The Rani Elite

Main Range #194

Released: 17 December 2014

Listened: 8/22/20

In 2014, Big Finish reached an agreement to use the Rani on audio, with Kate O’Mara in the role. Unfortunately, she passed away before recording. However, with her agent’s blessing, Big Finish cast Siobhan Redmond in the part. Her persona isn’t all that different from O’Mara’s Rani, a little less strident, and maybe a bit more sneering. She hasn’t lost her interest in biochemistry, especially neural experiments, hasn’t lost her penchant for disguises, nor has she gained any morals. She makes it clear that she’s later in her timeline than O’Mara’s Rani, as she remembers the Seventh Doctor. The Doctor and Peri’s relationship seems to have regressed a little bit. The Doctor is being more arrogant than recently, and taking a few cheap shots at Peri, but he’s clearly doing it with humor to soften the words. Whether Peri appreciates that isn’t clear, but she’s more independent and a bit wiser, but still prone to asking the exposition questions, so you could easily imagine the younger Peri in this story. As for the plot itself, it’s a bit slow, with the Doctor and Peri arriving at a university where something is wrong, but they’re not sure what for quite a while. It takes a while for them to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it. Rani stories aren’t known for their action sequences, so there’s a lot of talking and debate, although Peri goes through another round of body horror, and Nicola Bryant sells it well. It’s a good debut for this version of the Rani, but not the best story in general.