Who Review #149 - Time and the Rani

A new season and a new Doctor, Sylvester MacCoy. My initial reaction was "Oh no!" because I remembered him for his clowning about on the children's show* "Tiswas".

As it was, I didn't watch many of the stories at the time because I didn't have tele in the fall of 1987 (I relied on a schoolmate, who recorded episodes) and I moved to Denmark in 1988. I was still pretty negatively disposed to the show at the time so I wasn't particularly bothered; the show seemed to have descended into some sort of sci-fi pantomime. I finally saw all the episodes on BBC Prime, the European BBC service, some years ago. I stiill can't shake the impression that this era of the show has a pantomime feel.

The new titles, logo and theme score are irritatingly cartoonish but, thankfully, the Doctor has ditched that idiotic Colin Baker costume and wears something a bit more stylish.

This story sees the return of the lovely Kate O'Mara as the Rani. Kate is something of (surprise, surprise) a pantomime villain; however, I love her impersonation of Bonnie Langford's Mel, minus the toe curling screaming. Sylvester brims energy. Otherwise, the story itself is plain awful. Not a good start for the new Doctor for sure.

Classic Mel
"Aaaaaaaaaaaarg...aaaaaaaaaaaarg...aaaaaaaaaaarg...aaaaaaaaaaaarg!!!" (which tempts one to think of Bonnie Langford as Violet Bott in "Just William", to wit: I'll thcream and thcream until I'm thick, I can!)
******

* It is sometimes discussed whether Tiswas was entirely devoted to children, what with Sally James quite often running about in rather revealing costumes....