Time and the Rani

After an attack by the evil Rani, the TARDIS crash-lands on the desolate planet of 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 insane plan to drain the genius of the greatest scientific minds in the universe.

• A new look for Doctor Who in more ways than one, "Time and the Rani" was a less than stellar story, but McCoy manages to hold his own.  McCoy didn't really define his Doctor until the following season.

• New opening and closing titles were created for this season, as was a new arrangement of the theme by composer Keff McCulloch.  These titles and music would endure through the last three years of the program.

• Colin Baker, who refused to return to do a regeneration story, was not in the regeneration scene for "Time and the Rani."  Instead they simply dressed McCoy up in Baker's costume and put a wig on his head.  Different camera angles, and then later special effects obscured his face long enough for the regeneration scene.

• During the planning stages, producer John Nathan-Turner had been holding on to the hope that Baker would change his mind and return to film one more story - a regeneration story.  In fact, the original script had the 6th Doctor remaining inside the Rani's lab (instead of Beyus) to ensure that the Rani's plan would fail.  He would be mortally wounded in the explosion of her lab, which would trigger his regeneration into the 7th Doctor.  When it became obvious that Baker would indeed not be returning, the authors were instructed to rewrite the story with a regeneration at the very beginning instead.  Because the opening scene had to involve the regeneration, an establishing shot of the Rani abducting Albert Einstein before the opening titles had to be dropped.

• An earlier working title for this story was "Strange Matter."

• The Rani returns 2 years after the story "The Mark of the Rani."  This was the 2nd and final time that Kate O'Mara (the Rani) would appear on Doctor Who.

• Watch for some amusing scenes in the first two episodes as the Rani (Kate O'Mara) tries to impersonate the Doctor's companion Mel (Bonnie Langford).