“Arc of Infinity” is the first adventure of the twentieth season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1983. It follows “Time-Flight” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Ron Jones.

The story

While traveling in the Tardis along with Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) is attacked by an entity made of antimatter. This was possible only having the Doctor’s biodata so he decides to go on Gallifrey to figure out who’s behind that. However, when he arrives on his home planet, he’s greeted by Commander Maxil (Colin Baker), who captures him and Nyssa. The Time Lords are aware of the threat and want to solve the situation by executing the Doctor.

In Amsterdam, two boys go spend the night in a crypt but see the appearance of a strange alien creature who starts a form of control on Colin, one of them. The other guy isn’t believed by the police and his only hope is to be helped by Colin’s cousin, Tegan (Janet Fielding), who’s just arrived in the city.

Extras

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, Radio Times Billings, a promo of the “Doctor Who” DVDs about to be published and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton and actor Colin Baker.

Anti-Matter from Amsterdam. A 35-minute documentary on the production of this adventure filmed partially in Amsterdam. Curiously, it’s narrated by Sophie Aldred, who played Ace in the Seventh Doctor’s adventures.

The Omega Factor. A look at the character of Omega through his appearances in “Doctor Who”, also in a Big Finish audio adventure.

Deleted Scenes. Some scenes cut during this adventure’s editing phase.

Under Arc Lights. Footage from a recording session of this adventure. It’s basically a filler.

CGI Effects. The option to watch this adventure with some new CGI special effects. There are no major changes, just a few visual improvements.

Continuities. Some original BBC promos for the this adventure.

Isolated Music. The option to see this adventure with only the original music.

The Doctor Who Annual 1983. The 1983 issue of the magazine “The Doctor Who Annual” in PDF format.

Producer John Nathan-Turner wanted to film a “Doctor Who” adventure abroad after the success of “City of Death”, set in Paris, in 1979. Amsterdam was a city already used to shoot a soap opera produced by the BBC so it was easier to manage the cast and crew journey staying within the budget.

The story also had to solve the problem left at the end of the previous season, when “Time-Flight” finished with the Doctor leaving Tegan on Earth. This was done without any explanation with the intention to create some suspense among the audience and in the new adventure it was necessary to have Tegan meet the Doctor Tegan and Nyssa again.

The year 1983 mark the twentieth “Doctor Who” anniversary and producer John Nathan-Turner wanted to hava villains from the past appearing in the twentieth season. For this reason, a further request to writer Johnny Byrne was the inclusion of Omega, the Time Lord appeared for the first time in “The Three Doctors”.

Unfortunately, the result of these factors put together wasn’t positive. First of all, Amsterdam had to bee important in the story but in the end there’s no real explanation of the alien presence there. There’s only a vague reference to the fact that it’s below the sea level, as if in the whole universe that was the only place with certain characteristics. Writer Johnny Byrne couldn’t think of anything better but obviously neither could script Eric Saward or any other member of the production team considering that no improvements were made to that plot element.

The stories in “Doctor Who” have always relied on coincidences because the Tardis always lands where the Doctor is needed. In “Arc of Infinity” this element is really far-fetched because Tegan goes to Amsterdam to meet a cousin who happened to have been involved in alien activities and for this reason she meets the Doctor again. It’s difficult to say what’s the worst between the hasty manner in which she was abandoned at the end of “Time-Flight” and the artifice used to reunite her with the Doctor.

The return of Omega is potentially interesting, also because it brings the Doctor back on Gallifrey. Producer John Nathan-Turner loved to hide the villain’s identity to create a surprise in the course of an adventures and in “Arc of Infinity” the audience discovered that it was Omega only later in the story.

Unfortunately, the part of the “Arc of Infinity” that takes place on Gallifrey is not up to previous adventures on the Doctor’s home planet. For example, in “The Three Doctors” the Time Lords are in danger due to Omega but they keep their nerve, in this adventure instead they seem to panic and take hasty decisions. In “The Deadly Assassin” the Time Lords are Machiavellian, in this adventure instead their actions are rather crude. The Gallifrey sets are not all as good as the ones used in the past. The budget was low in previous adventures too yet they had managed to give the citadel a certain grandeur.

“Arc of Infinity” also has some positive elements. For example, it’s one of the few adventures in which Nyssa is something more than the Doctor’s shadow. She was a companion with great potential but that’s rarely been developed. One of the problems was that Nyssa traveled with the Doctor when there were two other companions who talked a lot and often got in trouble so she was put aside. In an adventure where she’s in fact the only Doctor’s companion she was treated much better by the author.

In “Arc of Infinity” there’s also Colin Baker’s debut in “Doctor Who” in the role of the ruthless Commander Maxil. The actor wanted to appear in the show but he thought that it would have precluded all hope to play the Doctor, instead it helped to bring him to the attention of producer John Nathan-Turner and a little more than one year later he became the Sixth Doctor.

“Arc of Infinity” is an adventure that has far more flaws than merits and in my opinion that makes it mediocre. On the DVD there are some good extras but anless you’re one of the few fans of this adventure it’s worth buying it only if you want to have the complete collection.

On the occasion of the fortieth “Doctor Who” anniversary, Big Finish produced the audio adventure “Omega”, which is basically the sequel of “Arc of Infinity”, being set right after this adventure.

In Region 2 nations, this DVD is part of a boxset together with “Time-Flight”. The two adventures are low level so maybe the extras on the DVD are overall the best contents. However, this is a boxset for the fans to buy possibly when you find it at a bargain price.