Doctor Who: Time and the Rani (1987)

The first problem this has is that, having been summarily sacked, Colin Baker wouldn't show up to do a pre-regeneration scene and so we have to start in media res with the TARDIS under attack and the Doctor turning into Sylvester McCoy without any ceremony. There is one good idea in that the newly-regenerated Doctor is duped by the Rani (Kate O'Mara) into thinking that she is his devoted companion rather than a sadistic villain - which means O'Mara gets to dress up as Bonnie Langford and do a quite funny impersonation. Outside of that, it's a silly tale of abducted geniuses fueling a literal big brain, some New Scientist article footnotes about 'strange matter' that go for nothing, a small tribe of green-faced humanoids with cockatoo perms and stuck-on scales (Donald Pickering, Wanda Ventham) and a rubbery race of pantomime giant bats with eyes on every side of their heads.

McCoy ought to have made a good Doctor (he's fine in the Paul McGann movie) but was hobbled from the start by poor scripts, inadequate production values, makeshift supporting performances and clod-hopping direction. Einstein potters around without any dialogue in the background, inquisitively fiddling with the TARDIS controls and the Doctor just this once expresses admiration for Elvis Presley. McCoy looks bad in Colin Baker's costume, struts about in outfits borrowed from his other incarnations and settles (in a bit perhaps taken from Steamboat Bill Jr) on his usual look, which suffers from those John Nathan-Turner question marks but is otherwise acceptable, even if it falls in line with the policy of giving the Doctor a permanent costume rather than a style within which he can have variations.
KIM NEWMAN

First published in this form here.

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