Unregenerate!

Main Range #70

Released: June 2005

Listened: 10/24/20

This story takes place immediately after “Time and the Rani,” although some time has passed between them, long enough to take the Rani’s captives home, and for the Doctor to drop Mel off for a bit. This story has a bunch of secrets, and deliberately hides a lot of them from the listener, starting in media res and filling in with flashbacks later. Unfortunately, this means that the Doctor starts off in a mental institute, and spends most of the first two parts raving, moaning, and mumbling incoherently. Sylvester McCoy really doesn’t sound natural doing it, and even after he’s recovered seems to be over-enunciating his lines. It would be an unfortunate introduction if these stories had been released in this order. Mel, conversely, is ultra-capable, even more so than her best stories with the Sixth Doctor. Although she’s not able to reprogram a super-advanced alien computer system, she’s smart enough to recognize what she’s looking at, and even make some guesses about it based on similar systems she’s seen before. She’s also doing pretty well handling the investigative part, even attracting a companion of her own, a rather odd cabbie who never gets a name. The story is somewhat dark, and not exactly a good fit between the first two stories of Season 24, but that’s where it has to be. Not a great start to this part of the project.