Leave the VHS, it's the DVD I want: Time and The Rani (13 Sept 2010)

[Pip Madeley]

Time and the Rani (DVD)



The third least popular Doctor Who adventure arrives on DVD on 1st March 2009. One for the sales.

Or...

The big, bold and beautiful Time and the Rani finally makes it to DVD on 1st March 2009. Woo!

Your call. Note the RRP is £14.99 while Play.com offer it for £9.99 - are the budget releases back or is it a cheap pre-order price ala War Games? Place your pre-orders now just incase!

[Andrew Curnow]

Er, would this be a good time to ask if you've still got the video Pip?

[SiHart]

Blimey! This is wonderful news!

Si xx

[MacNimon]

I think I'll pass on this one...

One for the sales

No, I don't think so!!!

One for the bin, imo!

[Dino]

*waits for details of extras first...
Although this was the one that made me watch more regularly? I remember where I was at the time.
So....maybe?...
In fact I turned a date down with a girl from school to catch an episode!
But then we've all done that right?...

[Antony Cox]

Yay!

It may be irrational of me, but Time and the Rani is quite my favourite story of Season 24!

[Stephen Morgan]

Blimey! This is wonderful news!

Si xx

Honestly, I really can't stand this one, I've seen it so many, many times and am heartily sick of it. I've no particular nostalgia for McCoy's series as a whole. I feel the same about this as some of you feel about Monster of Peladon, and quite honestly I'd rather watch that one. But, each to their own I suppose, thankfully we're not all the same.

[SiHart]

Each to their own. If you don't like it that's fine.

I think there will be a good package for this one. There's lots of stuff from '87 that could be used.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

I agree. Hopefully they'll have the Blue Peter announcement of the new Who, and the Pamela Armstrong interview with Sly & JN-T from the same day (maybe the day after). There's also, I believe, a piece on Breakfast Time, which covered some of the recording - I missed it, but remember my Mum telling me about it, with the Doctor wearing the old Doctor's costume. For some reason, I assumed that was what he was going to be permanently wearing, and was very disapproving until I learnt otherwise...

...although, ironically, I think McCoy wearing Col's outfit throughout part 1 looks rather good!

I've already emailed Play.com's preorder department telling them to leave the Peladons, it's the Rani I want!

[MacNimon]

I'll admit there may possibly be some interesting extras available for this, but I'm really not a fan of the story itself...it's the worst one ever made imo. I'll never forget the sense of shock I felt after watching that first episode back in 1987....

[Rob McCow]

Again, like The Trial of A Timelord, even if the story isn't to everyone's tastes, the extras are bound to be pretty interesting.

[Simon R]

Excellent news about this. The only decent story in a sea of wretched DVD releases at the start of next year! Wish this was the January release though as such a colourful, fun story would brighten the gloom no end.

[Si Hunt]

The first 30 seconds of this story are absolutely perfect, and the rest comes close! Thank goodness for a decent, fun tale to cheer up the gloom of late winter next year!

Si.

[SiHart]

Our video will not play the opening sequence of Time and the Rani any more, so this will be a welcome addition to the DVD collection. I hope there's a Sylv, Bonnie and Kate commentary, but I'm not hopeful of any involvement from Bonnie.

I wonder if we'll see some of the McCoy audtion footage they found the other year? That'd be a good inclusion I reckon, along with the Behind the scene Breakfast Time stuff, the Season 24 trailers and many other TATR goodies.

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

Honestly, I really can't stand this one, I've seen it so many, many times and am heartily sick of it. I've no particular nostalgia for McCoy's series as a whole. I feel the same about this as some of you feel about Monster of Peladon, and quite honestly I'd rather watch that one. But, each to their own I suppose, thankfully we're not all the same.

Monster of Peladon is ten times better than TATR in my book - I remember when I was 11 or 12, watching the latter for the first time on UKGold thinking "Christ, why did I bother getting out of bed?"

[Andrew Curnow]

Setting aside my irrational love for TATRani, I'm genuinely amazed to hear anybody say that.

Monster of Peladon has some lousy production values (badger wigs, Terry Walsh on display), a nonsensical plot (unless I'm mistaken, part 4 involved the striking miners pretending to be at work to get rid of the Federation that the miners called to Peladon in the first place by going on strike), and is just too long a story for a six-parter. About the best thing in it is Alan Bennion's Azaxyr, and he doesn't even turn up until part four!! Time and the Rani (again IMHO) has no comparable production weaknesses, except maybe the green-dot bugs in part 3, and although it may be a bit bonkers it does clearly have a plot that hangs together.

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh and yet again, congrats to the Phantom Thread Retitler!

[Simon R]

"Time and The Rani" is like Doctor Who if it were an 8 years old's birthday party, full of fizzy drinks and e numbers and soundtracked by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

"Monster of Peladon" is like Doctor Who if it were an 89 year old's birthday party, full of herbal tea and stale Ryvita and soundtracked by Val Doonigan.

[Pip Madeley]

Monster of Peladon has some lousy production values (badger wigs, Terry Walsh on display)

Have you seen the Lakertyans? They look just as lousy. The sets are pretty bland too.

a nonsensical plot

Time and the Rani has a pretty poor plot too which raises plenty of questions but never seems to answer them, such as why the Rani wants a time manipulator in the first place (if she wants to meddle with time can't she do it in her TARDIS?), how she managed to shoot a TARDIS down in mid-flight, how the Lakertyans survived before the Rani appeared (where do they get their food?)... and why would the Doctor wrestle with Mel? And what's with the embarrassing pratfalls? More than a bit silly.

IMO, obviously.

[Andrew Curnow]

Have you seen the Lakertyans? They look just as lousy. The sets are pretty bland too

Maybe I'm not as succesful at being objective as I think I am, but I just don't see any of that. Agreed, the Lakertyan make-up is little more than some scales and skin-colouring, but it looks convincing, and certainly less comical than men with badger striped hair-dos. And, for my money, the little touches such as having the Lakertyans run in a different way to us (ie, Sarn in part 1 runs with both hands out to the side) show an attempt to suggest an alien race within the limited budget & time they had. And, finally, I'd also say that the scene where Faroon finds her daughter's skeleton tremendously moving, a very unusual moment of 'alien emotion'.

such as why the Rani wants a time manipulator in the first place (if she wants to meddle with time can't she do it in her TARDIS?), how she managed to shoot a TARDIS down in mid-flight, how the Lakertyans survived before the Rani appeared (where do they get their food?)... and why would the Doctor wrestle with Mel? And what's with the embarrassing pratfalls? More than a bit silly.

Haven't you watched part 4, Pip? The time manipulator allows her to rewind time (eg, back to the Cretaceous age) - a TARDIS would only allow her to 'do a Monk' and try and stop the dinosaurs being wiped out (by helping Adric I suppose!). You might as well say 'Well, Daleks Masterplan is rubbish, why do they want a Time Destroyer when they've already got a time machine'!

The Doctor isn't wrestling Mel, he (thinks) is wrestling the wrrretched Rrrani! And, again, I think that scene's very neat because structurally at that moment both regulars believe the other to be an imposter!

IMHO, obviously!

(I'll be even worse when the DVD comes out!!)

[Si Hunt]

Hurrah for Andrew!!!

Si.
:mobile

[shada pavlova]

And as for how she could shoot the TARDIS down, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Seventh Doctor, sensing that he was about to be born, deliberately took control of his previous self's hands at the console to deliberately steer the ship into the tractor beam, so that his own existence would be assured.

The Sixth Doctor was rather pissed off at this, and we all know what happens when the Sixth Doctor becomes REALLY pissed off.

[Rob McCow]

Watch your mouth, son.

Time and the Rani is great fun, if occasionally a bit silly.

The production values are an improvement on what's come before, it's a delight to have the Rani back and Sylvester settles into the role by about part 3 (once the Rani's drugs wear off!) There are lots of clever little ideas and the whole thing feels fresh and new, even 23 years later.

There's loads to enjoy in the story, if you're prepared to take it on it's own terms.

[Logo Polish]

Maybe I'm not as succesful at being objective as I think I am, but I just don't see any of that. Agreed, the Lakertyan make-up is little more than some scales and skin-colouring, but it looks convincing, and certainly less comical than men with badger striped hair-dos. And, for my money, the little touches such as having the Lakertyans run in a different way to us (ie, Sarn in part 1 runs with both hands out to the side) show an attempt to suggest an alien race within the limited budget & time they had. And, finally, I'd also say that the scene where Faroon finds her daughter's skeleton tremendously moving, a very unusual moment of 'alien emotion'.

I don't know, I think the hairstyles look about as silly as each other on the whole. I think you're splitting badger hairs there, to be honest.

Haven't you watched part 4, Pip? The time manipulator allows her to rewind time (eg, back to the Cretaceous age) - a TARDIS would only allow her to 'do a Monk' and try and stop the dinosaurs being wiped out (by helping Adric I suppose!). You might as well say 'Well, Daleks Masterplan is rubbish, why do they want a Time Destroyer when they've already got a time machine'!

Sounds like she should have tried hiring Professor Kerensky.

[Si Hunt]

I find Pip's comments bizarre. The Lakertian's look "lousy"? They're one of the most convincing alien races Doctor Who portrayed - not only do they have their own culture and even style of movement (witness the way Ikona 'crouches' as he slips into the TARDIS to take Mel) but for the first time since the Draconians an effort has been made to show reptile scales on the actors faces, as well as make-up. Their style of dress is a little 'Hindu', which at least shows an attempt to make it reflect a culture. And they have tails! It's a small point, but it shows that thought has gone into the design.

Like Andrew, I also find the scene where Faroon discovers that Sarn has been killed very moving - this is proper acting, nothing less. And this scene exemplifies one of the things I love most about Doctor Who; on an alien planet, lizard people are discussing their subjugation and the death of one of their number... and yet, despite all this, it still manages to strike an emotional chord. "'Normal' Beyeus? Without Sarn?". Her eyes are full of tears, rage, accusation... it's a great scene.

As for the sets being "bland" - are we watching the same story? The pink paintbox sky and the vivid colours on the planet are striking. Not only that, but for once there are little design touches, like the 'spiked rocks' that form a path to the Rani's HQ and the Centre of Leisure set being multi-levelled, which show some real thought has gone into it. And the intregration of the Rani's HQ model with the location footage is literally flawless. How does the Rani shoot the TARDIS down? Who cares? This is a story where they get the regeneration out the way before the music. It's all about moving on.

"Time and the Rani" isn't just "not as bad as you've heard" - it was the best story for some considerable time. Everything about this shows a freshness and new attention to detail - the way the Tetraps move for example, and the attempt to show their POV. Things had got slack with monster reveals (e.g the way a Terileptil strolls into shot for the first time in "The Visitation") but here we return to 'teasing' glimpses of the monster before we see it in full, for example the lumbering hairy feet and distorted 'mirror like' multiple vision as Urak approaches the Doctor in Episode 1. Then there's touches like the reptilian Skeleton, just little things that they wouldn't have bothered doing a year ago. It would get even better, but they were just getting started. The interior of the HQ set is also far from "bland" - they've given us another set with interesting things like stairs and platforms (all based around edged Pyramid shapes) so the actors can walk around it, like when the Doctor 'cuts' Beyeus off in order to trip him up. The 'wrestling' scene is hilarious, I think, for the way Mel deftly gets the Doctor in an armlock, but also obviously well choreographed. The shot where the Doctor takes both Mel's hands in his to check her pulse and then peers dolefully up at her is beautifully framed. In fact, the warmth between them in this story is striking - when was the last time the Doctor actually LIKED his companion so much? You'd have to go back almost a decade, unless you include the single story with the Fifth Doctor and Peri in.

I also think the dialogue - yes! - is a step on from previously. The 'puns' may have eventually been phased out, but they at least show an attempt to do something different. There are some great confrontational scenes here ("Stop accusing me!"/"Why do you keep calling them friends of mine?") and some attempts at proper drama BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS, not just to move the plot on. Even the editing is challenging - twice there are sudden jump cuts from actor movement to explosions in a different scene, providing an interesting visual edit.

The worst thing about it is the Rani, simply because she's a rather panto villain from a previous regime drafted in because they had nothing else - but if Kate O'Mara is your weakest asset, you're not doing too badly. The story is fine, with some decent cliffhangers and a touching coda to independence at the end. True, it meanders a bit in the middle, but let's just remind ourselves that weeks before this taped they had no Doctor, no scripts and no script editor. That this is all so vibrant, so promising, so watchable, is something of a minor miracle. Yes, there are things they'd improve on later, but it's far from a disaster and everything from the bright new titles and music to the gloriously comic book bubble traps is just entertainment on toast.

And no-one has any right to complain about McCoy, he's finding his feet - but personally I find his performance wonderful; funny, mischevious, inventive and quirky. Particuarly his confusion and clowning when he's recovering from his regeneration are a joy. "I would have all mirrors removed from the TARDIS hence forth!".

So it's less about "defending" TATR as honestly not knowing what the problem is. Considering the time and resources they had, it hits near Greatness. It's funny, colourful, lyrical and brave. How safe would it have been to do an Earth story? They have no money, cast, crew or scripts... so they decide they have to create an entire alien planet and society! That's pluck! But above all, it's new. NEW! New, fresh and joyful.

TATR is buoyant.

Si.