to indulge themselves by playing "bad" versions of themselves.  The parallel universe part of Inferno feels much more dangerous, because everyone's playing it so straight.

Starting by having an extended chase sequence where troops are all shooting at the Doctor as he zooms around the complex on Bessie is a good move; it immediately brings home the danger of this place.  There are lots of troops (well, it seems like there are, at least) and some great location shots of the Doctor high up on the gasometers.  (Oh, and incidentally, I was wrong last time; the world record fall happens in episode 3, not episode 1.  It's still Roy Scammell, though -- twice, in fact, as both the private who falls and the one who shoots him down.)  And then we get to see the people in this world: the Brigadier is now Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart, with an eyepatch and no moustache; Liz is now Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, with black hair; and Sergeant Benton is Platoon Under-Leader Benton -- he still looks the same but is decidedly nastier as a person ("Are you coming with me quietly, or do I shoot you here and now?" Benton asks the Doctor at the end of episode 3, and it's quite clear which outcome Benton is hoping for).  Meanwhile, Professor Stahlman has become Director Stahlmann -- he's lost the facial hair but is still the same basic person.  The other main difference is that in this parallel world the drilling has been proceeding a bit quicker, so instead of being something like 40 hours away from penetrating the Earth's crust, this world is only a little over 3 hours away.

The Doctor is interrogated by the Republican Security Forces.
(Inferno Episode 4) ©BBC

It's got to be said, though, that these two episodes, much like the first two, consist largely of people rehashing the same points over and over again.  In episodes 1 and 2 it was everyone versus Stahlman; here it's everyone versus the Doctor, as the Brigade Leader tries over and over again to find out which foreign power the Doctor is working for and how he got onto the base in the first place.  They try demanding answers, then they try interrogation, then trying to be nice in an effort to get the truth out of the Doctor.  All the while, the Doctor is trying to convince the people at the base of the danger their project is causing; he repairs the computer so that it can warn them, as well as reasoning with everyone there repeatedly about the dangers (something, it must be said, he didn't seem as willing to do back in his own universe).  Needless to say, no one believes him, and episode 4 ends with Penetration Zero being reached as the drillhead starts making a really nasty noise, while the Doctor yells out, "That's the sound of this planet screaming out its rage!"  It's such a good cliffhanger that it's slightly surprising that the episode carries on a little bit longer, with Stahlmann holding a gun on the Doctor as the actual cliffhanger.