Arc of Infinity

For a Doctor Who story, or indeed any story, to succeed, it is essential to have a situation that the viewer will care about. If the Doctor is threatened, if a planet is in danger, we must feel that danger, understand the nature of the threat. I say this now because, while Arc of Infinity is, in every way, a better made piece of television than Time-Flight, it utterly fails to connect to me as a viewer. The threats to the Doctor are explained by using the most extreme barrage of technobabble that the programme has ever seen and it never ceases. This is a story that progresses entirely by constructing, deactivating or bypassing various contraptions, rather than anything involving actual ideas or characters. The adversary of the story is Omega, but his identity is revealed far too late in the story and only those who remembered The Three Doctors would be able to pick up on the mentions on anti-matter to guess the identity of the antagonist. The Amsterdam section of the story is very poorly integrated with the Gallifreyan section and shows a shocking lack of anything approaching invention or imagination.

Visually, the story is competent, but dull. The location filming in Amsterdam is so unimaginative that it could have been shot anywhere- Only Fools and Horses would shoot in the same location with far greater flair two years later. Gallifrey is realised as a kind of futuristic coffee shop. Ron Jones's direction is hardly memorable, but he can have hardly been galvanised by the material. The most disappointing thing of all is the Matrix, which is realised as a bunch of criss-crossed lines.

There are some excellent actors here, but most are wasted. Leonard Sachs makes a rather disappointing Borusa and Elspet Grey is given little to do. Michael Gough, however, refuses to be cowed by the blandness and plays his part with vigour. On Earth, the performances are less good, with Andrew Boxer coming off more as a talented amateur, rather than a professional. Peter Davison manages to be engaging throughout and Sarah Sutton fills the role of sole companion rather better than I would have expected- however it is good to see Janet Fielding back.

If the story has a success it is the eventual portrayal of Omega. He is not just a villain- he thanks Hedin for his help and is genuinely angry at his death. Ian Collier is pretty good in the role (a far cry from his previous appearance in The Time Monster). Omega's costume design is excellent and the Ergon, while it is hardly the best Doctor Who monster, is about a thousand times better than the Gel-Guards. The best thing of all is Davison's child-like performance as the reborn Omega, which gives the final 15 minutes of the story more drama, wonder and excitement than the rest of the story put together. It is far too little, far too late, though.

NEXT: Snakedance