Doctor Who: Inferno
Doctor Who fandom routinely applies the word “classic” to its descriptions of several adventures from the original series, and as Doctor Who fandom is wont to do, that description is routinely shifted around to describe different stories, as the prevailing tastes and critical mood of the fans in general. Inferno is just that, a fairly recent addition to the ranks of the Who “classics,” and all I can say is…what took so long?
The seven-part story is presented in its entirety on the first disc of this collection, with a running commentary by the then-current team responsible for this show, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks. Nicholas “The Brigadier” Courtney is on hand to recall the story from his perspective, and there are occasional contributions from John Levene, whose appearances as Sgt. Benton were on the verge of making him a regular cast member. Levene now lives in America, so his commentaries are recorded separately and edited in. This isn’t as jarring as you might think - there’s really only one or two instances where any attempt is made to splice him into the others’ discussion.
The bonus features on the second disc are, as usual, impeccable. Can You Hear The Earth Scream? is the factual documentary about the making of Inferno, with on-screen contributions from not only the commentary participants, but Caroline “Liz Shaw” John, and stuntman Derek Ware, whose hand-picked army of stuntmen, known as HAVOC, were ubiquitous in the Pertwee era. Even as a devotee of the incredibly detailed Howe, Stammers & Walker Handbook series, I learned things about Inferno that I had never known before from this featurette.
The UNIT Family, Part One focuses on both the fictional and creative decisions that led to the formation of UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Task Force, during the twilight of the Patrick Troughton era, which became “home base” for an exiled-to-Earth third Doctor in the early 1970s. UNIT’s early adventures are covered in depth, including John Levene’s unlikely route to the role of Sergeant Benton, and the fact that Nicholas Courtney was almost dismissed as looking “too young” to hold the rank of Brigadier!
In both documentaries, there’s a great deal of reverence for director Douglas Camfield, who helmed many of the military-oriented stories from UNIT’s inception onward, and wound up hospitalized with a serious heart condition during the making of Inferno. Camfield himself is certainly worthy of a future documentary, methinks.
I should probably be tired of saying this, but TV DVDs simply don’t get better than the classic Doctor Who releases. Even the new series DVDs aren’t quite on the same level. And this being one of my favorite stories (and a specimen of that rare beast, a seven-parter that doesn’t contain much in the way of padding out the story), Inferno on DVD certainly gets high marks from me.
