Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest

A Guide to Classic Who references (and other references).

Doctor Who animated minisodes.  Martha and the Doctor race to find The Infinite before a space tyrant.

Warning: May contain Spoilers for

"The Infinite Quest"

Viewing order...

• Yhis story can be watched as 13 parts or a single combined episode.
• This story is not considered canon by many fans and may be ignored.
• Some sources place this story between "42" and "Human Nature."  It obviously must occur after "Smith and Jones" but before "Utopia."  The tight arc of "Smith and Jones" to "The Lazarus Experiment" (One trip back, one forward and a detour) suggested it didn't occur in that period, although, Martha wears her iconic red jacket which she almost exclusively wore in those episodes.  There's also a suggestion that there is a gap in the story between Part 1 (the pre-title sequence in the collected version) and later parts of the story.

References:

[OLD] - Things that first appeared in the classic Doctor Who series (or the film.)  Episode List.

For context, the following are also covered:

[1ST] -  The first appearance of things in Doctor Who series, including Torchwood.

[TW] - Things that first appeared previosuly in Torchwood.

[NEW] - Things that first appeared previously in the new Doctor Who series.

[OTH] - A reference to Doctor Who books, comics, audioplays, etc.

Ongoing References...

• [OLD]  The TARDIS - The Doctor's time and space travel vechicle.  TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space.  Like a lot of Time Lord technology it is "bigger on the inside."  The Doctor stole his Tardis when fleeing Gallifrey.  It is an older model ("Type 40") and unreliable, often ending up in the wrong location and the chamleon circuit - designed to[ make the Tardis appear inconspicuous in any surroundings it appears has failed so it always appears as a police telephone box from 1960s England.  In Season 1's "An Unearthly Child" the Doctor's granddaughter Susan claimed to have invented the name, but later other Time Lords use it (although some call it a TT Capsule.)  He has never previously given anyone hologrammatic antlers.

• [OLD] The Doctor - The main character.  Real name: unknown; actual age: unclear.  Status as a Medical Doctor:  Undetermined.  He is a Time Lord from the Planet Gallifrey.

In this story...

• [1ST]  Baltazar - First appearance of this villain... although the voice is familar.

• [OLD]  Bonaparte - Obviously a reference to the historical figure, Napoléon Bonaparte, who the First Doctor's companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright met in "The Reign of Terror" (Season 1) and the Third Doctor claimed in "The Day of the Daleks" (Season 9) to have told Boney that "an army marches on its stomach."

• [OLD]  Blackbeard - Obviously, again a referenced to the historical figure, this time the pirate Blackbeard.  In the Second Doctor story "The Mind Robber" (Season 6) the Master of the Land of Fiction makes Blackbeard appear during his battle with the Doctor over control of "the story."

• [1ST]  Triton - Probably Neptune's largest moon, first mention in Doctor Who.

• [1ST]  Volag-Noc - First appearance of this space prison.

• [1ST]  The Infinite - First appearance of this derelict craft.

• [NEW]  The Dark Times - Mentioned by the Tenth Doctor in "The Runaway Bride":

The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago. Billions. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets. 

• [NEW]  Racnoss - Appeared in "The Runaway Bride."  They appeared to be dying out when the Earth formed (with the Earth forming around their craft.)

• [OLD]  Nestene - Previously appeared in two third Doctor stories: "Spearhead from Space" (Season 7) and "Terror of the Autons" (Season 8) and in the Ninth Doctor episode "Rose."

• [OLD]  The Great Vampires - An opponent faced by the Time Lords early in their history.  Rassilon lead the Time Lords to victory over the Great Vampires, but their King escaped.  In "State of Decay" (Season 18) the Fourth Doctor found the King Vampire on a planet in E-Space.  It is implied that they inspired the myths about vampires on at least 19 worlds.

• [OLD]  The Void - "The Void" or "The White Void" was a location connected "The Land of Fiction" outside of real space in the Second Doctor story "The Mind Robber" (Season 6) where the normal rules of time and space didn't apply.  The Gateway was an almost white location between N-Space (normal space) and E-Space (exo-space) in the Fourth Doctor story "The Warrior's Gate" (Season 18).  It also was a plot point in "The Rise of the Cybermen" and "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday."  It is not clear if the void is one of those previously mentioned or a references to an early time when the universe was smaller and darker.

• [OTH]  Sabre-Tooth Gorillas - The Second Doctor and his grandchildren John and Gillian faced these creatures in TV Comic issues #846 - 849.

• [OTH]  Great Old Ones - A title connected to the works of HP Lovecraft, and first used in the context of Doctor Who in the novel.  Some of the other non-televised material has also linkde some of the older, more powerful foes of the Doctor to the Great Old Ones, including Animus ("The Web Planet" (Season 2)), The Celestial Toymaker ("Celestial Toymaker" (Season 3)). The Great Intelligence ("The Abominable Snowmen" & "The Web of Fear" (Season 5)), The Guardians of Time ("The Ribos Operation" & "The Armageddon Factor" (Season 16) and "Mawdryn Undead," "Terminus" and "Enlightenment" (Season 20)) Fenric ("The Curse of Fenric" (Season 26)).

~ DUG.

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The Time Crash blog was created to help New Who fans understand Classic Who references - and to know if something isn't a reference but a new idea.  If there's a reference I missed or a subject that you feel needs more explaining, please comment.