We watched the Special Edition DVD version with info subtitles.
This is an extraordinary DW serial. The idea was good if not entirely original. Don Houghon noticed that two real projects run by US and Soviet governments in the 50's to drill through the earth's crust were abandoned suddenly without explanation. When questioned years afterward the explanation remained classified. Why?
But the combination of this with the parallel world/alt characters/actually we have a free pass to bow the world up.. ( go!!) is irresistable.
(There's some historical argument about whether the parallel world stuff was Houghton's original idea or Letts/Dicks' suggestion.)
Breaking it down eps 3,4,5 and 6 are essentially padding. But meat not waffle.
The performances are all very good. Courtney, Pooley, Dunn, Newark, John, Benjamin, even Pertwee are all on form and eating it up. The Havoc team are never better than they are here: Walsh, Martin, Scammell, Chuntz, Ware, Horrigan (there are others).
Minor roles like John Levene as Benton involve two versions and a Primord transformation. That's what this is like. Depth and quality.
The writing is clever and the text is sparse and pared down from an initial florid draft. (Well edited Mr Dicks, never tell a three word story with a paragraph!)
This is Douglas Camfield's best directing and ironically he didn't do a large chunk of it! Keen to prevent the ruination of his reputation as a reliable director he asked Barry Letts to hush up the fact that he stopped work during the first of 4 studio sessions (location work completed a few weeks prior) due to his cardiac trouble.
How this impacted on Sheila Dunn (his other half) who was in the cast at the time is a movie in itself.
This great DW story was rescued from the catastrophe of its director having a heart attack and heading to hospital by Barry Letts stepping in as director. All he had to do was follow the camera script. Luckily he had more than a clue about how to do so.
The best aspect of Inferno is the way that the plot is clear and easy to follow throughout the story. The stunts, the costumes, the locations and the camerawork are all elements that pop off the screen in this but the script and the way it is performed are down to the director. So the credit for clarity of the story is down to Mr Camfield.
Camfield only returned to DW twice more (Zygons and Seeds of Doom in Tom's second series.) He wasn't finished as a director (there's a long list of 70's TV with his name on it). He was not happy about doing more DW for some reason. Every time he had returned to direct a DW he managed to top his effort with a better one.
There's a biography that needs to read. Book to find....(Something might have been published in 2017 but Miwk does not have it on their website now... see https://forgottentelevisiondrama.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/directed-by-douglas-camfield-z-cars-1967-69-bbc1/ )
If Douglas had not suffered a tragic early death in 1984 he would doubtless be remembered now as one of the top movie directors of the late 20th century. Imagine what a Camfield directed Black Mirror would be like then imagine what a Camfield directed Alien or Independence Day would have been like. There be no crap perfomance from minor characters or lazy flip endings. You get the idea?
Episode 6
This is a strong candidate for best ever episode of DW. It has monsters and excitement. But it also has tension and dramatic conflict (man against implacable natural disaster). It has well defined and performed characters who face this drama with intelligence, skill and persistence under enormous pressure. In short the bravest characters in DW history are Sutton, Williams, SL E Shaw. The Brigade Leader is merely part of the problem. His failure to be brave is his simple cowardice.
Ep 6 has a scary and compelling climax, believable depiction of the volcanic disaster. It has credibility. No suspension of disbelief is required to see any of this because it is clearly depicted on the screen. This is DW at it's best.
Some people have mean things to say about the cuddly (ugly?) Primords but I'm gonna argue that's piddling compared to how the episode looks. Budget DW monsters are frequently excused but to be real these are certainly not the worst ever.
In my opinion ep6 of Inferno is a rerun to mark on your calendar. Don't watch it too much. But watch it properly whenever you do.
DW was awesome before this and already the best TV show ever.
Episode 6 is where four brave people battled in vain against annihilation to preserve a world which they had no chance of benefiting from saving. Like being inside a massive war in which there's no chance of survival, they act on the advice of the mysterious wanderer in time and space who for some reason they believe and whose word they accept (even though he's supposed to be 'exiled' to the Earth). He's telling them that their effort and sacrifice will cause someone else to be free. But they all doomed. Would you believe it, if it happened to you? What will you predict will happen?
This is where DW became a legend...
Eps 4, 5 and 7 aren't that far behind.
New number 2.
ABM Rating 3.98/4.00
LJM Rating 4.25/5.00
SPJ Rating 9.20/10
No. 2 (out of 54)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
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