Episode #147 : Time and the Rani

"Time and tide melts the snowman."

Episode 147:    Time and the Rani.
Companions:   7th Doctor and Mel.
Air Date:          7th to 28th September 1987.

The Rani has taken control of the planet Lakertya and forced the peaceful Lakertyans to build a rocket silo-cum-laboratory base into a cliff face. She is aided by the Tetraps, a race of bat-like creatures, and plans to fire a rocket loaded with loyhargil, a substance with the same properties as strange matter, at an asteroid completely composed of the latter. As a preliminary to this she has created a huge artificial brain and kidnapped a number of geniuses - including Pasteur and Einstein from Earth - to imbue it with the ability first to identify and then to calculate the correct way to create loyhargil for her in the laboratory. The newly-regenerated Doctor and Mel manage to stop her and the planet is saved. The Rani is captured by the Tetraps, who decide to take her as a prisoner back to their home world.

Surprise! This story starts with a pre-credit regeneration sequence. When Colin Baker refused to come back for the regeneration sequence because he was denied a third year as the Doctor, the writers wrote a rushed intro for the new actor, Sylvestor McCoy. With wig on head, he pretends to be Colin Baker while the regeneration effects are played over the top. Unfortunately, other than a bump on the head there really isn't cause for a regeneration in this story.

I do enjoy where McCoy takes the character of the Doctor in the stories to come but in this one he is just awful. Every Doctor goes through some sort of post-regeneration trauma these days but in this instance the character is played as a clownish buffoon and you just wonder what the hell is going on. This is a fairly large part as to why this episode sucks so badly.

The Rani seems a rather unnecessary character in this one. At least when we last saw her, she seemed a competent villain and certainly an equal to the Doctor - unlike the Master. But now she seems to have been reduced to the same style of villain as the Master. Melodramatic, ill-conceived plots and underestimating the Doctor doesn't seem like the same evil villainess.

The story itself doesn't go anywhere, drags along at a slow pace, and has some of the most bland side characters than any other classic adventure. I really did not enjoy watching this one.