Omnipotence! The mind behind this bag of tricks operates on a grand scale!

Time and the Rani is one of the weaker links of the Seventh Doctor's reign on TV and almost certainly the oddest story within it. The entire plot does not exactly disregard logic but more refuses to believe in its existence and flogs itself to make sure that it can never and will never exist. This is also one of the best examples of a story in which someone should have asked "how do we make people care about the interpolitics of the natives?". By Part Four, I had basically tuned out completely and refused to acknowledge its existence as a piece of media (and I watched each part separately). That being said, I did like the set designs (when we weren't trudging through a quarry painted pink) and the recurring cast give some decent performances.

📝3/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"Time and the Rani: A Rocky Regeneration"

Time and the Rani struggles under the weight of being both a new Doctor’s introduction and a fresh start for the series. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver on either count, often stumbling into the awkward and absurd.

The story begins with what might be the weakest regeneration sequence in Doctor Who history. Sylvester McCoy, visibly wearing a wig to resemble Colin Baker, lies under a cheap blur effect to mask Baker’s absence. It’s not a great start, and the first episode doesn’t help matters. The Doctor spends much of it confused and erratic, while Mel screams her way through a quarry, pursued by clunky aliens and a painfully grating soundtrack.

The narrative itself is overly simplistic and repetitive. Instead of developing the plot or adding layers to the story, it goes in circles, making the whole experience feel lifeless. The subplot is equally uninspired, leaving the story dragging and dull.

Sylvester McCoy’s debut as the Doctor feels awkward. Whether due to the lingering shadow of Colin Baker’s Doctor or McCoy’s struggle to find his footing, his portrayal feels half-hearted, more like an eccentric caricature than a convincing Time Lord. He improves slightly by the end, but his early performance is more clownish than compelling.

Bonnie Langford, as Mel, fares no better. Reduced to a screaming, stereotypical companion for most of the story, she’s given little to work with until a brief moment of competence when she flips the Doctor over her shoulder. However, that’s hardly enough to salvage her role here.

Kate O’Mara returns as the Rani, but the material lets her down. Her impersonation of Mel is amusing, but the character herself is underdeveloped and far less menacing than in The Mark of the Rani. The Tetraps, her bat-like alien henchmen, are clunky, uninspired, and utterly ineffective.

The supporting cast, including the talented Donald Pickering and Wanda Ventham, are wasted in thinly written roles, leaving little impact. The sets are uninspired, and the music—reminiscent of a bad 80s game show—is a jarring misstep, undermining any attempt at tension or atmosphere.

One bright spot is the CGI, which, while primitive, was ambitious for the time and a bold step forward. The opening sequence and titles showcase early computer graphics, even if they don’t hold up to modern standards.

Despite these flashes of innovation, Time and the Rani is a disappointment. It introduces the final Doctor of the classic era but lacks the heart, humour, or drama to make the transition memorable. It’s a story with little tension, no real scares, and a missed opportunity for meaningful character development.

Ultimately, Time and the Rani is a painfully awkward start for the Seventh Doctor and a disappointing episode that highlights the struggles of the show during this era. It’s arguably the weakest post-regeneration story in the programme’s history—and one you likely won’t rush to revisit.

Random Observations:

• The double pulse Mel accepts as proof of the Doctor’s identity makes little sense—all Time Lords have two hearts!
• The Doctor tries on costumes from his previous incarnations, a fun nod to past regenerations.
• The character Sarn shares a name with Turlough’s home planet from Planet of Fire.

If I'd been a Whovian as a kid, I would have been obsessed with this story. The Rani's back! And she dresses up as Mel! And she helps the Doctor choose his new outfit! And the Tetraps are the most adorable monsters since the Daleks! (Sorry, The Meep.) And Wanda Ventham's back in yet another fabulous role!

But then... there are three more episodes. The story simply can't sustain that long a script. They should have cut this to 3 episodes and given Delta a fourth. The Rani also isn't as entertaining when she's not fighting with the Master for dominance nor pulling the wool over the Doctor's eyes, and she ends up being a waste of a great actor on a pretty pedestrian villain.

To be fair, while I won't ever try to claim it is good, I've seen worse. It's a bit paint by numbers and the plot is nonsensical but the cliffhangers are pretty good and McCoy is generally very entertaining from the get go. I wasn't always keen on his Doctor as a kid but he's grown on me massively over the years.

Mel screaming in the flying orb thing is ICONIC and outweighs every other flaw in the episode.

I'm going to make a Whovian confession: I like Time And The Rani. Yes: it has its flaws. Yes: it's not the best Doctor Who story. Yes: it's a shame Colin Baker didn't agree to return for the regeneration. But it's fun.

Time And The Rani sees the Rani gather together the best minds to create the most intelligent brain and allow her to control an asteroid and release a substance that will convert the planet Lakertya into a time manipulator. As mentioned, I had a lot of fun watching this serial. It's completely barking mad and granted, sometimes it can be a hindrance to the serial (the Rani's a little too camp) but it's never a chore to watch. It's amazing how well Sylvester McCoy slips into the role of the Doctor also; if there was no regeneration and you didn't know it was his serial you'd think he'd have been playing the Doctor for a while.

One thing I do think could have been better than the Rani dressing as Mel though is if she had used a perception filter instead. The Rani dressed as Mel looks too silly to be taken seriously, especially when there's technology in Doctor Who lore that could have been used instead. Kate O'Mara is clearly having a lot of fun though and her chemistry with Sylvester McCoy is brilliant onscreen.

I also don't mind Bonnie Langford as Mel like many do. Yeah, she screams a lot but so did Sarah Jane contrary to popular belief. She's a fun energetic character who Bonnie Langford gives a lot of energy to; it's just a shame more wasn't made out of her being a computer programmer.

The regeneration is also not as bad as some would lead to believe. It was never going to be perfect without Colin Baker but they did a good job with his absence considering this was before the CGI we have today. Who can blame Colin Baker for deciding not to return either when they fired him for the show losing popularity when arguably that wasn't his fault?

Overall, Time And The Rani is an incredibly fun serial which sometimes slips too far into camp territory.

The original review was 4/5 but I think I was perhaps a tad generous with that score. It's more like a 3/5.

Apparently when writing on this script began, the writers had no script editor, no idea who would be playing the Doctor at the time, and no idea how he would be characterised, and it shows. A nothing of a script, let down by how I had to stop every so often to point out #notMYseventhdoctor

Time and the Rani has an awful reputation, and for good reason. However, it isn't *totally* unacceptable. There's entertaining elements to Slyvester McCoy's manic post-regeneration performance, and he bounces off the Rani pretty well in the first half of this story.

Some of the special effects in this story are just wild and the whole thing is a borderline unhinged experience, but it is very hard for me to call this the worst Doctor Who thing I've ever experienced. It was tolerable, and while messy as hell, I've definitely come across content *far* worse in Doctor Who, including Classic TV serials. Time and the Rani wasn't very good, no, but I would take it happily over something boring and forgettable like some of the lesser early era serials any day.

Still, as any Who fan can tell you, this isn't the strongest start for the Seventh Doctor, and there are far better places to go for such things.

I’m excited for what this era has in store. Sylvester McCoy’s performance fizzes and sparkles and ups the game of every actor around him. Bonnie Langford is a changed woman, partly, to be fair, because she’s actually properly introduced to The Doctor in this story, rather than being an unexplained companion from the future. In this story she also earns her stripes as the ultimate screamer.

The show looks amazing too. For the standards of the era it is visually impressive with wonderful and entertaining CGI. The monster and set designs are truly gorgeous too - the production team are working their socks off.

The bits I’ve seen of McCoys’ era have always given me a huge rush of instant nostalgia, perhaps because I was born in 1992 and it reminds me of the children’s TV I grew up with. It’s the ultimate feel good comfort blanket for me. A lot of that also has to do with the warm and likeable performance from the lead actor.

So… why is this not a beloved story then? The responsibility for that sits with (you guessed it) Pip & Jane Baker whose meandering plot bubbles away for three episodes before completely failing to conclude in part 4. An explosion does not constitute an ending. There are other problems too - the Tetraps, whilst looking good, are given absolutely nothing to do. They are a mild scare because all they do is run up to characters and roar. The local species are another in a long line of passive, oppressed people who you may recognise from pretty much any Terry Nation script. Locals with no agency never increase the sense of drama or threat felt in a story.

So is this bad? Yes. Is this overhated? Most certainly. This is not one of the worst Doctor Who stories of all time and there are several elements that get me excited about the next three years of Doctor Who.