Doctor Who: The Interstellar Song Contest Review - 5 Ups & 4 Downs

This episode may have more ups than downs, but this down is, in my book, worth at least two, because I have more than one negative thing to say about it.

First and foremost, did RTD just spend two seasons teasing a secret reveal just to make Mrs Flood exactly who we assumed she was from the beginning? The classic era, unfortunately, is rather lacking in recurring female villains who know the Doctor well, so this was not the mystery box it was presented as, nor do I feel rewarded for sitting through ten shoehorned Anita Dobson cameos. If we are to believe what we’re being told, we’ve actually been following around a minion Rani who will play second fiddle to the actual Rani.

It’s like Susan Twist all over again.

Secondly, I think it’s worth acknowledging that maybe we’ve drained the well of Classic Who enough. This arbitrary trend of bringing back one classic villain a series is starting to feel as if it has diminishing returns. Now, I was not born at the time, but, as I understand it, the Rani was never particularly well-received during her whopping three on-screen appearances (and that’s if you count an Eastenders crossover). Her biggest claim to fame is shooting the TARDIS so hard that Colin Baker regenerates from Sylvester McCoy in a wig into Sylvester McCoy without a wig – a moment that, I’m sure you’ll agree, doesn’t exactly rank as a high point in the annals of Who. If half of the audience doesn’t know who the Rani is, and the other half doesn’t have too high an opinion of her, you have to ask: why are we even doing this? Who is this for? Why are we putting our eggs in this basket, at such a time of scrutiny for the show?

The episode doesn’t even bother to treat the regeneration or the reveal with a huge amount of mavitas, underplaying the moment significantly. They don’t even have the courtesy to save me from Anita Dobson’s pantomime acting, thanks to yet another bigeneration. Perhaps this new Rani will stop breaking the fourth wall or, if I might be so bold, have any traits in common at all with the original Rani, because Ms Flood most certainly does not.

Let us hope that something interesting can be done with this C-list 80’s villain, and please don’t make that interesting thing yet another ‘shocking twist’. This has been a much stronger series, so let’s actually stick the landing this time around, shall we?

I’m not convinced we will.