Rani Chandra
Rani Chandra was a teenage girl who lived on Bannerman Road. She assisted Sarah Jane Smith and her friends in combating alien menaces and protecting the Earth from natural threats originating from space.
Biography
Meeting Sarah Jane Smith
Rani and her parents, Haresh and Gita Chandra, moved from Danemouth into 36 Bannerman Road in Ealing, London, the house formerly occupied by Alan and Maria Jackson. Rani quickly became mixed up in alien adventures after meeting Sarah Jane. Rani was stalked by the evil entity that manifested itself as Odd Bob the clown. She and the others collectively managed to stop the entity from rising to full power. (SJA: The Day of the Clown)
Although Sarah Jane was initially hesitant, Rani quickly ingratiated herself and became a vital member of Sarah Jane's group, along the way learning about many of Sarah Jane's adventures and even becoming familiar with the Doctor and the TARDIS. (SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)
After this Rani helped Sarah Jane stop the Ancient Lights take over the world through Martin Trueman. She was temporarily taken over by the lights due to her star sign. (SJA: Secrets of the Stars)
Adventures with Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde
Weeks after this incident Rani picked up an alien pendant from a boy in school. She realised that the pendant allowed the user to control others. Scared by its power, Rani left it in Sarah Jane's attic while Sarah Jane was away for the weekend. However when Paul Langer found it, she and Luke, unable to contact Sarah Jane, had to contact Maria Jackson and her father for assistance in order to stop him from being taken over by the Berserker pendant's alien power. (SJA: The Mark of the Berserker)
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In later weeks, Sarah Jane was trapped in the past in the village where her parents had died. The Trickster was at work. Clyde and Rani found the puzzle-box given to Sarah Jane and it protected them from the changes that the Trickter's interference caused to modern Earth. They used this as an advantage to eventually stop him and free his Graske slave Krislok. (SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)
In Autumn 2009 Rani's mother was kidnapped by Bane fugitive Mrs Wormwood. She and Sarah Jane rescued the two of them from an attack from the enemy Bane agents. Rani and Sarah Jane then accompanied the Brigadier to the Black Archive to find the Tunguska Scroll which would lead them to the mind of the evil entity that the Bane were looking for, Horath. However, Mrs Wormwood double crossed them and teamed up with rogue Sontaran Commander Kaagh to take over the universe, with Luke in tow. Rani confronted Wormwood and Kaagh at the entrance to Horath's domain. Sarah Jane rescued Luke and Kaagh threw Mrs Wormwood and himself into the alternate reality just before it sealed itself forever. (SJA: Enemy of the Bane)
Later in the year Rani and the gang also had to deal with a minor Slitheen incursion, when a lone member of the Slitheen family, disguised as galactic ambassador Ranius, attempted to steal K-9. However, they managed to send him back to where he came from. (SJA: From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love)
In later 2009 she helped Captain Tybo catch Androvax, a Veil who was the Judoon's most wanted criminal. At the same time her parents had gone to a Genetic Systems lab in order to expand her mother's business. They were searched by Judoon and survived. They later told Rani about the experience but she pretended to not believe them. (SJA: Prisoner of the Judoon)
After this she received an email from her old friend Samuel Lloyd. He tricked her into going back to her old home town and investigating a Fun Fair park, where she found an alien called Eve. Eve was a time sensitive alien, and the last of her kind. Using her abilities, she showed Rani her future. The vision showed showed her as an old lonely woman living in 13 Bannerman in the year 2059. After it was revealed Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde had followed Rani, she took Eve out of the ride she hid in, but Eve only wanted to play and forced Rani and four homeless people to have fun. With Eve's power growing out of control, Sarah Jane learned that doing this would kill Eve, so she and Clyde got Eve to her mother ship where Rani was freed from Eve's power. Thankful and granting wishes by manipulating timelines, the mothership recalled a wish that Rani had made earlier, that Sarah Jane, Luke, and Clyde would just leave her alone, taking them out of existence from that point onward. This lead to the vision of the future Rani had seen earlier. In 2059, when telling her story to a young boy, it was revealed he is the son of Eve and Sam Lloyd. He restored Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde to the timeline and the future was changed again. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
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Rani, Luke and Clyde found out that Sarah Jane was dating a man named Peter Dalton, who Sarah Jane met in a shoe shop. Mr Smith and K-9 revealed that the trio secretly put a tracking device on Sarah Jane's car. A few days later, Rani and Clyde broke into Peter's house, suspecting that he wasn't quite human. They found out that he did not live there. They told Sarah Jane this, but Sarah Jane told them that he had a flat in London nearer his firm. When Sarah Jane announced she was to be married, Rani was asked to be the bridesmaid for Sarah Jane, despite previously spying on Sarah Jane, along with Luke and Clyde. The Tenth Doctor appeared at the wedding, and demanded that the wedding was to be stopped. Rani was teleported along with Clyde, Luke and the Doctor to nowhere in a time trap. Thanks to the TARDIS' power and Clyde manipulating it, as well as Peter withdrawing the Trickster's agreement, they were able to escape and the Trickster exploded into nothing. Rani was allowed to look inside the TARDIS when the Doctor visited Bannerman Road. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
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Rani then helped to defeat Erasmus Darkening (SJA: The Eternity Trap), the Mona Lisa, (SJA: Mona Lisa's Revenge), the Slitheen and Blathereen (SJA: The Gift).
Luke's departure
Rani became trapped in a nightmare by the Nightmare Man, but helped to defeat him along with Luke and Clyde. She later said her goodbyes to Luke as he parted for Oxford University, one year earlier than expected. (SJA: The Nightmare Man)
After Luke
Shortly after Luke left, Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani once again met Androvax. With help from Mister Dread, they saved his species and saved the world from complete hyperdimensional cataclysm. During the adventure, she told her mother about the Bannerman Road gang's battles against aliens but Gita's mind was subsequently wiped by Dread. (SJA: The Vault of Secrets) She attended the Eleventh Doctor's funeral at UNIT Base 5. There she met another one of the Doctor's past companions Jo Grant and her grandson Santiago Jones. Howevver, it was later revealed the Shansheeth, alien undertakers, faked the funeral to obtain the Doctor's companions to help them steal the Doctor's TARDIS. With the Doctor's help, Sarah Jane and Jo were saved. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
Rani and Clyde were the only two people left on Earth after a pair of robots came searching for their king's heir, Gavin. Rani helped convince him that he was needed on another planet and he agreed. Gavin proclaimed them Lady Rani and Lord Clyde; he then left with the robots who returned all the humans. (SJA: The Empty Planet)
Rani, along with the rest of the Bannerman Road gang, were sent to different points in history by the Shopkeeper in order to retrieve Chronosteel and save the Earth. Rani ended up in 1553, where she met Queen Jane Grey and became her lady-in-waiting. She became the Queen's friend and saved her life after Lady Matilda tried to kill Jane so that she would not be executed by Mary I of England. Rani comforted Jane and told her that she would be remembered and respected for hundreds of years to come. Rani took Matilda's dagger, which was Chronosteel, and used it to return to 2010 after bidding farewell to Jane and Mistress Ellen. Her Chronosteel, along with Clyde and Sarah Jane's, saved the planet. Rani later did research on Jane Grey, discovering that she was happy in her final moments, as she was certain of her remembrance. (SJA: Lost in Time)
The gang met Ruby White, another alien hunter. Sarah Jane was not feeling herself and Rani suggested she take a holiday. They befriended Ruby, but the next day received a message from Sarah Jane saying she was moving away. Clyde was very upset because it felt like his dad leaving him and he initially blamed Rani. Ruby was a Qetesh with a separate stomach draining Sarah Jane's emotions. Rani contacted Luke who found Sarah Jane being help captive by Ruby and using Mr White caused a massive meteoritic shower simulation across the planet causing the human race at large to experience fear, overloading Ruby who was sent back into space Rani and Clyde made amends. (SJA: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)
Sky and subsequent adventures
In 2011, Rani was of course very surprised by the fact Sarah Jane had a baby one day, called Sky which caused power fluctuations around Bannerman Road. She and Sarah Jane investigated a crash site for a supposed meteor the previous night, where she meet Professor Rivers again. When they found that Clyde and Sky had been taken to a power plant by Sky's mother, Miss Myers she saw Sky's transformation from baby to a pre-teen. Rani had to teach Sky who knew next to nothing as she was only a "newborn" what it is to be a girl among other things. She and Clyde deactivated the core of the power station, preventing the entire Metalkind species from being brought to Earth that would have caused Sky to detonate and destroy them all, as per her purpose. When Miss Myers and the Metalkind had left Earth at the supposed cost of Sky's electrical powers, the gang returned to Bannerman Road where Rani and Clyde saw that Sky had not fully lost her abilities. (SJA: Sky)
Rani, along with the other people important in Clyde's life, was put under Hetocumtek's curse making her turn against Clyde and tell him he was to stay away from her. The curse on her was later broken with the help of Sky (unaffected due to being an alien) who urged her and Sarah Jane to remember what Clyde meant to them. She and the rest of the gang reunited with Clyde and together defeated Hetocumtek, lifting the curse. Rani helped Clyde look for his new friend but they later learned that she had already left London on a haulage truck. (SJA: The Curse of Clyde Langer)
As she was one of the top three journalists in the United Kingdom, Sarah Jane was been invited to the rehearsal of the launch of the SerfBoard by Joseph Serf. She took Sky and Luke who had just come back from university. Sarah Jane found out through Mr Smith that the real Serf had died in a skiing accident in 2007. She organised an interview with the hologram Serf while Rani, Clyde and Mr Smith analysed a Serf Board finding it be be nothing more than a low standard computer. Luke and Sky who had used K9's whistle to alert Rani and Clyde via Mr Smith to get the pen Harrison was using to torture the Skullion slaves he forced to control Serf. Clyde and Rani arrived at the launch in disguise and managed to retrieve Harrison's pen. Luke and Sky took control of Serf whilst Sarah Jane and her new friend Adriana took the Skullions to the roof of the building. Mr Smith had alerted the Skullion species to send a spaceship to Earth to pick up the Skullions. Harrison took his pen back and began to kill the Skullions, fortunately, Luke and Sky used Serf to hypnotise the audience at the launch to destroy Harrison's pen which they did. He told Rani and Clyde to go to the roof where a Skullion spaceship appeared and took the freed Skullions home. Harrison had also been beamed up by the Skullion spaceship, where Luke hoped that the Skullions would put him to work. Sarah Jane gave Adriana a card for U.N.I.T saying that Adriana was just what they needed and she would ensure that Adriana was paid well. Sarah Jane and her gang then returned home. Clyde drew a picture of Sky entitled "Sky's Room" which Luke stuck up in her room. (SJA: The Man Who Never Was)
Later Life
By 2059, Rani had a large family, with at least one son, Shuresh, and three grandchildren, two grandsons and one granddaughter. She lived in 13 Bannerman Road. At some point in 2059 she visited Washington, DC with Luke and met Maria Jackson there. She kept a picture of Sarah Jane Smith, Clyde, Luke, K9 and herself from 50 years prior. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
Sarah Jane and her gang continued to have adventures, defend Earth and save countless lives. Statues would be raised in their honour and they would leave behind a legacy that would last forever. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (novelisation), The Man Who Never Was)
Alternate realities
In an alternate reality, Ship removed Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde from time due to Rani wishing they'd leave her alone. By 2059, Rani was a mad old woman who lived in 13 Bannerman Road. Adam Lloyd visited her and, being a cross-breed between Eve's species and Human, altered her timeline so that Ship never got rid of her friends. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
Personality
Rani wanted to be a journalist when she grew up, this tendency to explore resulted in her stumbling upon Sarah Jane's life. (SJA: The Day of the Clown) She admired Luke for his cleverness and Clyde for his aversion to authority. (SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith) Rani confided in Sam Lloyd her knowledge of aliens and was pleased for him when he chose to leave Earth for travels in space. She befriended Eve realising she meant no harm. Rani apologised to Sarah Jane for betraying her trust when she told of her adventures to Sam. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic) She helped Gavin, gaining his trust and convincing him that he was important. (SJA: The Empty Planet) However, she could be skeptical as she did not believe the Doctor was himself with a new face. (SJA: Death of the Doctor) She initially thought of herself as a "hanger on" in Sarah Jane's gang and was once jealous of Maria, but Clyde had helped to prove to her that they were valuable team members. (SJA: The Mad Woman in the Attic The Empty Planet) She was also quite intelligent. (SJA: Sky et al)
It is implied that she has developed romantic feelings for Clyde and seemed the closest to him in the gang. (SJA: The Gift, The Vault of Secrets, The Empty Planet, Lost in Time, The Man Who Never Was)
Rani was a pseudo-big sister to Sky, teaching her many things as Clyde had done for Luke when he was recently created. (SJA: Sky) She was close with her parents and her mother could cheer her up when she was really down. (SJA: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith et al)
Behind the scenes
- The character's name is similar to that of 1980s Doctor Who villain the Rani, though the producers have stated that there is no connection between the characters, and even the Doctor has drawn no connection between the names. "Rani" is an Indian word for queen, hence the villain's usage of it as a title. Given Rani's ethnicity, the name makes sense for her as well.
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