The Mark of the Rani (TV story): Difference between revisions

|image = Markoftherani title.jpg

|series = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]

|season number = Season 22

|season serial number = 3

|story number = 139

|doctor = Sixth Doctor

|companions = [[Peri Brown|Peri]]

|featuring       = [[George Stephenson]], Lord [[Ravensworth]]

|enemy = {{Ainley|c}},<br />[[The Rani]]

|setting = [[Killingworth]], the [[19th century]]

|writer = [[Pip & Jane Baker]]

|director = [[Sarah Hellings]]

|producer = [[John Nathan-Turner]]

|epcount = 2

|broadcast date = [[2 February (releases)|2]] - [[9 February (releases)|9 February]] [[1985 (releases)|1985]]

|network = [[BBC1]]

|format = 2x45-minute episodes

|prev = Vengeance on Varos (TV story)

|next = The Two Doctors (TV story)

|made prev = The Two Doctors (TV story)

|made next = Timelash (TV story)

|clip=Doctor Who - Master of earwigging - Mark of the Rani - BBC

|clip2=Time distortion in Killingworth? - Doctor Who - Mark of the Rani - BBC

|clip3=The Doctor Vs Rani and the Master - Doctor Who - Mark of the Rani - BBC

}}{{you may|Mark of the Rani|n1=the titular mark}}

Something is amiss in the mining village of [[Killingworth]] in early [[19th century]] [[England]]. [[Miner]]s are being gassed in the bathhouse and turned into thugs and vandals, attacking men and machinery, seen as [[Luddite]]s by other locals. The [[Sixth Doctor]] and [[Peri Brown]] witness this when they arrive in Killingworth looking for the cause of some sort of [[time distortion]]. They also notice one of the rampaging miners has a strange red mark on his neck. With his usual audacity, the Doctor foists himself upon the local landowner, [[Ravensworth|Lord Ravensworth]], who is concerned at the ferocity of the attacks, with the most passive of men suddenly turning violent and unpredictable.

The answer lies in the local bathhouse. [[The Master]] has turned up at this key point in human history. He forces his way into the presence of the old woman who runs the bathhouse, in reality another [[Time Lord]], [[the Rani]]. She is a gifted [[chemist]] and is using the set-up of the bathhouse to anaesthetise the miners and distill from them the neuro-chemicals that enable sleep. This is what causes the red mark on the victims. These chemicals are synthesised for use back on [[Miasimia Goria]], a planet she rules and which the Master has visited, where her other experiments have left the inhabitants without the ability to rest. He persuades her they need to deal with the Doctor together. He also steals some of the precious brain fluid she has collected to ensure her collaboration. It is a rocky partnership, full of half-truths and deceptions. The Master goes to deal with the Doctor, egging on local miners to attack his enemy and persuading some to throw [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] down a mine shaft.

The Doctor is saved by inventor [[George Stephenson]]. He and [[Peri Brown|Peri]] return to Lord Ravensworth's, where Stephenson has planned a meeting of scientific and engineering geniuses in the village. The Doctor is worried about the wisdom of such a meeting in the current circumstances, but the Master is so desperate to see the event take place, he uses [[mind control]] of Stephenson's young aide, [[Luke Ward]], telling him to kill anyone who tries to prevent it. The Master wants to use the finest brains of the [[Industrial Revolution]] to speed up [[Earth]]'s development and then use the planet as a power base. He strikes a deal with [[the Rani]]; she may return to Earth at any time to harvest more brain fluid if she helps him achieve this.

Peri is making herself useful by using her botanical knowledge to make a sleeping draught for the afflicted miners. Her quest for herbs leads her to Redfern Dell. The Doctor surprises the Master and the Rani, who are lurking at the edge of the dell. Soon after he does, he sees Luke step on a mine and get turned into a [[tree]]. The Doctor takes the other two Time Lords prisoner with the Master's own [[Tissue Compression Eliminator]]. Peri takes charge of them but the Rani's deviousness outstrips the Master's and she is the one who enables them to escape. The Rani and the Master flee in her TARDIS, but the Doctor also has a trick or two: [[File:Doctor Who - Will the Master and the Rani escape? - Mark of the Rani - BBC|thumb|left|The Doctor having sabotaged [[the Rani's TARDIS]], [[the Master]] and [[the Rani]] are defeated.]]he has sabotaged the navigational system. The ship is out of control. In the destabilised condition, one of the jars holding a [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] embryo falls on the floor and the creature, affected by the [[time spillage]], starts to grow.

* Talking about ecology and the difference with 1800s, Peri says that in her time some species of [[butterfly]] and [[bird]]s are almost extinct.

* The Doctor says that the Master would probably turn into a [[laburnum]] if he stepped on one of the Rani's mines, since it is a poisonous tree.

* This was the last story of the original series of ''Doctor Who'' to be directed by a woman. The next such occasion was [[TV]]: ''[[Blink]]'', directed by [[Hettie MacDonald]], in 2007.

* The Rani was conceived as a new, ongoing villain, but the character only appeared once more in the series, two years later in [[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]''. Kate O'Mara reprised the role for the charity special [[TV]]: ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'' (which is considered to be a non-legitimate story by many fans and this wikia) and the spin-off audio production [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind (audio story)|The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind]]''. The possibility of the Rani returning to the revival series has been a source of fan speculation since 2005, with virtually every female character from [[Rose Tyler]] to [[Donna Noble]] to [[Lucy Saxon]] being considered possible Ranis-in-disguise.

* [[John Nathan-Turner]] cast [[Kate O'Mara]] as the Rani because of her starring role in the popular American soap opera ''Dynasty''. ''(O'Mara had yet to begin work on ''Dynasty'' when she was cast as the Rani. She was well known for her appearances in UK soap operas, including for the BBC ''The Brothers'' - opposite Colin Baker - and ''Triangle''. Her appearances on ''Dynasty'' were filmed between production of this story and her later return in [[Time and the Rani]].)''

* When the Doctor dangles above the pit, one of his three attackers falls in. A moment later there is a close-up of three pairs of hands aiming weapons at him. This shot belonged to an earlier part of the sequence, before they arrived at the pit.

* When the Doctor first dangles above the pit, he barely fits. When the TARDIS is thrown down, it also fits, but is much bigger than the Doctor.

* The Master returns in this story, with no explanation given of his escape from what appeared to be a fiery demise at the end of [[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire]]''. (The [[Planet of Fire (novelisation)|novelisation]] appears to assume he had actually been shrinking out of existence, and gives the explanation that the flames generated gases that saved him. [[PROSE]]: ''[[A Town Called Eternity (short story)|A Town Called Eternity]]'' features a burned Master who is healed by the fountain of youth.)

* The Rani appears in [[PROSE]]: ''[[State of Change]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[Time and the Rani]]'', ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'' and [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind (audio story)|The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind]]''.