Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6080 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-08-06
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 180 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Two stories based around the character of Tegan, this union of Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity is an interesting double header for any Doctor Who enthusiast. Both stories see Peter Davison in the title role.

Time-Flight's big selling point is neither Davison's Doctor nor Janet Fielding's Tegan. Instead, it's Concorde, as the Doctor gets Tegan to Heathrow Airport, only to discover that the infamous supersonic jet is caught in a muddle with a time corridor. And while truthfully the story wrapping round this concept isn't top of the range Who, it's still both entertaining and easy to watch, and good fun all round.

Arc of Infinity, meanwhile, takes the Doctor back into the midst of the Time Lords, only to discover that one of them has chosen him to be the victim of a strange creature. This creature can only survive by bonding with a Time Lord, and when the High Council of Time Lords rules that the Doctor has to be killed, the scene is set for an interesting mystery, that also sees Tegan fall into dangerous hands too.

The two stories in this Doctor Who boxset are, to be fair, fairly loosely linked, but while neither comes from a particularly classic era of the show, both have plenty to make them worth watching. Of the two, Arc of Infinity is the better, but backed up with the usual top notch extras, this is a boxset that few Doctor Who fans will want to be without. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Two classic Doctor Who adventures. Includes ‘Time Flight’ in wich the Doctor plans a trip back to the year 1851 to visit the Great Exhibition in London but he and his friends end up in Terminal One at Heathrow Airport in the present day. ‘Arc Of Infinity’ finds the Doctor comes under attack and the Tardis is recalled to Gallifrey.

Customer Reviews

Doctor Who Doldrums
There is a myth amongst Doctor Who fans that virtually every story from the classic series that features the word "TIME" in the title is rubbish. This is largely true of the 8 "TIME" titled stories only 2 of them can be considered avarage, the remaining 6 are always voted in the bottom echelons of Doctor Who fan polls. One of the worst offenders is Time-Flight, which is featured with Arc of Infinity in this DVD release.

The storyline is generally confused and is too great a challenge for the effects department to convincingly portray on screen, the Jurassic landscape has the look of something that has been thrown together with no money to spare, but as this was the end of season story it is to be expected. The location work is fine being filmed at Heathrow International Airport and the loan of a Concorde for filming was a considerable coup for the production team, this being the first time that such a plane had been used in the making of a drama.

The story of Time-Flight is essentially about the Master trapping a Concorde in a time rift in order for the passengers to break open an inner sanctum in a citadel that will allow him to steal an alien gestalt lifeform housed inside, which will be used to power his TARDIS somehow. The alien is like a Jekyll and Hyde character, a split personality that works for and against the Master at different times. The Doctor uses a second Concorde to affect a rescue of the passengers from the first plane. There are a many really stupid plotholes within the story, for instance the Master spends half the time dressed as an Arabian wizard when dealing with the passengers. Why did he bother with a disguise for people that didn't know him anyway? It makes no sense within the plot except to provide a cliffhanger ending to episode 2 and shock the Doctor when the Master reveals himself. Second as stated, the Master needed the people to break into the sanctum, Why when Tegan and Nyssa just walked into it? Couldn't he have done the same? There are many plot defects like this that go a long way towards annoying the viewer, defects that could have been tightened up with little effort.

The acting is not very good either, it seems as if even the regulars are just going through the motions and can't wait to bring it to an end.

The story ends with the Doctor defeating the Master and Tegan is accidently left behind on Earth to provide a semi-shock ending to an otherwise excellent season. The viewing figures for Time-Flight were very high which tends to support the view that the story was popular with the general public but hated by the fans.

The special features sound much better, with the usual deleted/behind the scenes package, documentaries and studio floor recordings. But two sound very interesting indeed. Janet Fielding gives her first on-screen interview in over 20 years and should prove fascinating, there is also an option to view the story with new CGI effects and it will be interesting to see if this actually improves the reputation of this very poor story.

Arc of Infinity was the first story of Doctor Who's 20th anniversary and the production team, headed by producer John Nathan-Turner decided that every story would feature some element from the show's past, which was the season's major selling point. Now some fans liked this and some did not, I did not, I thought then and do now that it was a mistake. I have nothing against old enemies/friends and things from the past been seen again, but surely it's better to use them sparingly, it remains a special event if that is the case rather than the norm, it takes the gloss and excitement off icons returning to the show by overkill, by all means use them but only once maybe twice a season and no more.

Omega was the old enemy used to open the season in Arc of Infinity, who made his debut in the show's 10th anniversary story The Three Doctors. Here he was recast being played by Ian Collier, who was it has to be said actually better than Stephen Thorne's original performance, that doesn't happen very often. With Omega being a renegade Time Lord the story was split into two distinct narratives, on Gallifrey and in Amsterdam where Omega has arrived to take control of the Arc of Infinity.
The story is an improvement over Time-Flight but is still very under average, with the final episode being just a chase through the streets of Amsterdam to show off the location that has very little to do with the plot, and for the rejoining of Tegan to the TARDIS crew.
The whole story has a very flat feel to it with uninspired direction and I remember at the time feeling very worried about the future of the show, thankfully the very next story Snakedance was one of the best stories of the Peter Davison era and rescued Doctor Who from the doldrums of these two clunkers.

The special features are again better than the story itself from what I can gather and roughly follow the pattern of Time-Flight, the special features are compiled by the Doctor Who restoration team and their material is always of the highest order, in quality and content and it is a safe bet that they are going to be excellent. It is because of the special features that I am giving this set 3 stars because without them it would be 1.

This boxset is for fans only that buy every Doctor Who release for their collections, a more casual viewer that fancies a Doctor Who may do better in choosing any one of the growing number of Doctor Who DVD's, they are all better than this.

Time-Flight Good, Arc of Infinity Excellent
The best way to review this item it to review the two DVDs separately so that the quality can be judged.
Time-Flight is considered to be a very mediocre story, from the hay-day of the Davison era. I surpose in comparison to the greats from the Pertwee/T. Baker era, this is very true. However, as an eighties effort, Time-Flight is very good.
The useof Concord and the central concept was original for 'Who and the tight script alows Nyssa and Tegan to get an equal share of the action as Peter Davison's Doctor bounces with excitement from scene to scene.
I was never a fan of Doctor 5, however, over the years I have went from thinking him a mediocre Doctor, to an brilliant one. He brought an air of originality to the show.
The extras in Time-Flight are limited but good, with short interviews and behind the scenes 'mess ups'. There's good entertainment here.

Arc of Infinity is in fact a story that I am very fond of and, in fact, have wanted as a release on DVD for some time. Davison is just about at his peak of excellence here. Nyssa gets a great share of the action and Tegan's character is introduced sportingly. The Amsterdam setting is a nice exotic approach for 'Who, much like Paris in 'City of Death'.
Gallifrey is used well (beter than in 'The Five Doctors') to portray the very interesting (and very real) concept of partical antimatter and possible antimatter transfere.
One of my favourite villans makes a return on a much beter form than his previous encounter with the Doctor. Overall, Arc of Infinity shows just how good the Davison era was, with great writing and great acting, along with (mostly) great costume work.
The extras are good with the brilliant documentary (like they always are): Antimater in Amsterdam. It's presented by Sophie Aldred (for some reason!) and provides a good insite into the production and idea in to the serial.

Overall, a good release with two of the best from the Davison era. Give it a chance! Soon, hopefully, the Black Guardian Trilogy will be available as a boxset shwoing the Davison era at it's absolute very, very best. Role on Peter Davison!

Avonova Favourite Doctor
Well, I'm one of the rare species of human being who actually likes both "Time Flight" and "Arc of Infinity" and why? They are entertaining! Peter Davison, no matter what he does is entertaining. He does his best with what ever he takes on. In fact all the cast of these two episodes do their best with the material they have to work with. I have worked in theatre and have a great experience with low budget productions. Most of the Peter Davison episodes were low budget and perhaps not the best stories, but I love them. Even Peter Davison himself doesn't like "Time Flight" but he should still credit himself with doing his best under the circumstances. Watch for the scene where the Doctor climbs out of the TARDIS when it is lying in its back in the cramped space of Concord's cargo hold. He raises his eyes to the ceiling much to say, "This is ridiculous, how many more times do I have to do this?"

I am looking forward to seeing these two episodes on DVD, as I can watch them on my computer unlike the rather warn videos. I just hope I can tolerate the rubbishing of "Time Flight", by the actors themselves, especially Peter Davison. Perhaps he has a new perspective on it by now. Of course I don't have to listen to the sound track comments, but I know I will. I just wish there was a place on line where I could answer them.

Don't expect the greatest Doctor Who ever, you can't beat today's budget for the present Doctor Who which has pulled out all the stops. This is 2007, these episodes were about 1981. Either buy and be entertained, or don't buy, but enough of the complaining please!

Avonova