This Saturday is the long awaited debut of Doctor Who on Disney+ to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary. I am way beyond excited for this. My belly button has been puckering and unpuckering for months.
Since Doctor Who is on our minds AND this month's blog theme is November Nineties, let's take a look where Doctor Who and the 1990's intersect for a previous anniversary... can we call it a "celebration"?
Well, it's the thought that counts, as the saying goes.
Although I'm not sure that's exactly encouraging.
Fellow Whovians, let us ponder the thing that is.... Dimensions In Time.
After the BBC cancelled Doctor Who in 1989, producer John Nathan Turner held out hope for some kind of return of the space/time faring show and it seemed that the 30th anniversary in 1993 was as good a time as any to finally make something happen.
All sorts of big epic ideas were considered but there was little money and it seemed in less interest from the BBC in reviving Doctor Who for anything big.
Finally Nathan-Turner had to settle for a Children In Need charity special done as a crossover with the long running drama Eastenders.
What we got was a massively inane and confusing plot by the Rani to trap various incarnations of the Doctor, his companions and various alien adversaries. As Tom Baker's 4th Doctor put it, "locked away in a dreary backwater of London's East End, trapped in a time-loop in perpetuity."
Take a deep breath and here goes nothing!
The Rani has opened a hole in time, allowing her access to the Doctor's timeline, capturing the First and Second Doctors. This causes the Fourth Doctor to send a message to his remaining selves, warning them of the Rani's plan.
The TARDIS deposits the Seventh Doctor and Ace in Greenwich in 1973. The Rani causes time to jump. Ace finds herself in Albert Square in 1993 with the Sixth Doctor where local East End resident Sanjay tries to sell Ace some new clothes from his stall.
The Third Doctor and Mel Bush appear in 2013 with older versions of Pauline Fowler and Kathy Beale from Eastenders.
The Sixth Doctor and Susan Foreman appear in 1973, but she wonders what has happened to the First Doctor and her other companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.
After another time jump to 2013 and this time it's Sarah Jane Smith with the Third Doctor.
Things are not confusing enough so the Rani releases her menagerie of specimens including a Cyberman, Fifi, a Sea Devil, an Ogron and a Time Lord from Gallifrey who attack the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Peri in 1993. And folks in the East End are in danger!
In 1993, after the Fifth Doctor changes to the Third Doctor in the next time jump, along with Nyssa and Peri changing into Liz Shaw. Captain Mike Yates of UNIT arrives in Bessie to save the Third Doctor and get him to the Brigadier who is waiting for them.
After another time jump, the Doctor changes to the Sixth Doctor and after he says goodbye to the Brigadier time jumps again.
In 1993, at the Arches, East End residents Phil and Grant Mitchell find Romana looking for the Doctor. Whoops! Romana is captured by the Rani.
Back in 1973, the Third Doctor is with Victoria while in 1993, the Seventh Doctor is joined by Leela who has escaped from the Rani.
Stuff happens which helps the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and K9 to short out the Rani's machinery and stop futzing about with time.
All this occurs over the course of approximately 14 minutes.
Wow!
If this sounds like an incoherent mess then well, mission accomplished: it was an incoherent mess.
And this incoherent mess was seen in 3-D!
The Daleks were supposed to appear but Dalek creator Terry Nation said hell no. Seems he expected to get paid.
Which would've made Terry Nation the exception. All the actors and crew gave their services especially for Children in Need, and waived their fees on the condition that Dimensions in Time would never be repeated or sold on home video for profit.
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