Doctor Who: The 10 Most Pathetic Plans Put Forward By Villains

3. The Inferno Project

The Inferno Project is a mining expedition to the Earth's core to retrieve a supposedly sustainable traditional fossil fuel alternative, Stahlman's gas. The greedy men running the project, especially the man for whom the gas is named (pictured above), ignore and cover up repeated safety concerns in the quest for their goal. What Makes This Pathetic? Even before the "point of no return" as the Doctor called it, there were enough early effects to suggest turning back: the inadvertent creation of a gaggle of violent creatures known as Primords, and exposing many to a high risk of mutation€”both causing deaths to the crew. The narrative benefit of the parallel universe allows us to know with absolute certainty that the end result of the Inferno Project was a mass explosion, capable of destroying the Earth. But perhaps most pathetic of all was that although the Doctor played a role in making certain the project was halted in his home universe, he was not particularly necessary. If Professor Stahlman and his devotees had listened to anyone, they could have realised it was a foolish endeavour long before things got as bad. On a somewhat snarkier note, I wish Stahlman would've left some notes for the people in charge of the Blessing, the split straight through the Earth in Torchwood: Miracle Day, before it got sealed up. If he had, we might've collected the gas from there danger-free.