47The Mark of the Rani
The Sixth Doctor
2nd February - 9th February 1985
The Mark of the Rani has always been a story that I have considered to be overlooked. Fans are quick to criticise it but I think there is a lot in there that it has going for it. It was the first story in nearly 20 years that featured famous historical people (which is a bonus for me because I love the historicals), it introduced the world to The Rani, another renegade Timelord in the vein of the Master, and gives both the Doctor and Peri lots to do throughout, letting them take on their roles with gusto and put in excellent performances despite some perhaps dodgy dialogue.
As with many stories like this, I think that some of the criticism snowballs and if you say something is bad for long enough eventually people will start to believe it, but this is one of those stories that you have to watch with fresh eyes and an open mind to fully appreciate just how good it is. That doesn't mean it isn't without fault. As I said previously, some of the dialogue is very clunky. Pip and Jane Baker have a tendency to make characters sound very awkward saying things you know no ordinary character would say, as though they have just swallowed down the Oxford English Dictionary, despite being uneducated miners and such. It's even more annoying when you hear the writers on the extras and realise that even
they don't talk like it. I've no doubt that once they write a script they then sit there with a thesaurus replacing words. Another thing that I know irks a lot of people is that the Master is back with absolutely no explanation as to how or why he survived his last meeting with the Doctor. Having previously been burned to a crisp, he is now back to his normal self with nothing to tie the stories together.
The Rani is a brilliant character and brilliantly played, you can see it coming through, but there are often times when it seems as though they have given the Masters lines to her and you can't tell them apart. However, she still works. For me at least. The story isn't the greatest and that is why it is not higher up on my list. However, unlike a lot of fans this is still a story that I really enjoy and happily rewatch when the mood takes me, unlike a lot of stories that only see the light of day when I am rewatching a whole season. Check it out, see for yourself, but try to go in unbiased.
