I will go on record as saying that I think Russell T Davies idea of the 'Time War' for NuWho was a bad one. The often used justifications have no bearing on me: "it avoided a continuity nightmare" - Gallifrey could easily have been done in a non-continuity heavy way by a decent writer, and RTD going out of his way to avoid it does not reflect well on his skills there; "it gave the Doctor character development through being the last of the Time Lords" - if you call occasionally making a pretentious speech and/or looking sad character development then sure. I will, however, concede, that the story RTD probably watched before making that decision was this one, because oh boy, oh boy, is this a confused, cluttered, dull, continuity heavy mess.
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| One of Omega's worst tortures inside his anti-matter realm: being forced to watch Arc of Infinity |
I struggle to think of a time when the Time Lords have been done worse - this lacks the grandiose superiority of The War Games, the dark and political intrigue of The Deadly Assassin, the so-bad-its-good hilarity of The Invasion of Time, the unique structure and characters of The Trial of a Time Lord. Even NuWho had Timothy 'the best actor to appear in the show's history' Dalton to give the Time Lords a sense of bombast - in this story they're a bunch of old dull bureaucrats, devoid of any sympathy, interest or motivations. They simply act to move the plot along at an absolutely glacial pace - you could probably cut out most of the second episode and not much would change.
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| Omega better put a stop to his naughty activities or we'll be forced to TAKE THINGS TO COMMITTEE |
The portrayal of the Time Lords is far from the only bad thing about the story though - the directing and editing is baffling bad at times, cutting from once scene to another after only a few seconds and before either scene has had any time to develop - yes, I'm aware 80s Who did this a lot, but this is probably the worst example of it. Not only is it distracting, but it means that the viewer loses interest in either scene. This finally comes to an end when the two stories converge into a dull chase around Amsterdam which feels like it goes on for half the episode, and probably could have been cut.
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| Even Omega's sick of it by this point |
The acting from most of the guest stars is pretty bad as well - from Tegan's cousin and his friend's bizarre Australian monotone, to the mostly bored Time Lord contingent, to this Time Lord technician who appears to view his impending murder as a mild inconvenience more than anything else.
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| Oh blast, I had plans tomorrow! |
To be briefly positive, Peter Davison of course gives it his all, and Colin Baker's Maxil is a fun if in the end inconsequential side part (he'll be back). Additionally, the stuff with Omega in Amsterdam, where he appears to be enjoying some of the more pleasant, smaller aspects of life like a puppet show for the first time in millennia is good - it's just a shame his motivations are confused, and we never really know if we're meant to sympathise with him or not - does he just want to live a normal, non-anti-matter life or does he want to blast Gallifrey into smithereens and take over the cosmos? It's not made all that clear.
Omega also looks absolutely ridiculous, which is a shame given how good his The Three Doctors costume looks. Unfortunately, he is not the most ridiculous looking thing in the episode - his servant, the Ergon, takes that particular prize.
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| This looks like the beginning of a particularly dodgy porno |
To the story's credit, it does try a bit of suspense by not naming Omega, or his Time Lord co-conspirator, until late into the third episode, but this fails on two fronts -
1) All the Time Lord characters are so bland and dull it barely matters which is the traitor, and when it is revealed you've already guessed it by process of elimination anyway.
2) Nobody but a devout Who fan would remember Omega anyway, given this was ten years after The Three Doctors, so the reveal wouldn't really mean anything to the general public - they could have guessed 'evil time lord' themselves, while devout Who fans would already know/guessed it was Omega, rendering the entire thing a bit pointless.
Having such a continuity heavy enemy means that a general viewer wouldn't know enough about him, his motivations, or what he can do, making the 'HE'S IN CONTROL OF THE MATRIX' cliffhanger far less interesting than it should be.
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| Why is Keanu Reeves in here? |
Overall, Arc of Infinity is a failure on most terms, which is a shame, as I really like the character of Omega - I'm probably the only person in the world who likes the audio Omega as much as the much more celebrated Davros and Master, and I maintain that if a Doctor Who movie ever made it to cinemas, he should be the villain. But alas, he is not done justice by this boring, continuity heavy, mess.
So is RTD exonerated? Of course not - aside from the Time War crap he's guilty of multiple other failures - but if his main motivation for introducing the war was this story, I can barely blame him.
Final Score: 3/10. Peter Davison gives it his best shot, and some of the ideas surrounding Omega are interesting, but everything else is boring, bloated, dull, and supremely uninteresting.
Next Episode: Attack of the Cybermen
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