Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Arc of Infinity

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This Target book is a novelization of the Doctor Who serial "Arc of Infinity", which was first broadcast in 1983. This book was published the same year and features the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan.

The Doctor, after repairing the audio for the TARDIS monitor, is attacked by an antimatter being. It seems it was trying to merge with him, which means trouble, because matter and antimatter coming into contact would lead to serious destruction. The Time Lords find out about this and force the TARDIS back to Gallifrey, where they plan on killing the Doctor and severing the link with the antimatter being. They soon discover this is all part of somebody's plan, someone the Doctor has encountered before...

Meanwhile, on Amsterdam, a pair of travellers encounter something horrible in the crypt of a mansion...

For me, it was a very quick read, and Terrance Dicks describes the story well. I really would like to watch the TV version to see the ending, which I enjoyed most of all. There's a little too much pondering about on Gallifrey for my liking, but it's all right. It's a reasonable addition to any Doctor Who book collection.

A good old Target Novel. I love how quick everyone is to kill the Doctor in the "enlightened" society that is Gallifrey. I hate to admit it, but the best part is the last bit. A chase around Amsterdam between the Doctor and Omega in the style of Benny Hill finishes this literary masterpiece. Chalk another one up for Terry Dicks!

Next up in the never ending stream of evil doers who wish to conquer the universe is none other than a Time Lord. The Doctor must again save the day, and he has Nyssa as his companion in this one. Tegan, a prior companion also makes an appearance and at the end it seems as though she will also be again joining the Doctor in his travels.

The Doctor finds himself summoned to Gallifrey and sentenced to death for a crime he had nothing to do with. After getting that little problem taken care of, he must stop a banished Time Lord from stealing the Matrix. All in a days work I guess when you are the Doctor.

A well paced book and a quick read.

A shadowy meeting on Gallifrey, backpackers seeking cheap accommodation in Amsterdam, and a strange force invading the TARDIS mark the beginning of a story which sees the return of an old foe and substantially threatens reality as we know it.

This story is the first of the twentieth season of Doctor Who, and like every story of this season features something from the Doctor's past. This story acts as a sequel to one of the stories in Doctor Who's tenth season, but sadly an imperfect sequel.

Like any story set, to whatever extent, on Gallifrey, it looks backwards at the Time Lords history. I certainly welcome the return of Borusa, the Doctor's old teacher, who is now President of the Time Lords. Borusa is a very strong character (and events in 'The Five Doctors' have always seemed out of character to me) who enlivens the stories in which he appears.

The story is interesting enough, but could have been better if it was either no a sequel to an earlier story, or if it had been more consistent with that story. There is also some strange physics, which seems largely to justify setting the Earth portion of the story in Amsterdam. Terrance Dicks adaptation is quite straightforward, but it is a pity he didn't try to include additional bits to make it more consistent with the earlier story.

Omega, one of the greatest Time Lords, was believed to have been destroyed by the matter/anti-matter explosion in The Three Doctors. But suddenly someone has stolen the Doctor's bio=print from Gallifrey and the Doctor is forced to return to his home planet to save himself and the Time Lords. A good adventure that shows us a rare early glimpse at Gallifrey.