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Doctor Who - Time and the Rani [DVD] [1987]
 
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Doctor Who - Time and the Rani [DVD] [1987]

Sylvester McCoy , Bonnie Langford , Andrew Morgan    Parental Guidance   DVD
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Doctor Who - Time and the Rani [DVD] [1987] + Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen [DVD] [1987] + Doctor Who - Paradise Towers [DVD] [1987]
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Product details

  • Actors: Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Kate O'Mara, Mark Greenstreet, Donald Pickering
  • Directors: Andrew Morgan
  • Writers: Jane Baker, Pip Baker, Sydney Newman
  • Producers: John Nathan-Turner, Peter Bryant
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: 2entertain
  • DVD Release Date: 13 Sep 2010
  • Run Time: 100 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B002SZQCDO
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 10,207 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

DVD Description

Featuring Sylvester McCoy as the newly regenerated seventh Doctor, this new DVD features the Doctor’s battle with the evil Rani. After being attacked by the Rani, the TARDIS crash-lands on the planet Lakertya. On the floor of the console room, the Doctor begins his sixth regeneration...

In his post-regenerative confusion the Doctor is separated from his young companion Mel and tricked into assisting the Rani in her megalomaniac scheme to construct a giant time manipulator.

Lost on the barren surface of the planet, Mel has to avoid the Rani's ingenious traps and her monstrous, bat-like servants, the Tetraps. She joins forces with a rebel faction among the Lakertyans, desperate to end the Rani's control of their planet.

The Doctor must recover his wits in time to avoid becoming a permanent part of the Rani's plan to collect the genius of the greatest scientific minds in the Universe...

Special Features

· 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.

· Commentary - stereo. With actors Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford, writers Pip and Jane Baker.

· The Last Chance Saloon– by 1987, senior executives at the BBC were on the point of killing-off Doctor Who in the face of stiff fan opposition. Instead, they decided to give the show one last chance… With actors Sylvester McCoy and Kate O’Mara, producer John Nathan-Turner, director Andrew Morgan, script editor Andrew Cartmel, writers Pip and Jane Baker, BBC Head of Series & Serials Jonathan Powell and graphic designer Oliver Elmes. Written by Nev Fountain and narrated by Richard Heffer.

· 7D FX – a look behind-the-scenes at the creation of the story’s impressive visual effects. With visual effects designer Colin Mapson, visual effects assistant Mike Tucker and video effects designer Dave Chapman.

· Helter-Skelter– Graphic designer Oliver Elmes and animator Gareth Edwards talk about how they created the first CGI title sequence in Doctor Who’s history.

· Lakertya – writers Pip and Jane Baker talk about their original vision for the lush forest planet Lakertya and director Andrew Morgan explains why he ended up shooting it in a desolate quarry instead…

· Hot Gossip – Kate O’Mara recalls the fun of working with gossiping friends. With Sylvester McCoy and Andrew Morgan.

· On Location– BBC Breakfast Time’s reporter Guy Michelmore visits the production during location filming for the story’s exterior scenes and talks to John Nathan-Turner, Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and Kate O’Mara.

· Blue Peter – Janet Ellis welcomes newly appointed Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy to the Blue Peter studio.

· Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story.



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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If you love this story, then you may not want to read on as I consider it the weakest debut for a Doctor yet. It's a shame because undeniably there is greater energy in the production than in the previous year. There are good moments in the direction, mostly good effects particularly for the time (Death by bubble still looks great) but it's the script bizarrely mixing real science (google strange matter!) & pre-school hi-jinx that is the problem.
The Rani shoots the Doctor's tardis out of the sky (that's another good moment)which causes him to regenerate and tries to enlist his help in manipulating strange matter to rewrite time and history. The Rani has now been reduced by her own creators Pip 'n Jane Baker to being the Master in drag, losing the intriguing amoral quality of her last appearance. She also indulges in a Masteresque silly disguise by dressing up as Mel. Yep you got it, Kate O' Mara impersonates Bonnie Langford & she does quite well with it but like when Disney Store used to make middle-aged women dress in US High School Uniforms, it's a bit embarrassing. Kate makes what she can out of the good moments e.g rapture staring at her giant brain with geniuses (genii?) hooked up to it.
To prevent the Doc seeing through the disguise she injects him with an amnesia inducing drug which considering the dangerous project she wants his help in is just plain daft.
As regular readers of my reviews know, I don't think Mel worked until Big Finish audios but the character written for Bonie Langford to play here is so insipid that it's no wonder she does little with it. She gets the unintentionally funniest line though; "I've had enough of this drivel!"
The guest cast struggle with underwritten roles, only Mark Greenstreet as Ikona makes any real impression. He's given a daft moment at the end throwing away a solution to a lethal problem on the basis they should solve their own problems!There's Christmas Cracker wisdom for you!
The Lakertyans are a good design for an alien in costume and make up, sadly not so for the Tetraps though. Meant to be bat humanoids, they just look like fat lager lout Yetis. The award for something you can't convey onscreen goes to them having 360 degree vision.
Sylvester struggles as despite the post regenerative and drug induced instability, he does looks silly not suspecting the Rani in disguise a bit more. He gets a moment when he's unsure but a quick slap deals with that. There's too much clowning, some of which works e.g. playing the spoons is a charming eccentricity like the 2nd Doctor's recorder, much of it does not e.g. comedy runs etc. There are a few moments of the better portrayal to come like delivery of the line about a "temporal flicker."
His trying on costumes sequence is like very long but seeing him in a Pertwee jacket shows the difference a better costume could have made.

Some other nice touches; the geniuses including alien ones as well as human ones & the Rani's reaction in disguise as Mel to having her evil genius summed up "I'm overwhelmed."

The extras are top notch, enough to raise the overall package marking to a 3, even though the story's a 2 at best. The Last Chance Saloon" is a great documentary on the reasons why Who was given another chance and the making of the story. Contributors include; Sylvester McCoy, the late JNT via archive stuff. the writers (more personable than previously they also get a separate feature on their original concepts for the planet), script editor Andrew Cartmel, director Andrew Morgan and there is a look at Sylvester's filmed audition plus the people he beat for the role.
There's one of those off cuts from the documentary pretending to be a separate feature things "Hot Gossip" recalling the chatter of guest stars Donald Pickering & Wanda Ventham. Great features on the effects sequences and the title sequence.

Great commentary with Sylvester, the Bakers and a rare appearance from Bonnie Langford who is great fun as they all are. Bonnie advises us if you're asked to do something dangerous by the director, ask him to do it first!

A great support package propping up a weak story, completists only.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Victor HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I remember watching it in 1987 when it was first shown, and really not liking it, and not having seen it since I have largely agreed with the general fan opinion that it is not up to much. However, as a completist I just had to purchase and watch it, and I am glad that I did.

OK, I am not saying it has suddenly turned into a classic masterpiece like `Talons' or `Androzani', but watching it again I was surprised at how much there is to enjoy.

For anyone looking here who does not already know (thought I cannot imagine that will be too many people!) this is the first outing for Sylvester McCoy as the seventh Doctor. Colin Baker declined to appear for the regeneration scene, hence the rather odd and rushed start to the serial. The first minus point is that it is never made clear just why the Doctor regenerated.

What follows is a reasonable tale as evil Time Lady the Rani kidnaps the Doctor, and attempts to trick him, while he is in his post regenerative confusion, into helping her with some weird scheme involving strange matter (a real scientific concept by the way) and several geniuses kidnapped from Earth.

The plot is a bit of a mess, and having Kate O'Mara as the Rani imitating Bonnie Langford's Mel was a mistake. The Doctor's malapropisms get on your wick after a while, and Mel is irritating. But there are good points as well. The moral dilemma of Beyus, blackmailed into helping the Rani, is nicely portrayed, and a little thought provoking. Sylvester McCoy grabs to opportunity with both hands and puts a lot of energy into his characterisation, already evoking memories of the 2nd Doctor's habit of appearing to be an idiot, but really being one step ahead of the opposition. Playing the spoons was a bit of a misstep, but I quite like the tumbling, especially in the early scenes where it is used to good effect to show his disorientation.

In general it comes across as being an average story. Not worthy of great praise, but not worthy of the contempt that it has been shown over the years either. And one other plus point, which was not a factor when I first saw it, is that I am a bit of a fan of the later characterisation of the seventh Doctor, in his last TV series and later in the Big Finish audios. It was a shakey start, but it led to some great things, so finds a little forgiveness on that score.

As usual 2Entertain have done a remarkable job on the presentation. The picture is clear and sharp, as is the sound. There is a host of extras, including the usual informative info text, which gives an interesting insight into the machinations behind the scenes.

Not a total flop, some glimmer of better things to come, an entertaining enough 90 minutes, a decent DVD presentation and extras. After much umming and aahing, three stars.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful
A Flawed Start 18 Jan 2010
Format:DVD
Colin Baker's end to his time of the Doctor was far from dignified. Publicly dumped by the BBC after what was the shortest run of episodes as the Doctor at the time, he wasn't even allowed the grace of a final season. As the scripts had already been comissioned with him in mind, this also makes Sylvester McCoy's debut the worst. No big story finish, a faked regeneration scene (with Sylv in a wig) and no real strong opening for the character, you really have to persevere through this one.

To be fair to the show, this is one of the better looking shows interms of location and effects; the pre-title sequence of the TARDIS being attacked is impressive for the day, one of the better video effects that started to appear in the show at this time, and the paintboxed quarry along with the very well realised bubble traps make, along with the exterior of the Rani's base, impressive viewing. The only effects letting the side down being the killer insects. The interiors are suffering from a hangover from the Baker era, very garsish and 80's looking.

Sylvester's first performance is confused, and absolutely nothing like the performance that was to come. In fact, the whole story seems to see him going through post regeneration trauma due to the fact that there is nothing for Sylvester to really hang his particular performance on. Pip and Jane Baker try to inject something new to the character for him at what really was the last minute by having him misquoting all the time (as opposed to Colin's frequent literary asides) but this very quickly becomes annoying and was wisely dropped afterwards. The other trouble with his Doctor, is that it becomes very clear from the outset, that Mel was much more suitable to Baker's loud, garish 6th Doctor. From here on in the character really doesn't work, and it shows straight away. Kate O'Mara's performance as The Rani is markedly different to the first time out, more sulky and stroppy than detatched, but her Bonnie Langford impression merits a star alone. She seems less the pure scientist she was and more a kind of tyrant here, right down to using Nazi terminology.

Also deserving a star for solid work in the supporting roles are Mark Greenstreet, Donald Pickering and Wanda Ventham as the Lakertyans, each giving their character the weight and sympathy that they truly deserved.

The plot involving the Rani stealing geniuses to destroy an asteroid of strange matter for her to be able to re-write time accross the universe sounds grand, but is less than impressive on screen. Really, this would have ben better edited down to a three parter mid season. This would have been a middling story on it's own, but the fact that this is 'debut' story makes this just tat bit more of a disappointment. However, the show would come back from this and show signs of true promise, before the axe fell.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Rating for the DVD content
Everyone is going to have different opinions on the quality of the show, thats fair and at the time the budget was low and they did the best they could with what they had. Read more
Published 2 months ago by mccoy989
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
This has got to be the dullest most boring, embarrassing episode in the history of Who to that date. McCoy is awful, pratting about like a proper fool. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Shaun Cryer
Time and the Rani tell all
Time and the Rani introduces Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. Great story, Kate O'Mara is excellent as the Rani (a female version of the Master) and all the good aspects of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Andrew50
Better than you may think
OK, so not the best Doctor Who story ever made, but put this on in front of a younger viewer and I'd bet they'd find it more entertaining than about 100 other stories. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. M. Leacy
How any fan could ever give this 5 stars is mad
As a fan i have to give an honest review, this is one of the worst Dr Who stories ever and I am not sure it even deserves 2 stars. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. R. G. Prizeman
Under-rated, great adventure
There are far worse Sylvester McCoy stories out there - and Bonnie Langford and Kate O'Mara really carry the production, which is unbelievably slick for the time, and the action is... Read more
Published 19 months ago by bigbradwolf
Strange matter
Sylvester Mccoy's first story as Doctor Who comes to dvd with all four parts on one disc.

The TARDIS has crashed. The Doctor has regenerated. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Paul Tapner
Suprisingly Good
Having known this is the 3rd worst doctor who story of all time, according to dwm, I was quite suprised how much i liked it!
Published 20 months ago by Mr. Nicholas P. Greenwood
A memory like a kangaroo
This is the first story of Sylvester McCoy's era and a story that is detracted by many fans. In fairness it does press a lot of the wrong buttons for fans, the regeneration is the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by R. Thomas
...Did I just give Time and The Rani 5 stars
... Never in the history of 'EVER' did I think I would be giving Time and The Rani a 5 star rating. In my mind it's an appalling story made in a very fractured time of the shows... Read more
Published 20 months ago by D. Brown
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