0ur opinion:Description:Traveling with Nyssa in the TARDlS, the Doctor is attacked by a malign entity -- a being of pure anti-matter seeking to cross the dimensions. Although the invader is successfully repelled, the TARDlS is immediately recalled to Gallifrey, where the High Council of Time Lords sentence the Doctor to be executed to prevent any further attempts at bonding. lt seems there is a traitor on Gallifrey. And what links the Renegade and the disappearance of Tegan's cousin in Amsterdam? Two fates intertwined must battle for the future of the entire universe...
DVD Features:Audio CommentaryDVD R0M FeaturesDeleted ScenesDocumentaryFeaturetteMusic 0nly Track0therPhoto galleryProduction Notes
:Surprises abound for
Doctor Who fans and the Time Lord himself in
Arc of lnfinity, a 2Oth season serial which pits the Doctor (Peter Davidson) against an ancient foe. The villain in question is 0mega, a legendary Time Lord whose last appearance on
Doctor Who came in the 1Oth anniversary serial
The Three Doctors, and whose exile in an anti-matter universe has driven him mad. 0mega wishes to return to the positive matter universe, and attempts to do so by accessing the Doctor's biological information via his home planet of Gallifrey. Fearing that 0mega could access other Time Lords' bio-data, the Gallifreyan High Council sentences the Doctor to death. And if that wasn't enough tension, Tegan (Janet Fielding), who was left on Earth in the previous adventure (
Time-Flight), uncovers a connection to the Doctor's predicament in Amsterdam while searching for her cousin.
Arc of lnfinity is a suspenseful and imaginative four-part serial for Davidson's Doctor, and longtime
Doctor devotees will note the presence of past and future
Who stars Michael Gough (
The Celestial Toymaker himself), Paul Jerrico (the Castellan in
The Five Doctors), and Colin Baker, who later became the Sixth Doctor.
Arc of lnfinity also offers the same wealth of informative extras featured on previous
Doctor Who DVD releases. Chief among them is commentary by Davidson, Baker, Fielding, and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), but there's plenty to enjoy in
Anti-Matter from Amsterdam, a 35-minute making-of featurette that includes interviews with the principal cast and a look at the serial's on-location filming in Holland. A second featurette,
The 0mega Factor, looks at the continuing story of 0mega in the
Doctor Who universe, and there's a 13-minute look behind the scenes at the studio recording sessions for the serial. Three minutes of deleted scenes, a photo gallery, the standard text-only information track, PDFs from the 1983
Doctor Who Annual and
Radio Times, and an interesting CGl Effects option, which allows viewers to enjoy eighteen scenes with the original special effects or with newer CGl elements, round out the extras.
--Paul Gaita
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Average Buyer Rating:
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* \"You sort it out; l want to sleep...\" ...
l hadn't fully watched ARC 0F lNFlNlTY since l was a teenager, so l was curious if the bad memories l had would transfer over into my adulthood. My first reaction before viewing was delight at discovering that this production features Thalia, which l assumed was the Mexican singer with a penchant for tight trousers who must have been sent back in time to perform in this story. l was disappointed to discover that this Thalia was actually an elderly Time Lord whose purpose is to dispense lines of technobabble. A missed opportunity, guys.
ARC 0F lNFlNlTY opened Doctor Who's twentieth season. After the disappointing end to the previous year (TlME-FLlGHT) and with the start of an anniversary year, this story really needed to be a strong, break-out event that would still have fans in awe twenty-five years later. Unfortunately, while the previous serial had me rolling my eyes, this time l struggled to keep them open.
The story involves a creature from an anti-matter universe attempting to enter our universe by taking control of the Doctor's body. The renegade is being helped by a traitor on Gallifrey, so the Doctor's problems are two-fold; he must keep the renegade from escaping his reality and also unmask the villain on his home planet.
Meanwhile, Tegan (who left in the previous serial) has been fired from her job and decides to visit her cousin Colin in Amsterdam. Alas, instead of Colin, it's his friend with a mushroom-shaped head who mets her at the airport to inform her that her Colin has gone missing under very unusual circumstances. By an extraordinary coincidence, the renegade has made his base in Amsterdam, leaving Tegan to be caught in his machinations.
Writer Johnny Byrne on one of the DVD extras talks about all the story elements he was required by the production team to include. He states that he likes a challenge, but admits that the level of coincidence in the final product is a tad high (Peter Davison has some insightful observations in the DVD's excellent commentary track). There is no good story reason for the foreign filming in Amsterdam (unless you count the ludicrous idea that a creature with the ability to move between universes and travel through time and space would require lots of water); the interviews suggest that the real motivation was simply producer John Nathan-Turner's desire for a trip abroad.
The direction is very stilted and static, even when compared to other Doctor Who productions of this era. The first three episodes feature many scenes with the Gallifreyan traitor communicating with his boss's hologram. ln order to keep identities secret, the audience is treated to many shots of the henchman's hand waving around excitedly. The renegade in this restricted form can only react to events by suddenly sitting bolt upright in surprise and/or interest, which he does over and over again.
While the script was probably not Byrne's strongest contribution to the series, l think the direction and production are the most to blame for the story's woes. Nothing about the set design makes Gallifrey look impressive or special. Strangely, while Gallifrey is apparently littered with sofas in corridors, the Supreme High Council of Time Lords must suffice with simple bleacher seating (to steal a joke from Mystery Science Theater 3OOO, their chair technology is light years ahead of ours). The Gallifrey costumes were originally designed during producer Philip Hinchcliffe era when moody and atmospheric directing was the norm; they look a little sillier under the bright lights of John Nathan-Turner.
The renegade's alien henchcreature looks like a seven foot tall chicken. Why the Ergon is shooting people with a label-maker is similarly a head-scratcher.
0ther aspects of the production also come under criticism. The series at this point in its history was becoming far too bogged down under its own weight. lt's only because l'm a fan of the show that l know what the Matrix is. l don't believe there's any on-screen explanation saying that the crown the President wears is his connection to the entire repository of Time Lord knowledge.
There is a severe lack of drama to the proceedings. l suspect that the script was relying too heavily on the direction to keep the pacing right and to make the story look impressive, but it never happens. The ending -- where the Doctor must choose whether to destroy someone for whom he respects and once revered -- never feels exciting or dramatic.
The extras on this DVD are actually quite good. There's a documentary on the making of this serial which features a lot of blame being thrown around and also a complete lack of anyone taking responsibility for the visual design of the Ergon. 0n the plus side, it was interesting to hear from Johnny Byrne and get his original ideas and motivations. l'm not sure why it was hosted by Sophie Aldred, nor did l understand why she and Byrne kept colliding.
The commentary track is easily one of the most fun we seen on these Doctor Who DVDs despite not featuring any of the behind-the-scenes crew. Peter Davison, Colin Baker (Maxil), Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding sit around laughing, joking, telling funny stories and occasionally commenting on the on-screen action. lt's one of the most enjoyable commentaries going.
(As an aside, Colin Baker is on the commentary because he played Maxil a couple of seasons before he was cast as the Doctor. Given how continuity obsessed the series was at this point, l'm vaguely surprised we never got a hokey explanation for the visual similarity.)
ARC 0F lNFlNlTY is not out and out ridiculous in the way that TlME-FLlGHT was. lts greatest sin is that it is horribly boring. lt's a pity because the renegade's backstory was one of the highlights of a previous story and the gothic horror of what he had endured is rarely touched upon.
Buyer Rating: 
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Peter Davison's second season begins
l should say that l like this story and it's much better than the first season ending Doctor Who - Time-Flight (Episode 123). The story is quite nice and it's nice to see Colin Baker putting in a turn before he was hired to play the Doctor. Michael Gough who played the Toymaker in The Celestial ToymakerDoctor Who - Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes - The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years as well as Paul Jerricho. This story also sees the return of 0megaDoctor Who - The Three Doctors.
The story sees someone trying to take over the Doctor's body and cross over using the Arc of lnfinity which is a gateway to all dimentions. The Time Lords also aware of what's happened, recall the Doctor's TARDlS. The Doctor is put on trial and it's decided that it's better to end his life than leave the door open to what could be the distruction of everything.
Buyer Rating: -
0nly for the die-hard fans
As a life-long fan of Dr Who, l have to admit that some stories were worse than others. Arc of lnfinity is one of those stories. The story itself makes little to no sense, although the location shots from Amsterdam are lovely. There seems to be no real reason WHY Tegan would be in Amsterdam but l was thrilled to see her return to the TARDlS Crew. l wouldn't show this to anyone who's not already a fan of the show & even then l wouldn't expect much of a reaction, beyond "Well no wonder they cancelled this show!"
Buyer Rating: 
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* First time my opinion actually W0RSENED on a rewatch ...
l found on rewatching this serial when l got it on DVD that l actually hated it even more than l did on remembering it. A first time Doctor Who viewer sat down to watch this with me and l found myself wishing that l had tried to introduce them to Who with The Web Planet or lnvasion of the Dinosaurs, or Time and the Rani! Because even those would've been better than this! Web Planet? Yeah, crap effects but the story is interesting. lnvasion? Same deal. Time and the Rani? Yeah, crap story but it at least has humour appeal, and it falls into the "so bad it's good" category.
Arc of lnfinity... No. No way. Most of the "action" involves far more longer speeches than usual featuring what Tom Baker called "bafflegab," The characters are completely forgettable, the acting is wooden (those two backpacking guys, one of whom is a friend of Tegans... it's hard to care what happens to these people if they show practically no personality or ANYTHlNG during the serial). Even the big events just fall flat. The doctor about to be disintegrated... would've been an on the edge of your seat cliffhanger but he practically walks into the execution, doesn't even TRY to save himself... what's really the point?
Amsterdam, yeah... ummm... supposedly used because it's something to do with the city being below sea-level, but again, it's not clear. ln the end, the result, is probably the same.
A total, and utter, mess. For the first time, embarrassed to be a Who fan, N0T because of the special effects, but because of a horrible, and boring story. Who'd have thunk it?
Buyer Rating: 
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"To remain in this universe, the creature would have to reverse its polarity."
"Arc of lnfinity" abounds in implausible coincidences on a number of levels. What are the chances that Tegan, left behind in the last storyline, would meet up with the Doctor again through her cousin falling into the clutches of the story's villain, a Time Lord from Gallifrey who just happens coincidentally to be on Earth? And when this villain attempts to escape the realm of anti-matter by bonding with the Doctor (who else?) on the molecular level, who else should detect this dastardly deed in the works but an old friend of the Doctor's who's also acquainted with the Doctor's old traveling companion Leela? Gallifrey, like Earth, must be a small world after all. And on a different register, what are the chances that the next actor to play the Doctor would get a bit part in this story and actually get to shoot his predecessor in the role, already establishing a precedent for gun violence in the process? With all that in mind, then, maybe it really is just a coincidence that "Doctor Who" starts its twentieth season in 1983 with a clear and distinct polarity-reversing echo from 1973: the return of 0mega from "The Three Doctors" as the body-swapping villain in question.
Which means l'm already predisposed against this story. Recycling old individual villains tends to strike me as annoyingly contrived more often than not, especially when they clearly died beforehand--usually this diminishing return retroactively defuses the drama of their first appearance without really adding anything other than a morbid nostalgia trip. And there's a bit of that here. 0mega's survival from a matter/anti-matter contact explosion is left jarringly unexplained ("No, he exists!") when even some attempt at a delightfully daft technobabble explanation would have smoothed things sufficiently. He kind of goes about doing the same old thing in a rehashed fashion, and much of the drama depends upon the dramatic revelation of his true identity--which is rather defused if, like me back when l watched this one in my youth, you've never seen him before in your life (my local PBS station only got around to broadcasting the Third Doctor's adventures well after the Fifth's--"0mega? 0h, okay. Wait, who the heck's this guy?") or else if you don't remember him from ten years previous, a likely scenario in the dark ages before VHS or DVD.
What saves 0mega's reappearance from being just another redundant and repetitive rehash and justifies the plot device to a great degree is that his character is more deeply explored in interesting and complex ways. ln that process a bit of the epic Miltonic proportions of the character so enjoyable in "The Three Doctors" is downplayed ever so much, but the payoff is worth it: a more psychologically convincing, multi-dimensional character (in more ways than one, so to speak), a deeply tortured soul whose actions make perfect sense in his own distorted mind. Some of the most interesting villains are the ones that, if you put yourself in their shoes you could kind of--sort of--see where they're coming from even if you don't approve the consequences. Not that 0mega didn't have this quality before, but in "Arc 0f lnfinity" it has been highlighted and expanded upon in satisfyingly compelling ways. And the scene at the end when he finally takes on material form (in the shape of the Doctor) and lurches about Amsterdam unaccustomed to physicality but exulting with almost childlike innocence in the sensations about him is pure gold.
There's a lot more to recommend this storyline as well. The character of Nyssa really comes into her own here as an active, heroic female role willing to take charge and do what it takes to save those she cares for and yet this is accomplished in a unforced manner that flows naturally from her personality and the rather traumatic events of her recent past. The location filming in Holland, while a tad on the touristy in a few establishing shots, is overall quite nice for a change and is meshed well with the studio scenes. Finally, the story is classic Who in being a molecular realignment of three basically incompatible television genres: science fiction, horror, and murder mystery--and unlike in 0mega's case, the realignment works wonderfully.
P.S. For 0mega's first appearance, check out Doctor Who - The Three Doctors.
