This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Earth Aid

I find all the people trying to review this seriously quite funny. It's an eastenders crossover charity special, it was hardly ever gonna be some masterpiece of writing. I think that, for what it is, it's quite good. The only missed opportunity in my opinion is that the Doctors never physically meet each other. It's great to see all the actors again, though I really do wonder why Tom Baker showed up for this of all things and not something more substantial like The Five Doctors.

It's fun, and that's all it needs to be.

Next Story: The Fearmonger

Maybe it is because this has a trash reputation I was very familiar with, leading me to put off ever actually watching it until now, but I didn't have a bad time now that I've finally gotten around to it. Dimensions in Time is actually pretty decent, even.  There's so many fun cameos and encounters between Doctors and Companions that we don't really get to see anywhere else!  Sure, it is silly, but it is also clearly constructed to be what it is - a satirical short story aimed for children for the sake of raising money for charity.  None of this is a bad thing, and I find pinning this as the worst of Doctor Who, a particular low point, or deserving of overly deep analysis both false and a little dishonest.  This was a lot like the Five(ish) Doctors Reboot - both fun little sets of cameo clearly not made to take seriously.

I understand this is probably weighed down by being a rare production in the Wilderness Years and can see how that would be disappointing for fans at the time.  Looking back on it now though, it is hard not to view this as just another goofy little thing like Time Crash.  So, yeah, it's not made that well - the effects are peak low-budget 90s cheese with computer effects that look like they were rendered by a calculator, and somebody on production loved to film the cast while the camera spun around them to the point of distraction, but at its core it feels like a love letter to Doctor Who and most especially the JNT era.  As many faults as there are to said era, it's hard to begrudge something that is clearly of the mind to be fun, make jokes, and raise money for little British children, or whatever.  I've seen a lot worse in this franchise that wasn't made for the benefit of the vulnerable, so what exactly about this short experience am I supposed to be miserable about?

This is why you don't put multi-doctor appearances and character returns above all else. As many returns as possible is what some fans think they want until they actually see it. I'd have preferred to have just a couple of characters back but see them explored properly in an actual mini-story but instead JNT puts some absolute guff together. This is the last opportunity to see the 3rd Doctor, Susan Foreman, Mike Yates and Nyssa in character (in a visual medium) which makes it feel like an especially missed opportunity.

I can't imagine many fans or any non-fans enjoying this confusing rush of characters walking on set to suddenly be replaced with other characters. I really wish there was more to it then that. It is a shame that nothing else was put together for the 30th anniversary special. The fact this was the first thing to air after 3 years must have been salt in the wound. Thank God I was too young to be able to take it all in.

Oh, and what was the whole EastEnders thing about? Was that explained?

The upsides? Well, it is charming and reminds the viewer how many amazing, capable actors had been in the series over the years. It was nice to see some of the old faces - even if it was whilst peeking through my fingers.

The plot is quite nonsensical and didn't grip me at all. In theory, that could be fine for a comedy like this, but I just don't find it funny. It doesn't help that I've never watched East Enders so that whole side of it was lost on me. The story's resolution felt rushed. At least it's nice to see a load of Doctors all in one story, although they don't meet. Probably the biggest positive is that it raised a fair bit of money for charity.

Well, I did it. I'd watched every episode of the show, but never spent the 24 minutes of my time to watch Dimensions in Time. The plot? Nonsense. The Rani is the villain and she has created some time-loop where the Doctor and Ace keep flipping between 1973, 1993, and 2013. Even more distressing: nothing appears to change in the East End over those forty years. Every few seconds the Doctor and the companion change. At one point both Peri and Nyssa are there together.

So often we have the footage of what all the classic series actors looked like on the show, then have no photos of them for twenty years or so until they pop back up again. So seeing a lot of them in this 'in-between' age was a little weird. Susan is back with Colin Baker for half a second. The Brigadier appears on a helicopter. Lalla Ward is here with short hair as Romana for less than a minute. It's just chaos. The only good thing about it is that we get all these different alumni back for split seconds. Supposedly EastEnders people are in this. There was a vote to determine which minor character would help the Doctor and I think I know when it happened, but I'm really not sure.

Look how far we've come people, look how far we've come.