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Arc of Infinity Format Reviewed: DVD Review The second season of the era of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison kicks off with Arc of Infinity. Like the previous story, there is a fair amount of location filming here, with Amsterdam chosen rather than Heathrow Airport in Time-Flight. This might seem slightly extravagant though considering that the show was, as ever, suffering from a lack of funds, as can be seen from the special effects of this era. This also might be seen as the influence of John Nathan-Turner exerting his influenceon the show by trying to include more glamorous and genuine locations that were not as easily accessible as London, or indeed various quarries. On Gallifrey, The Doctor is selected by mysterious Time Lords for 'bonding'. Meanwhile, the TARDIS is invaded and a ghostly figure merges with The Doctor near the Arc of Infinity, known to shield anti-matter. Sleeping rough in a crypt, Colin Frazer and Robin Stewart are accosted by a figure that emerges from a TARDIS, and Colin vanishes. The High COuncil of Time Lords then recall The Doctor's TARDIS, and he is shot by guards on arrival and ordered for execution. This is botched though as it was rigged and The Doctor has disappeared, taken into the Matrix by Omega. Back on Earth, Robin calls Tegan and they try to find her cousin, Colin but are captured by Omega. The Time Lord traitor is discovered to be Councillor Hedin, and The Doctor returns from the Matrix to take Nyssa to Amsterdam where Omega has managed to transfer himself into The Doctor's form. This starts to degrade though and will cause an enormous explosion. Omega is then chased through Amsterdam by The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa eventually cornered and converted back to anti-matter through Omega's own weapon, and the crisis is averted. The return of Omega, first of the Time Lords is probably not entirely unexpected. His only previous appearance was in The Three Doctors back in the Pertwee reign. It does once again though stretch the 'how on Earth did he survive last time' train of thought. A bizarre aspect of the story is the re-introduction of Tegan. At the end of the previous season Tegan was left behind at Heathrow airport and seemingly written out of the show. Here she returns, although it appears as though a fair while has passed in the timeline meaning The Doctor has travelled a time with Nyssa on their own. This isn't bad in itself, but just seems rather disorganised. Much like the previous story, we also have a lot of location filming here with Amsterdam and Schipol airport featuring heavily. It does come across as an excuse to travel to a more 'exotic' location for the filming rather than it actually being neccessary for the plot. The Amsterdam scenes are therefore largely padding with far too much running about. What does strike though is that the show was directed and edited in a tight and snappy way, despite all the running about padding. The main cast continues to be Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan respectively. Sutton appears to have grown up as a character a bit during the season break, not least in her makeup but her acting is slightly more distinguished. Davison again does a sterling job as both Omega, albeit in a disturbing way, and The Doctor. Fielding dpes what she does best, and is finally given a script where she isn't totally resentful of where she is and it is refreshing. Where this story is really let down though is in the acting of the guest cast. A lot of them aren't that bad, but some are dire. The worst culprits are Andrew Boxer and Alastair Cumming who play Robin Stuart and Colin Frazer respectively. They are laughable throughout and really distract from the story. Omega himself, played here by Ian Collier, isn't as good as was in The Three Doctors. The Gallifrayans aren't too bad overall, but everyone is sadly let down by the poor actors in the guest cast. At first glance, Arc of Infinity is actually quite a vacuous story with relatively little happening. There is too much reliance on the story looking good and authentic, and less focus on a good story actually being told. When you look into it further though there is a decent tale being told, as if it is struggling to break through the fancy locations, sets and actors charging about pretty scenery. I suppose the biggest let down therefore is that the story could have been so much more, it is a disappointing effort and for that it will not be remembered as a good example of stories in this era. Overall, Arc of Infinity is a good idea for a story badly let down by several factors. Some of the performances from the guest cast are worse than bad, immediately letting down the story. There is also too much padding, with a lot of charging about pretty scenery apparantly for effect rather than plot. Finally, there seems to be a feeling that the aesthetics of the story are more important than the tale being told, which is very disappointing. All-in-all, not the worst story but one that will be remembered as being disappointing. Rating:  |