Time and the Rani (TV story)

Time and the Rani was the first serial of season 24 of Doctor Who. It marked the debut of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. Kate O'Mara made her second and final televised appearance as the Rani (not including the charity special Dimensions in Time).

It was also the series' first exploits with computer-generated imagery, a relatively limited technology at the time. An all-computer animated opening titles sequence was introduced with this story, along with a new arrangement of the theme tune by Keff McCulloch, an appropriately electronic rendition composed entirely on a Prophet 5 Synthesiser. The logo of the series was also changed into a three-dimensionally animated part of the title sequence and became the series logo that would stay in use until the early 1990s.

Following the circumstances of Colin Baker's exit from the role, the Sixth Doctor was made to immediately regenerate into the Seventh Doctor at the start of this story, as the The Ultimate Foe was the last story to feature Colin Baker in the title role, but not the last story to feature the Sixth Doctor himself, and because of the story immediately beginning with the Doctor's regeneration into the Seventh Doctor, this would make Time and the Rani the final chronological appearance of the Sixth Doctor properly in universe, though not played by Colin Baker himself. Baker was offered the chance to reprise the role of the Sixth Doctor in a proposed regeneration story, but he declined; he instead asked to be given a full season for his departure, but the denial of this request prompted him to turn down the reprisal. As a result, a pre-credits sequence was added into Time and the Rani featuring the Doctor's regeneration, with McCoy portraying both the Sixth and Seventh Doctors (to hide this, his face remained hidden until the end of the regeneration sequence).

The cause of the Sixth Doctor's regeneration is not explicitly shown on-screen, although he is seen being thrown across the console room as the TARDIS is pulled down during flight by the Rani. Spiral Scratch and The Brink of Death both provide narratives for the Sixth Doctor's regeneration, with both retroactively leading into the events of this serial.

Synopsis

The Rani has returned after her last encounter with the Doctor, with yet another malicious scientific scheme.

Taking advantage of the post-regenerative trauma the recently regenerated and unstable Doctor is going through, the Rani hopes to achieve control of an approaching asteroid composed entirely of strange matter.

Can the Doctor figure out he is being used for the Rani's evil experiment, and what is behind the door the Rani won't allow the Doctor past?

Plot

Part one

The Sixth Doctor regenerates.

While the TARDIS is flying through space, it is assaulted by multiple energy beams from the planet Lakertya, before being captured in a tractor beam. A native watches the TARDIS land nearby.

The Rani and her servant break into the TARDIS, where they find both the Doctor and Mel are unconscious from the forced landing. On the Rani's orders, the beast ignores Mel and turns the face-down Doctor around, revealing that he's covered in a swirling spiral of blurry colours. In the following moment, the features of this Doctor fade along with the light, leaving a freshly regenerated new incarnation in place of the old Doctor.

In the Rani's lab, it is revealed that she has used the Tetraps to force the Lakertyans into helping kidnap an array of genius scientists throughout time, including Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, and Hypatia. She now also requires the Doctor. Angered by the incompetence of her workers, the Rani scares away a female Lakertyan.

The new Doctor and "Mel" (the Rani).

The Doctor recovers from the crash and seemingly is continuing a conversation his previous incarnation was having with Mel. He then notices that he is no longer in the TARDIS, has just regenerated and recognises the Rani. Angered by her presence, he wonders what kind of monstrous experiment she is up to now. He takes up his umbrella to strike her. The Rani knocks him out with a laser gun and injects him with an amnesia-inducing drug. She disguises herself as Mel. Once the Doctor recovers, she attempts to convince him to repair some broken machinery in "his" lab. Beyond the lab is a closed-off chamber.

The Doctor reveals his new outfit.

Mel has meanwhile been left behind in the TARDIS. She encounters, and eventually wins the trust of, the young hot-headed Lakertyan Ikona, who is eager to dispatch the evil Rani and liberate his people.

In the meantime, the Doctor has returned to the TARDIS to change his clothes as he finds the clownish outfit of the Sixth not a fitting match for his new persona. After trying several outfits including those of his previous incarnations, the Doctor walks out from behind a clothes rack wearing the Second Doctor's fur coat, but opens it to reveal his new outfit, which the Rani finds befitting of a Time Lord.

As Mel and Ikona flee from a Tetrap, Mel trips one of the Rani's traps. She is encased in a large bubble and thrown over a cliff.

Part two

Mel's bubble lands safely in a lake, and Ikona is able to free her. They flee from Urak.

Mel feels for the Doctor's double pulse.

The Doctor and the Rani return to the lab, where the Doctor finds the problem and instructs "Mel" to return to the TARDIS and retrieve a tool. While doing so, the Rani orders her minion to kill Mel. Once the Rani returns and gives the Doctor the device he needs, he sees one of the mineral plates inside the device is broken. The Rani tells the Doctor that she can get a replacement from the locals, contradicting her earlier statement that they were not advanced enough for the Doctor's technological knowledge. The Doctor catches this as she leaves, realising that he has been duped. While the Rani leaves, Mel enters the lab and the Doctor mistakes her for the Rani. Mel, not recognising the Doctor due to his new face and clothes, wonders what he has done with the Doctor. After Mel mentions carrot juice and the Doctor responds with his great hatred of the beverage, they soften towards each other. He finds that she doesn't have a double pulse as a Time Lord would, and they accept that they are who they say they are. Mel says she knows about regeneration but is still surprised to find his appearance and height completely different. His memory now apparently fully returned, the Doctor apologises, fearing that being easily duped does not bode well for his new incarnation.

Mel and Faroon watch the entrance to the Rani's base.

They decide to find out what the Rani has been planning. In an inner chamber, Beyus and Faroon show them an enormous brain that channels the kidnapped scientists' mental ability into a single gestalt mind. An asteroid composed entirely of strange matter, a very rare and super heavy material is passing nearby. The Rani has constructed a fixed-trajectory rocket to collide with it at the approaching solstice. The only known substance that can destroy strange matter is strange matter itself, so she is using the brain to discover a lightweight substitute.

They return to the laboratory, and Faroon takes Mel to safety. The Rani returns, ready to take the Doctor to the brain, but he escapes into the Tetrap pit. She can't find him, but he is surrounded by Tetraps.

Part three

The Doctor is able to escape from the Tetraps when Beyus feeds them. In the laboratory, the Doctor removes a part from the Rani's machine, then leaves, right before the Rani returns. She sounds an alarm.

Meanwhile, Urak captures Mel, paralysing her with his venom. The Doctor meets Ikona and narrowly escapes from one of the Rani's traps. A Tetrap is caught in it instead.

Ikona shows the Doctor the Centre of Leisure and explains that his people have become indolent. The Rani, angry at Beyus' lack of cooperation, turns on the globe in the Centre of Leisure, releasing killer insects. Faroon tells the Doctor that the Rani has Mel. The Rani offers a trade — the part he stole for Mel. However, when he makes the trade, Mel is revealed to be a hologram.

The Doctor needs to get back to the laboratory to stop the Rani. He and Ikona try to bluff their way, but the Doctor is surrounded by Tetraps once again.

The Rani feeds the Doctor's intellect into the brain, and it starts working, as the Doctor's brain suggests a new approach to the problem.

Part four

To the Rani's annoyance, the brain starts spouting bad puns and nonsense. However, once disconnected, the Doctor inadvertently provides the brain with the means to determine the needed substance: Loyhargil.

The Doctor – captured and placed within the Rani's systems.

Upon impact, the strange matter would form a shell of chronons around Lakertya, causing the brain to expand to fill the entire surface of the planet, converting it into a Time Manipulator. With this, the Rani can change the course of history and control the randomness of evolution throughout the universe. The Rani also casually mentions that she intends to leave the Doctor, Mel, the Lakertyans and the Tetraps to die on the planet during this process, but Urak overhears this, alarming him.

The Rani's plan is foiled.

The Lakertyan leader Beyus sacrifices his life to destroy the brain and delay the launch long enough for the rocket to miss the asteroid. The Rani escapes in her TARDIS but finds it overrun with Tetraps who "invite" the Rani to accompany them to her homeworld.

On Lakertya, the Doctor and Mel say their goodbyes with the people they had befriended and helped liberate from the Rani. The Doctor gives Ikona the antidote to the Rani's killer insects, but Ikona pours this away on the ground — explaining that his people must solve their own problems from now on if they are to survive. Before going into the TARDIS, Mel tells the Doctor that his new self is going to take some getting used to, to which he replies, "I'll grow on you, Mel, I'll grow on you."

Cast

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Mel Bush - Bonnie Langford
The Rani - Kate O'Mara
Ikona - Mark Greenstreet
Faroon - Wanda Ventham
Beyus - Donald Pickering
Sarn - Karen Clegg
Urak - Richard Gauntlett
Lanisha - John Segal
Special Voices - Peter Tuddenham, Jacki Webb

Uncredited cast

Sixth Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Crew

Assistant Floor Managers - Joanna Newbery, Christopher Sandeman
Computer Animation - CAL Video
Costumes - Ken Trew
Designer - Geoff Powell
Graphic Designer - Oliver Elmes
Incidental Music - Keff McCulloch
Make-Up - Lesley Rawstorne
OB Cameraman - Alastair Mitchell, John Hawes
O.B. Lighting - Ian Dow
OB Sound - Doug Whittaker
Producer - John Nathan-Turner
Production Assistant - Joy Sinclair
Production Associate - Anne Faggetter
Production Manager - Tony Redston
Script Editor - Andrew Cartmel
Special Sounds - Dick Mills
Studio Camera Supervisor - Alec Wheal
Studio Lighting - Henry Barber
Studio Sound - Brian Clark
Technical Co-Ordinator - Richard Wilson
Theme Arrangement - Keff McCulloch
Title Music - Ron Grainer
Video Effects - Dave Chapman
Videotape Editor - Hugh Parson
Vision Mixer - Sue Thorne
Visual Effects Designer - Colin Mapson

Worldbuilding

Cultural references from real world

The Rani has abducted Hypatia, Louis Pasteur, and Albert Einstein.
The Doctor names Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Louis Pasteur, Elvis and Mrs. Malaprop among the Earthling personalities who would not be born if the Rani's plot would be achieved.
Mel is an admirer of the work of the scientist C. P. Snow, who dealt with thermodynamics.
The Rani intends to go back to the Cretaceous era and save dinosaurs from extinction.
On Earth, strange matter was discovered by a Princeton physicist in 1984.
The Doctor frequently misquotes numerous common sayings, including "absence makes the nose grow longer" (instead of "absence makes the heart grow fonder"), "fit as a trombone" (instead of "fit as a fiddle") and "time and tide melts the snowman" (instead of "time and tide wait for no man") among many others.

Individuals

Computers are the speciality of Mel.

The Doctor

The Sixth Doctor regenerates into the Seventh Doctor.
The Doctor's speciality on Gallifrey was thermodynamics, according to a disguised Rani.

Medicine

The Rani injects the Doctor with a drug causing amnesia.
Ikona throws away the antidote for the killer insect poison.

Particles and substances

PHB and PES (polyethersulfone, a petroleum-based plastic) are proposed as suitable materials for the machinery of the Rani.
The recombination of an electron and a positron in photons is mentioned by the Time Brain.
Gamma rays and helium 2 are expected during the explosion of both a supernova and strange matter.
Loyhargil is a lightweight substitute for strange matter.
Chronons are discrete particles of time.

Planets

In the confusion after the regeneration, the Doctor mentions the temporal flicker in Sector Thirteen, a bicentennial refit of the TARDIS to book in, and Centauri VII.
Tetrapyriarbus is the homeworld of the Tetraps.

Species

The Rani uses Tetraps as her servants.
Lakertyans are civilised reptilian humanoids.

Time Lords

The Doctor's special subject at university was thermodynamics.
The code to open the door is 953, which is the Doctor's and the Rani's age.
The Doctor confirms that he is in his seventh persona.

Technology

A radiation wave meter is in the tool room of the Doctor's TARDIS.
The Doctor steals a microthermistor from the Rani's laboratory.
The Rani employs a hologram of Mel to deceive the Doctor during a hostage exchange.

Weapons

A navigational guidance system distorter was employed by the Rani to attract the Doctor's TARDIS on Lakertya. It would have worked on any passing spaceship.
The Lakertyans are blackmailed with the menace of killer insects.

Story notes

The concept of creating a weapon by collecting the minds of all the great thinkers, including the Doctor's, was also used in the then unfinished and unbroadcast story Shada. Both stories involve the Doctor using his stolen consciousness to counteract the weapon.
Loyhargil is an anagram of "holy grail".
The working title for this story was Strange Matter.
This is the first story to feature computer generated images (CGI) for the titles and many of the effects (including the TARDIS's flight through space in the pre-title sequence).
For the title sequence, Sylvester McCoy's face and hair were painted silver. The designer of the title sequence revealed some 23 years later that this was not necessary. He did not reveal this to the show's producers at any point during that time. (DOC: Helter-Skelter)
The Radio Times programme listing for part one was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of the Doctor on the surface of Lakertya, with a head-and-shoulders inset of the Rani, with the accompanying caption "The TARDIS materialises with a new Doctor at the helm! Sylvester McCoy is the seventh in line of intrepid Time Lords, who tonight comes face to face with the Rani (Kate O'Mara) / BBC1, 7.35 p.m. Doctor Who". (original published text)
One reason for the story's problems was that Pip and Jane Baker had no idea who would be playing the new Doctor or how he would be characterised — and, at least when they started work on the project, the series had no script editor for them to discuss things with.
Colin Baker declined to return to his role for the regeneration sequence at the beginning of the story. As a result, Sylvester McCoy donned a wig and the Sixth Doctor's costume and briefly appeared (as a body double, with face hidden) as the Sixth Doctor, making him the first actor to play (technically) two different incarnations of the Doctor. McCoy also spends much of the early part of the story clad in the Sixth Doctor's outfit.
- Paul McGann filled a similar role in The Night of the Doctor, when he reprised his role as the Eighth Doctor and briefly substituted (again as a body double only) as the War Doctor.
io9.com ranked the Sixth Doctor's death as the second weakest death in science fiction history.^[1]
Sylvester McCoy protested about wearing the question mark jumper. It wasn't until his reprisal of the Seventh Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who movie that his campaigning to discard the pullover was generously granted. He instead wore a red waistcoat, and was ironically "killed" before he could get any significant screen time wearing the aforementioned garment.
In this story, the Seventh Doctor wears braces on the outside of the pullover, with it tucked into his trousers. Sylvester McCoy admitted it was a regrettable choice. He said it did injustice to the appearance of his tummy, giving him a "beer gut" look. For future stories, the actor instead kept to wearing his braces over his shirt, and had the pullover over that, as is more traditional.
During the regeneration, the exercise bike the Sixth Doctor rides in Terror of the Vervoids is visible in the TARDIS control room. In DWM 409, in an article on regeneration, the writer suggests that the Sixth Doctor's "mortal" injury may have been caused by him falling off the bike.
- Later stories would offer various conflicting accounts of how the Sixth Doctor came to regenerate, among them the 2005 Past Doctor Adventures novel Spiral Scratch and the 2015 Big Finish audio story The Brink of Death. The Complete History of the Doctor, published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2017, lent credence to the earlier claim about the bike.
This is the first time the Doctor is seen regenerating at the beginning of a serial, as opposed to its end. (barring recap footage)
This would be the last time a TARDIS other than the Doctor's was shown on-screen until the charity special Dimensions in Time. In televised Doctor Who terms, another TARDIS would not appear until the "Junk TARDIS" in TV: The Doctor's Wife.
In a behind-the-scenes interview featuring Sylvester McCoy, he jabbed at having to wear Colin Baker's oversized wardrobe before switching into his Doctor's new clothes. Aside from donning the loud colours of his predecessor, the costume was tailored to Baker's height, 6ft (183cm), which loosely fit his smaller height of 5ft 6in (168cm). He humorously protested about "getting lost for three days" inside the floppy fabrics.
This is the third TV story to use a pre-credits sequence, and the first to not use any archive footage for it.
This is the only Seventh Doctor story whose writers also wrote for a previous Doctor.
- Additionally, since Rona Munro is the only writer from the 1963 incarnation of the programme to return for the 2005 incarnation, this is the only televised story to feature a writer from the era of any of the first six Doctors returning to write for an incarnation of the Doctor from the Seventh onwards.
In the Rani's final scene, the script had originally called for Kate O'Mara to be hung upside-down like the bat-like Tetraps. During filming, O'Mara, who was on antibiotics at the time, was hung in this position for longer than needed and, after O'Mara complained of a horrible pain behind her eyes, was hastily let down when it was discovered she had popped a blood vessel in her eye. As a result, the scene in the final product had O'Mara hanging from her arms instead.
Donald Pickering makes his third and last appearance in the series. This is the only time where he is not a villain and that his character dies.
Despite taking place in the Sixth Doctor's future, this story sees the use of his red cravat and waistcoat, instead of his yellow cravat and multi-coloured striped waistcoat.
This serial was originally written with the Sixth Doctor in mind. Originally, he was to have regenerated at the end of this story instead of at the start; the script had the Doctor staying behind at the Rani's headquarters to ensure nothing went wrong with the missile strike, but the ensuing explosion causes him to regenerate. However, Colin Baker refused to come back for anything less than a full season, but the BBC executives responsible for his sacking would only permit one serial. Neither party could come to an agreement, hence the Sixth Doctor's unceremonious demise; following Baker's departure, it was hastily rewritten to accommodate the Seventh Doctor.
The original pre-title scene had Albert Einstein kidnapped by the Rani.
Pip and Jane Baker drew upon their 1986 Find Your Fate book Race Against Time, in which the Rani tries to build a Time Destabiliser in order to reshape the universe to her design. This, in turn, was based upon rejected ideas submitted to the production office in 1984.
Andrew Cartmel didn't get along at all with writers Pip and Jane Baker, who repeatedly told him that as a novice with no prior TV experience he had no business trying to advise them on anything other than what was or wasn't feasible on the show's budget — which was actually the thing he was least qualified to advise them on — and didn't even always take his advice on that front. In particular, they refused to remove a scripted scene where King Solomon is abducted in the midst of the argument over who is the rightful mother of a baby just as his guard prepares to split it in two with an axe so as to give one half to each "mother"; the Bakers refused to back down on this until John Nathan-Turner pointed out that if neither he nor Cartmel were familiar with that parable, odds are most viewers at home wouldn't be either.
John Nathan-Turner originally preferred not to include the regeneration. Urak would turn over the unconscious Doctor to reveal his new face, the Doctor having already regenerated. However, Nathan-Turner later changed his mind. Andrew Morgan wanted to use a clip of Colin Baker, but Nathan-Turner refused.
Andrew Cartmel has said that there were many things he disliked about the script which lacked depth. "This was a story which wasn't about anything — and, frustratingly, it was Sylvester McCoy's debut." After seeing part one, his agent rang him and said, "I thought you were one of the good guys!"
George Baker, Kenneth Colley, John Fraser, Michael Gothard, Don Henderson, Ronald Lacey, T.P. McKenna and Clifford Rose were considered for Beyus.
Jill Bennett, Isla Blair, Adrienne Corri, Judi Dench, Anna Massey, Barbara Murray, Colette O'Neil, Ingrid Pitt, Barbara Shelley, Sylvia Syms, Fiona Walker and Billie Whitelaw were considered for Faroon.
Kate O'Mara, at the time famous for her role in Dynasty, was eager to return to the series and wrote to John Nathan-Turner from Hollywood: "I can't stand the eternal sunshine...You've got to help me. I want to be in a gravel pit somewhere in the pissing rain, changing in a caravan in front of twenty nosey crewmembers".
According to Pip and Jane Baker, John Nathan-Turner wanted the story to be set on an alien planet, have a new monster and a giant brain.
John Nathan-Turner felt the story was interesting, if not highly complex, with lots for the Kate O'Mara to do.
Several character names were plays on words - Ikona (“iconoclast”), Beyus (“obey us”), Lakertyan (“lacertian”, meaning lizard-like), Tetrap (from the prefix “tetra” and referring to the monsters' four eyes) and Loyhargil (an anagram of “Holy Grail”).
Urak was named in reference to Uriah Heep from David Copperfield.
Pip and Jane Baker weren't keen on Sylvester McCoy, feeling he was too jokey. They particuarly disliked the spoon-playing, with Pip complaining, "Where would a Time Lord learn to play the bloody spoons?"
Sylvester McCoy enjoyed the opportunity to play the spoons on Kate O'Mara's décolletage.
Tetrap is an anagram of pet rat and a play on tetra, meaning four. They were a merging of two creatures that Pip and Jane Baker thought were the most horrible - bats and rats.
Pip and Jane Baker justified the Rani impersonating Mel by noting that it should have been played seriously, but Kate O'Mara found it difficult to impersonate Bonnie Langford while she was onset.
Sylvester McCoy said that his first scene with the tetraps was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever done. To which John Nathan-Turner replied, "You ain't seen nothing yet".
Andrew Morgan thought that the pink sphere weapons were static and dull and that he had been ill-advised. He was new to effects work and felt bullied by the effects people into making decisions that affected the look of the show felt it was one of the worst jobs he ever did.
Sylvester McCoy felt that the story wasn't as bad as it was portrayed, but concedes that as it was written for Colin Baker, it was like a coat that didn't fit.
Mindful of the budget, John Nathan-Turner asked Pip and Jane Baker to ensure that location filming could take place near London, prompting them to think in terms of the woodlands near their home in Ruislip. Sarn's death, for example, originally occurred when the bubble-trap in which she was snared collided with a tree. However, designer Geoff Powell feared that such a setting would look insufficiently otherworldly, and he encouraged Andrew Morgan to reimagine the planet as a barren, rocky wasteland.
In the original script, the Doctor was attacked by a giant spider during his meeting with Ikona. Pip and Jane Baker added this as a dig at Colin Baker, who was arachnaphobic.
The original script featured flashbacks to The Mark of the Rani and the Rani's trial by the Time Lords.
The Tetraps originally had a gargoyle-like appearance. Their original look survived in the statuary outside the Rani's headquarters.
Pip and Jane Baker originally envisioned the Rani's headquarters as a Gothic castle.
After location filming had been completed, the cast and crew threw a party where people did their pieces - Sylvester McCoy played the spoons and Bonnie Langford sang. Jonathan Powell suggested that McCoy's Doctor should play the spoons, something that Pip and Jane Baker were against. McCoy recalled that John Nathan-Turner told him at said party that his Doctor should play the spoons, prompting McCoy to laugh, thinking he was either joking or drunk.
Wanda Ventham's son Benedict Cumberbatch (then eleven years old) accompanied her to the set.
Although the set for the Rani's console room had been retained for future use after The Mark of the Rani, it had been damaged during its two years in storage. Instead, a model was constructed into which actors could be inserted via chroma key.
The title was inspired by JB Priestley's 1937 play Time and the Conways.
This story has the dubious distinction of being ranked as Doctor Who Magazine readers' least favourite Seventh Doctor story in all four of their major polls, in 1998, 2009, 2014, and 2023. (DWM 592)
The events of this story and the regeneration were going to be referenced by Mel as a brief monologue during The Giggle, but it was cut.
Wanda Ventham and Donald Pickering previously appeared in The Faceless Ones.
This is the only season opener written by a woman, as Attack of the Cybermen's Paula Moore pseudonym is largely agreed to mostly be Eric Saward, with no real contributions by any female writers.

Ratings

Part one - 5.1 million viewers
Part two - 4.2 million viewers
Part three - 4.3 million viewers
Part four - 4.9 million viewers

Myths

Colin Baker refused to film a regeneration sequence. (Partially true. In an extra found on The Trial of a Time Lord DVD box set, Colin Baker said that when he was asked to film a regeneration sequence, he agreed as long as he was allowed to do a full third season playing the Doctor, at the end of which he would then regenerate. The production office never contacted him again.)
Several myths exist surrounding how the Doctor regenerates. One is that he falls off his exercise bike, while another has it that the Rani's TARDIS collided with his. (The exercise bike is still standing during the attack and falls facing away from the Doctor, and the Rani's TARDIS remains on the planet throughout the serial. Most fans accept The Brink of Death as the official explanation.)
Peter Tuddenham and Jacki Webb (Special Voices) are not credited in Radio Times for part three. (They are credited in the Radio Times programme listing for part three, but the "Special Voices" credit is quite easy to miss as on this occasion it appears in smaller type alongside the production crew members.)

Filming locations

Cloford Quarry, Cloford, Frome, Somerset (Exterior of Rani's base)
Westdown Quarry, Chantry, Frome, Somerset (Location where the TARDIS lands)
Whatley Quarry, Whatley, Frome, Somerset
BBC Television Centre (TC1 & TC8), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

The overhead microphone is visible in part one after the disguised Rani introduces herself as Mel. The boom operator seems to be having trouble following the Doctor's erratic movements.
When Mel saves Ikona from the second bubble trap, Sarn's death scream (she had been killed earlier by the same trap) can be heard very briefly.
Mel slides from hills and sits in a cave-like pipe, yet the seat of her white trousers remains very clean.
In part three, when the Rani searches for the Doctor outside of the building, she wears red trousers instead of the white ones from earlier.
During the first shot of Mel imprisoned in the Tetrap lair in part three, the part of the lair visible behind her moves slightly to the right and then descends a few inches, revealing that it is just a backdrop.
Sylvester McCoy's face is briefly visible as he's rolled over just before the regeneration begins.
The title sequence for part four erroneously uses an earlier version with more transparent, reddish photographs of Sylvester McCoy's face rather than the more opaque, bluish-silver ones. (The correct title sequence has been substituted for the VHS and DVD releases.)

Extended Version

An Extended Version of the story was released in the 27 January 2021 Season 24 The Collection boxset.

Deviations from original serial

A longer version of the Sixth Doctor's regeneration with a CGI effect morphing the Doctor's face was included.

Continuity

The Sixth Doctor's final words before his regeneration were "Our future is in safe hands." (AUDIO: The Brink of Death) In another account, his final words were "Local...tractor beam..." (PROSE: Spiral Scratch)
The Sixth Doctor had also encountered the Rani. (TV: The Mark of the Rani)
Mel thinks the only reason someone would kidnap the Doctor would be if they needed his help. The Renegade Daleks also kidnapped the Sixth Doctor, needing his help against Davros. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)
The final portion of AUDIO: The Brink of Death leads into this story, as does that of PROSE: Spiral Scratch and Craig Hinton's fan novel, Time's Champion.
The Sixth Doctor had tried to avoid going to the Lakertyan System because there was dangerous radiation in its vicinity. Due to his future self manipulating him to go there anyway to stop an even greater threat set in motion by the Valeyard that would come about in the near future, both he and Mel came under attack by the Rani, whose laser fire was brimming with this deadly radiation. Though humans like Mel could not be harmed by it and all it did was make her lose consciousness, it was fatal to Time Lords. This triggered the Doctor's regeneration into his seventh incarnation as seen at the start of this story. (AUDIO: The Brink of Death)
Albert Einstein would also encounter the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: Death is the Only Answer)
Mel says carrot juice is a favourite beverage of the Doctor's and he contradicts her. (TV: Terror of the Vervoids)
During the regeneration, the exercise bike the Sixth Doctor rode is visible in the TARDIS control room. (TV: Terror of the Vervoids)
While trying on clothes, the Seventh Doctor briefly wears the outfits of several of his previous incarnations:
- His fourth incarnation's hat and scarf
- His third incarnation's frilled shirt and smoking jacket.
- His fifth incarnation's preferred outfit. (TV: Castrovalva et al.)
- The fur coat of his second incarnation. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, The Five Doctors, The Name of the Doctor, AUDIO: Beyond the Ultimate Adventure, and COMIC: A Cold Day in Hell!)
The Doctor refers to regeneration as a lottery. The Tenth and Twelfth Doctors would describe it as such. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Deep Breath)
The Ninth Doctor would later play the spoons with a skiffle band in the 1960s. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
Mel knows about regeneration. It was explained to her by Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. (PROSE: Business Unusual)

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

This story was first released on DVD in Region 2 on 13 September 2010. Region 4 release came out 4 November 2010 and Region 1 on 14 June 2011. The one disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:

Commentary by Sylvester McCoy (the Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Mel), and Pip and Jane Baker (Writers)
The Last Chance Saloon - Cast and crew reflect on working at a critical time when Doctor Who was given its last chance. Includes Sylvester McCoy's audition footage for the Doctor, with an appearance by Janet Fielding
7D FX - An examination of the visual effects used throughout the story
Helter-Skelter - An interview with the creators of Doctor Who's first CGI title sequence
Lakertya - An investigation into the way the planet changed in nature from script to screen
Hot Gossip - Kate O'Mara (The Rani) recalls the fun of working with friends
On Location - Guy Michelmore from BBC Breakfast Time interviews Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and Kate O'Mara
Blue Peter - Janet Ellis introduces Sylvester McCoy
Radio Times Billings (PDF DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
Production Information Subtitles
Photo Gallery
Coming Soon Trailer - Revisitations
Easter Eggs:

The CGI version of the regeneration, with Colin Baker added in. Available on the Time and the Rani DVD as an Easter Egg.
- CGI Regeneration sequence, with Colin Baker's face digitally added in place of McCoy's to make it authentic. To access this hidden feature, press left at 7D FX on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden Doctor Who logo.
- Eye-Sore. To access this hidden feature, press right at Blue Peter on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden Doctor Who logo.
- The Name'sh McCoy, Shylveshter McCoy. To access this hidden feature, press left at PDF Materials on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden Doctor Who logo.

Editing for the DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Region 2 UK cover
Region 1 US cover
Region 4 AUS cover

VHS releases

This story was released on VHS as follows:

Region 2: 3 July 1995
Region 1: September 1995
Region 4: October 1995

UK VHS cover

Digital releases

The story is available for streaming in Canada & the US through BritBox or Amazon Instant Video in the UK.

External links

Footnotes

↑ io9 12 Weakest Deaths In Science Fiction History

[1] 9 12 Weakest Deaths In Science Fiction History

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