The Infinite Quest

The Infinite Quest is exactly how to do a animated Doctor Who episode. The animation is by the legendary Cosgrove Hall studios (the animation company behind Danger Mouse) and as you would expect, it's as great as any of their other animations.

It just feels like what it is: a animated Doctor Who adventure.

The narrative is wonderfully Doctor Who, zipping across various interplanetary locations everywhere and anywhere on their journey to find the spaceship 'The Infinite' before evil space pirate Balthazar with his pet parrot Squark find it first. Alan Barnes has done a great job; this feels like it could take place within the live-action series of the show if it wasn't constrained by budget. The animation is therefore used well to show a scenario on-screen that would never have been possible within the series.

Simply put: this was too good for CBBC and Totally Doctor Who. A great Doctor Who adventure.

The Infinite Quest is a hard story to rate. While it features the Tenth Doctor and Martha, this story isn't a typical New Who tale. Rather, writer Alan Barnes seems to want to capture the spirit of Classic Who and introduce it to Younger viewers with an epic story that moves from location. Imagine, "The Key to Time" in 45 minutes and you have, "Infinite Quest." The story was originally serialized as 13 3 1/2 minute episodes as part of, "Totally Doctor Who."

After having his plot for destroying the Earth thwarted, Baltazar vows revenge on the Doctor and tricks him into a quest for the Infinite, an ancient ship that gives those who find it, "the desire of their heart." The Doctor's quest sends him to fantastic locations: An oil field controlled by a pirate with a skeleton grew (literally a crew of walking skeletons), a swamp where an Arm dealer sells weapons to an insect queen, and an ice prison.

The story is super fast-paced with limited character development as you could expect. The stories have flaws and plot holes, particularly the scenes with the Insect Queen where the small animation budget just doesn't capture the scope of story being told.

Still for what it is, it's fairly enjoyable. David Tennant gives a charismatic performance playing the Doctor as a full on swashbckling hero and Anthony Head always makes for a compelling villain. There's plenty of imagination and some fun lines. It's by no means great, but it's enjoyable enough particularly for younger kids.