Day 296 — October 23rd 2021
Arc of Infinity Parts One and Two
Arc of Infinity — Part One
When Time-Flight came out on DVD it was bundles into a box set alongside Arc of Infinity, ostensibly as a collection of ‘Tegan Tales’ given that she leaves in one and returns in the other. I think it was more a case of these being two consecutive poorly-thought-of stories, and trying to get them out as quickly as possible. It has to be said that the quality hasn’t improved massively with the start of a new season — I’ve found a lot of this episode just a bit boring.
It’s a shame because in theory there’s lots in here to keep you interested. We’re abroad for the first time since City of Death, seeing Davison travelling with a single companion for the first time and as much as I moan about Gallifrey stories it’s actually quite exciting to be back there for some reason. I wonder if part of the trouble so far is that all these elements feel so distinct from each other? Sure a TARDIS rocks up in Amsterdam but our regulars are nowhere near arriving. This is a far cry from finding Doctor Who and Romana enjoying the sights of Paris.
It’s also harmed, I think, by the two actors in the Amsterdam scenes being dreadful. They’re both vying for the crown of the worst performance we’ve had in ages, and I’m finding that’s taking me right out of the story. I can’t decide which one is the poorer for the pair, but I suspect it might be Robin for now, if only because Colin’s glassy expression actually suits the story once he’s been taken over by a chicken.
On the subject of performances, Colin Baker makes his Doctor Who debut in this episode, and it actually came as a surprise for me! I moan about how knowing all the little ‘facts’ about the series spoils things like this because it can distract you from simply enjoying the story, but somehow I’d completely forgotten that Colin would be cropping up, so it was nice to see him. Thankfully he’s giving a much better performance than most of the rest of the guest cast. He also gets to be involved in quite a nice cliffhanger, in which he shoots Doctor Who at pretty much point blank range. There’s such a thing as being too keen to take over the role…!
3/10
Arc of Infinity — Part Two
I always used to think that it was a shame they brought Tegan back so quickly — she only left in the last story, and now here she is again. I appreciate that on the original broadcast there would have been nine months between those stories, but I sort of want to see more of what Doctor Who and Nyssa are like as just the pair of them, without everyone else cluttering up the TARDIS. That said, it’s quite nice to see Tegan again — she wasn’t as brilliant as I’d remembered during most of Season Nineteen, but she still feels like a crucial part of this era.
And it’s nice to finally have one of the regulars interacting with the Amsterdam strand of the story, which felt so disconnected in the last episode. I do wish — never happy, me — that we had a bit longer with Tegan investigating the disappearance of her cousin before getting caught up in it all. As it is, she listens to Robin’s story, declares that it sounds like the sort of thing Doctor Who would get caught up in, and then discovers the Ergon wandering around in the crypt. I sort of want to see a bit more of Tegan going about her day-to-day life before getting back to normal.
I’m also not sure how I feel about the casually mentioned loss of her job. It was such a key part of her character last season — she spent most of the stories complaining about not being back at Heathrow, and Logopolis made it look like more of a spiritual calling than any other job. Here she says she’s lost her job almost as an aside, to give a reason for why she decided to come visit her cousin. I think I’d buy it more if she’d decided that the role wasn’t for her and had purposely given it up to go travelling; the influence of Doctor Who bleeding through, just in time for her to discover the TARDIS parked up in Amsterdam and open up the possibility of seeing the universe again.
Elsewhere in this episode… look, I can’t believe I’m about to say this either but I actually quite like the look of Gallifrey. Yes, I know! I was all ready to talk about how naff it looks with sofas in the corridors and the like but there’s places where these sets look closer to the planet we saw in The War Games than anywhere else. There’s little bits of design work in the hallways especially which feel like the same place as those bare rooms where Troughton had to say goodbye to his friends.
I even like Damon’s brown robes — they feel again like something which would fit in with the world of 1969 Gallifrey. It certainly looks much better than the High Council who all sit around in full Time Lord regalia looking about as uncomfortable as possible. Poor Elspet Gray especially looks as though she’s struggling against the weight of her costume. I love the design of the Time Lord collars but The Deadly Assassin implied they were cumbersome formal wear reserved for very special occasions, not clothes to wear day-to-day.
We can add another bunch to my list of guest characters who enter the TARDIS; four Gallifreyan guards, Maxil and Damon all enter the ship in this episode, and most of them get to loiter around in the Control Room with nothing to say or do. Still, it’s tradition now and this new season would feel out of place otherwise…
3/10
