The Rani (The Rani Elite)

The Rani
Main aliases:	Professor Baxton, Principal C.B. Wainwright
Species:	Time Lord
Job:	Professor, Principal
Place of origin:	Gallifrey
First appearance:	The Rani Elite
Appearances:	AUDIO: Planet of the Rani

Incarnations of the Rani

Just as amoral as her previous incarnation, the Second Rani always 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

A new incarnation

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

The Rani later regenerated. In her new incarnation she once again encountered the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, although she had expected his seventh incarnation. She masqueraded as Professor Baxton at the College of Advanced Galactic Education a foremost authority of Moral Philosophy. 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)

Wartime

In the War in Heaven, the Lord President reintegrated several barely-reformed renegades into Gallifreyan society. One former renegade Time Lady, who was known for her engineered creatures, became a tutor to newly-loomed soldiers. Holsred remembered a lecture in which she connected an artron energy generator to a white rat's brain and then let the rat use the energy to kill a hungry Gallifreyan cat. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)

Father Kreiner had the heads of the Rani and the Master as trophies; however, at least one of them was a clone created in the High Council's hatchling projects. (PROSE: Interference)

Appearance

In her second incarnation, 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

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. She was also capable of linking a remote control to a TARDIS, something that other Time Lords had not been able to manage themselves.

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

• 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.
• 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)