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{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image = Rani.jpg
|name        = The Rani
|name = The Rani
|image      = Rani Redmond.jpg
|alias = Lania
|alias       = Professor Baxton, Prisoner Indigo-1-11-3-6-Sigma, Principal C.B. Wainwright
|species = Time Lord
|species     = Time Lord
|origin = [[Gallifrey]]
|job        = Professor
|first = The Mark of the Rani (TV story)
|job2        = Principal
|appearances = [[The Rani - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
|origin     = [[Gallifrey]]
|actor = Kate O'Mara
|first cs    = The Rani Elite (audio story)
|clip2 = The Doctor wakes up in Rani's lab - Doctor Who Classic - Time & The Rani - BBC
|appearances = [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Planet of the Rani (audio story)}}
|clip = The Rani's plan - Doctor Who - Mark of the Rani - BBC
|voice actor = Siobhan Redmond
}}
}}{{Ranis}}
'''The Rani''' was a renegade [[Time Lord|Time Lady]]. She knew [[the Doctor]] and [[the Master]] when all three were young, and became an enemy of the former and an unwilling ally of the latter.
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 (formerly known as Ushas) belonged to [[the Deca]], the same [[Time Lord Academy|Academy]] clique as the [[First Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[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]]'')


Ushas was the same age as the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]'')
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]]'')
The Doctor was once invited to Ushas' 94th birthday party. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Death of Art (novel)|The Death of Art]]'')


At the Doctor's graduation, there was an incident involving Ushas and a [[giant rat]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Party Animals (comic story)|Party Animals]]'')
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]]'')


Ushas was exiled from Gallifrey after some of her lab [[mouse|mice]], as a result of an experiment, grew to enormous size and ate the [[Lord President]]'s pet [[Gallifreyan cat|cat]]. They also bit the President himself, triggering a [[Regeneration]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani (TV story)|The Mark of the Rani]]'') However, she hijacked the [[TARDIS]] delivering her to her planet of exile and became a renegade known as the Rani. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Divided Loyalties]]'')
== Appearance ==
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]]'')


=== Life as renegade ===
== Personality ==
==== Presence in Earth history ====
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.  
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]] where she used the local bath house as her base, posing as the old woman in charge of the premises.
 
Prior to this arrival, she had visited Earth in the late [[Distant past|Cretaceous]] and acquired several [[Tyrannosaur]] embryos. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani (TV story)|The Mark of the Rani]]'')
 
{{Ainley|c}} and, shortly after, the [[Sixth 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. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani (TV story)|The Mark of the Rani]]'').
 
==== On Terra Nova ====
The dinosaur grew to such a size that it broke its neck on the ceiling, but the Rani had been left adrift in her TARDIS when the Master escaped from her by detaching the console room from the rest of her TARDIS. Shortly afterwards, from the Doctor's subjective point of view, the Rani was also trapped along with the [[Sixth 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]]. However, she did manage to escape Terra Nova, by using the entity to create a new TARDIS console room to replace the one the Master escaped in.  ([[PROSE]]: ''[[State of Change (novel)|State of Change]]'')
 
==== On Koturia ====
On the planet of [[Koturia]], the Rani went by the name of Lania. She was genetically modifying [[Pterodactyl|pterodactyls]] in order to take blood and tissue samples of Koturians for the purpose of learning about [[Phasing]]. She believed that she could learn of a way to control the outcome of a [[regeneration]] by learning how Koturians control their appearance when they Phase. She immersed herself in Koturian culture and became engaged to [[Jonos]], an upper class Koturian. However, their marriage ceremony was crashed by the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, the former of whom was invited as an old friend of Jonos's father, [[Evris Makshi]]. Although they were too late to stop the physical ceremony, it failed to result in Jonos completing his Phase because both bride and groom have to be in love with one another for for the [[Imori stone]] to work and the Rani was only pretending to be in love with Jonos. Although the Rani claimed to be immune to emotion, the Doctor believed she felt some kind of emotional attachment to her work, as she did beg him to not destroy her research by saying "please." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Something Borrowed (short story)|Something Borrowed]]'')
 
==== On Tetrapyriarbus and Lakertya ====
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. The Doctor was knocked unconscious as a result, triggering the [[regeneration]] into his [[Seventh Doctor|seventh incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]'')
[[File:Capture_rani.png|thumb|The Rani's pyramid-shaped TARDIS on the surface of Lakertya.]]
 
The Rani channelled 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.
 
She used the artificial brain to find the answer as to how to create a lightweight substitute for strange matter. When it was devised she sent a missile containing the substance aimed at a strange matter asteroid. However, the Doctor destroyed the brain and redirected the missile. Urak betrayed her, leading the Tertraps against her, and they placed her under house arrest in her TARDIS on Tetrapyriarbus. The Rani was 953 years old when these events took place. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]'').
 
After these events occurred, the Tetraps faced a food shortage crisis, while Urak managed to have the Rani put on trial, with the death sentence. She would have to solve the food shortage, otherwise her sentence would commence. 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. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind (audio story)|The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind]]'')


=== Ultimate fate ===
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]]'')
[[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]]. ([[PROSE]]:'' [[Interference - Book One (novel)|Interference - Book One]]'') However, many aspects of the War took place in another timeline due to the [[Eighth Doctor|Eighth Doctor's]] intervention, therefore leaving the ultimate fate of the Rani unknown. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell (novel)|The Ancestor Cell]]'')


== Alternative timeline ==
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]]'')
In a [[alternative timeline]], the Rani cooperated alongside [[the Master]], [[the Monk]] and [[Drax]] to try to destroy the world using a DNA recombinator, turning the human race into a gestalt consciousness which could be used as a weapon to conquer the universe. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'')
 
== Personality ==
The Rani was an evil (or, arguably, simply amoral) scientific genius whose villainy came not from the usual variety of lust for power and suchlike, but from a mindset that treated everything (including morality) as secondary to her research. She was 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 was in altering the biochemistry of other species.
 
While she did appear evil, she found the Master to be truly evil and therefore stupid. She simply did evil things because she felt it was necessary to her work. When the [[Sixth 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 had a conscience of some kind, also shown when she was willing to destroy her test subjects because they would've killed the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mark of the Rani (TV story)|The Mark of the Rani]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== 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.
* 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>
* In [[August]] [[2012]] [[Steven Moffat]] stated that "he had no reason to bring back the Rani",<ref>http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a401680/doctor-who-steven-moffat-rules-out-return-for-villain-the-rani.html</ref> thus putting an end to the rumours of her return to the series.<ref>http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/19959/dr-who-gillian-anderson-is-the-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]])
*[[Russell T Davies]] has said that if he had brought back the Rani, he would have cast actress Ruthie Henshall in the role.{{fact}}
* 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]])


== Footnotes ==
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Time Lords}}
{{Rani stories}}
 
{{NameSort}}
 
 
 
 
{{TitleSort}}


[[ro:The Rani]]
[[ru:Рани]]
[[Category:Aliases]]
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
[[Category:College of Advanced Galactic Education]]
[[Category:The Deca]]
[[Category:Homeworlders in the War in Heaven]]
[[Category:Imposters]]
[[Category:Murderers]]
[[Category:Patrexes]]
[[Category:Prydonians]]
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Residents of Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Individual Time Lords]]
[[Category:Students at the Time Lord Academy]]
[[Category:Renegade Time Lords]]
[[Category:Time Lord lecturers]]
[[Category:Prydonians]]
[[Category:Time Lord scientists]]
[[Category:Scientists]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Murderers]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have witnessed regeneration]]
[[Category:Tyrants]]
[[Category:Incarnations of the Rani]]
[[Category:Imposters]]
[[Category:Individual time travellers]]
[[Category:Aliases]]

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
v • e
The Rani stories
First Rani
Television
Audio
Prose
Comics
Second Rani
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Complete list of appearances
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