Dimensions in Time [WHO-50—1993]
And you think YOUR thirtieth birthday was a bit of a letdown…
So, Dimensions in Time. It’s on YouTube. You can watch it right now if you want to. In fact, I’m going to embed it in a minute.
Reviled (and occasionally warmly defended) by most Doctor Who fans, and a source of great embarrassment for most of the actors involved, this 30th Anniversary Special (the beginning of a relationship between Doctor Who and the charity Children in Need) sees all available Doctors and companions – well. They sort of battle the Rani, really, across Albert Square (location of popular British soap opera EastEnders) and a few different time zones. It’s not GOOD by any definition of television quality or making-sense-ness but it is occasionally charming and adorable.
I’d never seen it before I watched it for this blog post. Don’t ask me how I missed it or indeed avoided it over the last twenty years. I just – did.
Some historical context: at this point, Doctor Who had been “rested” for four years, and showed no sign of returning.
A proper dramatic TV special had been mooted, The Dark Dimension, involving multiple Doctors and directed by Graeme Harper, but it came to nothing. The fact that this special was never made means that it is basically the Special What-Might-Have-Been Leaf of Doctor Who fandom, containing all that is perfect and desirable in a Doctor Who anniversary. So, no pressure there, Dimensions in Time. How do YOU hold up?
So. My commentary, upon watching Dimensions in Time for the first time:
PART ONE
1) Before it even starts, we have the framing narrative that is Noel’s House Party. This show is something of a retro cultural touchstone that I mostly missed out on, even withn the times I lived in England. Still, these bits are mostly good because he has Jon Pertwee (I. Am. The Doctor.) in the studio, being wonderful and claiming ultimate status as star of the show.
2) The Doctor predicts here that Noel Edmonds will still be on TV in 2010. Was this true, British readers? I’m pretty sure you had Graham Norton instead by then.
3) Is it possible that Noel Edmonds’ outfit was selected by John Nathan Turner? I can’t tell what that garnet actually is but I THINK it’s a vest painted on to a floppy white shirt.
4) Four arrives in a vortex with his grand Tomlike tones, same as ever except for the sad lack of curls. The use of costumes (particularly old costumes) in this is quite interesting, and I might focus on that in order to cope better with the production as a whole. Tom (he’s not really being Four, he’s just Tom but let’s face it, the border between the two is pretty thin) is wearing Logopolis red, and June Hudson should be proud to see the hat is still wearing well.
5) Tom Baker does not appear on location like the other Doctors or meet anyone else in this, taking the role of the NARRATOR DAHLING.
6) The disembodied heads of One and Two are seriously the best argument for never ever using CGI ever. For goodness sake. Why not use ACTUAL VIDEO FOOTAGE of their heads? If ever there was a call for a 5 second clip from an old story, this was it. Anyone who thinks the use of old footage in The Name of the Doctor was remotely, go watch this and then give yourself a STERN TALKING TO.
7) Also the Rani’s TARDIS has gone seriously downmarket since her first appearance back in Mark of the Rani, but I appreciate the fact that she has a painted toyboy as her lab assistant. Frankly the lack of this as part of her schtick was somewhat surprising before now.
8) Seven and Ace!!! They are lovely, mostly because they’re completely Seven and Ace – it’s only been four years since these two have been on screen and Sophie Aldred in particular looks just the same. The ‘young’ Ace body language is still there and I quite like the way she randomly starts trying on clothes in the market.
9) The cameos EastEnders characters is mildly breaking my brain, but I was in my time almost as bit an EastEnders geek as a Doctor Who fan (until the mean ABC stopped showing it in Australia!) so I will admit that it’s a bit good to see Kathy and Pauline sending themselves up.
10) I don’t know who Mandy or Big Ron are because they come from the After Times when we didn’t have EastEnders in Australia.
11) The premise of this story – the Doctor and companions caught in a time loop, randomly replacing each other as they attempt to make some sort of narrative sense of it all, actually is not too bad. Except that in practice it is, well, all a bit bad. It’s no Time Crash, people.
12) I will admit to fannish squee about some of the odd and unusual Doctor-companion combinations. And oh, the moment where Sarah Jane (bizarrely wearing an iconic outfit from the mid 70’s – but hey that makes a vague sort of sense for the plot!) sees HER Doctor and half skips across Albert Square to catch up to him… that’s rather lovely, that is. Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee on screen together, even for a few seconds, is worth everything.
13) When Five turns up, he gets two companions instead of one. Is Mark Strickson not there because he’s off filming alligators in New Zealand, just like he always is when they want him for Big Finish?
14) I’m a bit worried about what this plot is suggesting about the imminent disposability of companions, especially when the Companion just got split into two for Peri and Nyssa. Five is looking pretty good, though, considering it’s ten years since he played the role. I am a little disappointed that Nyssa is wearing one of Noel Edmonds’ vests. No redemption for the progressive descent of her taste in clothes after 1981, then.
15) FIFI. Sure, this is a veritable smorgasbord of villains, using every monster costume and prosthetic they could muster, it’s actually slightly more impressive than The Pandorica Opens, or would be if the monsters and villains were actually doing anything other than wave from windows. But I’m ridiculously excited that Fifi from The Happiness Patrol is getting another outing and also, is alive again. So… who exactly kept Fifi in their cupboard ready for this eventuality? Hats off to them!
16) I lived in a London square once, and the fact that the park was always locked imprinted itself on my brain, so this part is very realistic to me.
CLIFFHANGER: I can’t believe people had to wait for the second half of this, which screened on the following night. That’s just cruel.
PART TWO
17) So the audience gets to decide the outcome – ie. Which EastEnders character gets to help the Doctor. Really, that’s all they get to decide? At the very least we should get to vote to bump someone off.
18) The opening credits, I noticed the first time as well, are speeded up as if even they are slightly embarrassed about what’s going on here.
19) The Rani’s earrings are extraordinary. I’m also quite impressed that Peter Davison is able to summon Jon Pertwee with his brain. Wouldn’t that be a creepy party trick if he could still do it now?
20) Liz Shaw! She’s quite ballsy in this, running up and attacking the Rani while Jon Pertwee cowers behind a fence. Unfortunately, some girls from EastEnders has turned up to scare her off. BOO, HISS! Hang, on, was that the Mandy bit? Was Mandy the girl who just frightened Liz Shaw away? I thought she was supposed to help!!! She just saved the flipping Rani instead.
21) Oh, they ALMOST gave Jon Pertwee a gratuitous helicopter scene! Instead he gets a climbing-into-a-helicopter scene. All the Pertwee bits are mostly excellent in this.
22) Yes yes, the Sixth Doctor meeting the Brigadier finally, all very historical, but it was done far better in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. Oh dear I think I just realised why the Brigadier “recognised” the Sixth Doctor in the Spectre of Lanyon Moor. Headdesk.
23) Romana! I didn’t know Romana was in this! Lalla Ward is as aristocratic and confident, and her outfit is rather Romanaish. Good show. Glad she wasn’t stuck in a vortex with Tom this time. But why was she in a garage?
24) Frank Butcher, on the hand, is over-acting so hard his eyes almost rolled out of his head mid-sentence. Was he trying to win a prize?
25) Oh, Victoria. There are no words. *Sadly shakes head* I know Debbie Watling only played the part for a year like twenty five years previously, but I’m sure the real Victoria wasn’t this wet and also, why is she dressed like that when she was dropped off in 1960 and would have got to 1993 by the long road?
26) WHAT IS LEELA WEARING OH MY GOD. YOU HAVE THE ACTUAL GALLIFREYAN COSTUMES, I SAW THEM EARLIER, SO WHAT THE COMPLETE FUCK IS THIS? WAS SHE ON HER WAY TO A PETER PAN COSTUME PARTY?
27) I am certain that Leela used to brush her hair.
28) It’s somewhat endearing that Leela remembers being Romana and thus all the companions are one companion WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE SHOW?
29) Are all the companions actually projections of the TARDIS? Is that what they always were???
30) The ending is abrupt but it’s over, the Rani is defeated, and at least there’s Ace and Seven again as it should be, after everyone else has gone home. Tea, work, done.
CONCLUSION: Not as good as The Curse of Fatal Death. This odd duck feels a bit like everything negative everyone ever said about the JN-T era (I got this far without using the word pantomime!) is being staged as some colossal practical joke on the British public, and fandom in general. You never want anyone who dismissed Doctor Who as ‘for kids’ to see it and therefore have ammunition against you for the rest of your life.
But…
It’s also kind of funny and weird, and bonkers, and it was for charity. As far as last hurrahs go… well. For all the word ‘pantomime’ gets used against him as an insult, something positive I got out of the recent book about JN-T is that he put on some most excellent, Doctor Who filled stage productions and I for one would have LOVED to get a chance to see his Cinderella on stage with Peter Davison and Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant and the rest.
I can’t do that, but I can see this and it does feel at least a bit as if they were trying to make something that would make the fans of the show happy.
If nothing else, Dimensions in Time is an argument for Doctor Who always, always being given a decent budget. But if I can love The Chase and ship Leela/Andred and reclaim Tegan as a companion, then I can find it in my heart to love this broken little coat of many colours too.
But I love the Behind the Scenes footage more:
ELSEWHERE ON 1993:
Dimensions in Time [Wife in Space]
The Pit, AKA was this really the worst Doctor Who novel of all time? [The Doctor Who Book Club Podcast]
White Darkness [The Doctor Who Book Club Podcast]
PREVIOUSLY:
