The Rani (The Rani Elite): Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Individual|
{{subpage tabs}}
individual name= The Rani |
{{ImageLink}}
alias= '''Ushas'''|
{{Infobox Individual
image=[[File:Rani.jpg|250px]] |
|name       = The Rani
race= [[Gallifreyan]] ([[Time Lord|Time Lady]]) |
|image       = Rani Redmond.jpg
home planet=[[Gallifrey]] |
|alias      = Professor Baxton, Prisoner Indigo-1-11-3-6-Sigma, Principal C.B. Wainwright
home era= [[Rassilon Era]]|
|species    = Time Lord
appearances= [[DW]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]''<br>[[DW]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]''<br>[[DW]]: ''[[Dimensions in Time]]''<br>[[DWA]]: ''[[Rescue]]''<br>[[MA]]: ''[[State of Change]]''<br>[[PDA]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties]]'' (flashback; cameo)<br>[[BBV]]: ''[[The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind]]''<br>[[Find Your Fate]]: ''[[Crisis in Space]]''|
|job        = Professor
actor= [[Kate O'Mara]]|
|job2        = Principal
}}
|origin      = [[Gallifrey]]
'''Ushas''', later known as '''The Rani''', was a renegade [[Time Lord|Time Lady]]. She knew both [[the Master]] and [[the Doctor]] when all three were young and became an unwilling ally of the first and an enemy of the second.
|first cs    = The Rani Elite (audio story)
|appearances = [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Planet of the Rani (audio story)}}
|voice actor = Siobhan Redmond
}}{{Ranis}}
Just as amoral as [[First Rani|her previous incarnation]], this iteration of '''[[the Rani]]''' believed that the end always justified the means. Not above making jokes at the expense of others, she held a great disdain and disinterest in [[the Doctor]]'s antics. During this [[incarnation]], the Rani found herself in multiple encounters with an [[Sixth Doctor|earlier incarnation]] of [[the Doctor]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'', ''[[Planet of the Rani (audio story)|Planet of the Rani]]'') As one who had a great deal of respect for the [[Laws of Time]], this brought about a certain level of anxiety. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'')


==Biography==
== Biography ==
===Youth and Exile===
[[File:The Redmond Rani close-up (POTR).jpg|thumb|left|A new Rani. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Planet of the Rani (audio story)|Planet of the Rani]]'')]]
The Rani was the same age as the Doctor. ([[DW]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]'') On the [[planet]] [[Gallifrey]], at [[Time Lord Academy|the Academy]], she belonged to a clique of ten young people who called themselves [[the Deca]]. Both [[First Doctor|the Doctor]] and her other future enemy [[Koschei]] (later the Master) belonged to this group. Her name was given as '''Ushas'''. ([[PDA]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties]]'')
While she masqueraded as Professor Baxton at the [[College of Advanced Galactic Education]] a foremost authority of Moral Philosophy, the Rani once again encountered the [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Peri Brown]], despite her expecting the [[Seventh Doctor]] to show up. The Doctor questioned her about her theories in one of her [[lecture]]s. She tested the students and used the tests to find suitability for her experiments. Some of the students she experimented on were [[Lizzo]] and [[Reev]], and she tried to experiment on [[Miklev]]. The students were experts in their fields. She was making a biodigital interface controller. She was using a Sidelian Brain Scanner in her techniques, which was moving memories from one brain to another. The Rani then used Peri in her experiments, due to Miklev being concussed. She also killed her accomplice, the [[Vice Chancellor (The Rani Elite)|Vice Chancellor]]. The real Professor Baxton was used as the overseer of the network of the students' brains. She was using the students' minds in order to calculate the minor events she would need, in order to create the massive events she wanted, in effect reverse engineering [[chaos theory]]. She hated the Doctor calling her Ushas and reminiscing about [[the Deca]]. When the Doctor tricked her she fell down through the floor on the way to her TARDIS. She gloated in her part in the Doctor's next regeneration. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'')


:''A past relationship between the Rani and the Doctor was hinted at, but never elaborated upon.''
She was sent to [[Teccaurora Penitentiary]], a prison for her misdemeanours. 97 years after her imprisonment, she became the governor of the prison. Using the prison as her [[base of operations]], she used the prisoners to power a [[time corridor]] to [[Miasimia Goria]]. She took [[Constance Clarke]] with her and was appalled at the state the planet was in, but was delighted that [[Raj Kahnu]] became a success, the only one of her experiments to work correctly. She showed some emotion when she thought that Kahnu was dead, but was put on trial by her subjects on Miasimia Goria, where the Doctor said he would take her back to [[Gallifrey]]. She pleaded with Kahnu to show some compassion in sentencing her but instead tried to kill him. She escaped in a TARDIS survival pod that her previous incarnation had left there. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Planet of the Rani (audio story)|Planet of the Rani]]'')


Unlike the other members of The Deca, she did not choose to leave Gallifrey but was exiled from the planet after some of her lab [[mouse|mice]], as a result of an experiment, grew to enormous size and ate the [[Lord President|President]]'s pet [[cat]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]'')
Following [[Fall of Gallifrey|the end]] of the [[Last Great Time War]], the [[Ninth Doctor]] believed all the [[Time Lord]]s bar himself to be dead, ([[TV]]: ''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]'') and so did not expect to see the Rani again. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Flatpack (audio story)|Flatpack]]'') Indeed, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] believed that the Rani was "dead", at least according to [[River Song]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Bekdel Test (audio story)|The Bekdel Test]]'')


===Life as Renegade===
== Appearance ==
====Presence in Earth History====
The Rani wore her hair in shoulder-length ginger curls, and spoke with a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[accent]]. Leaving behind her previous incarnation's penchant for flamboyant clothing, this Rani dressed in period-appropriate clothes based on her location. At the [[College of Advanced Galactic Education|CAGE]], while disguised as Professor Baxton, she wore a black trench coat over an orange shirt patterned with teacups, paired with glittering slingback shoes. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'', ''[[Planet of the Rani (audio story)|Planet of The Rani]]'')
While the Rani certainly did not share the Doctor's fondness for [[Earth]] (she referred to it as a "miserable planet"), it was the focus of several of her research projects.


When the test subjects on [[Miasimia Goria]], a planet she had enslaved, became violently restless and uncontrollable as a side effect of her experiments on them, the Rani visited Earth at various points in its history to extract chemicals from the brains of select [[Human]] specimens. Because the chemicals in question enabled the human brain to sleep, and because the absence of these chemicals made her victims as violent and uncontrollable as those from her previous experiments, the Rani deliberately chose periods of social unrest to visit, using the violence to conceal her presence and its consequences. She visited the [[Trojan War]], the [[Dark Ages]], the [[American War of Independence]], and finally the [[Luddite]] riots in the village of [[Killingworth]] during the early [[19th century]].
== Personality ==
The Second Rani, much like her predecessor, was a brilliant scientific mind whose villainy was rooted in [[amorality]], [[selfishness]], and an egocentric worldview. While she did not wish to cause harm or see others suffer, she did not care if people were harmed by her actions. Her major interest was in altering the [[biochemistry]] of other species.  


Prior to this arrival she had visited Earth in the late [[Cretaceous Period|Cretaceous]] and acquired several [[Tyrannosaur]] embryos. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]'')
In meeting the [[the Doctor]] at [[Sixth Doctor|an earlier point]] in his personal timeline, the Rani refused to break the [[Laws of Time]], but she took joy in knowing that even if she lost during this encounter, she would beat him later. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'')


:''The Rani's comments concerning the unrealised full potential of the dinosaurs are curious given the existence of the [[Silurian]] civilisation on the planet at around the same time. She may have been obliquely alluding to averting the fall of the Silurians. Then again, as a biochemist she may simply not have been that familiar with social sciences such as history and just wasn't aware of the Silurians' existence. This seems unlikely, however, given her apparent visits to the Cretaceous to gather specimens.''
The Rani reacted negatively when addressed as "Ushas" by the Doctor, demanding he refrain from calling her by her former name and dismissed his mentions of [[Drax]], [[the Monk|Mortimus]], and [[the Deca]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Elite (audio story)|The Rani Elite]]'')


[[The Master]] and, shortly after, [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] interrupted her work. The Doctor sabotaged the navigational system of [[the Rani's TARDIS]], trapping the Master and the Rani inside as [[time spillage]] caused the Tyrannosaur embryos to grow at a dangerous rate. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]'').
== Behind the scenes ==
* Plans were underway to bring back Kate O'Mara as the Rani for new [[Big Finish Productions]] audios, but O'Mara passed away a few weeks before recording. Upon being assured by O'Mara's agent that she'd wished them to continue the project without her, Big Finish cast [[Siobhan Redmond]] as a new incarnation of the Rani.<ref>http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-new-rani</ref>
* Redmond had never seen ''Doctor Who'' prior to being cast as the Rani, though she familiarised herself with O'Mara's work in the role. Before her in-character photoshoot as the new Rani, she curled her hair as a small homage to O'Mara. ([[VOR 70]])
* Redmond's portrayal of the Rani with her own native [[Scottish accent]], closely following as it did the premieres of the first Scottish-accented [[Missy|Master]] and the [[Twelfth Doctor]] on televised ''[[Doctor Who]]'', led ''[[Vortex (magazine)|Vortex]]'' to comment "Scottish Time Lords are like buses. You wait ages for one to appear, and then suddenly you get three at once!" ([[VOR 70]])


====On Terra Nova====
== Footnotes ==
Shortly afterwards, from the Doctor's subjective point of view, the Rani was also trapped along with [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] on [[Terra Nova]], which the entity known as [[Iam]] had created. She had in the meantime tried and failed to manipulate the political situation existing between the three children of that reality's version of [[Cleopatra]] ([[MA]]: ''[[State of Change]]'')
{{Reflist}}
{{Rani stories}}
{{NameSort}}


====On Tetrapyriarbus and Lakertya====
[[ro:The Rani]]
On the planet [[Tetrapyriarbus]], the Rani made the acquaintance of, and decided to employ, the [[Tetrap]]s, led by [[Urak]]. With them, she invaded the peaceful planet [[Lakertya]] and put into motion a complex plan. The Rani abducted eleven scientific geniuses from across time and space, including [[Albert Einstein]] of Earth. Finally, she decided to "collect" the Doctor and attacked [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]], causing the ship to go through turbulence and hit his head, triggering a [[regeneration]] into his [[Seventh Doctor|Seventh Incarnation]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]'')
[[ru:Рани]]
 
[[Category:Aliases]]
:''Conflicting account suggest the Doctor did not actually regenerate strictly because of the Rani's attack on [[The Doctor's TARDIS]].''
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
 
[[Category:College of Advanced Galactic Education]]
The Rani channeled the intellects of the geniuses into a giant artificial brain which she believed could find the secret to manipulating [[strange matter]], the key to making the planet of Lakertya into a [[Time Manipulator]] in order to correct what she considered to be errors in the universal [[timeline]]. Her first target was to be Earth, where she would prevent the [[extinction]] of the [[dinosaur]]s, creatures whose full potential she felt had never been truly realised. She considered the death of the native [[Lakertyan]]s a small price to pay. The Doctor, though, defeated her and Urak betrayed her, leading the Tertraps against her, placing her under house arrest (in her TARDIS) on Tetrapyriarbus. ([[DW]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]'').
[[Category:The Deca]]
 
[[Category:Homeworlders in the War in Heaven]]
After these events occurred, the Tertraps faced a food shortage crisis, while Urak managed to have the Rani put on trial, with the death sentence.
[[Category:Imposters]]
She would have to solve the food shortage otherwise her sentence would commence.
[[Category:Murderers]]
Two human and two alien prisoners were to be test subjects for the Rani's experiments in an attempt at solving the crisis. The Rani however teamed up with the four 'guinea pigs' and managed to escape the planet. Each then went their separate ways, with the Rani swearing to teach Urak a lesson and retrieve her Tardis from him. ([[BBV]]: ''[[The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind]]'')
[[Category:Patrexes]]
===Ultimate Fate===
[[Category:Prydonians]]
[[Father Kreiner]] killed the Rani and the clone of the [[Master]] and kept their heads as trophies during the events of the [[Second War in Heaven]]. ([[EDA]]:'' [[Interference - Book One]]'') However, it is possible that the War takes place in another timeline due to the [[Eighth Doctor|doctors]] intervention, in which case the fate of the Rani is unknown. ([[EDA]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell]]'')
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
 
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
==Possibly Apocryphal Adventures==
[[Category:Students at the Time Lord Academy]]
One account claims that she saved a young man named [[Cyrian]] from the [[Cybermen]] on the planet [[DV Acrol 8]]. ([[DWA]]: ''[[Rescue]]'') With Cyrian, she later captured the Doctor's [[First Doctor|first]] and [[Second Doctor|second]] incarnations. Despite [[Fourth Doctor|his fourth incarnation]] attempting to warn them of danger, the Rani managed to lure the Doctor's other selves (as well as his companions) into a temporal trap in order to include them in her menagerie of creatures. She hoped to shortly complete her collection of genetic samples and [[brain print]]s of every creature in the [[universe]].
[[Category:Time Lord lecturers]]
 
[[Category:Time Lord scientists]]
According to another account, with the help of the Doctor's [[time brain]], she hoped to gain access to and control of every individual mind in the cosmos. ([[DW]]: ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'')
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
 
[[Category:Time Lords who have witnessed regeneration]]
==Personality==
[[Category:Incarnations of the Rani]]
An evil (''or, more likely, amoral'') scientific genius whose villainy comes not from the usual variety of lust for power and suchlike, but from a mindset that treats everything (including morality) as secondary to her research; she has been known to enslave entire worlds in order to have a ready supply of experimental subjects and a place to carry out her experiments uninterrupted. Her major interest is in tinkering with the biochemistry of other species. [[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] claimed that the Rani hates children and [[Christmas]]; it is not known if this was meant literally or if it was just a figure of speech. ([[DW]]: ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'')
 
While she did appear evil, she found the Master to be truly evil and therefore stupid. She simply does evil things because she feels it is necessary to her work. When [[Sixth Doctor|the Doctor]] tried to convince her not to experiment on [[human]]s, she called them carnivores and asked if they ever thought of the lesser species when they sunk their teeth into pork chops. This shows that the Rani may have a conscience of some kind, also shown when she was willing to destroy her test subjects because they would've killed the Doctor.([[DW]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]'')
 
==Behind the scenes==
*[[Kate O'Mara]] has, to date, portrayed the Rani in all of her television appearances as well as her single (to date) audio appearance.
*Most fans do not consider the events of ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'' to have actually occurred in [[canon]].
*Many characters in the revived 2005 series have been theorised as in fact being the Rani in disguise, including [[Donna Noble]], [[Lucy Saxon]], [[Miss Foster]], [[River Song]], [[The Woman]], and many other characters have once been thought to have been her in disguise. However, these theories have never come true (unconfirmed in the case of The Woman and River Song). In some forums, it has become a running joke among fans that each new female character introduced will turn out to be the Rani in disguise.
*It has been confirmed that it will be impossible for the Rani to return in the revived series as the character's creators have not agreed to transfer their copyright of the character to any of the new producers, though it may happen one day where the copyright will be taken.{{fact}}
 
{{Time Lords}}
{{season 22 aliens}}
{{Season 24 aliens}}
{{Wikipedia|Rani_(Doctor_Who)}}
[[Category:The Rani|Rani]]
[[Category:Allies of the Master]]

Latest revision as of 14:12, 27 October 2024

The Rani
Gallery

Just as amoral as her previous incarnation, this iteration of the Rani believed that the end always justified the means. Not above making jokes at the expense of others, she held a great disdain and disinterest in the Doctor's antics. During this incarnation, the Rani found herself in multiple encounters with an earlier incarnation of the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite, Planet of the Rani) As one who had a great deal of respect for the Laws of Time, this brought about a certain level of anxiety. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite)

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

A new Rani. (AUDIO: Planet of the Rani)

While she masqueraded as Professor Baxton at the College of Advanced Galactic Education a foremost authority of Moral Philosophy, the Rani once again encountered the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, despite her expecting the Seventh Doctor to show up. The Doctor questioned her about her theories in one of her lectures. She tested the students and used the tests to find suitability for her experiments. Some of the students she experimented on were Lizzo and Reev, and she tried to experiment on Miklev. The students were experts in their fields. She was making a biodigital interface controller. She was using a Sidelian Brain Scanner in her techniques, which was moving memories from one brain to another. The Rani then used Peri in her experiments, due to Miklev being concussed. She also killed her accomplice, the Vice Chancellor. The real Professor Baxton was used as the overseer of the network of the students' brains. She was using the students' minds in order to calculate the minor events she would need, in order to create the massive events she wanted, in effect reverse engineering chaos theory. She hated the Doctor calling her Ushas and reminiscing about the Deca. When the Doctor tricked her she fell down through the floor on the way to her TARDIS. She gloated in her part in the Doctor's next regeneration. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite)

She was sent to Teccaurora Penitentiary, a prison for her misdemeanours. 97 years after her imprisonment, she became the governor of the prison. Using the prison as her base of operations, she used the prisoners to power a time corridor to Miasimia Goria. She took Constance Clarke with her and was appalled at the state the planet was in, but was delighted that Raj Kahnu became a success, the only one of her experiments to work correctly. She showed some emotion when she thought that Kahnu was dead, but was put on trial by her subjects on Miasimia Goria, where the Doctor said he would take her back to Gallifrey. She pleaded with Kahnu to show some compassion in sentencing her but instead tried to kill him. She escaped in a TARDIS survival pod that her previous incarnation had left there. (AUDIO: Planet of the Rani)

Following the end of the Last Great Time War, the Ninth Doctor believed all the Time Lords bar himself to be dead, (TV: Dalek) and so did not expect to see the Rani again. (AUDIO: Flatpack) Indeed, the Eleventh Doctor believed that the Rani was "dead", at least according to River Song. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test)

Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Rani wore her hair in shoulder-length ginger curls, and spoke with a Scottish accent. Leaving behind her previous incarnation's penchant for flamboyant clothing, this Rani dressed in period-appropriate clothes based on her location. At the CAGE, while disguised as Professor Baxton, she wore a black trench coat over an orange shirt patterned with teacups, paired with glittering slingback shoes. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite, Planet of The Rani)

Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Second Rani, much like her predecessor, was a brilliant scientific mind whose villainy was rooted in amorality, selfishness, and an egocentric worldview. While she did not wish to cause harm or see others suffer, she did not care if people were harmed by her actions. Her major interest was in altering the biochemistry of other species.

In meeting the the Doctor at an earlier point in his personal timeline, the Rani refused to break the Laws of Time, but she took joy in knowing that even if she lost during this encounter, she would beat him later. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite)

The Rani reacted negatively when addressed as "Ushas" by the Doctor, demanding he refrain from calling her by her former name and dismissed his mentions of Drax, Mortimus, and the Deca. (AUDIO: The Rani Elite)

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Plans were underway to bring back Kate O'Mara as the Rani for new Big Finish Productions audios, but O'Mara passed away a few weeks before recording. Upon being assured by O'Mara's agent that she'd wished them to continue the project without her, Big Finish cast Siobhan Redmond as a new incarnation of the Rani.[1]
  • Redmond had never seen Doctor Who prior to being cast as the Rani, though she familiarised herself with O'Mara's work in the role. Before her in-character photoshoot as the new Rani, she curled her hair as a small homage to O'Mara. (VOR 70)
  • Redmond's portrayal of the Rani with her own native Scottish accent, closely following as it did the premieres of the first Scottish-accented Master and the Twelfth Doctor on televised Doctor Who, led Vortex to comment "Scottish Time Lords are like buses. You wait ages for one to appear, and then suddenly you get three at once!" (VOR 70)

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-new-rani
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