Arc of Infinity

"Every time the Doctor returns to Gallifrey there is violence!"

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released:

Series: Target

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

When the Doctor returns to Gallifrey, he learns that his bio data extract has been stolen from the Time Lords' master computer known as the Matrix.

The bio data extract is a detailed description of the Doctor's molecular structure – and this information, in the wrong hands, could be exploited with disastrous effect.

The Gallifreyan High Council believe that anti-matter will be infiltrated into the universe as a result of the theft. In order to render the information useless, they decide the Doctor must die...

Verdict

Arc of Infinity was a great novelisation of the televised serial of the same name! It's always fun for the Classic series to go to Gallifrey and this one was certainly no different. There's usually some kind of political shenanigans going on when the Doctor gets involved on his home and that was certainly occurring in abundance here. It started right from the get go with a mysterious Time Lord in conversation with an alien set out to target destruction and a return to life in this dimension. Of course, having watched the serial a number of times we know that it's Omega but for any readers who hadn't seen the story and knew the reveal, I thought the approach of referring to him as an alien was excellent and something I really appreciated. It was also good to hide Hedin's identity as the traitor and it was done so well that I was actually taken aback when that revelation was made! I think I'd convinced myself that The Five Doctors happened prior to this adventure and so when all links were set for Borusa being the Time Lord traitor, I was sucked in! It was obviously very silly of me given my extensive knowledge of the show and its history, but that's testament to the writing as it was all hidden very well. One element of the novelisation I wasn't a massive fan of though was how often we were jumping around from paragraph to paragraph in a different location or scene. I haven't watched the serial in a long time so I can't really remember if that was happening on screen, but in a book that really jumped out as on one page (and the Target books aren't exactly big!) we had five different paragraphs jumping us around different locations on Gallifrey as well as Amsterdam. It was a bit too much and interrupted the flow a little. I did like that the Earth location was in the Dutch capital as that was very different to what we are used to and it was also a fun way to bring Tegan back into the fold after the events of Time-Flight. It was good to see her getting on with life after the Doctor and we now know thanks to Big Finish that the Doctor and Nyssa had extensive travels without her, but it was nice for the latter to acknowledge that she was missing her old companion. Tegan trying to solve the mystery of her missing cousin was good and it was nice for her to use some of the skills she developed whilst travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor's fate on Gallifrey was excellent and I really enjoyed how seriously the threat of anti-matter was taken. To prevent any kind of bonding, the High Council had decreed that the Doctor must die. Maxil was relishing his role in carrying out the termination and even though there wasn't really any description, the characterisation for a character played by Colin Baker was tremendous. The likes of Borusa and Flavia in the High Council were great and I loved how once the confirmation came that there was a traitor, the Doctor assumed command and was the one enlisted to put everything right again. Nyssa being welcomed to Gallifrey was nice and I enjoyed her reaction to the Doctor's supposed termination and then the news that he was actually alive and well. Hedin's devotion to Omega was fantastic and it going so far as to take a bullet for him by saving the Doctor was excellent. It was all we needed to know and that adoration coming from his fascination with early Time Lord history was terrific. The ending in Amsterdam with Omega supposedly coming back into our universe, only for his Doctor-duplicated form to waste away and revert to anti-matter was really well done and the action of the chase around the city was magnificent. I liked how the Doctor had to pull the trigger on Omega to prevent the anti-matter explosion. Tegan ending up back in the TARDIS was lovely and I liked that the Doctor didn't mind in the slightest, in fact he was rather pleased. Overall, a very good novelisation!

Rating: 8/10