Arc of Infinity [TV/1983.1.3 ~ 1.12]

★★★☆☆

  Lots of missed potential? The best it could've been with the state of the script? Well, whatever you lot think of it, I know how I think of Arc of Infinity... and I think it's fine. Just fine. It's not the most entertaining serial, but I don't really think it's the trainwreck that many make it out to be either. There's certainly a lot of novelty in the narrative, which makes the oddball decision of hinging the death of the entire universe on chasing a black-clad blonde man through Amsterdam for a few minutes, and for what it's worth the production does the best it can to make it as digestible as possible. The result is that this serial actually flies by with ease, and has plenty of factors to entertain me. Peter Davison is visibly comfier in the role than he was a year ago, and he gets a couple of touching moments; it takes a true Doctor to convince a companion holding a gun to save his life to hand the gun to her and let him die, and the Fifth Doctor pulls this off very well. He doesn't do an awful lot in this serial, but moments like those help improve the overall quality.

  As I said before, Arc of Infinity is such a weird, out-there script; by this I don't mean that this is some ambitious, Lynchian exercise... but that it trades in all opportunities to be theatrical and grandiose (I mean, Gallifrey is one of the main settings for Christ's sake, and Omega returns!) in favour of a string of left-hook decisions, such as setting the other half of the serial on Amsterdam and reducing Omega's great and bountiful power to having one clunky (albeit terrifying in certain angles) monster under its thrall. Furthermore, this bastard situates himself underneath the sewers in Amsterdam! It's ridiculous to even think about it... and I'm actually quite glad that JNT went through with it. It's such an understated opener to a season -- a miracle of an achievement when you have Omega, Time Lords and the return of Tegan -- and I just happen to really like it for it. Nyssa is characterised and performed very well, the Doctor is quick on his feet (though he's not really the most entertaining aspect of the serial), and Omega's design is an interesting decision that has grown on me over the years. There's a lot to have fun in here... but please, let's not let down Gallifrey like this again. This planet has been done so dirty in the eighties, all dull corridors and mediocre set design. It's the most embarrassing aspect of Arc of Infinity for me; let's not get back to this again, eh?

(sidenote: reading lesbian undertones between Nyssa and Tegan is actually pretty fun and makes Sarah Sutton's subtle acting choices here more fun to watch, trust me.)