‘TIME AND THE RANI’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Rani and Tetraps on Lakertya with the Seventh Doctor and Mel

The ‘tumultuous buffeting’ of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series continues! 😀

Here we are again with me reviewing another classic ‘Doctor Who’ season on Blu-ray! It’s time for Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. And yes, this happens to be the first season of Sylvester’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ in the late 1980s. And it’s a very divisive season. 😐

That didn’t bother me, since any distraction from the real world like Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray was good enough. It’s one of the treats of 2021 with the world still going through a global pandemic. I’m so glad these ‘Collection’ box sets of classic ‘Doctor Who’ seasons can still be made. 🙂

The announcement trailer for Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray came on the 21st of January 2021 via YouTube. The trailer starred Bonnie Langford back as Melanie Bush and Sylvester McCoy back as the Seventh Doctor. It was nice to see Bonnie and Sylvester reprise their roles for the trailer.

The trailer was also equally exciting in showing what was to come in the ‘Doctor Who’ Season 24 Blu-ray box set. I was glad that Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding were to be involved in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items for Season 24, despite the social distancing measures required for them.

Colin Baker and Michael Jayston were also involved in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items as well as Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and Sophie Aldred. I was keen to see the new behind-the-scenes making-of documentary of ‘Delta and the Bannermen’, which wasn’t included on the original DVD. 🙂

The Blu-ray box set of Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ is an 8-disc set. There are two versions of ‘Time and the Rani’ on Discs 1 and 2, two versions of ‘Paradise Towers’ on Discs 3 and 4, two versions of ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ on Discs 5 and 6; and two versions of ‘Dragonfire’ on Discs 7 and 8. Each of the Season 24 Blu-ray discs have the original DVD special features and some brand-new Blu-ray extras. 🙂

With the two versions of each of the four stories featured in Season 24, there’s the original story on one disc and there’s an extended version of the story on another disc. The extended versions of the four stories in Season 24 are similar in style to the extended episodes of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. 😀

Like what I’ve done with ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ in terms of updating my review on the 14-part story based on the Season 23 Blu-ray release, I’ll be basing my thoughts on each of the four stories of Season 24 via their extended versions as I’d like to consider them superior to the original versions.

I’m glad that scenes that were originally cut from the final edits of each story of Season 24 have been put back into the extended edits on Blu-ray. I’m sure the same will be applied for the Season 25 Blu-ray box set with the extended versions for ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ and ‘Silver Nemesis’.

But yeah, Season 24 is arguably considered a loathed season of classic ‘Doctor Who’ by the fans. Following on from the troubled production of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, Season 24’s emphasis on humour and over-the-top performances didn’t please the fans whilst they watched it on TV in 1987.

Me personally, I have a soft spot for Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’. I know it’s not a great season and it’s clear that the season was made in a rush with the casting of a new Doctor and the appointment of a new script editor. But I do like some of the ideas featured in a couple of stories from Season 24.

It didn’t help matters when Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ was scheduled on Monday evenings instead of Saturday evenings and was in competition with ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ at the time. Whether the BBC were determined to gain more audience figures or kill ‘Doctor Who’ quietly is to be determined.

The start of Sylvester McCoy’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ was quite rocky and it would take time for his Doctor to develop and hopefully get better. Thankfully new script editor Andrew Cartmel was able to revitalise the show for the rest of the 1980s since the resignation of former script editor Eric Saward.

I can’t deny there’s too much humour featured in the four stories of Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’. But even after watching the stories on DVD and Blu-ray, I do get a sense of fun out of watching them. It’s intriguing to see and hear the reactions to Season 24 from fans regarding whether they like it or not.

As I’ve said before in my ‘Leisure Hive’ review, everyone is entitled to their opinion on what they like and dislike regarding particular ‘Doctor Who’ seasons. I still stand by that argument and I hope to share what I consider to be great about Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ as well as share what’s not great.

Anyway, let’s get started on talking about the season itself! We begin with the four-part adventure ‘Time and the Rani’ by Pip and Jane Baker.

I can’t show you the extended version of the pre-titles sequence of ‘Time and the Rani’, though I will say it is better than the original version of the opening sequence. I liked how extra graphics of outer space were added and it was so surreal to see the TARDIS be captured by rainbow honeycomb things. 😀

I also liked in the extended version of the story that the CGI regeneration from Colin Baker into Sylvester McCoy was added. It was originally a DVD Easter Egg for ‘Time and the Rani’. It’s also included as a CGI option for the original version of the tale on Blu-ray. More on regeneration in a bit!

After the opening scene, we move into the Seventh Doctor titles sequence featuring graphics by graphics designer Oliver Elmes and a new ‘Doctor Who’ theme music arrangement by composer Keff McCulloch. I must admit, I wasn’t that keen on the Seventh Doctor titles sequence when I first saw it.

It has grown on me, but I feel the graphics are too late 1980s for my liking. Also Keff McCulloch’s arrangement of the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music is at odds to how Delia Derbyshire arranged it. At least Peter Howell and Dominic Glynn kept to the theme music’s arrangement with their versions. 😐

Mind you, it is strange to see Sylvester McCoy’s face looking silvery compared to how other Doctors’ faces have been utilised in the titles sequence. There is a point where Sylvester winks at us in the titles sequence. Peter Davison does remark on that a lot in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items of Season 24. 😀

But yeah, when people saw this story at the time it was on TV, there must have been a number who found the pre-titles sequence pretty weird, especially when it starts with the TARDIS getting hit by rainbow beams in space and when the Sixth Doctor and Mel are unconscious on the TARDIS floor. 😀

People must have also thought this was a Colin Baker story instead of a Sylvester McCoy story. But that is in fact Sylvester McCoy dressed up in Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor costume and wearing a blond curly wig on his head. It must have been really strange to witness once the regeneration occurred. 😀

I joked about it being Colin Baker on the TARDIS floor before it’s revealed it’s Sylvester McCoy when I originally reviewed ‘Time and the Rani’ on its DVD release. It’s something that I can’t really replicate when it came to me updating my ‘Time and the Rani’ review based on the Season 24 Blu-ray box set.

‘Time and the Rani’ was made at a time when the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series was in turmoil. Beforehand, ‘Doctor Who’ had been going through trials and tribulations when receiving pressure from the BBC bosses. It continued to be a thing for the production team at this point in the series. 😐

The producer John Nathan-Turner was forced to carry on producing ‘Doctor Who’ by the BBC bosses despite his desire to leave. It was also unfair for Colin Baker who had been treated badly by the BBC bosses and John Nathan-Turner was told to sack Colin Baker in a way to revitalise the TV show itself.

As you may have gathered, Colin Baker is clearly absent in the regeneration scene between his Doctor and Sylvester McCoy’s. Colin wanted no part in being involved with the regeneration sequence, and rightly so. Thankfully, Colin Baker’s swansong as the Sixth Doctor is made up for by Big Finish.

That’s in ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’ where the final episode of the epic four-part adventure ties into the beginning of ‘Time and the Rani’. I like how that tie-in is made and it makes up for the disappointment fans might have had that Colin Baker didn’t do the regeneration scene. 🙂

‘Time and the Rani’ is where the Seventh Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ officially begins, but it wouldn’t be until ‘Paradise Towers’ where Sylvester McCoy would get into what his interpretation of the Doctor would be like. Here, ‘Time and the Rani’ is more suited for the Sixth Doctor than the Seventh Doctor.

It’s clear that this is a pretty rock start for Sylvester McCoy’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. Not only did he have to do the regeneration scene by donning a blonde curly wig, but he also had to work out who his Doctor was and where to make his mark. Like I said, it would take time, but he’d get there eventually.

‘Time and the Rani’ was written in an emergency when producer John Nathan-Turner was forced to stay on and he had no script editor to help him out at this point. The story’s writers, Pip and Jane Baker, previously contributed to ‘Doctor Who’ before with TV stories suited for Colin Baker’s Doctor.

They wrote ‘The Mark of the Rani’ for Season 22; the ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ segment of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ and they wrote the last episode of the 14-part epic. Pip and Jane Baker must have been true professionals in order to help JNT out in an emergency when they did and that’s good on them.

After ‘Time and the Rani’ had been commissioned, the new script editor Andrew Cartmel joined the production team of ‘Doctor Who’. Andrew’s involvement in ‘Time and the Rani’ is rather limited and it wasn’t the type of story that he wanted to begin his tenure as a script editor with on the TV series.

It was interesting to hear the different viewpoints of writers Pip and Jane Baker and script editor Andrew Cartmel on what they wanted to do with the show. Apparently, Pip and Jane wanted to include Solomon into the story whilst Andrew Cartmel was keen that they should include Einstein. 😐

Meaning no disrespect to Andrew Cartmel, but I would have preferred Solomon rather than Einstein in the story. It’s simply because the emotional biblical story of Solomon’s wisdom and his judgement over the baby and the two mothers would have been far more effective than having Einstein involved.

In any event, Einstein wasn’t a major part of the story since the focus was less being a Sixth Doctor story and more a Seventh Doctor story. Quite a number of scenes featured in ‘Time and the Rani’ involved the new Seventh Doctor finding himself when recovering from his regeneration in the story.

In the story, the TARDIS gets dragged to the planet Lakertya by Kate O’Mara as the evil Rani. The Rani is determined for the Doctor to help her in her latest terrible scientific schemes. It involves the gathering of brilliant minds in order to find a solution to change the order of creation in the universe.

As the Doctor struggles to get a grip on himself; figuring out who he is and being given amnesia by the Rani herself, it takes a while for him to become his new self. Thankfully, he has friends like Mel who help him to find his new self and hopefully he’ll grow on Mel the more that she gets to know him. 🙂

I must say, ‘Time and the Rani’ is my least favourite story out of Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ altogether. As much as I admire Pip and Jane Baker’s writing in ‘Doctor Who’, this one didn’t sit well for me. It’s not that it’s uninteresting, but it lacked inspiration and it could have been sharper in dialogue.

Also, as a new beginning for a new Doctor, it’s not that exciting. Stories like ‘Paradise Towers’ and ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ can be outlandish with their humour and bonkers ideas. This story felt underwhelming and dire in terms of its setting and concepts – and that’s not just the quarry location. 😀

In terms of how the Seventh Doctor gets developed at the start of his new era, it does tend to be dodgy. Sylvester is doing the best he can with the material he’s been given. He’s experimenting with the part, especially since his initial interpretation of the Doctor was based on Patrick Troughton’s Doctor.

There are also hints of Charlie Chaplin involved with Sylvester’s initial interpretation of the character. Whilst I appreciate Sylvester being a physical actor and that often contributed to the comedic aspects required to play his Doctor, it at times made his initial interpretation rather uneven.

This isn’t the manipulative and cunning Seventh Doctor we would come to know later on in the series. At the start, Sylvester’s Doctor is more of a clown and very impish. Sylvester’s pastiche is in comedy, which I did enjoy, but some of the comedic elements played went a bit too far in this story.

I did enjoy how Sylvester tried to find his way with identifying who his Doctor was at the beginning, but some of the initial ideas given to him to play with at this early stage of his era are quite questionable. This is especially noticeable in the mix-up of words in familiar proverbs by the Doctor.

I’m glad that aspect of the Seventh Doctor was dropped in later stories of the season. It didn’t catch on and I’m glad Pip and Jane Baker weren’t keen on the idea. It was something that producer JNT was keen to include, but even then it wasn’t working and it’s probably for the best it was dropped. 🙂

There are also moments where Sylvester gets to play the spoons in ‘Time and the Rani’. This is a party piece that Sylvester used whenever he did cabarets and I’ve seen him do it at a convention once. I must admit, Sylvester’s spoon-playing has grown on me as I watch him in the ‘Doctor Who’ series. 🙂

However, I don’t think his spoon-playing suits well for his Doctor in his first story. This is especially when he plays the spoons on Kate O’Mara’s front for no good reason. I don’t know why he did that and it never gets explained. Apparently JNT suggested that Sylvester played the spoons in this story.

Sylvester McCoy wears Colin Baker’s outfit for most of ‘Part One’ of the tale. I’m pleased that he eventually switched out of that costume and he wore the white jacket and the panama hat outfit he’s so well-known for wearing. The white jacket suits him than the brown jacket that he later wore.

Mind you, the question mark pullover is dodgy. I know people have issues with the question marks on the lapels of certain Doctors’ costumes like Tom Baker’s, Peter Davison’s and Colin Baker’s. But I found them tolerable. Here, with Sylvester’s question mark pullover, it does seem way over-the-top!

Bonnie Langford returns as Mel, the Doctor’s current companion in this adventure. I wish I could say Mel is great in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure, but she does get on my nerves when she screams a lot. This happens when she steps into a bubble-ball trap and she’s having Tetraps jumping at her here. 😐

This isn’t the fault of Bonnie Langford as she’s clearly a good actress and I have heard her perform well as Mel in the Big Finish audios. I’ve also met Bonnie at a comic con in Bournemouth in 2015. But Mel is someone who can easily be remembered for screaming a lot when she does the loud screams.

I’m also not keen on the costume Mel wears. I don’t know what it is about that costume, but it’s rather unflattering and looks more like Mel is dressed up to be in a pantomime play. Which considering the tone that Season 24 was going for at the time does make it rather fitting, doesn’t it?

I did like it when Mel met the Seventh Doctor for the first time and she questioned who he said he was. It’s a nice moment when Mel gradually realises and comes to accept that Sylvester McCoy is the Doctor. It was funny when they fought each other at the beginning and Mel is pretty acrobatic here.

Kate O’Mara returns as the villainous Rani in her second TV appearance in ‘Doctor Who’. She would return for one more ‘Doctor Who’ appearance as the Rani on TV in ‘Dimensions In Time’. I enjoyed Kate’s performance as the Rani in this adventure and I gather she enjoyed coming back to play her. 🙂

The Rani is clearly different to the Master in ‘Doctor Who’, since she’s utterly ruthless and has no compassion for anyone. Kate enjoys playing the Rani as much as Pip and Jane Baker enjoy writing her character. I wish more Rani stories were made on TV that explored her character in more depth.

The downside with the Rani however in this story is when she decides to dress up as Mel after giving the Doctor amnesia. Why?! I mean, don’t get me wrong, Kate O’Mara does a decent job recreating Bonnie Langford when playing the Rani as Mel, but it’s a rather weak impersonation of Mel anyway.

For one thing, the Rani doesn’t look like Mel, despite wearing a wig; raising her voice a bit and walking a bit like Bonnie Langford. Another thing is how come the Doctor can’t recognise Mel when he sees her. I mean, I know he has amnesia, but it does feel pretty weak in terms of the execution. 😐

The story’s guest cast are as follows. There’s Mark Greenstreet as Ikona, a Lakertyan whom Mel befriends in the tale. There’s also Donald Pickering as Beyus, the Lakertyan leader. Donald Pickering was in ‘The Keys of Marinus’ with William Hartnell and ‘The Faceless Ones’ with Patrick Troughton. 🙂

There’s Wanda Ventham as Faroon, Beyus’ wife in the tale. As well as being Benedict Cumberbatch’s mother, Wanda Ventham was also in ‘The Faceless Ones’ with Patrick Troughton and ‘Image of the Fendahl’ with Tom Baker. Karen Clegg guest stars as Sarn, Beyus and Faroon’s daughter in the story.

Unfortunately, Sarn gets killed early on in ‘Part One’ of the story. 😦 There’s also Richard Gauntlett as Urak the Tetrap, who worships the Rani devotedly. Despite being bat-like and having four eyes, I found the Tetraps rather silly-looking. Maybe it was their teeth and long tongues that scared Mel. 😀

As well as the new title sequence and the new theme music for the Seventh Doctor era, there are some new computer-generated effects introduced for this ‘Doctor Who’ story especially. Some of the effects are quite impressive, such as the bubble-ball traps that characters like Mel often fell into.

As indicated at the beginning, ‘Time and the Rani’ and the whole of Season 24 have been criticised heavily by audiences, critics and fans for their comedic content. I do agree with this, since ‘Doctor Who’ needs to have a balance of comedy and drama in them which is often a hard balance to strike.

It’s such a shame since some of the stories of Season 24 are very interesting in terms of their concepts. ‘Time and the Rani’ is no exception, especially when Pip and Jane Baker introduce scientific concepts in their stories that can get overshadowed by the overdose of humour in them. 😦

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was the making-of documentary called ‘The Last Chance Saloon’, featuring behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There was also the ‘7D FX’ visual effects featurette with visual effects designer Colin Mapson, visual effects assistant Mike Tucker and video effects designer Dave Chapman; the ‘Helter-Skelter’ title sequence featurette with graphic designer Oliver Elmes and animator Gareth Edwards; the ‘Lakertya’ location featurette which looked into how the concept of the planet Lakertya changed during production with director Andrew Morgan and writers Pip and Jane Baker; and ‘Hot Gossip’ where Sylvester McCoy and Kate O’Mara remember being on set. There was also an ‘On Location’ news report by ‘Breakfast Time’ featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and Kate O’Mara. There was a ‘Blue Peter’ item featuring Sylvester McCoy; a photo gallery of the story; a mono sound audio mix option for the story; a DVD audio commentary with Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and writers Pip and Jane Baker; an info-text commentary option to enjoy; and a ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF of the story. There was also a ‘coming soon’ trailer for the ‘Revisitations’ DVD box set, containing ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, ‘The Caves of Androzani’, starring Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant, and ‘The TV Movie’, starring Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook. There were also three Easter Eggs to look out for on the DVD including the CGI effect for the regeneration scene; ‘The Nam’sh McCoy’ and ‘Eye-Sore’.

On Disc 1 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 24’ Blu-ray, the original four-part TV version of the story; ‘The Last Chance Saloon’ making-of documentary; the ‘7D FX’ visual effects featurette; the ‘Helter-Skelter’ title sequence featurette; the ‘Lakertya’ location featurette; ‘Hot Gossip’; the ‘On Location’ news report by ‘Breakfast Time’; the ‘Blue Peter’ item featuring Sylvester McCoy; the mono sound audio mix option; the DVD audio commentary, ‘The Nam’sh McCoy’ DVD Easter Egg, the ‘Eye-Sore’ DVD Easter Egg, and the ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF can be found on there. The photo gallery and the info-text commentary option for ‘Time and the Rani’ have been updated for 2021 on the Blu-ray. The CGI effect for the regeneration scene DVD Easter Egg is now available in the Episode Selection as an optional special effect for ‘Part One’ of the story.

The new special features on Blu-ray include deleted and extended scenes of the story. There’s the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Time and the Rani’ with Sylvester McCoy (The Seventh Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Mel) and Sophie Aldred (Ace) as well as Peter Davison (The Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor) and Michael Jayston (The Valeyard). There’s the ‘Casting Sylvester’ featurette with Clive Diog (taken from the ‘Paradise Towers’ DVD); and there are the Seventh Doctor audition tapes including Sylvester McCoy, Dermot Crowley and David Fielder. There are some visual effects model film trims and some visual effects model film inserts (both on mute); and there’s a regeneration studio compilation with Sylvester McCoy. As well as the ‘On Location’ news report by ‘Breakfast Time’ and the ‘Blue Peter’ item with Sylvester McCoy, there are more TV promotional appearances including a ‘Saturday Superstore’ item with Bonnie Langford, a ‘BBC Six O’Clock News’ item on Sylvester McCoy’s casting, a ‘Pamela Armstrong’ interview with Sylvester McCoy and producer John Nathan-Turner, some location rushes of the ‘On Location’ news report by ‘Breakfast Time’, a ‘It’s Wicked’ item with Sylvester McCoy, a ‘Points of View’ item, another ‘Blue Peter’ item with a Dalek car, and an ‘Open Air’ item with Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and producer John Nathan-Turner. There’s also a Season 24 press trailer. There’s also an opening and closing titles section including clean opening and closing titles which can be viewed with stereo effects only, stereo music only, stereo full mix and 5.1 as well as the rejected clean ‘Dark Doctor’ opening and closing titles (as seen in ‘Part Four’) which can be viewed with mono effects only, mono music only and mono full mix. There are BBC trailers and continuity announcements for the story; and there’s a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘Paradise Towers’, starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford (taken from ‘The Gunfighters’ and ‘The Awakening’ DVDs). There’s also a brand-new 5.1 surround sound audio mix option for the story to enjoy and there’s an isolated music option by Keff McCulloch.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story, there are production documents, scripts for the story including four rehearsal scripts and four transmission camera scripts, BBC Enterprises sales sheets, costume designs and visual effects design drawings.

On Disc 2 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 24’ Blu-ray, there’s the extended version of ‘Time and the Rani’ to enjoy. There’s also some location footage and some studio footage from the making of the story to enjoy. There’s a stereo sound audio mix option and a 5.1 surround sound audio mix option for the extended version of ‘Time and the Rani’.

‘Time and the Rani’ isn’t the greatest beginning to Sylvester McCoy’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. It’s one of those weird ‘Doctor Who’ stories that I’m not in a hurry to watch over and over again. It’s a rocky start for Sylvester’s Doctor. The story introduces him as being more foolish and a clown in the series.

It’s a contrast compared to how Sylvester’s Doctor would develop later on in the series. Despite that, I did enjoy ‘Time and the Rani’ in a slightly surreal way. As I progressed onwards in the Season 24 Blu-ray box set, I looked forward to revisiting the stories ‘Paradise Towers’ and ‘Delta and the Bannermen’.

‘Time and the Rani’ rating – 5/10

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The previous story For the Sixth Doctor was ‘The Power of the Doctor’ (TV) For the Seveth Doctor was ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’ (Audio) For Mel ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’ (Audio)	The next story For the Seventh Doctor is ‘Unregenerate!’ (Audio) For Mel is ‘Unregenerate!’ (Audio)
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