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“The Infinite Quest: A Bold Adventure That Misses the Mark”

The Infinite Quest, broadcast during Doctor Who’s Series 3 in 2007, is an intriguing anomaly in the Whoniverse. Designed as a standalone animated story for CBBC’s Totally Doctor Who, it follows the Tenth Doctor and Martha in an adventure divorced from the main series timeline. Originally aired in twelve bite-sized parts, this review focuses on the 45-minute omnibus version. Despite its potential as a high-concept escapade, The Infinite Quest stumbles under the weight of its fragmented storytelling, uneven execution, and overly child-friendly tone.

An Infinite Number of Ideas

The premise—a hunt for a legendary relic ship from the Dark Times—is brimming with promise. The titular Infinite, a mythic artefact with a connection to the franchise’s deeper lore, could have been a fascinating centrepiece. Unfortunately, the concept remains just that: an idea that never fully materialises. Instead, the narrative becomes a haphazard Keys of Marinus-style fetch quest, leaping between planets in search of puzzle pieces with little time to flesh out any of its stops.

The individual worlds and challenges are hit-and-miss. A visit to an insectoid planet evokes memories of The Web Planet, but its lack of narrative significance makes it feel like filler. Similarly, the prison planet segment fails to build any real tension or contribute meaningfully to the plot. The final confrontation with Baltazar, while marginally more engaging, still feels hollow and rushed, culminating in an unsatisfying conclusion.

Lacklustre Villains and Wasted Potential

Baltazar, the supposed antagonist, is disappointingly generic. Voiced by Anthony Head in a surprisingly uninspired performance, the character feels like a haphazard amalgamation of Doctor Who tropes without any unique identity. His sparse appearances rob him of any real menace, leaving him a mere afterthought in a story that desperately needed a strong central threat.

The supporting cast fares no better. The golden owl character, intended as comic relief, comes across as irritating, while the pirate crew—a potentially rich source of tension and humour—falls flat. The skeleton crew gag, in particular, is squandered by being played purely for laughs rather than menace. Ulysses Mergrass, the most promising new character, is sadly underused, though his name is at least memorable.

Animation: A Mixed Bag

While the animation offers some imaginative visuals, it suffers from a lack of polish. Character models are often stiff and awkward, with simplistic movements that fail to convey emotion or energy. Tennant’s and Agyeman’s voice performances feel similarly stilted, as though both actors were uncomfortable with the format.

That said, the animation does have its strengths. The alien worlds, robotic designs, and large-scale action sequences benefit from the freedom animation provides. These visual elements add a scope and variety that live action would struggle to achieve, offering a glimpse of what the story could have been with a more cohesive execution.

Ambition Without Focus

If nothing else, The Infinite Quest deserves credit for its ambition. Writer Alan Barnes clearly aimed to create a sprawling, galaxy-hopping adventure with intriguing ideas and high stakes. However, the short runtime and fragmented format leave these concepts underdeveloped. The dialogue often feels clunky, and the story's child-friendly tone undercuts any real sense of danger or drama.

The Verdict: A Noble Failure

The Infinite Quest is an experiment that falls short of its potential. While the animation brings a colourful vibrancy to the proceedings, it cannot compensate for a story that feels rushed, scattered, and emotionally hollow. Tennant and Agyeman, so charismatic in their live-action roles, are uncharacteristically flat here, and the script fails to give them the material they deserve.

📝47/100

For all its flaws, The Infinite Quest might still hold some charm for younger audiences or dedicated fans curious about this oddball entry in the Doctor Who canon. But for those seeking the depth, wit, and excitement of the series’ best, this quest is one you can safely skip.

ANIMATED SPECIALS: SPECIAL 2

As you have probably gathered by the rating I have given this story, I do not think very highly of The Infinite Quest.

This (poorly) animated adventure, starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, is a Keys-like story, without the fun.

The flat and choppy animation of the characters, put against the CG backgrounds, just doesn’t work, and the locations we visit, and characters we meet, do little to grab your attention.

The whole time I spent watching this animated special I was just waiting for it be over.

It’s not exciting, not funny, and doesn’t feel like something we’d see on our screens in series 3.

However, it does feel like a televised version of a Doctor Who Adventures strip!

(Make of that what you will...)

Bit of a mess, but Squawks the GOAT!!!

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.

A fun little animated episode that has its positives and negatives. The story is serviceable, with a sprawling array of locations. There is enough variety of locations that the story doesn't get bogged down. With the use of animation you get to see things that normally would be out of reach of live action and that adds to the different feeling that this episode brings. The voice acting is top-notch with familiar names attached. Overall, this is an easy watch that doesn't outstay its welcome.

Alan Barnes is a great writer so manages to overcome some of the basic limitations of this animated children’s adventure. It originally aired in 12 parts, split into sub-4 minute episodes - which is a weird pressure to put on a story and means that plot is destined to be surface level. The Doctor and Martha chase after a macguffin in order to prevent major destruction. Little do they know they are being coerced into their action. All in all it’s a charming Saturday teatime cheese fest.

A handful ideas particularly stand out - the skulls hidden behind darkened space helmets, which are then revealed by the light, pre-dates the same concept seen in Silence in the Library. I also generally love the scale of the storytelling, less limited conceptually by budgetary constraints.

I am actually fond of the animation style as well. For the budget it’s working with, this shaggy dog story is well realised, though it’s fair to say that the team face are more limitations with rendering human faces than anything else.