Not just fanservice: how Doctor Who’s classic series callbacks laid the groundwork for The Rani’s comeback

In Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary special, The Giggle, a single line from the Doctor reverberated through decades of storytelling:

"I loved her… and Rose… but the Time War, Pandorica, Mavic Chen…"

What first appears to be a scattered collection of traumatic memories is, in fact, a carefully constructed echo chamber of the Doctor’s most haunting experiences. Each name is a fragment of his shattered psyche: a love lost, a war waged, a betrayal that still lingers.

While these callbacks seem to exist in isolation, however, they have actually been paving the way for a more calculated return, a reconnection with a forgotten nemesis from Classic Who: the Rani.

Because if there’s one thing Doctor Who has taught us, it’s that the past is never really gone. And some villains aren’t just dust in the Time Vortex. They’re waiting, calculating, evolving—bi-generating.

Planting the seeds: Rose, Pandorica, Time War, and Mavic Chen

The Doctor’s list of traumas in The Giggle reads like a who’s who of heartbreak. Rose, the one he couldn’t save, embodies the kind of personal loss that cuts deeper than any temporal war.

The Pandorica, a cosmic sarcophagus designed to contain his very essence, is a testament to how dangerous even his allies once perceived him. And the Time War—the catastrophe that reshaped the Doctor’s moral compass—is a scar that never fully heals.

But the odd one out is Mavic Chen. A character from the 1965 serial The Daleks' Master Plan, Chen was a power-hungry politician who betrayed humanity to align with the Daleks, believing he could outmaneuver them. Chen was the first human to ally with the Daleks and he paid with his life for his unchecked ambition.

But Chen’s resurfacing in the Doctor’s mind isn’t just a nostalgic throwback. It’s a thematic precursor to the return of another scientific mastermind who once believed she could outmaneuver the Doctor himself.

Because while the Daleks’ plan was about universal domination, the Rani’s plans were always colder, more insidious. She didn’t want to conquer the universe. She wanted to reshape it.

The Rani’s legacy: A villain who never forgets

A renegade Time Lady known for her fondness for brutal experiments and her dispassionate, scientific view of power, the Rani made her debut in 1985's The Mark of the Rani. As a villain, the Rani was more interested in satisfying her intellectual curiosity than in pursuing personal grudges, in contrast to the Master, who flourished on anarchy and retribution.

That is, until she crossed paths with the Doctor. In her mind, the Doctor was an annoying obstacle to her scientific ambitions. But while the Master’s conflicts with the Doctor always bordered on the personal, the Rani’s were cerebral. She didn’t want to destroy the Doctor; she wanted to use him, to dissect him, to learn from him. And that cold, clinical detachment made her one of the most chilling antagonists in the classic series.

Fast forward to The Interstellar Song Contest, where Mrs. Flood, a seemingly benign character who has been lurking in the background since the 2023 Christmas special, with Mrs. Flood having displayed a suspicious curiosity about alien technology, which is a classic trait of the Rani. Yes, she's not just back—she’s evolved. And she’s not alone.

Bi-generation: The Rani redefined

When the Rani undergoes a bi-generation, she splits into two distinct versions of herself: one portrayed by Anita Dobson and the other by Archie Panjabi. This duality isn’t just a flashy gimmick. It’s a calculated move that encapsulates her greatest strength—the ability to compartmentalize her actions, to be both the detached scientist and the charismatic manipulator.

Just as the Doctor split into two complementary versions, the Rani now operates as a duo—one as the classic scientist, the other as a social manipulator, echoing the duality of the Time Lord himself.

While one version of the Rani retains her scientific obsession with genetic manipulation, the other presents herself as a political power player, echoing Mavic Chen’s ambition but with far more finesse. And unlike Chen, the Rani isn’t delusional about her capabilities. She knows exactly how dangerous she is.

The Doctor, who once prided himself on always being one step ahead, is now up against an adversary who can quite literally be in two places at once. It’s a new kind of game, and the Doctor is already behind.

The master plan: Why the Rani’s return is a game-changer

In The Interstellar Song Contest, the Doctor finds himself at the epicenter of a cosmic festival, a glittering spectacle where worlds converge to showcase their most eccentric and bizarre acts. But while the Doctor is distracted by the chaos on stage, Mrs. Flood—now fully revealed as the Rani—executes her plan with the precision of a master tactician.

The bi-generation has allowed her to manipulate multiple factions simultaneously, using one version of herself to incite chaos among the Hellions while the other operates from behind the scenes, orchestrating scientific experiments that echo her classic modus operandi.

It’s not just a callback to her earlier schemes—it’s an evolution. This isn’t the Rani we once knew. This is a Rani who has learned from her past failures and is now using every trick in the book to outmaneuver the Doctor.

And if the Doctor’s "Mavic Chen" moment in The Giggle was a subtle warning, then the Rani’s bi-generation is the hammer drop. The past isn’t just haunting the Doctor—it’s actively reshaping the present.

The Rani and Mavic Chen: two sides of the same calculated coin

Despite being from distinct Doctor Who periods, the Rani and Mavic Chen's objectives are quite similar. Intellectual hubris and vicious ambition characterize both protagonists, who use their superior intellects to exert dominance over others.

The human who dared to join forces with the Daleks, Chen, who called himself "Guardian of the Solar System," was so sure that he could outwit the most infamous conquerors in the cosmos that he did so. The tragic demise of a man whose obsession with power prevented him from seeing the unavoidable repercussions of his actions was more than simply a case of mistaken faith.

In contrast, the Rani's motivation is not a desire for power or ego but rather her clinical coldness. She views the cosmos not as a hostile environment but as a scientific laboratory where she can study and experiment with life. This is her role as a Time Lady.

Unlike Chen, she doesn’t underestimate her enemies. She calculates, she adapts, and with her bi-generation, she has now doubled her strategic reach.

What makes the Rani’s return even more compelling is how she’s positioned as a foil to Chen. While Chen’s ambition led him to become a puppet for the Daleks, the Rani uses her intellect to outmaneuver everyone around her, including the Doctor. Where Chen fell victim to his own hubris, the Rani thrives on it, wielding her dual selves like a scalpel—precise, controlled, and utterly merciless.

And if Chen’s fate is any indication, the Rani may be walking a similar tightrope. But this time, she’s prepared to do what Chen couldn’t: outthink everyone, including the Doctor.

Final thoughts: Not just fanservice, echoes from the past of Doctor Who

In Doctor Who, the past is more than a memory—it’s a shadow that never quite dissipates. When the Doctor listed Rose, the Pandorica, the Time War, and Mavic Chen, he wasn’t just reminiscing. He was subconsciously charting the trajectory of his own downfall, a sequence of traumas that crescendoed into the return of the Rani.

And the Rani, ever the scientist, has always been about evolution. In the classic series, she experimented on entire populations, twisting nature to suit her own ends. Now, with her bi-generation, she has effectively weaponized herself, becoming both predator and prey, scientist and subject, mastermind and pawn.

Once upon a time, the Doctor battled to preserve the universe from the Time War. Now, he fights a more personal struggle: a battle against a mind that functions similarly to his own but lacks his compassion.

It turns out that the Doctor isn't the only one whose ghosts are causing trouble; the Rani's schemes are paving the way for anarchy. Because in Doctor Who, if even elements of physics get renamed, of course the past has a way of rewriting itself.