DVD Reviews

Doctor Who: Time and the Rani – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 15, 2011, 13:00 GMT

New to DVD! Digitally remastered Doctor Who classic Time and the Rani! Violently wrenched out of time, the TARDIS is brought crashing down onto the planet Lakertya by the villainous Rani. Caught within the maelstrom, the Doctor is forced to regenerate.Imprisoning the Doctor in her stronghold, the Rani seizes upon his vulnerable state. By impersonating his friend Mel, the Rani deceives the unwitting Doctor into helping her achieve her audacious ...more

The era of Colin Baker as the Doctor came to an unceremonious end with Baker being fired.  Sylvester McCoy, his replacement, didn’t exactly get off to a rousing start with this adventure either.  Many things don’t work but McCoy does have a moment or two. 

The Doctor (supposedly Colin Baker but really Sylvester McCoy in a fright wig and Baker’s old costume) and his companion Mel (Bonnie Langford) are cruising through space when a ray strikes the TARDIS and causes it to crash-land on the planet of Lakertya. 

This triggers the Doctor to regenerate (into the real McCoy) and Mel to be unconscious.  The ray originated from the evil renegade Timelord the Rani (Kate O’Mara) who takes on Mel’s appearance to convince the Doctor, confused after his regeneration, to help her create a time manipulation device so that she can take over the universe. 

The ratings during Colin Baker’s era as the Doctor were steadily falling off so the blame went to Baker and he was basically told his services were not needed anymore.  Basically that bad blood also meant that Baker wouldn’t agree to return for the traditional regeneration from the old actor to the new one. 

This novel idea, that Timelords regenerate and change their appearance, has allowed Doctor Who to be the longest running sci-fi show on television.  So the pretty poor decision was made to have McCoy just dress up in Baker’s costume and play both roles.  It’s terribly obvious and the reasons for his regeneration, which was usually some massive damage, turns out that he fell on the floor of his spaceship. 

A pretty poor beginning all around and we’ve not even talked about the story.  It’s pretty silly and the special effects aren’t that special.  If there is maybe a bright spot is that McCoy has such a maniacal likeability that has some nice moments for his Doctor.  Although McCoy’s Doctor’s costume is a better choice than Baker’s it still has the overly obvious question mark motif. 

Time and the Rani is presented in fullscreen.  Special features include a commentary from Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and writers Pip and Jane Baker, a pop-up info text with episode trivia, the 28 minute “Last Chance Saloon” about the beginning of the McCoy era, the 11 minute “7D FX” looks at the episodes effects, the 9 minute “Helter Skelter” looks at the new CGI title sequence, the 2 minute “Lakertya” about the planet, the 2 minute “Hot Gossip” has the cast recounting the episode gossip on set, the 4 minute “BBC Breakfast Time” short, the 1 minute “Blue Peter” short, a photo gallery, and the Radio Times Listing in PDF DVD-ROM. 

It’s a rather inauspicious beginning of the McCoy era (so much so that it would mark the end of the show until its revival) although McCoy has some charm in the role.  Where the disc excels is in the extras department because you’ll surely not be buying it for the silly story. 

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