What's it about: The TARDIS
arrives in the CAGE – not a trap, but the College of Advanced Galactic
Education, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in colonised
space. Not a trap. Or is it? The Doctor’s here to receive an honorary degree in Moral Philosophy. But
there’s something rotten at the heart of the Medical Facility. Someone is
operating on the students. Someone without a conscience. Someone with access to
a Sidelian Brain Scanner – a technology that hasn’t been invented yet. That someone is the ruthless Time Lord scientist known
as the Rani – in her new incarnation. But will the Doctor and Peri recognise
the Rani’s hand before her trap is sprung?
Softer Six: I think Justin Richards was the perfect writer
to re-introduce the sixth Doctor to the Rani after all of these years because
he has a similar expertise with this incarnation of the Doctor as Pip and Jane
Baker did, capturing his imaginative verbosity and his love of a learning
environment. Both Richards and the Bakers write for him with a passion for
vocabulary that brings the best out in Baker's performance and it is a good
thing too because one thing both writers also share (which is odd for Richards
because he always used to write the most convoluted and tightly plotted of
books) is a thin narrative where the Doctor is needed to provide a great deal
of entertainment. With some tasty dialogue and Baker fully engaged, that is
more than achieved here. Peri brings out the sarcasm in the Doctor, he hasn't
been this amusingly sardonic for ages. He's been bestowed with a degree in
moral philosophy and he wont stop bragging about it even if he isn't entirely
sure what it means. He can sniff out a mystery in an instant and dives straight
in, dragging Peri in his wake. Whilst he can appreciate a digitised system,
there is nothing like the smell of a real library. For all his brashness and
posturing the Doctor always stands up for what is right. The Doctor can sniff
out the Rani in an instant and his derision levels shoot up to maximum, the
disdain for the scientist dripping from his voice. The Rani thinks the Doctor
is quite brilliant but she can understand why you might not have that
impression after a conversation with him. He has hundreds of thousands of
millions of ideas all the time. The Doctor wonders if one day his
sentimentality will be his downfall. It's astonishing how far he has come in
terms of his humanity - once he was strangling Peri in the TARDIS and murdering
his way through his adventures and now he is the spokesperson for all that is
honourable about the human race. Listen to how passionately he argues with the
Rani's accomplices, trying to find that seed of civilization within them that
would allow them to see the error of their ways. Isn't it great how he lulls
the Rani into a false sense of security, making her believe that he wouldn't
condemn her to a life sentence in prison. We all know him better than that, he
can be a right vindictive bastard when he wants to be. Thank goodness the music
cuts in at the climax, the Doctor's speech looks like it is going to go on for
a very long time.
Busty Babe: Peri can get under the Doctor's skin like nobody
else but there is a level of humour to their mockery that keeps it gentle,
rather than nasty as it could be on the television. Her Americanisms still rile
him. Peri always meant to keep a journal as a student but never got around to
it - fortunately it makes an excellent device for her to relay information to
the audience whilst she is alone. She is completely embraced her life as a time
traveller now, especially after her break. The simple fact is she likes helping
people and there are a lot of people out there that need helping. She still
feels as though she owes him for sacrificing his life for her and wonders if
she will one day return the favour. In Masters of War the Doctor promised that
he would never let Peri down again but here she is again at the mercy of
another demented scientist about to have another consciousness shoved into her
mind. Nicola Bryant plays Peri's fear during this scene palpably and given they
have just found each other again it adds some weight to the procedure she is
about to endure. Both Peri and the Doctor are awarded for their expertise in
their various fields - it's nice to see them both rewarded for their skills.
Amoral Scientist: It's like the Elizabeth Sladen/Mary Tamm
scenario all over again - what a shame that they couldn't have gotten the
actresses involved sooner. Kate O'Mara was all lined up to return to the role
of the Rani after all these years away and it was recorded too late for her to
take part. The loss of such a memorable, glamorous actress is keenly felt and
the realisation that we were this close to a reunion between O'Mara, Baker and
Bryant is saddening. However the show must go on and with O'Mara's blessing the
role was re-cast and we have been treated to a brand new version of the
character. Whilst this does throw up some logical conundrums it does add a
layer of excitement to the tale to see just how the new incarnation of the old
character measures up. It's interesting to note that Steven Moffat deliberately
included an acronym of RANI in Dark Water hoping to fool the expectant fan base
into thinking that Missy was the latest incarnation of the scientist. Even he
is aware of how fresh the character is in peoples minds after all these years.
Siobhan Redmond is a great choice, just calm enough to show little she cares
for principles but capable of getting out the claws when faced with the Doctor
and his battery of derision. The Doctor will admit that she is a genius in her
own field but beyond that he takes every opportunity to chastise her for her
lack of conscience and barking mad schemes. While she is working covertly under
a cover name, this time the Rani has the endorsement of those in the highest of
power at the CAGE. She is offering something that anybody who is of a certain
age would saw their right arm off at the opportunity - to be young and fit
again. When experiments goes wrong she has absolutely no compunction about
disposing of them. She'll even make a gag at their expense. She has no qualms
about taking a laser scalpel to Peri's head to get the Doctor to do her
bidding. She'll sacrifice anyone and anything to get what she wants - she has a
complete disregard for life when it comes to science. In her Academy days she
was the brightest star amongst them and one day he hopes that she will fulfil
her real potential.
Standout Performance: Siobhan's 'curses Doctor!' moment at
the climax made me punch the air. Gone is the delicate indifference and out
pops some real venom. I hope we see more of that aggression in her sophomore
story. Bryant played the possessed Peri just slightly left field so the
audience can't tell whether she is still the Doctor's companion but confused
and nervous or if she has been taken over by one of the Rani's clients.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Leather binding, yellowing paper. The
knowledge of the centuries scratched out on parchment by men of learning.'
'Well it goes beep which is always a good start.'
'Goodbye, Doctor This little encounter has only served to
make the memory of what I'll one day do to your current incarnation all the
more enjoyable!'
Great Ideas: The CAGE (the College of Advanced Galactic
Education) is one of the most prestigious learning establishments in the
universe. New bodies for old minds, I can imagine that the Rani has a queue of
clients going around the block for this treatment. The students that have been
taken over are wired up to the system, their brains forming a complete network.
Left to their own devices they will simply remain a crowd of individual minds,
the Rani wants to link a living brain into the system to take control. The Rani
took Professor Baxton's place to disguise the fact that the real person was
plugged into the systems as the operator. She's dying, barely keeping the
system in order and she wants a fresh, stronger mind to take her place. The
mind of a Time Lord... I've read some allergic reactions to the idea of the
Deca (which was first introduced in the obscenely awful Gary Russell novel
Divided Loyalties in what can only be described as Gallifrey 90210 sequence)
being carried across to Big Finish but considering it has no impact on the
storytelling whatsoever and turns out to just be a cute reference I don't see
what all the fuss is about. Should Big Finish capitalise on this and try and
set a story in the Doctor's childhood my reaction would be quite different but
to reference some of the Doctor's contempories when he was younger (the Monk,
Vansell, etc) doesn't seem that big of a deal to me. The Rani calls those days
ghastly so I'm guessing as the only female in he group she was given some
stick. Maybe those on Gallifrey aren't as enlightened as I thought.
Audio Landscape: Birdsong, chatter, aliens grunting,
laughter, equipment smashing, dripping tap, babbling voices in the system, a
rush of water, police sirens, applause.
Musical Cues: It sounds like somebody might have whispered
in Andy Hardwick's ear and told him that he has been using the same musical
cues since Zagreus because he serves up something quite different for The Rani
Elite. It's a subtle score but one that gets under your skin with it's
tinkling, off-kilter piano and wibbly wobbly electronic weirdness. It's a score
that stresses the wrongness of the Rani's machinations before she has even been
revealed.
Isn't it Odd: It was always possible for the Doctor to meet
his foes out of order so to speak but it never really became a reality until
Steven Moffat started playing about with the idea in the River Song debacle
(and we all know how complicated that got). The Rani states that she was
expecting to see the seventh Doctor (Sixie puts his fingers in his ears to prevent
himself from learning anything about his future) so does that mean she goes
through this story knowing that the Doctor cannot be harmed - given she would
polish him off herself in her own past (I'm going boss eyed). I'm not sure that
shouldn't have packed up her things as soon as Sixie arrived knowing that he
was pretty much invulnerable until her former self has at him. Beyond the three
central characters I found all of the guest cast pretty forgettable. Having
finished it I can barely remember their names and they weren't characterised
with any great depth. They served a narrative purpose (girl goes missing =
mystery, students taken over by older clients = solution) but beyond that they
are pretty bland.
Result: I'm sure I contradict myself on a daily basis, I'm
sure we all do. But I am going to do so blatantly in terms of the main range
when it comes to my review of The Rani Elite because it has a lot of the
problems that I accused quite a few of the releases earlier in the year and
condemned them for it; a lack of originality, a traditional plot, repetitive
action. And yet I enjoyed this story immensely. I'm trying to put my
finger on why I am more forgiving of this piece but I can only whittle it down
to three characters that brought this story alive for me: the Doctor, Peri and
the Rani. Much like The Mark of the Rani, it isn't the plot that impresses
(Richards could churn an intricate and satisfying narrative out in his sleep so
I can only assume he chose to deliberately kick start the Rani's tenure on
audio with something this slender and conventional) but the interaction between
the characters (and the actors). Baker and Bryant are on sparkling form and
seem to respond to Richards' dialogue by delivering charismatic performances
and it is a delightful first showing for Siobhan Redmond as the Rani. I was
sceptical at first because she seemed almost robotic in her obscene medical
machinations but come the end of the story she has sparred with the Doctor,
almost killed Peri and sworn bloody revenge on them both. O'Mara would have
been proud of her successor. I'm already excited for her second airing next
year. Aside from their bitching and rivalry everything else is quite clichéd -
lots of dashing about, escaping and being captured, brainwashing and double
crossing - don't go into this story expecting anything fresh because you'll be
mightily disappointed. However if you have had a tough day and are looking to
relax with a solid Doctor Who story with all the trimmings, the current best
Doctor/companion pairing and a cracking new version of an old villain then slip
this story into your player and let it massage your cares away like good,
time-honoured Doctor Who can: 7/10
3 comments:
I quite enjoyed this one too.
I've said this elsewhere... but I would have loved it if during the first cliffhanger, where Peri identifies the antagonist as the Rani, instead had said "The Master"... only to be corrected as to whom we really are facing.
You are gravely mistaking, friend. Haven't you read "Legacy of the Daleks" where Eight meets Delgado's Master? Even though the book isn't good the idea of the Doctor meeting other Time Lords in a different order is far before Moffat.
It seemed a bit soon to be going back to mind-swapping only two stories after The Widow's Assassin, but otherwise this was a pretty good story, and the end of a very good trilogy.
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