Doctor Who Time and the Rani: Part One (1963–1989) Online

Episode cast overview:
	Sylvester McCoy	-	The Doctor
	Bonnie Langford	-	Melanie
	Kate O'Mara	-	The Rani
	Mark Greenstreet	-	Ikona
	Donald Pickering	-	Beyus
	Karen Clegg	-	Sarn
	Richard Gauntlett	-	Urak

Originally, the Sixth Doctor was to have regenerated at the end of this serial. The script had the Doctor staying behind at the Rani's headquarters to ensure nothing went wrong with the missile strike. The ensuing explosion causes him to regenerate. Colin Baker agreed to a regeneration, only if he would feature in the whole of the season (not just one of four serials) and then leave at the end of the season. Neither party could come to an agreement, hence the Sixth Doctor's unceremonious demise.

New CGI title sequence was used for the first time, costing £20,000. The appearance of the Doctor's face was originally designed differently. It started as a skull build up developing into a head, but this was considered too sinister and dropped. However, it was accidentally broadcast with part four of the story. It was changed to the correct version for the BBC video release.

Sylvester McCoy was the first actor to play two incarnations of The Doctor. In 1987, Colin Baker refused to film a regeneration sequence after being dropped from the lead role, so McCoy donned a blond wig and portrayed an unconscious 6th Doctor just prior to his transformation into Doctor #7. The second actor to play two different versions of the Doctor was Richard E. Grant, having played The "Quite Handsome" 10th Doctor in the BBC Comic Relief charity spoof Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death (1999). He then went on to voice the 9th Doctor in the BBC web animation Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka (2003).

It been alleged that the writers Pip and Jane Baker fell out with the script editor over creative issues.

The first appearance of Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor.

This serial was originally written with The Sixth Doctor in mind. Following Colin Baker's dismissal, it was hastily rewritten to accommodate The Seventh Doctor.

John Nathan-Turner originally preferred not to include the regeneration. Urak would turn over the unconscious Doctor to reveal his new face. He later changed his mind.

The original pre-title scene had Albert Einstein kidnapped by The Rani.

For the first and only time, Sylvester McCoy wears braces with his costume. He regretted this, as it did injustice to the appearance of his tummy, giving him a "beer gut" look.

Director Andrew Morgan was not satisfied with his own work on this serial.

The working title for this story was Strange Matter.

Andrew Cartmel has said that there were many things he disliked about the script which lacked depth, "This was a story which wasn't about anything-and, frustratingly, it was Sylvester McCoy's debut."

The concept of creating a weapon by collecting the minds of all the great thinkers, including the Doctor's, was also used in the unfinished and unbroadcast story "Shada". Both stories involve the Doctor using his stolen consciousness to counteract the weapon.

One reason for the story's problems was that Pip and Jane Baker had no idea who would be playing the new Doctor or how he would be characterised - and, at least when they started work on the project, the series had no script editor for them to discuss things with.

This is the first time the Doctor is seen regenerating at the beginning of a serial, as opposed to its end (barring recap footage, of course).

The role Beyus was first offered to Don Henderson.

Clifford Rose, George Baker, T.P. McKenna, John Fraser, Ronald Lacey, Michael Gothard and Kenneth Colley were considered for Beyus.

In a behind-the-scenes interview featuring Sylvester McCoy, he jabbed at having to wear Colin Baker's over-sized wardrobe before switching into his Doctor's new clothes. Aside from donning the loud colours of his predecessor, the costume was tailored to Baker's height, 6ft (183cm), which loosely fit his smaller height of 5ft 6in (168cm). He humorously protested about "getting lost for three days" inside the floppy fabrics.

Sylvester McCoy protested about wearing the question mark jumper. It wasn't until his reprisal of the Seventh Doctor in Le seigneur du temps (1996) that his campaigning to discard the pullover was generously granted. He instead wore a red waistcoat (And was ironically "killed" before he could get any significant screen time wearing the waistcoat) .

The Tetraps are based on bats.

One of the least popular Docteur Who (1963) stories, fans voted this the sixth worst story of the entire run in fan site Outpost Gallifrey's 40th anniversary poll in 2003.

Originally The Doctor was to regenerate at the end of the episode in an explosion. The Rani disguised as Mel tells The Doctor that he had regenerated in a explosion which gave him his post regeneration trauma.

This serial was released by the BBC on video cassette in the UK in July 1995.

This episode was watched by 5.1 million viewers on its original transmission.

During the regeneration, the exercise bike the Sixth Doctor rides in "Terror of the Vervoids" is visible in the TARDIS control room. In Issue 409 of Doctor Who Magazine, in an article on regeneration, the writer suggests that the Sixth Doctor's "mortal" injury may have been caused by him falling off the bike. However, the explanation offered in the Big Finish story "The Brink of Death" gives the Sixth Doctor a dignified death and negates this possibility. The same can be said for the novel "Spiral Scratch", which was the first depiction of the regeneration until being re-designated as an alternate continuity by the release of the audio story.

It is unclear why The Doctor regenerated. It is assumed that he had hit his head when The Rani attacked the TARDIS. The Doctor hitting his hard may had done serious damage that it seemed.