Retro ‘Doctor Who’ Reviews – Vol. 6.2

Although the era of the Sixth Doctor is possibly the weakest era of the series, this volume of reviews introduces a fantastic villain, brings back an earlier Doctor and companion team and crosses paths with a famous author. Remember to check out our full archive of Doctor Who goodness.

The Mark of the Rani

Here’s a serial that does many things well, especially in the villain department. Along with the Master comes another demented Time Lord: the Rani. A chemist by trade she would let nothing stand in the way of her research. After her lab mice were grown in size to the point that they ate the president’s cat she was exiled from Gallifrey. Since then she has been travelling in her exceptionally awesome TARDIS with its badass interior design along with tyrannosaurus rex foetuses kept in stasis.

The story picks up in 19^th century England with a group of miners transforming into thugs who are attacking people and machinery around the village. The mystery lies with the Rani who is using the local bathhouse to anaesthetise miners and take from them the neuro-chemicals she needs for her experiments. The Doctor and Peri are investigating the violent attacks with inventor George Stephenson. At the same time the Master arrives and convinces the Rani to team up with him in order to destroy the Doctor once and for all.

Although the Doctor and Peri have plenty of adventure on their own the real selling point of this serial is the Master and the Rani. Her and the Master each bring their own special brand of madness to the story and their mutual distrust of each other make for a fun dynamic. They bounce back and forth and try and gain the upper hand on each other while working together to destroy the Doctor. Out of the adventures of the Sixth Doctor this is the first must-see episode. The Rani was intended to be a recurring villain for the Doctor, but as the show was put on hiatus shortly after this introduction she only made one more canon appearance.

The Two Doctors

Unlike the previous crossovers this adventure only features one of the orginal Doctors returning to the role. In this case it is the Second Doctor, along with companion Jamie McCrimmon who meets up with the Sixth and Peri. After finding that the Time Lords have installed a teleport control on the TARDIS the Second lands on a space station where they encounter an Androgum cook named Shockeye and an augmented Angrogum named Chessene. Through them they meet the scientists responsible for the cybernetic augmentations being applied to the Androgums. With the savage Androgum mentality being primarily concerned with food the Doctor is sceptical that some augmentations will deter their primal nature. The Doctor explains that the Time Lords want the experiments to be stopped but during the negotiations a fleet of Sontaran battlecruisers attack the station.

In the space stations future the Sixth Doctor appears and finds the smell of decay in the air. When they learn about the Time Lord’s involvement the Doctor finds himself overcome with weakness. He begins to suspect that he has died in the past and seeks out his friend Dastari to help. They uncover a plot by Chessene, Shockeye and a group of Sontarans to obtain the Time Lord technology. Knowing that time travel technology would make the Sontaran armies invincible the Doctor’s set out to stop them.

In spite of the massive continuity clusterfuck that occurs within the continuity of this serial the return of the Second Doctor is always welcome, especially when Jamie is in tow. The two Doctors and two companions all bounce off each other immensely well and it’s a pity that more of the story wasn’t based around their interaction. The story is strangely long winded meaning that it’s pretty far into the story before they meet up and even then the Second spends most of his time with Shockeye.

Ultimately it comes down to chasing a given McGuffin while the Sontaran busy themselves with kidnapping, murder and the usual posturing as a leading warrior race. It’s not the most engaging story in the series but it does serve the meeting of the characters well enough. At times it feels like a wasted opportunity given the return of the Second Doctor and Jamie.

Timelash

The serial begins with the TARDIS almost being torn apart by the effects of a ‘Kontron corridor’, and winds up on the planet Karfel. The small population is kept in a controlled hierarchy and ruled over by the elderly and sadistic ruler, The Borad. With policing being done by androids those who do not succumb to the wishes of the Borad would be dropped into the Timelash, a tear in space and time. With the population growing disillusioned rebellion seems inevitable.

Much of the episode revolves around the retrival of an amulet from the Timelash which would take power from the Borad’s counsellors. In order to coerce the Doctor into helping Peri is taken hostage. When trying to guide the TARDIS into the Timelash the Doctor winds up in Scotland, 1179, where he picks up a young H.G. Wells. Along with the rebels and Wells the Doctor sets out to uncover the mystery surrounding the Borad, who is revealed to be an insane scientist whose experiments with the underground reptilian race of Morloxs has resulted is disturbing mutations. Borad himself has already been afflicted, and is partly reptilian.

This is step up from the rest of the Sixth Doctor’s run, combining many of the elements that make Doctor Who entertaining. The Borad is a well crafted villain and matches the Doctor on an intellectual level, making for a worthy conflict. The inclusion of a young H.G. Wells (referred to only as ‘Herbert’ until the end) is well handled with plenty of references to ‘The Time Machine’ scattered throughout the episode for literary fans to spot. A good villain, some historical Easter Eggs and a solid science fiction concept make this a serial worth watching.

The Revelation of the Daleks

Whilst the Daleks are very much an iconic and deadly foe for the Doctor their serials have almost become routine. This serial does try to create a different tone but one of it reshapes what is the usual dance between the Doctor and Davros. The episode begins with the Doctor and Peri arriving on Necros, home to the funeral home of Tranquil Repose. The Doctor is looking for Arthur Stengos, who is held in suspended animation. Also seeking Stengos is his daughter Natasha and her partner Grigory. What they find is that Stengos and the other people suspended in the parlour are being mutated into Daleks.

The Great Healer who runs the facility is revealed to be Davros himself, reduced to a disembodied head. One of his pawns, Kara, has hired a mercenary named Orcini to destroy Davros. The Doctor, Orcini, Natasha and Grigory are all seeking a way to destroy Davros. Meanwhile a group of Daleks loyal to the Dalek Supreme arrive from Skaro and, seeing the blasphemy being carried out by Davros, also wage a battle against their original creator.

The general concept of the episode is sound. If things were left to the changing nature of the Daleks and the conflict between Davros and the Dalek Supreme then things may have worked out for the better. Sadly there are some rather poor additions to the story. Firstly there’s a downright confusing inclusion of a DJ who is obsessed with the 60’s and 70’s of Earth and seems to serve as little more than comic relief. Seeing Alexi Sayle dressing up as Elvis or a hippy is only going to be amusing to a very small portion of the audience.

It was also this episode that sealed the fact that I would never like the Sixth Doctor. This occurred during a scene in which the Doctor gives Peri a boost over a wall. When his pocket watch gets broken. Peri is immediately apologetic, noting that she knew how much he liked the watch and how terrible she felt about breaking it. The Doctor responds by telling her that there were no hard feelings before upending the broken watch and tipping the broken pieces out onto her lap. It was a mean spirited gesture that was unwarranted and only served to rub her guilt in her face. From this point on it was just waiting until the next regeneration.