Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity Review

With the return of Gallifrey this Saturday we at The Gallifrayan Gazette thought we take a look back at a couple of stories that took place on Gallifrey.

Doctor Who:
Arc of Infinity
By Johnny Byrne

“I've found it unwise to predict what the Doctor can or cannot do.”

After The Doctor’s TARDIS is under attack from someone crossing the Arc of Infinity and trying to take over the Doctor’s body.  This was made possible by a traitor on Gallifrey who stole The Doctor’s biodata information.  Soon after this happens The Doctor gets the recall from Gallifrey and his TARDIS is route back home.

It is not the warm welcome he was expecting as The Doctor and Nyssa are locked in the security area where the TARDIS materialized in.  They soon break out and are now being hunted by the Castellans guard where Commander Maxil promptly shoots him.  The Doctor and Nyssa are then brought up to the High Council of Time Lords where they decide the only way to stop the animatter being from getting into our universe is to execute The Doctor.  But this works to the plans of the one who is behind all of this.  The long lost Time Lord Omega who wants nothing more than to come back and rule Gallifrey.

The Twentieth Season of Doctor Who was one of celebration.  John Nathan – Turner wanted to do something special for the Twentieth so he wanted the season to have adversaries from The Doctor’s past come back and cause havoc again.  The Arc of Infinity was filled with stuff from The Doctor’s past as we return to Gallifrey and The Time Lords and one that we have seen before in Damon who is Leela’s husband and of course Borusa who is now Lord President.

More importantly is the return of Omega who was last seen in the Tenth Anniversary story The Three Doctors.  This time he has his own TARDIS and servant The Ergon and he is based in Amsterdam.  He gets a new redesigned costume and his identity is kept secret until the end of episode 3.  What a reveal that was as he would be one of the last villains anyone would expect but actually quite appropriate since it is the Twentieth Anniversary.

Tegan also returns in this story and I liked how they did it with her cousin getting captured by Omega and Tegan searching for him. She was supposed to meet him in Amsterdam to visit so having her helping out to find him and then getting mixed up in the events really worked.   The look on The Doctor’s face is priceless when she says she is back for good.

I enjoyed Arc of Infinity as it was one of those stories that had something for everyone.  I really liked the chemistry between Nyssa and The Doctor and it is too bad that that wasn’t the main Doctor companion relationship during that era.   I think that pairing would have been terrific as we have seen with the Big Finish adventures.

Arc of Infinity is also known for a guest appearance by future Doctor Colin Baker playing Commander Maxil.  He was pretty ruthless and mean in the role and even shots himself in a figurative way.  I still find it strange to watch him in Arc of Infinity and then the next season he is the Sixth Doctor.  Strange and funny as one might say he was being ruthless to get the role early.  I’m just kidding on that one.

While Arc of Infinity isn’t the greatest Doctor Who story but it sure is a fun one to watch with lots of past characters and a story that isn’t all that bad that shows more of Gallifrey and the Matrix also.
Grade B –