Doctor Who (1963) 7.04.07

Inferno - Part 7

The Doctor arrives back in the universe he left behind in episode 3. He is comatose when Liz Shaw and the Bridgadier find him. He does not wake up right away.

Professor Stahlman proceeds with the drilling project. He has accelerated the drilling to the point that has exceeded the safety limits by about 10 percent. Greg Sutton and Petra Williams try to talk him into slowing things down but he refuses. 

The Doctor finally wakes up. He advises that they reverse the drilling process. He tries smashing some of the machinery when Professor Stahlman refuses to listen. The Brigadier has the Doctor escorted out of the control room by two of his soldiers.

Professor Stahlman kicks everyone out of the area surrounding the drill head and locks the door. The Doctor escapes from the soldiers and returns just in time to see Professor Stahlman emerge transformed into a green wolfman. The professor is subdued by the Doctor and Greg who use fire extinguishers on him. The drilling operation is reversed.

The Doctor decides he is going to leave using the TARDIS console. He disappears but it only takes him a few hundred yards. He is still stuck on Earth.

Thoughts

This is Liz Shaw's last episode of Doctor Who. She doesn't get a proper goodbye. The character was brought back in 1994 in a series called P.R.O.B.E. that was all direct to video. Liz Shaw was played by Caroline John once again. There were 5 episodes of P.R.O.B.E. Louise Jameson was in 4 of them playing a character named Patricia Haggard.

As with the previous episodes of Inferno there was lots that happened much too quickly and without reasonable explanation. The Doctor and everyone else in the parallel universe, at the end of the previous episode, were about to get killed by lava. This episode begins with the Doctor back in the Universe that he left a few episodes before, without explanation.

I think that what can really make or break a Doctor Who show is the guest stars. I don't expect the story or the special effects to be brilliant. In this case both were considerably less than. I didn't feel the guest stars added very much to this one. It may also not have helped that much of this seven-part story took place within a fairly confined space. The dialogue wasn't all that intelligent. 

On the whole I am disappointed by this one. I had hopes that it would be better than it is. It doesn't give me much hope for other 3rd Doctor shows. I probably will give a couple others a try. I would like to see at least one from the next few season with the original incarnation of the Master. Hopefully the plethora of extras on the Inferno DVDs will provide some entertainment.