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[[caption-width-right:350:It's a nostalgic tour de [[FreudianSlip farce]]![[note]]And with [[BrickJoke the Sixth Doctor's coat of clashing colours again!!!]][[/note]]]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:It's a nostalgic tour de [[FreudianSlip farce]]![[note]]And farce]]![[note]]…and with [[BrickJoke the Sixth Doctor's coat of clashing colours again!!!]][[/note]]]]
again!]][[/note]]]]
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Sadly, Creator/KateOMara also made her last on-screen performance as the Rani in this story in her lifetime, continuing the role in audio stories until her eventual death, never reprising the role in the revival-era series and having her character willed to a new actor and [[TheNthDoctor regenerating.]] Oddly enough, in this last outing, she has picked up a passenger, Cyrian (who even got his own origin story in that years' ''Doctor Who Annual''. His name is a pun, by the way - he was supposed to be played by '''[[Creator/IanMcKellen Sir Ian]]''' [[Creator/IanMcKellen McKellen]]. And you thought this episode couldn't get any weirder!) That explains why her TARDIS appears to be reduced to a villainous knock-off of the Doctor's rather than the unique design it used to have (besides budgetary constraints/desktop changes).

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Sadly, Creator/KateOMara also made her last on-screen performance as the Rani in this story in her lifetime, continuing the role in audio stories until her eventual death, never reprising the role in the revival-era series and having her character willed to a new actor and [[TheNthDoctor regenerating.]] Oddly enough, in this last outing, she has picked up a passenger, Cyrian (who even got his own origin story in that years' ''Doctor Who Annual''. His name is a pun, by the way - he was supposed to be played by '''[[Creator/IanMcKellen Sir Ian]]''' [[Creator/IanMcKellen McKellen]]. And you thought this episode couldn't get any weirder!) That explains why her TARDIS appears to be reduced to a villainous knock-off an EvilKnockoff of the Doctor's rather than the unique design it used to have (besides budgetary constraints/desktop changes).
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'''Production code:''' C280X

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'''Production code:''' C280X
[=C280X=]
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Added DiffLines:

'''Original air date:''' November 26, 1993

'''Production code:''' C280X
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Does Not Like Shoes is now a disambig.


** Leela's [[DoesNotLikeShoes bootless]], Colin's abandoned his silly eighties perm with a tamer hairdo, outdone by the fact Tom Baker's hair curls are long lost relics, along with many other costume snafus.

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** Leela's [[DoesNotLikeShoes bootless]], bootless, Colin's abandoned his silly eighties perm with a tamer hairdo, outdone by the fact Tom Baker's hair curls are long lost relics, along with many other costume snafus.
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The one we'd all like to forget.

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The one JustForFun/{{The one|With}} [[FanonDiscontinuity we'd all like to forget.
forget.]]
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* AllJustADream: This episode is sometimes said to be a dream in order to make it CanonDiscontinuity:
** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'' has The Doctor mentioning a dream where his foes chase him around a soap opera set.
** The special's page on the official BBC site for Who Classic, the entire thing's just a Rani-induced hallucination of the Seventh Doctor.
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* ChildHater: The Fourth Doctor feels the need to emphasize the fact that the Rani despises children, just to set in stone that no, this ''isn't'' going to be the DarkerAndEdgier [=30th=] anniversary special people were looking forward to, and is in fact the exact opposite.

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* ChildHater: The Fourth Doctor feels the need to emphasize the fact that the Rani despises children, just to set in stone that no, this ''isn't'' going to be the DarkerAndEdgier [=30th=] anniversary special some people were looking forward to, and is in fact the exact opposite.

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Changed: 57

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* IntercontinuityCrossover

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* IntercontinuityCrossoverIntercontinuityCrossover: Between ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/EastEnders''.
* InTheStyleOf: The Music/PetShopBoys-styled version of the show's main theme. John Nathan-Turner asked the band to do a rearrangement of the theme, but they were too busy, so this was the next best thing.
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As 1993 approached-- and with it, the 30th anniversary of ''Series/DoctorWho''-- the small but relentlessly devoted fanbase slowly worked themselves into a frenzy. Creator/TheBBC started re-airing certain episodes of the old series (no new ones, though, as it had been can-- er, [[InsistentTerminology "put on extended hiatus"]] four years earlier). Books came out to discuss ''Doctor Who'' and a fantastic DarkerAndEdgier movie-length special was announced that would involve all the still-living Doctors and a plot by a villain (that would've been played by Creator/RikMayall!) to throw the universe out of whack -- resulting in a "Dark Dimension" where the Fourth Doctor somehow never regenerated into the Fifth at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]].

to:

As 1993 approached-- and with it, the 30th anniversary of ''Series/DoctorWho''-- the small but relentlessly devoted fanbase slowly worked themselves into a frenzy. Creator/TheBBC started re-airing certain episodes of the old series (no new ones, though, unless one includes the radio story ''Radio/TheParadiseOfDeath'', as it had been can-- er, [[InsistentTerminology "put on extended hiatus"]] four years earlier). Books came out to discuss ''Doctor Who'' and a fantastic DarkerAndEdgier movie-length special was announced that would involve all the still-living Doctors and a plot by a villain (that would've been played by Creator/RikMayall!) to throw the universe out of whack -- resulting in a "Dark Dimension" where the Fourth Doctor somehow never regenerated into the Fifth at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]].



This special has been considered non-canon by the official sources because of its comparatively nonsensical premise to the rest of the series proper, not to mention a number of later {{retcon}}s in ''[=EastEnders=]'' (a sigh of relief for some fans who take continuity [[SeriousBusiness seriously]]). The ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'' drops a mention of this special as [[AllJustADream a nightmare the Seventh Doctor once had]], which is probably the best definition of this episode.

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This special has been considered non-canon by the official sources because of its comparatively nonsensical premise to the rest of the series proper, not to mention a number the depiction of later {{retcon}}s in ''[=EastEnders=]'' in 2013 subsequently being contradicted by what happened in the real 2013 (a sigh of relief for some fans who take continuity [[SeriousBusiness seriously]]). The ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'' drops a mention of this special as [[AllJustADream a nightmare the Seventh Doctor once had]], which is probably the best definition of this episode.
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Dewicked trope


* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

Changed: 10

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Sadly, Kate O'Mara also made her last on-screen performance as the Rani in this story in her lifetime, continuing the role in audio stories until her eventual death, never reprising the role in the revival-era series and having her character willed to a new actor and [[TheNthDoctor regenerating.]] Oddly enough, in this last outing, she has picked up a passenger, Cyrian (who even got his own origin story in that years' ''Doctor Who Annual''. His name is a pun, by the way - he was supposed to be played by '''[[Creator/IanMcKellen Sir Ian]]''' [[Creator/IanMcKellen McKellen]]. And you thought this episode couldn't get any weirder!) That explains why her TARDIS appears to be reduced to a villainous knock-off of the Doctor's rather than the unique design it used to have (besides budgetary constraints/desktop changes).

to:

Sadly, Kate O'Mara Creator/KateOMara also made her last on-screen performance as the Rani in this story in her lifetime, continuing the role in audio stories until her eventual death, never reprising the role in the revival-era series and having her character willed to a new actor and [[TheNthDoctor regenerating.]] Oddly enough, in this last outing, she has picked up a passenger, Cyrian (who even got his own origin story in that years' ''Doctor Who Annual''. His name is a pun, by the way - he was supposed to be played by '''[[Creator/IanMcKellen Sir Ian]]''' [[Creator/IanMcKellen McKellen]]. And you thought this episode couldn't get any weirder!) That explains why her TARDIS appears to be reduced to a villainous knock-off of the Doctor's rather than the unique design it used to have (besides budgetary constraints/desktop changes).
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** Later authors have declared this one of the Doctor's [[AllJustADream many nightmares]]-- along with [[Recap/DoctorWho1985JFIGSAFixWithSontarans a similarly-regarded story]] and the TV Comic stories for the First Doctor. Note that ''Series/EastEnders'' [[MutuallyFictional is considered a TV show in the]] Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}. The most direct mentioning of the AllJustADream notion comes courtesy of the novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'':

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** Later authors have declared this one of the Doctor's [[AllJustADream many nightmares]]-- along with [[Recap/DoctorWho1985JFIGSAFixWithSontarans a similarly-regarded story]] and the TV Comic stories for the First Doctor. Note that ''Series/EastEnders'' [[MutuallyFictional is considered a TV show show]][[invoked]] in the]] the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}. The most direct mentioning of the AllJustADream notion comes courtesy of the novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'':

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[[WhatCouldHaveBeen This is not that story]]. This is what happened instead.

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[[WhatCouldHaveBeen This is not that story]]. story.]] This is what happened instead.
instead.













!!Tropes

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\n!!Tropes !!Tropes:
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And finally, it's the one and only onscreen writing credit for the series' longtime producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner,[[note]]although he also served as ''de facto'' script editor for "Terror of the Vervoids" and the second episode of "The Ultimate Foe", uncredited, after Eric Saward walked out on the production[[/note]] and aside from co-ordinating some video releases and a talking-head appearance on early [=DVDs=], his last work for the series.

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And finally, it's the one and only onscreen writing credit for the series' longtime producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner,[[note]]although he also served as ''de facto'' script editor for "Terror "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids Terror of the Vervoids" Vervoids]]" and the second episode of "The "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe The Ultimate Foe", Foe]]", uncredited, after Eric Saward Creator/EricSaward walked out on the production[[/note]] and aside from co-ordinating some video releases and a talking-head appearance on early [=DVDs=], his last work for the series.
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* ThreeDimensionalEpisode: Uses the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulfrich_effect Pulfrich effect,]] allowing it to be seen in stereoscopic 3D by wearing a darkened lens over one eye, as illustrated by the utterly horrific severed heads of the First and Second Doctors flinging themselves at the screen.

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* ThreeDimensionalEpisode: Uses the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulfrich_effect Pulfrich effect,]] allowing it to be seen in stereoscopic 3D by wearing a darkened lens over one the right eye, as illustrated by the utterly horrific severed heads of the First and Second Doctors flinging themselves at the screen.
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* ThreeDimensionalEpisode: Shown in stereoscopic 3D, as illustrated by the utterly horrific severed heads of the First and Second Doctors flinging themselves at the screen.

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* ThreeDimensionalEpisode: Shown Uses the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulfrich_effect Pulfrich effect,]] allowing it to be seen in stereoscopic 3D, 3D by wearing a darkened lens over one eye, as illustrated by the utterly horrific severed heads of the First and Second Doctors flinging themselves at the screen.
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removed tropeslashing


* [[AuthorExistenceFailure Actor Existence Failure]][=/=]BadassInDistress:[[invoked]] Both Creator/WilliamHartnell and Creator/PatrickTroughton had passed on by this point, resulting in their Doctors getting sidelined.

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* [[AuthorExistenceFailure Actor Existence Failure]][=/=]BadassInDistress:[[invoked]] BadassInDistress: Both Creator/WilliamHartnell and Creator/PatrickTroughton had passed on by this point, resulting in their Doctors getting sidelined.
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This was Creator/JonPertwee's last appearance as the Doctor in an official setting before his death three years later, RIP. His final performance as the Doctor in a filmed ''Doctor Who'' story, sets, location shoots and all, was technically in 1995, for the fan production ''Devious''. As a point of trivia, this is also Creator/TomBaker's first reprisal of his role (barring his in-character narration of the unearthed [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada}} "Shada"]] in the 1992 VHS reconstruction) since departing the series in '81, and he wouldn't be back again until AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho. Creator/NicholasCourtney finally got to be featured alongside Sixth Doctor Creator/ColinBaker-- meaning that he's the ''only'' actor to be featured alongside the first eight Doctors! (He also played [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Bret Vyon]] opposite Creator/WilliamHartnell and played the Brigadier opposite Creator/PaulMcGann for ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' a few years after this. Alas, health problems meant his planned episodes opposite Creator/DavidTennant and Creator/MattSmith never came to be.)

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This was Creator/JonPertwee's last appearance as the Doctor in an official setting before his death three years later, RIP. His final performance as the Doctor in a filmed ''Doctor Who'' story, sets, location shoots and all, was technically in 1995, for the fan production ''Devious''. As a point of trivia, this is also Creator/TomBaker's first reprisal of his role (barring his in-character narration of the unearthed [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada}} "Shada"]] in the 1992 VHS reconstruction) since departing the series in '81, and he wouldn't be back again until AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho. Creator/NicholasCourtney finally got to be featured alongside Sixth Doctor Creator/ColinBaker-- Creator/ColinBaker -- meaning that he's the ''only'' actor to be featured alongside the first eight Doctors! (He also played [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Bret Vyon]] opposite Creator/WilliamHartnell and played the Brigadier opposite Creator/PaulMcGann for ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' a few years after this. Alas, health problems meant his a planned episodes appearance opposite Creator/DavidTennant and Creator/MattSmith in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' never came to be.happened.)
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* FoilerFootage: There were two versions of the scene in which an ''Series/EastEnders'' character would save the Doctor at the start of Part Two shot, one featuring Mandy and the other 'Big' Ron, with a telephone vote being hold to determine which would be used. The former won.
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This is not true.


It was produced with all cast members working unpaid, on the basis that it could never be released commercially. However, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes fan recordings proliferated]] the internet.



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This special, aired in two less-than-10-minute parts as part of ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'', begins with the Rani bragging about doing awesome things with time and having already captured the first two Doctors; they've been infected with FloatingHeadSyndrome and said crappy head models are in 3D, modeled with 1993's finest-quality yet also [[UncannyValley most terrifying]] computer graphics (anyone hoping for Music/PeterGabriel to show up and start singing [[Music/{{Us}} "Steam"]] will be sadly disappointed) and wax sculpting. After an inexplicably sped-up version of the intro set to a version of the title theme fit for a rave, the Fourth Doctor, now inexplicably short-haired, pudgy, and old (Creator/TomBaker ''was'' 59, but that said he already looked 80), decides to send out an SOS to his other selves while trapped in a Windows 95 screensaver, begging for them to listen to him "for once" and warning about the Rani by pointing out that she... [[ChildHater hates children]]. Yeah, it's going to be ''that'' kind of story. The Seventh Doctor and Ace, apparently fresh from the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Cheetah Planet]], land in the middle of the ''Series/EastEnders'' soap opera-- literally-- and mill about.

to:

This special, aired in two less-than-10-minute parts as part of ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'', begins with the Rani bragging about doing awesome things with time and having already captured the first two Doctors; they've been infected with FloatingHeadSyndrome and said crappy head models are in 3D, modeled modelled with 1993's finest-quality yet also [[UncannyValley most terrifying]] computer graphics (anyone hoping for Music/PeterGabriel to show up and start singing [[Music/{{Us}} "Steam"]] will be sadly disappointed) and wax sculpting. After an inexplicably sped-up version of the intro set to a version of the title theme fit for a rave, the Fourth Doctor, now inexplicably short-haired, pudgy, and old (Creator/TomBaker ''was'' 59, but that said he already looked 80), decides to send out an SOS to his other selves while trapped in a Windows 95 screensaver, begging for them to listen to him "for once" and warning about the Rani by pointing out that she... [[ChildHater hates children]]. Yeah, it's going to be ''that'' kind of story. The Seventh Doctor and Ace, apparently fresh from the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Cheetah Planet]], land in the middle of the ''Series/EastEnders'' soap opera-- literally-- and mill about.



** ''[=EastEnders=]'' also tosses it out of continuity, as characters who actually have long since died after this special aired are seen in the "future" presented by the Rani. Also, as with ''Doctor Who'', the science-fiction program is just that in the universe of ''[=EastEnders=]''. Which makes this just one hell of a mess for everyone involved.

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** ''[=EastEnders=]'' also tosses it out of continuity, as characters who actually have long since died after this special aired are seen in the "future" presented by the Rani. Also, as with ''Doctor Who'', the science-fiction program programme is just that in the universe of ''[=EastEnders=]''. Which makes this just one hell of a mess for everyone involved.
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None


As 1993 approached-- and with it, the 30th anniversary of ''Series/DoctorWho''-- the small but relentlessly devoted fanbase slowly worked themselves into a frenzy. Creator/TheBBC started re-airing certain episodes of the old series (no new ones, though, as it had been can-- er, [[InsistentTerminology "put on extended hiatus"]] four years earlier). Books came out to discuss ''Doctor Who'' and a fantastic DarkerAndEdgier movie-length special was announced that would involve all the still-living Doctors and a plot by a villain (that would've been played by Creator/RikMayall!) to throw the Whoniverse out of whack -- resulting in a "Dark Dimension" where the Fourth Doctor somehow never regenerated into the Fifth at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]].

to:

As 1993 approached-- and with it, the 30th anniversary of ''Series/DoctorWho''-- the small but relentlessly devoted fanbase slowly worked themselves into a frenzy. Creator/TheBBC started re-airing certain episodes of the old series (no new ones, though, as it had been can-- er, [[InsistentTerminology "put on extended hiatus"]] four years earlier). Books came out to discuss ''Doctor Who'' and a fantastic DarkerAndEdgier movie-length special was announced that would involve all the still-living Doctors and a plot by a villain (that would've been played by Creator/RikMayall!) to throw the Whoniverse universe out of whack -- resulting in a "Dark Dimension" where the Fourth Doctor somehow never regenerated into the Fifth at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]].
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None

Added DiffLines:

* FoilerFootage: There were two versions of the scene in which an ''Series/EastEnders'' character would save the Doctor at the start of Part Two shot, one featuring Mandy and the other 'Big' Ron, with a telephone vote being hold to determine which would be used. The former won.
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* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Ace takes the replacement of her Doctor with a man in a multicolored coat in stride. Ditto for the other companions materializing out of nowhere, apart from Susan Foreman; she's distressed by the absence of "her" Doctor.

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* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Ace takes the replacement of her Doctor with a man in a multicolored multicoloured coat in stride. Ditto for the other companions materializing out of nowhere, apart from Susan Foreman; she's distressed by the absence of "her" Doctor.
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And finally, it's the one and only onscreen writing credit for the series' longtime producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner, and aside from co-ordinating some video releases and a talking-head appearance on early [=DVDs=], his last work for the series.

to:

And finally, it's the one and only onscreen writing credit for the series' longtime producer Creator/JohnNathanTurner, Creator/JohnNathanTurner,[[note]]although he also served as ''de facto'' script editor for "Terror of the Vervoids" and the second episode of "The Ultimate Foe", uncredited, after Eric Saward walked out on the production[[/note]] and aside from co-ordinating some video releases and a talking-head appearance on early [=DVDs=], his last work for the series.
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* ExcusePlot: Even for a charity special, the plot doesn't make a lick of sense. Pairing the Doctors off with the wrong companions was another strange choice:[[note]]The intention appears to have been that the Rani is forcing the Doctor and his companion to randomly hop between different parts of the Doctor's timeline, although that doesn't really explain why the ''companions'' change[[/note]] Three is paired with Peri, while Six ends up with ''Susan'', leaving her little to do but whimper "Barbara!" and "Grandfather!" At least Five gets it right (Nyssa's age and appearance here can even be explained by the Big Finish audios).

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* ExcusePlot: Even for a charity special, the plot doesn't make a lick of sense. Pairing the Doctors off with the wrong companions was another strange choice:[[note]]The intention appears to have been that the Rani is forcing the Doctor and his companion to randomly hop between different parts of the Doctor's timeline, although that doesn't really explain why the ''companions'' change[[/note]] Three is paired with Peri, Mel, while Six ends up with ''Susan'', leaving her little to do but whimper "Barbara!" and "Grandfather!" At least Five gets it right (Nyssa's age and appearance here can even be explained by the Big Finish audios).

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