Review

I always had fond memories of this story until I rewatched it on this Collection Boxset. My illusions were quickly shattered!

This episode was written by Pip and Jane Baker which should act as a warning and interestingly the notes in The Collection Season 22 booklet says that John Nathan Turner wanted The Master to be less pantomime by introducing another adversary... and we get this? Yikes!

The episode has a good premise and introduces Kate O'Mara asThe Rani. Anthony Ainley is back as the aforementioned Master. The direction lets things down as some of the set pieces, e.g. Colin Baker tied to a railway cart, just fall totally flat as they all lack any credible danger.

Whist the core of the plot about disrupting history is sound using humans turned bad is fine, the story really fails to capitalise on this and so it becomes just another Who runaround serial.

If John Nathan-Turner wanted to get away from Panto, this story just underscores it! The villains come across as totally pantomime which takes away any credibility in what they are trying to do. The Master really should not be in this story. It makes him look stupid on top of the over the top performance. Kate O'Mara also sends it up horribly. Why? If it was played straight it would have been a lot better...

The conclusion of the story just sees The Rani and The Master slink off in The Rani's Tardis (where's The Master's Tardis?) only to be caught in a trap from The Doctor. Yawn. It could have been a good story but the panto elements kill it together with the plot ideas not being dealt with credibly. The terrible 'Up North' accents don't help one bit.

On the upside The Rani has a great Tardis and could have been a great villainess if the panto hadn't gotten in the way... at the end it's such as waste, but hey, we've got Time and The Rani to look forward too! Wooooo hooooo!

Special Features