Time and the Rani

The TARDIS is shot down over the planet Lakertya and crash lands. Mel is left inside for dead but the Doctor is dragged out by the Rani and one of her Tetrap henchmen. The Doctor regenerates while unconscious, the sixth Doctor's larger features giving way to a smaller successor, and leaves the Doctor at the mercy of the Rani. While Mel is rescued by one of the native Lakertyans, Ikona, and learns of the Rani's suppression of the planet for her experiments, the Doctor is duped into helping her through trickery, but the Rani requires him further as a componant of an experiment that will give her control over time.

So that's it. Sixth Doctor gone. The regeneration happens right before the titles roll - the first time Doctor Who has ever started this way - and then we're hit with a new opening sequence (the starfield sequence that started with Tom Baker's face back in The Leisure Hive finally replaced) and a new arrangement of the theme song (which sounds like it's being played through a kazoo). And the regeneration itself is done in a very clever way; so clever, in fact, you might even think that Colin Baker was there for it, but he wasn't. Nope. Sylvester McCoy in a wig, concealed by special effects. The story was actually written with regeneration in mind, but it was hoped that Colin Baker would return for one last story and be killed off in the end, which he rightfully refused to do (there's even commentary about this back in the novel Synethspiens - gotta love retcon!) When the new seventh Doctor does make his actual entrance/recovery a few minutes later, he's still confused by his regeneration, although not on the edge of death/lunacy as has been the case in previous tales. The new Doctor has a faint Scottish burr to his voice, and he seems to be picking up on the second Doctor's tendancy to clown around and be goofy.

Jay was back in on it with me for this one, which was nice since honestly, there's not much joy in watching this one alone. The series was in terrible trouble at this point in its history; seen as a joke within the BBC itself and the ratings sagging all around despite Bonnie Langford brought in midway through the previous season to make it a more family-oriented show. The solution in the minds of the BBC brass was to facelift the whole thing, and Colin Baker had to go. The script was still written with him in mind, and it still sounds like him in places, which makes for an interesting bit of regeneration theory; the last vestiges of his previous self still there, not ready to go yet.

I don't really know why this one feels so forced and so bad. All the elements are there. New look. Kate O'Mara as the Rani playing it up impersonating Bonnie Langford's Melanie. More guest stars including Mark Greenstreet (a real hottie although his costume totally eliminates any of his attributes) Wanda Ventham, and Donald Pickering (both appeared in The Faceless Ones back in 1967). New monsters in the form of the bat-like Tetraps. Pretty cool special effects.

But then there's the script by Pip and Jane Baker. Some of ther performances are less than their best. The direction needed help. And then there was the screaming.... oh the SCREAMING. There's a moment where Melanie just stands there and screams. Doesn't run. Doesn't fight. SCREAMS. And when she is finally saved she doesn't exactly make haste to run away from what's scaring her so much. And why does the Doctor go through every costume worn by his previous selves before arriving at his own new look - that questionable question mark vest.

I think Jay and I agreed with the Rani at the start of episode 1 where she says "This is idiotic!". Yeah she's supoosed to be speaking to the Doctor but maybe she's gotten a look at the script a few pages ahead.

Now that I've had some extra time to enjoy the sixth Doctor, though, I find myself more resentful than usual towards this episode. I really feel cheated as a fan. At least with Spiral Scratch we got some set-up as to why the Doctor was regenerating in the first place; he can take a lot of abuse but if the Rani's attack on the TARDIS was enough to trigger a regeneration, it should have absolutely killed Mel. And if it has been me and the TARDIS was crashing in my script, I'd have the inside of the sucker in flames for a change, bash it up a bit.

In the end, the new Doctor promises Mel "Oh I'll grown on you,", which sounds like more of producer John Nathan-Turner's indirect commentary to the fans, much akin to "I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not!" back at the end of The Twin Dilemma, which feels like a lifetime ago now.

The combination of the seventh Doctor and Melanie went on to be one of the less-favoured duos of the series, but thankfully Big Finish have worked their magic on this era as well as the previous season to bring out some new adventures for them and give them a bit more to do, some more intelligent dialogue in keeping with the audience's expectations.

Let's see.

NEXT EPISODE : UNREGENERATE!