Doctor Who: Ranking The Introductions Of Every Doctor

10. Time And The Rani

Having failed to learn some lessons from introducing a new Doctor, the beginning of Season 24 started with a terrible beginning for the Seventh Doctor. Sylvester McCoy has the distinction of playing two different Doctors as the sacked Baker refused to do the regeneration scene in episode one. Sadly for him, this doesn't mean he was twice as good in this story. The Rani (Kate O'Mara) forces the regeneration of the Doctor, in a way unclear on screen - arguably she has the best entrance in the story with "Leave the girl, it's the man I want" line in typical O'Mara style. The renegade Time Lord has kidnapped geniuses across time to use them for a hive mind to manipulate strange matter, which can correct what she considers to be errors in the timeline. Pip and Jane Baker were never the strongest writers for Doctor Who. The Seventh Doctor is introduced as a comical oaf who plays the spoons while, in his troubled state, unable to recognise his own companion - O'Mara's impression of Bonnie Langford's Mel is terrible. The overly comical style failed in this story and really did not help introduce McCoy as a serious enough actor in the role. Luckily, for us all, Andrew Cartmel had just taken over as script editor and over the next three seasons his "masterplan" redeemed the Seventh Doctor as he evolved into one of the darkest and most manipulative of his incarnations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_OT2obe710