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Context Recap / DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime

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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dimentions_in_time_1967.jpg]]
2[[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]]]]
3
4->''"I, I mean '''we''', are difficult to get rid of!"''
5-->-- '''The Seventh Doctor''', [[HilariousInHindsight having a sudden bout of real-world clairvoyance]]
6
7'''Original air date:''' November 26, 1993
8
9'''Production code:''' [=C280X=]
10
11JustForFun/{{The one|With}} [[FanonDiscontinuity we'd all like to forget.]]
12
13As 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"]].
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15[[WhatCouldHaveBeen This is not that story.]] This is what happened instead.
16-----
17This 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, 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.
18
19Thanks to the Rani's machinations, the Doctor starts shuffling through his Third, Fifth, and Sixth incarnations, with Ace continually being replaced by a random companion: Sarah Jane, Susan Foreman, Peri ''and'' Nyssa, Mel, Liz, Victoria, Romana II, and so on. The Rani gloats to the Doctors as she summons up old enemies. Time in the ''[=EastEnders=]'' set shuffles around between 1993, 1973 and [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2013]] (modern viewers may now proceed to laugh at the lack of smartphones and Website/{{Twitter}}). Things pick up the pace, the audience gets really confused, and then the Rani captures Leela while she's in the form of Romana II. This somehow screws up the Rani's machine by having two Gallifreyan Time Brains in her computer, with the Seventh Doctor commenting that it'll explode. [[MissingStepsPlan Fair enough.]] UNIT shows up as well in the middle of all that, including the Brigadier in a helicopter, finally meeting Six. Sort of. In the end, the Seventh Doctor and Ace return to their TARDIS and ride off.
20
21And the Rani is still not very good at her job.
22----
23This was supposed to be a little longer, but the second part was actually shown as part of variety show ''Series/NoelsHouseParty'', and presenter Noel Edmonds insisted it be edited down for timing reasons, which served only to make the story even more incomprehensible.
24
25This 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 a planned appearance opposite Creator/DavidTennant in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' never happened.)
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27Sadly, 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 an EvilKnockoff of the Doctor's rather than the unique design it used to have (besides budgetary constraints/desktop changes).
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29This special has been considered non-canon by official sources because of its comparatively nonsensical premise to the rest of the series proper, not to mention the depiction of ''[=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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31And 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 "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids Terror of the Vervoids]]" and the second episode of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe The Ultimate Foe]]", uncredited, after 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.
32----
33!!Tropes:
34* AllJustADream: This episode is sometimes said to be a dream in order to make it CanonDiscontinuity:
35** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'' has The Doctor mentioning a dream where his foes chase him around a soap opera set.
36** 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.
37* AllYourPowersCombined: The Seventh Doctor ultimately frees his other selves from the Rani's grasp using the power of editing.
38* BadassInDistress: Both Creator/WilliamHartnell and Creator/PatrickTroughton had passed on by this point, resulting in their Doctors getting sidelined.
39* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Mike Yates does this to the Rani's gun when he arrives in Bessie to rescue the Doctor.
40* TheBusCameBack: Briefly for many of the Doctor's past companions, including Susan, Victoria, Liz Shaw, Mike Yates, The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, Leela, K9, Romana II, Nyssa, Peri, and Ace. Can also apply to the past Doctors who make a return appearance, including the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth.
41* CanonDiscontinuity:
42** Leela's 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.
43** 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]][[invoked]] in the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}. The most direct mentioning of the AllJustADream notion comes courtesy of the novel ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresFirstFrontier First Frontier]]'':
44--->'''The Doctor:''' I once had [a nightmare] where all my old foes chased me round a soap opera.
45** ''[=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 programme is just that in the universe of ''[=EastEnders=]''. Which makes this just one hell of a mess for everyone involved.
46** According to 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.
47* 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.
48* CloneArmy: The Rani's menagerie. The Fifth Doctor gets cornered in Greenwich by a parade of classic series monsters, including the infamous [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS23E3TerrorOfTheVervoids}} Vervoid]], the [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS24E4Dragonfire}} dragon]], and a Time Lord pointing a pistol(!).
49* 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 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).
50* {{Fanservice}}: Of the non-sexual kind. Why else would numerous Doctors and companions be brought together?
51* FatalFlaw: Blame overconfidence, obsession, or anything else really, but The Rani makes the same mistakes here that she did back in [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani}} her previous appearance.]]
52** Forcefully involving the Doctor when she didn't ''really'' need him to be present.
53** Not noticing exactly who was present for her plan (here, that the Doctor's companion who she was recording was not human).
54** Including a Time Lord's brain in her almost complete collection, which destabilizes the whole thing (here, the problem is that she got a second Time Lord instead of a human).
55* IntercontinuityCrossover: Between ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/EastEnders''.
56* 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.
57* LighterAndSofter: By far the most extreme example in ''Doctor Who''; the whole thing reads more as an off-brand ''Doctor Who'' children's book.
58* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: A fully-stocked laboratory miraculously appears when the Doctor realizes he has to rig up a device. Presumably it was the Rani's -- but she set it up ''outside'' her TARDIS and in broad daylight...?
59* MilkingTheGiantCow: Creator/SylvesterMcCoy really sells his dialogue here, bless him.
60-->'''Seventh Doctor:''' "She's attempting to transfer a massive time tunnel... ''[flails arm wildly]'' ...to the Greenwich Meridian!"
61* MookMaker: Leela/Romana explains that the Rani's TARDIS is producing the menagerie.
62* NewspaperDating: Right after the TARDIS lands, the Seventh Doctor checks a newspaper in a rubbish bin to see what year they've landed in.
63* OrbitalShot: A lot of the shots are done in one take to show off the 3D, but unfortunately can be distorting for viewers to understand; let alone the ridiculous plot.
64* ReunionShow: The series had been off the air for nearly four years by this point, and despite the BBC [[InsistentTerminology repeatedly insisting]] that it was a hiatus, everyone knew that it was pretty much cancelled. Thus, bringing back many of the show's stars [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg (and the Rani)]] lends "Dimensions in Time" this status.
65* TakeOurWordForIt: The Rani's TARDIS has trapped the Doctor in London's East End via a time tunnel that is about to re-materialize in Greenwich. Really! Little effort is made to make the plinth look like a TARDIS; the shot opens with Leela standing around rather cluelessly in front of it.
66* 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 the right eye, as illustrated by the utterly horrific severed heads of the First and Second Doctors flinging themselves at the screen.
67* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: One of the time periods the world of ''[=EastEnders=]'' shifts between is 2013. This being a special from a time before smartphones and mainstream presence of the then-niche internet were ever really a thing, the depiction of the early 2010's here suffers from inevitable and obvious inaccuracies.
68* TwoDecadesBehind: Perhaps the biggest WTF moment to be had in "Dimensions in Time": Leela leaping out of the Rani's TARDIS barefoot and wearing full [[NewAgeRetroHippie hippie]] regalia. "Behind the times" was already her gimmick in a sense, but here it treads a bit too ''mildly'' with it.
69* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Ace takes the replacement of her Doctor with a man in a 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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