Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) (TV)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Stuart McDonald

Writers:

David Roden (writer) and
John Nathan-Turner (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 November 1993 (UK)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Short

Plot Keywords:

Doctor Who | 3 Dimensional | Character Name In Title

Cast

Sophie Aldred	...	Ace
Tom Baker	...	The Doctor
Colin Baker	...	The Doctor
Nicola Bryant	...	Peri
Nicholas Courtney	...	Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Michael Fillis	...	Sea Devil
Carole Ann Ford	...	Susan Foreman
Richard Franklin	...	Captain Yates
Derek Handley	...	Ogron
Louise Jameson	...	Leela
Caroline John	...	Liz Shaw
Shobu Kapoor	...	Gita
Ross Kemp	...	Grant Mitchell
Letitia Dean	...	Sharon Watts

Runtime:

13 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Filming Locations:

Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, England, UK

Trivia:

Broadcast in 3-D.

Quotes:

The Rani: Fated to wander a dismal corner of the universe for twenty years; helpless, paralysed. It'll drive them insane.

Movie Connections:

Edited from "Children in Need" (1980)

Whirlwind two part skit!

This story starts like a regular episode with the Rani in her TARDIS following the Doctor's TARDIS and generally up to no good ( she is trying to collect all the Doctor's selves to complete her menagerie), with a young travelling companion. The Rani has trapped the disembodied heads of the first two Doctors in a Time Tunnel (this must have looked very wild in the original 3-D transmission!). We then join the Seventh Doctor and Ace exiting the TARDIS in front of the Cutty Sark. Things then move very fast and get very confusing. The Rani apparently wants to capture one specimen of every living thing which will then allow her to have the power to control evolution (I gleaned much of this information from The Seventh Doctor Handbook as it's not really clear in the two part skit). Why many of the companions are needed instead of just one human, for instance, is not explained. However, this is still a ton of fun. This came out the year (1993) that the Doctor Who movie "The Dark Dimension" was to have been released and as a bonus this would have been the cherry on the cake. In reality, though, "The Dark Dimension" was cancelled and this was the consolation prize thrown at fans--quite a letdown in that context! It should be remembered, however, that this production was made for Children In Need and all actors donated their time and services free of charge. One wishes there was more screen time for each Doctor and interaction between them but time is literally of the essence here and even with the brevity of time on screen each shines as if they have never left the role (except Hartnell and Troughton of course who are just floating heads!). Many companions appear as well and one can only think of what could have been with more time. I mean the Sixth Doctor with the Brig as well as Susan and the Third Doctor and Victoia are just three examples. All of the meetings of Doctors and companions are fun but oh so brief. Towards the end tons of old monsters appear (a Tractator, Tetrap, Sea Devil, Zog from the stage play "Ultimate Adventure" among many others). The final resolution to this mystery is very confusing but it's still fun to see the Seventh Doctor, Leela and K9 together! One will miss the 3-D effects that this was originally filmed in and may become a bit dizzy with the rotating camera work but this is harmless Who fun. If you can find someone with a copy of this give it a view, if not for any other reason, to see the final official screen adventure of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor!