Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest

"I'm Martha, on an intergalactic race with the Doctor to stop the scourge of the universe Baltazar getting his hands on this lethal weapon. It won't be easy stopping him. Join me for the whole adventure from start to finish."


This is a Doctor Who cartoon story, in which the Doctor and Martha go on a quest to recover the four data chips that can lead the possessor to the Infinite - an ancient spaceship that can grant a person's greatest desire. (not sure what happened to all the other people who'd previously found it throughout history – you'd have thought some of them might be quite noticable by now)

It was originally broadcast in 13 three-minute episodes, although the last of these was apparently only included in the omnibus version, which is what I watched this morning.

It's very much a production of half-measures. Animation offers the opportunity to do lots of visual things that would have been much more expensive in the live-action show, yet with the whole universe to choose from, the story's all around Earth again. There are some nice visuals though, notably a giant talking frog, which might have been a challenge to take seriously in the live action series.

The other disappointing aspect is the audio. Several actors, including the two leads, are quite unrehearsed. I'd suggest that maybe they weren't used to working in audio, but I heard David Tennant in Sympathy For The Devil recently, when he was his usual firing-on-all-cannons self.

The best thing about this adventure though is its simplicity. Aimed squarely at kids, there are no pretentious sub-texts (that I noticed) or heavy-handed discontinuity. The simple fact that it got made opens up the opportunity for more kid-orientated Who, although hopefully with a bit more imagination.