Did you know the membrane on the giant brain was actually made using condoms?

Condoms are very useful in makeup special effects. For example, stick air tubes in them, tape them under a latex appliance (like a mask), and they get used to show the pulsing effect so popular in horror pics (Michael Jackson had them under his mask in the video "Thriller"). They also can be used as blood packs for "squibs", the explosive device used to simulate gunshots impacts.

Spoonerisms? I believe he still plays.


Bad joke, sorry couldn't help myself.

I like Time and the Rani. Even though it could have been an episode shorter, it's a fun runaround...

The Tetraps only had 4 eyes though. :-)

I liked the bubble traps. I could have liked them even more ...

Go bubble, go bubble, go on ... explode!
Oh knickers, she's escaped.

Ah well. Roll on Dragonfire.

I always wondered how the Rani was able to impersonate Mel so well, since we never saw them meet. Did she read the Doctor's mind and therefore knew how he expected Mel to act?
I suppose she could have somehow gotten into the Matrix and found out about her, but it's never really explained.

Maybe she was secretly on The Trial Of A Time Lord station, hoping to witness the Doctor's downfall and when he survived, she thought "Fools! Only a genius like me could DESTROY HIM! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sorry.

Maybe all Mark III TARDISes come equiped with Time/Space Visualizers. Using that, she spied on Mel and copied her behavior patterns.

Ah yes...The Timelords of Galifrey. Intergalactic voyeurs. Can I Join? :)

OK, so I saw this again. It’s not FAIR! It should have been one of the happiest times of my life, watching the death of the much-hated Colin Baker Pretender, and the birth of the glorious McCoy. Ruined, all ruined. Oh, except for that moment when the Doctor grabs Mel’s hair and tries to yank it out. Who hasn’t yearned to do such a thing?

Why does that Lakertyan smash the antidote? All this rubbish about ‘finding their own solutions’ – since an alien caused the problem, why shouldn’t an alien supply the solution? What’s going to happen when those little flying things break free of the silver ball thing (my mind is already, mercifully, blanking out the details of this story) and people start getting killed? Maybe without the Rani sending them a signal they’ll just stay safely inside the ball? In which case, why does the Doctor bother giving the Lakertyans the antidote?

Those traps. Puh-lease. Couldn’t the Rani manage something more subtle than big white pieces of string stretched across the quarry? How come everyone keeps walking into them, even people who know about the traps?

Oh god, not another misguided collaborator seeing the error of his ways and sacrificing his life.

How do the Tetraps’ brains assimilate all that visual information, with an eye in every direction? I'm not saying this is a nit, I'm just wondering...

If you could go back and alter ONE thing about Time and the Rani, what would it be?

If we were to be nasty we could say the one thing to change was the fact it was commissioned.

But the one thing? The length of the story, maybe? (Shorter, obviously).

I think I'd make it less pink.

The scene where the Doctor chooses his costume. Yes, we already know that this story is unadulterated rubbish, but why rub it in by deliberately inviting a comparison with that glorious scene of Tom Baker's, those halcyon days when Time Lords were real Time Lords, episodes were real episodes, and small furry creatures, etc etc.

Oh no, forget that - I'd change the fact that Mel gets out of the bubble alive.

Can't argue with that.

I suppose I'd happily keep the Tetraps, the spinning bubbles, the Mel projection, the gravel pit shots - and in particular the shot of the lovely shot of the outside of the Rani's 'palace' place, and about three lines.

Everything else can be shaved off and binned.

I wouldn't say Tom Baker's costume change thing was glorious. This makes me cringe as much as McCoy's. I mean, a viking for crying out loud...

Could have been worse... imagine he went for a Tarzan outfit.

"Me Tarzan, you Sarah Jane?"

AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH VIKINGS???

That scene was joy, pure JOY...after all, the Doctor had an excuse for the silliness - it's better than throttling a Companion to demonstrate post-regenerative stress. And after all, what's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?

It is inexplicable to me that a supposedly intelligent chose this story to start a new season and introduce a new Doctor. The regeneration could not have been any worse. Did we really need to actually see the Doctor regenerate?

McCoy's pratfalls and spoon playing during episode one in my opinion truly represent the show at its absolute, utter nadir. This is even worse than Twin Dilemma, also another awful waste of a pivotal story.

One other thing. The 6th Doctor's costume looked even more hideous on McCoy.

I for one salute the fact that at least they made an attempt to keep some continuity going after Colin Baker was unfairly (yes it's an unpopular opinion but one I'm entitled to) fired from the role.

And while I agree that the costume didn't look very good on Sylvester I don't see why people are so put off by a multi-colored coat. It may have been loud but is it really in bad taste? My personal defination of bad taste would be if he wore a t-shirt that read "I exterminate Daleks" or soemthing like that.

Yes, I think we DID need to see the Doctor regenerate, if at all possible. Regeneration is just such a defining thing in Doctor Who. They did as well as possible, in the circumstances.

Yes, McCoy looked hideous in that costume, but I don't think he looked any worse than Colin Baker in it, in fact I don't know if it's POSSIBLE to look worse.

Sylvester's spoon-playing CAN be a joy (see The Also People) but I have to agree in this case he, like the rest of the story, is unspeakable.

Actually Chris, I don't think I'd mind if the Doctor went round with a 'I'm the man who gives monsters nightmares' T-shirt. Well, one would rapidly tire of it, but it would still be better than the question-mark pullover or the multi-coloured monstrosity.

I don't think people were irretrievably put off by the coat. It was this sartorial monstrosity in conjunction with the terrifyingly bad acting of Colin Faker, not to mention misguided (wonky at best) scripts.
If Tom Baker had been forced to wear some nasty quilt-based outfit, he'd still have been loved....
It's vaguely interesting though, how Colin is very slightly less upsetting to me when his quilt is temporarily concealed by that blue cloak in Revelation Of The Daleks.
And he's pretty good in the Holy Terror audio play. But he'll never be the Doctor....

It's vaguely interesting though, how Colin is very slightly less upsetting to me when his quilt is temporarily concealed by that blue cloak in Revelation Of The Daleks.

And the shirt and waistcoat he wears in the Two Doctors, possibly why that story is my favourite 6th Dr instalment. The best of a bad, bad bunch.

If you imagine Colin Baker in an all-black, Troughton-esque costume, he really could have been a much better Doctor. I know you shoudn't judge a book by it's cover, but in the 6th Doctor's case it's bloody hard not to.

Baker's shock of yellow hair is wrong too. In fact he's ALL wrong!

I actually felt the same way about Sylvester at first. I thought he didn't have the physical stature of the other Doctors, his accent was hard (at least for me)to understand, and he had a tendency to talk too fast and/or mumble.He really didn't start to grow on me until his second year with "Remembrence of the Daleks," which was a great story for any Doctor. I also met him once at a convention, and he seemed like a good person.

One thing- when I first saw "Time and the Rani" on PBS (New Jersey Network to be precise), the regeneration scene came right after the opening titles. On the video it comes right before them. How did it originally air?

I didn't know what to make of McCoy in Time and the Rani, but Paradise Towers made me a fan. This Doctor was nicer and more proactive than his predescessor. Remembrance of the Daleks was also a starting point as the Doctor and Ace really meshed together at this point to become an effective team.

It originally aired before the titles as the production team felt it would be silly to run the titles w/ the McCoy face if no one had even seen the 6th Doctor regenerate yet.

Now that WOULD have made a memorable title sequence. Who knows, the cries of 'What the ****??!!' might even have drowned out the ghastly music.

I'm glad to see I'm not alone in disliking this paticular title sequence.

I doubt there's a fan on this planet who doesn't cringe at the sight of those tacky rocks whizzing around...

The Davison theme was the best. I'm not much of a fan of the Tom Baker sequence, though, despite the general fan consensus of it being the best.

It's the best because it's got Tom Baker's face on it, OK?

Which Tom Baker sequence? There were two- the original and the later one which was also used for Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

Naturally the first one.

Naturally, the one synonymous with Tom Baker. I actually prefer Pertwee's Season 11 title sequence to the Tom Baker ones. It was just so good!

I agree with you. The Tom Baker version didn't seem to be as smoothly edited as the Pertwee version.

I have a very snowy copy of the test titles for Tom Baker. Basically they comprise Pertwee's last season titles with Baker's face. I prefer what we eventually got.

I finally got a copy of a Sylvester episode (this one, obviously) and, agreeing with the rest of you, the title sequence is horrible, more like a cartoon than anything. I couldn't believe my eyes. Pertwee's sequence was all right, but since I grew up with Tom, I prefer that one (both versions).

This was also my first intro to Mel -- you guys weren't kidding! All she did was scream (a lot). The Rani made a better Mel than she did; at least she was funny.

I kind of liked the exploding balls; I thought they were quite dramatic, all that spinning and screaming and the cool explosion into the side of the mountain. How did Mel get so lucky as to drop in the water? (too bad)

I was a little confused about the Tetraps though. Exactly why were they serving the Rani and where did they come from? They didn't seem to get anything out of the arrangement, except the blood gruel or whatever it was. They could've feasted on Lakertians.

So what was that condom brain thing anyway? Was it alive in its own right or just some sort of organic conglomeration of the genius' minds? And why wait to destroy it? Just smash it with something before it can launch the rocket, then the head Lakertian wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself.

In all, I'm not sure what I think of McCoy as the Doctor. He has potential, but the prat falling and general buffoonery was annoying and took away from the Doctor's dignity.

I didn't like any of Sylvester's first season stories .Not that I blame him. The writers seemed to be trying to turn the show into a sitcom at this point.

If you would like to see him at his best I would suggest either "Remembrence of the Daleks" or "Battlefield."

Or Curse of Fenric, of course. EVIL! EVIL FROM BEFORE THE DAWN OF TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or Survival. IF WE FIGHT LIKE ANIMALS, WE DIE LIKE ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Er, sorry. Got a bit carried away there.

I don't mind this story too much. It couldn't be described as much more than OK but I don't think that it is quite as bad as most people make out.

The point I would like to make is this. Whilst watching part 2 last night I was struck by a thought. There is a line that the Doctor has when talking to Mel but thinking she is the Rani, "Try looking in the mirror, the face of evil". I realised that The Face of Evil is a story title and I wondered just how many other titles of stories are included in the dialogue of other stories, usually without the writer realising it (or in some cases before the story was written). I can think of a few likely ones and remember one or two others, for example in Resurrection of the Daleks one of the Daleks prolcaims "Nothing must interfere with the true destiny of the Daleks", and Enlightenment is a character in Four to Doomsday. I am certain that titles like Robot, Survival and The Ice Warriors are likely to have turned up in other stories, can anyone think of more?

Did anyone say anything along the lines of 'This is the tomb of the Cybermen!' in Attack of the Cybermen? Well, if not, they OUGHT to have. And you'd think the word 'Timeflight' would have popped up in Doctor Who SOMEWHERE, it _is_ what the programme's all about. The Silurians definitely get mentioned, albeit with a 'they should have been called Eocenes' tag attached.

And then there are those embarassing 'Hey, we've just been to Castrovalva/Gosh, remember the planet of the Kinda people/Wow, look at this lovely book called Black Orchid!' type chats the Davison era was always indulging in at the beginning of the subsequent story.

How about the individual Hartnell episode titles? Unfortunately the only one that springs to mind is *groan* 'The Death of Doctor Who' and, thank god, THAT doesn't usually turn up in conversation.

Hmm...did anyone ever say 'This is the edge of destruction!' or 'We're on the brink of disaster!' and if not, WHY not?

Yes, Emily. In Trial Of A Time Lord, Episode 9 or 10, Bruchner said, "We're on the Brink Of Disaster!"

I guess I'm alone in actually liking the title sequence.

Given that 7th Doctor is shorter than the 6th, shouldn't he be tripping over the ends of his predecessor's pant legs? And yet the pants appear to have shrunk to fit him.

Those Spinning Globes of Boom seemed a trifle ornate as a death trap.

Mel says, about Sarn's death, "This had nothing to do with me." Well, since Sarn changed direction after seeing Mel, yes it did.

No explanation for Mel's surviving the Spinning Globe of Boom? Bad writing.

Bad writing wasn't so much to blame for Mel not blowing up. There is a long tradition of cliffhangers not being resolved logically (I had watched the old Buck Rogers serials back to back recently - I have no life - yesterday I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Spanish subtitles so I can learn to say 'I fart in your general direction' in that language, one never knows when that will prove useful). What is strange here in this story is the Rani is using high tech just for the heck of it. Why bother enveloping the victom in a bubble and bouncing them around for awhile before blowing up, when an old fashioned anti personal mine can be more efficient, quicker, and far far cheaper.

Or is this the case of using special effects not to progress the story but just because they can? No wonder the BBC was complaining of DrWho spending too much money.

Or she could use a simple laser-type beam to zap the people.

Heck, why not a white bubble named Rover? ;-)

Anything - as long as it doesn't turn people into trees.

On the other hand, that quarry could have used a few trees to liven the place up. You know give it that lived in look rather than the typical boring dead planet look of a lot of Doctor Who worlds.

So did the writer's come up with Varoon's name by listening to the chorus of Pertwee's Martian Lullaby in one of the Peladon stories? Whenever I heard someone say her name I thought of him singing, "Varoon, varoon, varoon."

Forgot about this. At the recreation center Icona (?) says that the Lakertyans won't help because it would require effort & would take away from their pleasure. Doesn't it take some effort to get pleasure? If you enjoy eating or drinking you have to bring the food and/or drink to your mouth, chew the food, swallow. If you get pleasure from sex you have to take off your clothes, fondle your partner, etc., etc. If you get pleasure from talking you have to move your mouth. It seems that most if not all forms of pleasure require some kind of effort.

Also, while the reception on my TV wasn't the best, it didn't appear that the people were all that pleased there anyway.

--------------------------
On the other hand, that quarry could have used a few trees to liven the place up
--------------------------

Funny you should say that KAM, the script was originally written with a forest setting. The quarry was J-NT's idea.

---------------------
So did the writer's come up with Varoon's name by listening to the chorus of Pertwee's Martian Lullaby in one of the Peladon stories?
---------------------

Wrong on all counts. The characters name is Faroon, Pertwee sings Aroon and it is used in BOTH Peladon stories.

OK, I know that was pedantic.

I knew the character's name was spelled Faroon, but a number of characters pronounced it with a V sound & since I thought Pertwee sang Varoon instead of Aroon I decided to go with the 'sounds like' spelling, rather than including a long explanation that Faroon was sometimes pronounced Varoon.

But I should have expected somebody to say something because this place is filled with nitpickers.

I have to agree with KAM on a previous post about liking the 7th Doctor's theme. What's not to like? The TARDIS in flight amongst the stars and a galaxy, a crash of drums at the start as a star explodes into a nova, and a rearrangement of the theme with more riffs than some others.
It was a vast improvement over Colin Baker's second theme, which sounded too light and didn't match the (at the time) fancy special effects on screen.
There have been 11 opening titles, and nearly as many muscial arrangements for all eight Doctors, proving that the theme can be reworked, and done very well.

The ROCKS! Those god-awful chunks of plastic rock whizzing round the screen...aagghhh, the shame of it!

Oh, and the Doctor WINKING at us, though even that paled into insignificance compared to the rocks.

Not to mention the music that sounds like it was played on a kazoo!

I didn't mind the winking. Tom Baker did his share of mugging for the camera too.


And although I liked Colin Baker as the Doctor I didn't like his second theme either. I agree it was much too lightweight and sounded like it was recorded at the last second and not quite finished.

I quite like the 7th Doctor theme, I think it's the best theme of the 80's...Don't hurt me!

I mean anything’s better then the season 23 theme and I’m getting sick of the Peter Davison theme, hearing it on the DVDs all the time.

Don't you worry - those nice people in white coats won't hurt you a bit...

Don't let them take me or I'll get the nice man in the red, green, blue, purple, brown, yellow coat to pay you a visit

No problem - I have a cunning plan to cope with such an eventuality. Involving sneaking on board his TARDIS and then whacking him over the head to force a regeneration...

Good plan...and take care of Mel while you're at it.

The chain to feed the bat monsters is INSIDE the cage for what reason, Rani the genius?

Re:The last couple of comments
Is The Rani channelling the spirit of Baldrick by any chance...?
It seems so....

Mel: when Ikona shoots the Tetrap, allowing you to get away, don't stand their screaming a bit longer before you actually decide you should leg it up the rocks.

How do the Lakertyans know how to spell Einstein's name when the Rani tells them to label his chamber - for all they know, it could be "Ine-styne"

Mel: when Ikona shoots the Tetrap, allowing you to get away, don't stand their screaming a bit longer before you actually decide you should leg it up the rocks.

Surely the nit is that Mel DOES actually (eventually) stop screaming and leg it up the rocks...?

Seems the Doctor still has traces of his 6th persona lingering around, leading the Tetrap to its death in the bubble trap.

What is with the blue rocks leading to the Rani's HQ? There are no other rocks like them on Lakertya, so did the Rani get Beyus to paint them for her? And if so, why?

Is there an Argolin among the genii in the TARDIS?

Loyhargil is an anagram of Holy Grail.

Why does whoever-it-is only have to press one button to input the word 'Einstein'?

The Rani's machine brings down passing spaceships. Fine. That doesn't mean it should be able to bring down a TARDIS.

About the only time in this story Mel ISN'T screaming is when she's watching Sarn being killed in a bubble. Selfish git.

If the Rani needs Mel as a hostage, why does she say...all together now...'LEAVE THE GIRL, IT'S THE MAN I WANT!'?

'Omnipotence - the mind behind this works on a grand scale'...hate to break the news, Doc, but that's not exactly a definition of the word 'omnipotence'.

'You said the air wasn't sterile enough for humans' - since when have humans needed sterile air?

'The benevolent climate has induced lethargy' - WHAT benevolent climate? It's a bloody quarry, for god's sake!

'I had an overwhelming sense of evil', 'Not one iota of decency in her' - I thought the point about the Rani was that she was supposed to be amoral rather than evil? I'm sure I read somewhere that this was the difference between her and the Master. After all, she usually wants to save people, in a rather ruthless way.

How on Earth could the Tetraps zap what they're seeing - i.e. Mel-in-the-quarry - onto the TARDIS screen?

'I've had enough of this drivel' - you and me both, Mel.

So Mel suggests she and the Doctor scarper back to the TARDIS, leaving the planet - and the universe - to its fate. She's not exactly very NICE in this story, is she.

'The scope of her imagination is breathtaking' - er, no it isn't, and even if it were, perhaps praising the Rani to the mother of one of her victims isn't enormously tactful.

'Who sabotaged this?!!!' - gosh, I don't know, Rani! It's not like you've invited a man with 953 years of megalomaniac-overthrowing experience into your lab...

'I've met your Companion Mel' 'Don't hold that against me' - oh my GOD, a moment of GENUINE AMUSEMENT! In TIME AND THE RANI!

Actually, I rather like Mel. After she's been frozen stiff by the Tetraps. Life would have been so much better if she'd stayed that way. The Doc could have carried her round and explained the plot to her as if she was Tom Baker's cabbage.

When the Rani leaves, 'our lives will return to normal'. Er...except that - hello! - YOUR DAUGHTER IS DEAD, PEOPLE!

One of the many, many joys the new series has bestowed on me is the fact that - with so many glorious new Doctors to worship - I don't feel obliged to like Sylvester McCoy any more. And guess what? I don't like Sylvester McCoy any more.

That enormous spot on the Rani's nose is very distracting. Was in there in Mark of the Rani?

'Mel is beyond all help.' 'The Rani would never go to those extremes' - er, Doctor, that's the same Rani who holds an entire species hostage and who YOU regard as utterly evil?

How many Lakertyans ARE there? The dozen or so hanging around the room are referred to as ALL of them.

And maybe, just maybe, it would be a good idea for them to sod off somewhere else instead of hanging around in the room with the killer-insect thing?

And why not remove the boot to get rid of the killer-anklet thing?

And why does Beyus stay with the Big Brain to die? Of course, by this stage who DOESN'T want to die, but most of us manage to restrain ourselves.

As you know, Emily, the only reason the Rani was able to bring down the TARDIS was that the future 7th Doctor forced the 6th Doctor to steer the ship into the beam. Or have you already begun to dismiss the Virgin novels?

Sterile enough--that is, not crawling with bacteria.

Perhaps the Lakertyans find quarries very relaxing.

The TARDIS could have been in flight just in space at that time it was pulled down, not necessarily in the space-time vortex.

the only reason the Rani was able to bring down the TARDIS was that the future 7th Doctor forced the 6th Doctor to steer the ship into the beam. Or have you already begun to dismiss the Virgin novels?

Well, I have since Gary *boo, hiss* Russell saw fit to generously provide me with a different explanation in Spiral Scratch...

Perhaps the Lakertyans find quarries very relaxing.

In which case they ought to have died out long since. It's fine for the Kinda on their lush planet to take a relaxed approach to the whole agriculture/industry thing, it's quite another matter when you're living in a quarry. Unless they eat rocks, of course.

The TARDIS could have been in flight just in space at that time it was pulled down, not necessarily in the space-time vortex.

Yeah, s'pose that's true...pretty lucky for the Rani that the greatest genius of them all just happened to be passing. (Or that the not-existing-yet Seventh Doctor fooled his previous self into subconsiously whizzing past the nutty Time Lady with the big beam.)

I was rereading Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes #231 from 1977 & in it the Fatal Five want to cause the star of the planet Mordan to nova because it will turn the planet & the people on it into the most valuable mineral in the 30th century.
Here the Rani wants to use strange matter to turn the Lakertyans & their planet into... something or other valuable.
I wonder if Pip & Jan were Legion fans?

Aside from the Doctor (and possible Argolin I may have sighted), why does the Rani only kidnap Earth genii? And only those from the 20th century or before? Surely there are plenty of genii right across the Universe to kidnap, past, present and future?

Re:Last Comment
Here are some possible reasons for the above
1) The Rani wants to trap the Doctor, in order to gloat to him when her Time Manipulator comes "on line". (Knowing his attachemnt to Earth, it's plausible)
2)She was in the vincinity of Earth the last time round, & was lazy... (See Mark Of The Rani)
3)Pip & Jane could'nt be bothered to make up the names of future Genii & using present ones i.e Stephen Hawking, risk incurring possible lawsuits from them... (Most plausible of all, IMO)

It's not often I'm wrong (oh, alright...it's not often I ADMIT to being wrong) but boy did I make a mistake. I thought that reading the novelisation of Time and the Rani couldn't possibly be worse than watching the thing (on the grounds that, well, NOTHING is worse than watching Time and the Rani). I have paid in much suffering for this gross miscalculation.

The blurb's pretty bad (as befits the book). 'Can the Doctor stop the Rani's diabolical scheme before it affects the whole of creation throughout time and space' is a rather tautologous (again, entirely appropriately).

Pip n'Jane...they like language. Or at least, they like sadistically drawing out one's suffering by being as verbose as, well, the soon-to-be-late-lamented Sixth Doctor. They can't just give us a perfectly workperson-like, Dicksian 'The TARDIS shook as it was bombarded' - no, we get 'Against a blackcloth [sic] of infinite ebony, the TARDIS was being bombarded. Bolts of multicoloured energy, a fragmented rainbow, strafed the navy-blue police box, tossing it hither and thither. An inharmonious cacophony of sound underscored each salvo...sickening, unpredicatable lurches...undulating and distorting...assaulted by the dissonant bedlam, propelled violently from side to side by the giddy oscillations...jarring discord...' And this sort of stuff continues throughout the book. A Tetrap can't even reach out a claw without it getting a paragraph-long description.

The Doctor's weight is mentioned TWICE in the first few lines.

Since when has the Doctor used HADS in flight? (Or at all, Krotons aside.)

So the Rani is a vision in scarlet, complete with svelte hips, a slender waist, long brunette tresses, a beautifully sculptured face, oh, and she's more brilliant than the Doctor himself...are these perverts IN LOVE with her or something?

Megabyte computers! Just in case anyone was in any doubt as to who wrote this...

'Sarn, a young female, nervously exhibited trepidation' - and, er, how do you un-nervously exhibit trepidation? (See also 'Exhibiting bravado, he boldly got off the bench'.) And, just in case we've somehow failed to get the picture that Sarn is a miserable coward, during the next two pages 'the timorous Sarn' is alarmed, is possessed of 'cowering shoulders', shakes with fear, and hides behind Beyus.

God, these people really love the word 'magenta'. Did they have a bet to see how many times they could sneak it into the book, or what?

'For Time Lords have two hearts'! 'Gallifrey was the home of the Time Lords'!! - could there BE a more simplistic way of slipping in these facts?

The Sixth Doctor had a quotation for all occasions? Since when?

'"There was no-one else in the strange box. If he exists he must have left"' - yeah, cos it's not like there was an INTERIOR DOOR leading to an INFINITY of rooms, was there?

So the Tetraps' lair is fetid (three times!), noisome (twice), nauseous, rancid (twice), pungent, stench...alright! We get the message! IT SMELLS! Why, exactly, does the Rani keep such stinking, stupid, treacherous servants anyway? What's wrong with a nice clean robot?

Nice attempt to explain what happened after the end of Mark of the Rani. Points deducted for the Master claiming 'divine indestructibility' - he's never been THAT mad (even if he IS divinely indestructible).

I just keep thinking of Parting of the Ways and Christmas Invasion. I.e. the way regenerations, wardrobe scenes etc SHOULD be done...this stuff isn't just bad, it's blasphemously bad in comparison. 'The quintessence of the crusading maverick was unimpared' for god's sake.

'A sixth sense warned her of imminent danger' - er, actually it was a scraping sound that warned her - and hearing is hardly a sixth sense.

The Valeyard is 'a future regeneration of the Doctor' - surely nothing so simplistic?!

'With the tenderness of an obscene lover, Urak's lips drew closer to Mel's face' - oh, and he's being 'lascivious' with the Rani...and I thought it was bad having to WATCH this....

'This Doctor, like all his predecessors, had an innate repugnance for violence' - er, not quite ALL his predecessors...

'Yet again the Doctor had been hoodwinked by a Machiavellian Tetrap!' - isn't 'Machiavellian' going a little far?

'A paradox. By temperament poles apart from Beyus, the abrasive Ikona was about to experience the same foreboding' - well, that's not exactly a PARADOX, is it?

'So Niels Bohr, Einstein's rival, was also one of the captive geniuses!' - given that this passage is from the Rani's point of view, the identity of one of her captives can hardly come as an exclamation-mark-requiring surprise. Even if the reader might wonder why she's scrapping the bottom of the barrel like this with all the universe's geniuses to choose from.

Why doesn't the Doctor just sabotage things when the monsters are out and he and Mel have the Rani outnumbered two-to-one? Why waste all that time rallying the Lakertyans instead?

Excuse me! But the Doctor returning the geniuses home a moment before they left will NOT result in them not remembering this 'adventure'!

Novelization--I could have warned you. If there is anything Pip and Jane Baker are worse at than scriptwriting, it's novel writing. Pee-you, what a stinker!


I want to know how you exhibit any emotion. Do you put it in a glass case?

I read somewhere that Colin Baker refused to play his version of The Doctor during the regeneration sequence...so they used some CGI on Sylvester McCoy to make him look like Colin Baker

Not quite. They literally slapped a blonde wig on him and filmed that....

That was it. I guess I read it wrong.

You're probably thinking of the green regeneration effect they added to McCoy's face as he rolled over with the blonde curly wig on.

You're probably thinking of the green regeneration effect they added to McCoy's face as he rolled over with the blonde curly wig on.

Yeah. The one that didn't cover his face at all. In fact his body type is completely different. It was blatently obvious that is was Sylvester the entire time. They should have gotten a body double who at least resembled Colin to play the sixth Doctor lying on the floor. It's not as if he had to speak any lines.

'It doesn't bode well for my seventh persona.'

On the good side, Sylvester McCoy gets a better debut than Colin Baker. On the bad side... Well, let's face it, "Time and the Rani" is a bit of a disaster, a mish-mash of
disparate elements that fails to gel as a cohesive whole. Part of the problem is that the script, which contains a number of serious elements (the potential for genocide; Beyus' moral dilemma), is also a broad attempt at
light-hearted comedy, and it veers between the two often within the space of a scene. This uncertainty of tone is reflected in the production, which is both hugely camp (from the moment the TARDIS lands under the pink-hued skies
of Lakertya), and at the same time, hinting at a rather darker tone (the Tetrap cave and the river of blood that is their food; the exploding Sarn
and her pathetic skeleton; the deaths of many Lakertyans). Even the performances are split between the OTT antics of Kate O'Mara and Sylvester McCoy, and the dignity of Donald Pickering and Wanda Ventham. It feels like
the director is aiming for a comic-strip feel to "Time and the Rani", hence the gaudy costumes and camp histrionics of O'Mara seem perfectly in keeping with the overblown dialogue and outrageous ideas (the Rani getting dressed
up as Mel; the giant brain). The bubble traps are wonderful creations, as are the web guns of the Tetraps. However, all this sits uneasily with the grim aspects of the script, and means that the whole thing feels wrong.

It's not only the dichotomy between comic and serious aspects of the script that feels wrong. "Time and the Rani", like the Bakers' earlier efforts, suffers from shallow characterisation. Ikona is the resistance hero who throws in his lot with the Doctor; Beyus is the uneasy collaborator; Faroon is the defeatist given a new purpose after her daughter's death. None of
the Lakertyans has an actual character as such, all being defined by their function in the plot. Beyus' sacrifice is so blatantly obvious from very
early on that it has no emotional impact when it does come. In fact, the audience has no emotional investment in any of the characters. We couldn't care less about the Lakertyans' fates because they are so pathetic. Ikona's final act, destroying the Rani's antidote, is the action of an ignorant fool who confuses opportunism with being a dependent. The Rani comes off extremely badly. Notably, in her first appearance she *wasn't* a female Master, but here... She's suddenly become 'a master of disguise' with
megalomaniac plans to conquer time. The brilliant biochemist of "The Mark of the Rani" is replaced by a ranting buffoon who can't even repair her own machine without shooting the TARDIS out of space/time using a sidearm (!).
Her plan to build a time manipulator is marred by an incomprehensible explanation and a paradoxical threat (she says she'll go back in time to
alter Earth's history, presumably meaning that the geniuses who created her brain won't have existed to create it and change time). Sylvester McCoy's performance is a bit of a mixed bag. In his first (awake) scene he's commanding and impressive, despite the pratfalling. However, in his second scene he's unintelligible and embarrassing, and unfortunately he veers between these two extremes throughout the serial, with his accent sometimes making things difficult to follow (when he was talking about 'killer
insects' I thought he said "canine sex", which brought to mind rather disturbing images of Tom Baker and John Leeson). The seventh Doctor's
character is equally mixed, with the constant malapropisms getting irritating by halfway through Part One. However, in a clear attempt to get away from the unlikeable sixth Doctor, the seventh shows genuine remorse at accidentally hurting Beyus and killing a Tetrap, and is not keen to destroy the "Rani" despite "Mel's" urging. At least the costume is an inestimable
improvement over his predecessor's, although the question mark pullover is overstating the case a bit.

The serial is one of the few that get worse with every episode. The first part is genuinely enjoyable, with a tangible sense of threat (the half-seen Tetraps; the Rani's traps; the Doctor's amnesia; the great cliffhanger), but by Part Three things are falling apart, and the final episode is a horrendous muddle of garbled exposition and shallow pathos from two-dimensional characters. Nevertheless, "Time and the Rani" is enjoyable if only for Kate O'Mara's gloriously camp acting and tremendous
impersonation of Bonnie Langford. The production values are high, and the whole thing looks very glossy. Unfortunately, it shares too many flaws with the worst stories of the previous two seasons (flat characters, sloppy writing, undeveloped ideas) to mark it out as a genuinely new beginning for the series.

On the good side, Sylvester McCoy gets a better debut than Colin Baker.

Hmm. THAT'S open to debate.

In fact, the audience has no emotional investment in any of the characters. We couldn't care less about the Lakertyans' fates because they are so pathetic.

Oh, I don't know. It's not that I didn't care about the Lakertyans - and indeed the Doctor, the Rani, the Tetraps, and Mel - I actively WANTED them to die.

Ikona's final act, destroying the Rani's antidote, is the action of an ignorant fool

Hear, hear. Bloody cretin. A coda in which, thanks to this action, all the Lakertyans DIED, would have improved this story no end.

(she says she'll go back in time to alter Earth's history, presumably meaning that the geniuses who created her brain won't have existed to create it and change time).

Oh. Yeah. Good point.

(when he was talking about 'killer insects' I thought he said "canine sex", which brought to mind rather disturbing images of Tom Baker and John Leeson).

Luckily, Time and the Rani must be one of the few stories that'd be IMPROVED by disturbing images involving the Fourth Doctor shagging K9...

Ewwwww--even "Doctor Who and the Vortex of Lust" didn't go there!!!

All I can say is: Yuck, just yuck!!!!

<b>On the good side, Sylvester McCoy gets a better debut than Colin Baker.<b>

Hmm. THAT'S open to debate.

I would disagree with it, which really shows you how pathetic I find this one. At least The Twin Dilemma had shock value going for it and tried to stir the pot. I actually thought it was fun at the time. Time and the Rani is just lame. I liked Colin at first and disliked McCoy (both positions I've reversed since). The moment he cries, 'The Rani!' convinced me that Who has in bad shape.

Of course, it got better. Then they cancelled it.

It's perhaps characteristic of Doctor Who that 'Time and the Rani' sees the TARDIS filled with some of the most interesting people in history and *none of them has a single word of dialogue*.

Plus you'd think that the Doctor might have a twinge of remorse about returning Hypatia to her proper time and place. That must have happened off-screen.

DWM Time Team re the 'Two Mels!' plan: 'Surely it could only fool a just-regenerated Doctor. So did [the Rani] engineer the regeneration somehow, or did she only just think of it and happen to have a Mel costume hainging about for reasons unknown?'

I really should have thought of that.

Maybe she was really naked, and the clothes were just a projection.

Or maybe Mel is the Rani after fleeing the Time War and using a chameleon arch to turn herself into a human? ;-)

Ooooh weee ooooo....

Wow, that's really twisted, even by Who's standards.

Sounds like an interesting Who story.

No no, 'X is the Rani!' would be the worst Who story EVER. EVERY sad Fan has their own stupid theory about who 'X' is. (My own is that RANI* is the Rani.)

*From the Sarah Jane Adventures

I wonder if RTD thought that too. I mean he is a fan, so why else give a character the same name as an old villain?

No no, 'X is the Rani!' would be the worst Who story EVER

Unbelievable as it seems, the solution to the Mysteries of River Song and Clara Oswald could have been even more rubbish than they actually turned out to be!

I wonder if RTD thought that too. I mean he is a fan, so why else give a character the same name as an old villain?

He was probably just teasing the 'X is the Rani!' people.

Unbelievable as it seems, the solution to the Mysteries of River Song and Clara Oswald could have been even more rubbish than they actually turned out to be!

Oi! The mysteries of River n'Clara were BRILLIANTLY resolved...at least, if only we'd got a few minutes more explanation of how the Clara thing worked...

Yes, unbelieveably there are ways in which 'The Name of the Doctor' could have been worse...

I wonder if they'll ever bring the Rani back, now that Kate O'Mara is gone.

Mind you, they can always pull out the regeneration card.

I find it hard to imagine that the Rani would have been on Gallifrey during the Time War.

So she could be out there somewhere.

Well NO, because the Doctor would have sensed her (Dalek). Her only chance of survival would have been if she'd been on Gallifrey when the Doctors DIDN'T blow it up. (Or Chameleon-Arched. Or sending out a hypnotic drumbeat to hide her identity.)

Of course, it makes no sense that every Time Lord not on Gallifrey when The Moment was seized should be dead, but what the hell.

Well NO, because the Doctor would have sensed her
And the Doctor never gets anything wrong... *rolls eyes*

Of course, it makes no sense that every Time Lord not on Gallifrey when The Moment was seized should be dead
Unless the Doctor went around killing them all so he would have something to mope about. ;-)

Unless the Doctor went around killing them all so he would have something to mope about. ;-)

Nah, I do believe it was House who took care of that.

That Hugh Laurie...!

Well NO, because the Doctor would have sensed her
And the Doctor never gets anything wrong... *rolls eyes*

Admittedly the Doctor totally failed to notice a HALF-Time-Lord when she was standing in front of him whispering his name. But THE MASTER obviously thought the Doc would sense him if he didn't go to town on the drums...

course, it makes no sense that every Time Lord not on Gallifrey when The Moment was seized should be dead
Unless the Doctor went around killing them all so he would have something to mope about. ;-)

It has to be said, the moment Martha told him THERE'S ANOTHER TIME LORD!!!!! is the moment the Doctor looked more horrified than in any of his lives, before or since...

Nah, I do believe it was House who took care of that.

I find it hard to picture the Rani responding to a distress call.

Where did this ability of the Doctor to sense other Time Lords come from? Classic Who made no mention of it at all.

IIRC the closest I can recall would be the second Doctor and the War Chief seeing each other and somehow knowing the other was a Time Lord.

On the other hand the first Doctor had to find the Meddling Monk's TARDIS before he realized he was another Time Lord.

The third Doctor never seemed to realize when the Master was in the area, and completely missed his mentor masquerading as a Buddhist monk.

IIRC the sixth Doctor didn't realize the Rani was on Earth until she tried to kill him.

The seventh Doctor didn't even spot the Rani when she was disguised as Mel and standing right next to him.

I find it hard to picture the Rani responding to a distress call.

She might, but with a more nefarious intent than rendering assistance.

So, as I said, the Rani could still be around. Didn't Sarah Jane have a friend with that name? Hmmmmmmm...

If Tom Baker had been forced to wear some nasty quilt-based outfit, he'd still have been loved....

And here's what it might have looked like:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204807089802261&l=10aeb464e7


He does look better than Sylvester in it.

YOU LEAVE MY TOM ALONE!

Time and the Rani was Sylvester McCoy’s debut story as the Seventh Doctor. Sixth Doctor Colin Baker had refused to take part in the regeneration scene of the Sixth to the Seventh Doctors. Therefore McCoy had to dress as the Sixth Doctor before he turned into the Seventh.
In the DVD commentary of this story McCoy says that as a result of that regeneration scene he was the only person to play two Doctors. This commentary was recorded c.2010 and what McCoy said was true until 2013 because according to Emma Campbell-Jones (Cass), Paul McGann was both the Eighth and War Doctors in the regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor as John Hurt didn’t actually take part in it with only an image of him as a younger man was used as a reflection after the said regeneration.

The DVD info text says that after being fired, Colin Baker was offered one last full story to complete his stint as the Sixth Doctor but he refused. What it did not mention, at least during the running of the first episode of this story, is that Baker (in the Colin Baker Years video) said he had been asked to do the regeneration scene at the beginning of this story but refused that as well.

I realized that Sylvester's debut story was the only Doctor debut story (aside from Patrick Troughton's now lost one) that I had never seen. So I dipped into the Dailymotion vault again.

How about that bit where the Rani shot the TARDIS down. It looked like a smegging video game.

The Doctor regenerated because he fell down?

Ah, Melanie "I'll sqweam and sqweam" Bush. Oh God, make it stop!

Mel was lucky that the boom ball that got her malfunctioned.

I've accused the Pertwee era of padding, but this episode does them one better. All those endless scenes of them wandering through the quarry, uh, I mean on the planet surface.

So did the Rani build that HUGE HQ of hers all by herself?

Why did she park her TARDIS so far away from it?

I loved the little tussle the Doctor and Mel got into when they were accusing each other of being an imposter.

Was it just me, or did the Rani's scheme make no sense at all.

How did all the Rani's pets get into her TARDIS ahead of her?

I hope the Doctor and Mel were able to get all those famous scientists back to their own times. You know how Sexy was back then?

A rather shaky start for Sylvester McCoy. It was clear this story was written with Colin Baker in mind and had to be hastily re-written when Colin was fired. And it painfully shows.

The Doctor regenerated because he fell down?

Or because his Seventh self murdered him (Love and War). Or because he was burnt-out by saving all the universes ever (or something - Spiral Scratch). And hey, we'll soon have a vastly-overpriced Sixth Doctor audio box set to go into this in enormous detail...

Ah, Melanie "I'll sqweam and sqweam" Bush. Oh God, make it stop!

Honestly, I can (usually) COPE with Mel. It's just that when there's Mel AND the-Rani-pretending-to-be-Mel...

Mel was lucky that the boom ball that got her malfunctioned.

Mel was lucky. Every OTHER sentient being in the universe...shed a tear.

So did the Rani build that HUGE HQ of hers all by herself?

Probably got the slave-labourers to do it.

If she couldn't be bothered black-transfer-computing, or whatever.

Was it just me, or did the Rani's scheme make no sense at all.

It's not just you.

A rather shaky start for Sylvester McCoy.

RATHER shaky!

I wish I was capable of such masterly understatement.

It was clear this story was written with Colin Baker in mind and had to be hastily re-written when Colin was fired. And it painfully shows.

I seem to remember (not that my memory's worth ANYTHING these days) that it was written with NO Doctor in mind. Which even-more-painfully shows.

I realized that Sylvester's debut story was the only Doctor debut story (aside from Patrick Troughton's now lost one) that I had never seen.

No, Tim! Don't do it! It's not worth it! it's probably the worst Who story EVER! Don't!!

So I dipped into the Dailymotion vault again.
dammit...

I hope the Doctor and Mel were able to get all those famous scientists back to their own times. You know how Sexy was back then?

Well, He probably asked the Time Lords for help.

Also had them wipe the memories of the scientists so they won't remember their trip to an alien planet.

Honestly, I can (usually) COPE with Mel. It's just that when there's Mel AND the-Rani-pretending-to-be-Mel...

At least Adders never screamed.


Mel was lucky. Every OTHER sentient being in the universe...shed a tear.




I seem to remember (not that my memory's worth ANYTHING these days) that it was written with NO Doctor in mind. Which even-more-painfully shows.

I only mentioned that because I heard that Colin Baker had been pushing for Doctor/Rani rematch. Of course, that never happened, because of his abrupt firing. I assumed that this script was already being written and Pip and Jane were just told to crossed out Colin and pencil in Sylvester.


No, Tim! Don't do it! It's not worth it! it's probably the worst Who story EVER! Don't!!

Thanks for the warning, Kevin, even if it's 24 hours too late.

I can understand why Pip and Jane Baker have such poor reputations around here now. At least Mark of The Rani was mildly interesting. This was pure Rubbish (yeah, with a capital R). Where in the dead gods of Krypton was the Script Editor? Was Cartmel still settling in and didn't have enough time to see that this script had loads of problems that needed fixing?

Where in the dead gods of Krypton was the Script Editor?

From Script Doctor:

'I personally didn't like their new script and if I had had the power to do so I'd have had it completely rewritten or simply ditched it...I talked to John...and we decided we had to have the Baker twins....come in to discuss changes...John told me to make the phone call. Towards the end of our conversation, Jane said, "But basically you like the script?" And I heard myself saying, "Oh yes. Basically the shape of the script is fine." I hang up. I felt like I'd just lost my virginity...A couple of days later, I had my first meeting with Pip and Jane Baker...I couldn't begin to be honest with them about how hopeless I felt their script was and they seemed to me utterly intransigent about the few changes I did suggest...The Bakers seemed strange, intractable. I despaired of ever reaching them. They were bursting with integrity and high principles...principles which I felt were perhaps deserving of a better cause than the script currently under discussion...Jane Baker kept on insisting on the reinstatement of lines that I'd cut. "I don't know if it was a mistake in the typing," she kept saying...If I'd had a free hand...I'd have let Pip and Jane Baker go...I was speechless with rage..."We don't want to prostitute the whole thing," Jane had said...'

I can see why Pip and Jane were never asked back to Doctor Who.

Perhaps writing TV shows was just not for them. Their one episode of Space: 1999, A Matter Of Balance, is considered one of the weaker episodes (mind you, this was made in the second season, and most fans of that show, myself included, consider it vastly inferior to Season One).

This would be the last time we'd see the Rani (unless you count Dimensions In Time, of course). Since Pip and Jane created her, they owned the rights to her. So the producers couldn't use the character without them.

Pip and Jane Baker wrote the children's Sci-Fi series Watt On Earth which was OK, & had a few familiar faces in it.

Doctor Who: The Abridged Series - Time and the Rani Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEtvU_jBEb4

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lagzamz2gL8

Alright, so it must have been like shooting fish in a barrel, but still...

'Objective: blow up asteroid composed of strange matter?' 'Of course. Normal matter is just so dull. This is the real ••••.'

'Beyus?' 'Our leader. And the only French member of our tribe. Which is why he was the first to surrender when the Rani first arrived on our planet...'

'Those bat-creatures have eyes on all sides of their heads!' 'Well observed, Mel. But don't worry. For the purposes of this scene they can only see forwards.'

'I shall achieve this with a missile on a fixed trajectory. Because...the concept of a homing device completely eludes me.'

'We tried to get Stephen Hawking, but unfortunately the TARDIS wasn't wheelchair accessible.'

'Be careful of that bottle. It's the only antidote there is, and without it your people couldn't possibly survive...'

And if YOU ever thought your eyeballs might explode whilst watching Time and the Rani...

Kate O'Mara in DWM: 'The most difficult thing about doing the Tetrap story was hanging upside-down from my feet...Do you remember those scenes? They caused the blood vessels under my eyes to explode - or implode, I guess...that scene could have seriously damaged my eyesight.'

You and me both, Sunshine.

One of the special features in the Time and the Rani DVD, On Location is a news report on the filming of the story and had the reporter interviewing some of those involved in it including the Doctor himself Sylvester McCoy.

With the interview with McCoy, the subtitles refer to the reporter as "Male Interviewer".

I don't see why it needed to refer to the interviewer's gender as it was completely irrelevant.
It would have suffice for the subtitle to just refer to him as "Interviewer".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia - murdered by a Christian mob. Sadly the Doctor had to return her, though i'm sure the Time Lord Victorious would have saved her.

Though I've never been quite sure what she was doing amongst the mega-genii of the universe. She was a LIBRARIAN for heaven's sake. And if she was REALLY smart she'd've taken that day off work, or invented the machine-gun or something.

Time and the Rani, the worst - mostly due to the inexplicable decision to give the producer's five-year old child a synthesizer and allow them to bang on the keys while they were recording the show.

Sunshine, the music doesn't even make my Top One Hundred Reasons To Hate Time And The Rani...

It looks pretty, but it really is the most terrible tosh. I do feel for the talented actors, set designers, visual effects team, etc, all in the service of one of the worst scripts ever to grace the series.

At least they were paid good money for said terrible tosh, when are WE gonna get compensation for having to WATCH it?

This Thursday night : 7:35PM - Time and the Rani, 30 years on from the rebirth of Who its time to celebrate the birth of one of the great eras of Who with an anniversary rewatch .

Who is with me?

"Leave the girl, its the man I want"

Over my dead body.

30 years on from the rebirth of Who

30 years? We had a new Doctor that year, one who dressed quite a lot better, but that was hardly a rebirth of the programme, just a routine changing of the guard.

Ah, but we also got Andrew Cartmel as our Script Editor, who slowly but surely turned Who around, from the abomination that was Time and the Rani to the shining glory that was Season Twenty-Six...

(Of course, if you actually listen to the audios of his proposed Season Twenty-Seven, Who gets rather rubbish again, but let's not spoil our sixteen-year howl of anguish that our raison d'etre was cancelled just when it had reached perfection with annoying things like facts. And OBVIOUSLY it would have been better on-screen than in Big Finish form, what isn't.)

Data Extract notes that the Rani dressing up as Bonstance Langford is the best idea that RTD never had.

Bonstance?

Letter to DWM from Pip n'Jane: 'Although, according to their letters, many fans have worked out the premises for the names Lakertya, Beyus, Tetraps, etc,' - there were 'premises' for their names? - 'none, so far, has remarked on the anagram we also included. We were sure most of them would spot it!' - you seriously thought we were so sad we wouldn't rest until we'd worked out that 'Loyhargil' is an anagram of 'Holy Grail'? Screw YOU.

---

quote:

Andrew Cartmel said this one was pretty far along when he joined the production. He said he wanted to make changes, but JNT and the Bakers were not agreeable to it, so he basically washed his hands of it and concentrated on the following stories. Whether or not it's true, I'm not sure, but he definitely was not a fan of Pip & Jane Baker and this was the end of their association with Doctor Who.

---

Emily covered this on April 26, 2015.

The Behind the Sofa features this time have no fewer than three Doctor--four if you count the Valeyard. Alas, Michael Jayston (the Valeyard) is pretty worthless as a participant. He's fairly monosyllabic and clueless about the programme, and not in a refreshing way.

McCoy, Andred, Langford
Davison, Sutton, Fielding
Colin Baker, Jayston

Not quite as fun as the previous one, but still good.

Georgia Tennant took an internet 'Which Doctor are you?' quiz and got Sylvester McCoy.

Look at you, procrastinating...

Needed a little break between Victoria's last story and her first. This one's in the queue, but I am grateful that Evil is seven whole episodes.

Maybe 'whole' want the best word choice...

I am grateful that Evil is seven whole episodes.

Maybe 'whole' want the best word choice...

*Wince*

I always enjoy the behind the sofa features- Davison and co always just cut loose.

To correct Kevin- Georgia Tennant was asked who her favourite Doctor was in an interview and she said "Sylvester McCoy" much to the chagrin of her dad.

Guy doesn't have much luck, does he.

Remember the exchange with his grandson, which was something along the lines of:

'Who's your favourite Doctor?'
'DAVID TENNANT!' (Adorably before the kid went and got ADOPTED by said David Tennant.)
'Who's your second-favourite Doctor?'
'TOM BAKER!'
*Between gritted teeth* 'Who's your third-favourite Doctor?'
*Pause*
'I don't have a third-favourite Doctor.'

I brought it on myself. The disc was clearly labeled 'Extended Edition' and all.

I was thinking, I don't know, maybe it was a *special* edition and would therefore be a lot shorter...

'Who am I? And who are you? The Rani! Stay back.' (Falls down a couple very small steps. )
--Possibly the single worst moment in Who.

RANI: This is idiotic. You'll injure yourself.
--oh come on. He could cut off his hand right now.

The Doctor is so stunned by the sight of a typical 80s monster carrying a gun pointed at him that he stands still for several seconds and allows it to shoot him?

Why are the Doctor and Rani suddenly and continuously reminiscing about 'university' rather than 'academy'?

The Rani can correct the Doctor with 'Elephants never forget?' She's the familar with Earth animals and/or English expressions?

Come to think of it, what language are they speaking? Two Time Lords by themselves, but one's pretending to be a human. Maybe the Rani does speak English.

I won't ask why she isn't screaming every five minutes and just count my blessings.

It's a big planet, but (even after being trapped in a ball bouncing all over the landscape) everybody ends up right in front of the same sad skeleton.

When we finally see that typical 80s monster, it's introduced very unceremoniously. Its appearance was obscured at first but there's no grand reveal when it's finally on screen. It's just suddenly there.

The idea of a companion not witnessing the regeneration and having to be persuaded the Doctor is the Doctor is actually a pretty good one. Shame they wasted it on this.

When Mel finally meets the Doctor, why does he assume she's the Rani?

Oh dear. The Doctor and Mel wrestling scene...

Why would the Doctor assume the Rani is wearing a wig? She has Time Lord...stuff.

MEL: I've had enough of this drivel.
-- So Pip and Jane actually knew it was drivel and still kept writing it?

MEL: A double pulse. Then you really are the Doctor.
-- Really? He's not even the only Time Lord in the building.

Urak exits the workshop, almost walking past Beyus who's standing slightly off to the side. So what exactly are those other eyes for?

The Doctor has an uncle? Perhaps he really does have a giddy aunt then.

'...fifty two to the power of six point four...'
Imaginary numbers, I guess.

(The Doctor examines Faroon's anklet.)
DOCTOR: You've got to give the Rani full marks for ingenuity.
--- For an ankle bracelet??

The tree bomb was better.

The Doctor concedes computer expertise to Mel?

Beginning to think they dropped the Doctor's mixed-up sayings after this story because they weren't any left.

In Mark, the Rani had different motivations from the Master. This could have easily been a Master story. Ainley dressed as Mel might even improve it.

The Doctor and the Rani went to university (academy, whatever) together, so when the Rani needs a genius in time, she remembers the young Hartnell guy who failed the test, passing it with only 51% on the next go?

And since when is the Doctor a genius in time specifically? Thus far, his knowledge of time seemed to stem from his academy training.
______
The actor who played Beyus also appeared in The Keys of Marinus (more disembodied brains) and The Faceless Ones. The actor who played Faroon was also in Faceless Ones and, in fact, is also Thea Ransome herself from Image of the Fendahl.

I find it hilarious that Sandifer calls Tat Wood to task for saying that episode 1 is the worst episode of all Who, calling the claim 'ludicrous,' and then using as counter-evidence episode 3.

You know what Doctor Who just can't do? Yellow. The Lakertyns. The Argolins. Adric. The fifth Doctor. Yellow as the dominant colour of any palette just doesn't work in Who.

'...fifty two to the power of six point four...'
Imaginary numbers, I guess.

No, that's a perfectly real number, it computes to 96,033,199,708.07038...

I brought it on myself.

But you feel better now it's all over, right?

The disc was clearly labeled 'Extended Edition' and all.

Oh. Dear. Gods.

I was thinking, I don't know, maybe it was a *special* edition and would therefore be a lot shorter...

Excellent idea! I'm sure we could get a good five minutes of fun panto out of a heavily-edited version...In fact, just the Death Of Old Sixie (or at least his vile yellow wig) would do me JUST FINE...

The Rani can correct the Doctor with 'Elephants never forget?' She's the familar with Earth animals and/or English expressions?

Of course she is. Practically every Time Lord we've met has been obsessed with bloody Earth, it's like the Doctor is INFECTUOUS. (Actually given their entire template is based on said Doctor, s/he probably is.)

The Doctor has an uncle? Perhaps he really does have a giddy aunt then.

I'm sure that was a hilarious joke, alongside the father, brother, seven grannies, etc etc...

The tree bomb was better.

No doubt the first and last time such a sentence has ever, will ever, be uttered.

In Mark, the Rani had different motivations from the Master. This could have easily been a Master story

Yeah, and after such a fuss was made about the Rani being soooo different from the Master cos she was Amoral and he was IMmoral...

Ainley dressed as Mel might even improve it

Well it could hardly have made it worse...

The Doctor and the Rani went to university (academy, whatever) together, so when the Rani needs a genius in time, she remembers the young Hartnell guy who failed the test, passing it with only 51% on the next go?

It wouldn't have been that hard for the Rani to spot Our Hero's genius when her/his (look, Capaldi SAID he wasn't sure he was male at the time) godawful tutors like Borusa and Azmael had failed - the Academy gave OMEGA the lowest ever mark, after all...(Hence, y'know...his name.)

You know what Doctor Who just can't do? Yellow. The Lakertyns. The Argolins. Adric. The fifth Doctor. Yellow as the dominant colour of any palette just doesn't work in Who.

Ah, that's a point...

Though the sunflowers in Vincent and the Doctor were quite nice, I s'pose...? And the Leisure Hive LOOKED just fine...

On one of the Facebook groups I'm running a poll on the classic stories--four stories a day with the top two vote-getters advancing to the next round. THIS story managed to come in second a couple days ago and therefore advances. The losers were The Awakening and The Smugglers, one of each at least has the excuse of being missing. (First place was The Three Doctors with about four times as many votes).

Granted The Awakening isn't top tier Doctor Who, but losing to Time and the Rani leads me to believe I'm doing this poll on a page of insane Whovians.

I loathe The Awakening with a fiery passion but there'd STILL be no contest with Time and the Rani...

But at least Time and the Rani has... The Rani. A new and potentially great villain who sadly never had a great story to match that potential.

Whereas The Awakening has as a villain... staying awake. ;-)

Oops! Got my Rani episodes mixed up. She was not introduced in this one. D'oh!

Still I did like the scenes where she was pretending to be Mel.

Time and the Rani is the worst in-tact, canonical Doctor Who televised story.

(I left some wiggle room for Space Pirates and filtered out Dimensions in Time.)

(There are some stories that are more boring than Time and the Rani.)

Is this the Doctor Who fans who really love the show Facebook page?

Rodney, yes it is.

And for another interesting development, today The Horns of Nimon seems to be holding on to second place over The Mysterious Planet--although I'm sure Emily will approve of that development. (First place is Spearhead From Space, with almost 100 more votes, but that's not a surprise)