Doctor Who (1963) 7.04.04

Inferno - Part 4

Platoon Under Leader Benton is ready to take the Doctor outside and execute him when Section Leader Shaw shows up. The Doctor uses the distraction to take the initiative and fix the computer. The Doctor talks the Project Director Stahlman into doing something to offset the problem that is building up in the drilling project.

The Doctor is taken for interrogation by Section Leader Stewart. He tries telling her about where he's from and her counterpart in the universe from which he came. She doesn't believe him but she is curious. The Doctor is put under some more rigorous interrogation techniques by Section Leader Stewart and Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart but he doesn't tell them anything that they want to hear.

Director Stahlman interrupts the interrogation. He wants answers about the Doctor which they don't have yet. The Doctor asks him about his hand and why he's wearing gloves. Stahlman brushes it off with a story about a mild injury. The Doctor knows it is more serious than that.

They lock the Doctor up in a holding cell. Section Leader Shaw tries once again to get the truth. She is convinced that he is working for a foreign power or a group of rebels. The Doctor sticks to his story. She leaves him to rot.

Liz Shaw and the Brigadier, in the universe from which the Doctor came, give up on finding the Doctor. She suspects that the Doctor is lost somewhere in space or time. Sir Keith goes to see Professor Stahlman and tells him that he's going to see the minister to tell him about his concerns about the project. Stahlman is unphazed. 

The Doctor escapes from the cell in which he was put. He is attacked by a hairy, green, mutated scientist but manages to give him the slip. He puts on a hazmat suit and sneaks back into the control room of the drilling project. He is there just as the project achieves "penetration zero". The Doctor is spotted just as the countdown ends. The Brigade Leader attempts to shoot him but Sutton knocks the gun out of his hand. Director Stahlman picks it up and points it at the Doctor just as the countdown reaches zero.

Thoughts

This is another complicated episode. Everthing flows very quickly. Instead of a long chase scene, as there was in the last episode, there is a lot of interrogation which goes nowhere in this one. I can't say that I've ever been much of a fan of the Third Doctor. Maybe if this story had a more interesting villain I might enjoy it more.