Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest

I've seen reviews of Dreamland that complain of the animation. The animation of Dreamland is clearly based on computer game CGI. Not great, but certainly of its time.

The animation of Infinite Quest is also of its time, not great either, although given over to impressive visual effects in the foreground and background. But the real difference between these two Doctor animated episodes has to do with something far more basic. Dreamland, whatever its visual weaknesses, tells a strong story with a discernible beginning - middle - end. Infinite Quest - does not.

In fact the narratology of Infinite Quest is very similar to that of The Pescatons, jumping and skipping over essential details. But Pescatons is presented as narrated by the Doctor himself, and the voice of Tom Baker covers a multitude of sins. One can listen to Pescatons with the brain on hold and still have a fine time.

Infinite Quest isn't so lucky. Events we expect disappear. Cliff-hangers end in 'deux-ex-machina' cul-de-acs. At the end everything is explained - yet nothing much has happened.

I don't blame the actors, animators, or supporting personnel. This is the problem that the writer, producer, and director must own. Either Doctor Who is a series worthy of proper storytelling, or it is a throwaway for a quick buck.

Recognizing that this episode was clearly intended for children, I'll give it a little extra credit. It is certainly watchable. But I expected more - a solid story taking advantage of the animated media. I don't feel we get that here.

Having destroyed his ship seconds before it was due to destroy Earth, the Doctor and Martha leave villain Baltazar adrift in open space assuming he will serve the rest of eternity in prison. Travelling forward in time they learn that he was in prison but was released as he was deemed "reformed". On the contrary, the Doctor learns that Baltazar seeks "the infinite", a device of great power that will see him able to be the scourge of the galaxy. The Doctor and Martha set out to recover it first, but is it part of a trap?

This animated Doctor Who episode was screened in parts over the series "Totally Doctor Who" – which I never watched because it was aimed at children (as the title would suggest). However the complete special was trailed after the first part of the season 3 conclusion and, since I enjoyed that so much that I was in the mood for more. At first glance I didn't think this was going to be any good. What put me off right away was the animated Doctor and Martha just looked, well, odd. I didn't manage to get past this and even after 45 minutes I still thought that they didn't work visually but what did work well was the fact that whole episode was set in locations that even the increased budget given to season 3 couldn't have created. The locations are inventive and well laid out – the animation isn't amazing but it is good for what it is.

The plot is reasonably good and allows for the location hopping and for, in theory, the creation of another nemesis for the Doctor (assuming the animation went on from this one-off). The voice work is not that great though. The presence of Tennant and Agyeman is a bonus of course but they don't manage to produce anything as good as they do in the series – Tennant is a bit too wacky here though. Head has a good voice for his character but people like Liza Tarbuck, Calyton, Meo and Morgan stand out too much without giving good performances at the same time.

Overall then this is an OK special that will probably be worth seeing for fans but not for the casual viewer who would need it to be at the level of the "proper" series. Visually it offers locations beyond the budget of the normal series but the performances and characters aren't there with it.

The most successful thing about this is how the animation flawlessly captures David Tennant's and Freema Agyeman's performances. Next, I thought the script could have worked for an actual Doctor Who feature. Not that it was phenomenal, but had they made a Tennant flick, this would have clicked because its ultimately a stand-alone story, but broad in scope. Unfortunately what we get is claustrophobic, cheap-feeling flash animation. A traditional 2D approach would have served this better, though admittedly it would have been more expensive and time consuming. Some great ship and robot designs with decent 3D rendering, but my concentration evaporated about 10 minutes in and I was waiting for it to end.

Finally, the Revived Series addresses the scope of the Classic. Infinite Quest manages to capture the feel of season story arcs like Dalek's Master Plan, many of Tom Baker's seasons, and Trial of a Timelord, in just 45 minutes. Particularly, Infinite Quest brought to mind Pirate Planet, Androids of Tara, and Power of Kroll, of The Key to Time Arc. If there is only one Timelord to monitor all of creation, why does he doddle so much on Earth? If you are tired of the Earth bound &/or Earthling centric adventures of the Revived Series, you will be delighted to find androids and aliens playing the prominent rolls in Infinite Quest. If it takes animation to tell this kind of Classic Doctor Who story today, do what you got to do!