Doctor Who/Recap/30th AS Dimensions in Time

"I, I mean we, are difficult to get rid of!"

- The Seventh Doctor

As 1993 approached, the fanbase of Doctor Who slowly worked themselves into a frenzy. The BBC started re-airing certain specials of the old series (no new ones, though, as it had been can-er, put on extended hiatus four years earlier), books came out to discuss Doctor Who and a fantastic movie-length special was announced that would involve all the still-living Doctors and a villain's plot to throw the Whoniverse out of whack - resulting in a "Dark Dimension" where the Fourth Doctor somehow never regenerated into the Fifth at the end of Logopolis.

This is not that story. This is what happened instead.

The start of this little special, aired in two less-than-10-minute parts, begins rather innocently enough -- the Rani brags about doing awesome things with time and has already captured the first two Doctors (now infected with Floating Head Syndrome; said crappy head models are in 3D, modeled with 1993's finest-quality computer graphics, to make this extra-gimmicky). The Fourth Doctor decides to send out an SOS to his other selves, begging for them to listen to him "for once". The Seventh Doctor and Ace, apparently fresh from their encounter with the Cheetah people of doom, land in the middle of the Eastenders soap opera -- quite literally -- and meander about.

Somehow, thanks to the Rani's plans, the Doctor starts shuffling through his Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh incarnations with Ace randomly being replaced by a randomly selected companion...including Sarah Jane, granddaughter Susan, Peri and Nyssa, Mel, Liz, and so on. The Rani gloats to the Doctor (pick one; she does it at any point, and the Doctor doesn't miss a beat when he shifts, apparently) as she summons up old enemies and time in the Eastenders set shuffles around between 1993, 20 years ago, and 20 years later. Things pick up the pace, the audience gets really confused, and then the Rani captures Leela while she's in the form of Romana II. This somehow screws up the Rani's machine by having two Time Brains in her computer, with the Seventh Doctor commenting that it'll explode. He and Ace return to their TARDIS and ride off.

And the Rani is still not very good at her job.

This special is generally considered out of the canon, much like A Fix with Sontarans before it. Mostly because this is somehow tied in with the Eastenders soap opera. Oh, and then this was supposed to be a little longer, but the guy hosting the second half of the serial demanded it be cut down because...well, he never gave a reason.

The Brigadier's actor Nicholas Courtney finally gets to be featured alongside Sixth Doctor Colin Baker -- meaning that he's the only actor to be featured alongside all seven original Doctors at any point in time.

Tropes:

 * Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Mike Yates does this to the Rani's gun when he arrives in Bessie to rescue the Doctor.
 * Canon Discontinuity:
 * Later authors have declared this one of the Doctor's many nightmares -- along with a similar story and the TV Comic stories for the First Doctor. Also, Eastenders is considered a TV show in the Whoniverse.
 * Eastenders also tosses it out of continuity, as characters who actually have long since died after this special aired are seen in the "future" presented by the Rani. Also, as with Doctor Who, the science-fiction program is just that in the universe of Eastenders. Which makes this just one hell of a mess for everyone involved.
 * According to the special's page on the official BBC site for Who Classic, the entire thing's just a Rani-induced hallucination of the Seventh Doctor.
 * Children in Need: The first Doctor Who episode made specifically for the charity, and the second one in the classic series, the first being The Five Doctors, which aired during the 1983 appeals.
 * Development Hell
 * Executive Meddling: First, we were supposed to get that great story mentioned above entitled The Dark Dimension. The fans were happy, but the Doctors outside Tom Baker were a little wary (but still willing) because he would be getting far more screentime. Then the BBC threw this idea out the window (while still paying Tom Baker his £20,000 fee!) and gave us...this. And then they cut it in half and made it tie in with Eastenders to try and get more viewers. And then cut it even shorter (the second part was broadcast as part of Noel's House Party and certain scenes and dialogue that explained what exactly was going on had to be trimmed as a result).
 * Fan Service: Of the non-sexual kind. Why else would numerous Doctors and companions be brought together?
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: During Noel's House Party, the Third Doctor shows up and, among other things, mentions that Noel will still be on TV in 2010. He should know, after all.
 * Intercontinuity Crossover
 * Newspaper Dating: Right after the TARDIS lands, the Seventh Doctor checks a newspaper in a rubbish bin to see what year they've landed in.
 * Reunion Show