Doctor Who: Oddity | Dimensions in Time 

Question mark scar? That blew my fucking mind.

The Star Wars Holiday Special of Doctor Who.

TB: "Yes I'll do it but I want a bullethole in my head." JNT: "..."

It’s hampered by two things: 1) It’s an Eastenders crossover. DW is an escapist sci-fi adventure series. EE is a gritty kitchen sink slice of reality (well, ish). It’s like mixing a roast chicken with strawberry ice cream. Not to mention the Eastenders thing really has no reason for being - most of the Eastenders characters don’t actually do anything for the plot, they just pop up, have their cameo, then sod off. 2) The plot makes absolutely no sense. As I remember it, the Rani’s trying to imprison the Doctor in a time loop of 20-year jumps (even though it was the 30th anniversary. Whoops!). And the Doctor shifts through his various regenerations and Ace turns into various companions, yet at some points the various Doctors and various companions seem to act independently of one another. And the Doctor is trapped in Albert Square but then he’s suddenly free (apparently all it required was Bessie). And there’s something to do with the Greenwich Meridian and the Rani needs a human from Earth to complete her menagerie (well gee, what a difficult task, those are just so hard to find!) I mean, yes it’s a small, fun charity skit, it’s not going to have a story on par with Caves of Androzani. But compared with other charity skits like Curse of Fatal Death or Time Crash, it’s pants.

I adore Kate O’Mara being told to camp it down in the behind the scenes and her being confused as she thought the show was camp

The first time I saw this I loved it. And we get The Sixth Doctor interacting with The Brigadier.

Here's the thing. I like the idea of the doctor changing into a previous incarnation with 7's memory in tact. You can literally write a story around that idea. It can give a chance to either have the previous actor do their own take on the current doctor or have that doctor just happy to have his personality back but aware this is only fora short time

"Pickled in time! Like gerkhins in a jar!" Sounds a bit like my brain after watching this god awful special 😂

The Celestial Toymaker is my favourite villain of all time in any franchise. A literal god who turns living beings into sentient toys. Also I do not hate Dimensions, it was as you said "a bit of fun".

I had forgotten about this. I was happy to have forgotten about this.

Some here might not know that sketches and minisodes of popular TV shows of the day were a common feature of BBC charity telethons like Children in Need and Comic Relief (indeed Moffatt's later and far better "Curse of the Fatal Death" was made for Comic Relief). So when Doctor Who came up as an insert into a "Noel's House Party" segment of CiN in 1993, no regular viewer watching was expecting this to be some sort of serious 30th anniversary tribute. They were expecting a fun trip down memory lane for a few minutes. Dimensions in Time delivered to them just that, with the added gimmick of 3D sure to attract extra viewers. As a fan, getting anything at all back on screen was a miracle. This was probably the first appearance of the Doctor on screen since "Search out Science" - now there's a Dr Who oddity! These really were dark days to live through as a fan of the show. The Beeb had abandoned the series as a property and a bit of nostalgic joking around was all it was good for. Their dismissive attitude to the Dark Dimension special said pretty much all that needed to be said about how little they gave a crap about Doctor Who. Bearing in mind that DiT is charity silliness made and designed to be charity silliness, it's actually rather enjoyable. We still have our off-air recordings and a couple of 3D glasses stuffed in the box. I think people would need to have a sense of humour deficit not to smile along with it. Other than watching the actors and actresses hamming the most out of their 10 seconds on screen, my personal favourite bit is the 6th Doctor finally getting to meet the Brigadier. Something of a lovely "what if" moment.

2:44 Oh Silly Tom Baker! He truly was the Christopher Eccleston, of Classic Doctor Who! :)

Josh, I love you more and more with every video, this is getting ridiculous now. I can’t handle all this amazing quality content.

Will you do a lost/unmade stories series? It’d be interesting to see you cover things like season 23 and the big finish remakes. So many interesting ideas that could have been!

UGH! It's totally embarrassing, I never want to see it again.

I remember seeing this for the first time when I found it on RU-vid. I think I might have been a little young to have watched it at the time of it's premier, but non the less I think the plot would have confused me just as much as it did on my original viewing. Trust JNT to make the plot as baffling as possible in such a short runtime, but I spose he didn't care as he thought people would just focus on the fan service.

Love your videos. Great production values.

I never knew about the Celestial Toymaker story. Too bad that never happened, it sounded soo much better than Dimension in Time. I don't suppose there's an actual script somewhere?

Would love to have this on DVD given its the last appearance of Jon Pertwee and indeed Nicholas Courtney. It is hard for some people to watch in its original form but there have been some imaginative reworking on RU-vid why not put them all on a DVD and give all the proceeds to Children in need. Win win for everyone.

Love it. One of the three Rani masterpieces, just a shame it's only 12 minutes long

Learning that the Celestial Toymaker was going to be the main villain finally answers my decade long question on why this special is like this. Its still would've been a mindfuck but at least the source of the insanity would've made sense.

I hope the stage play gets a video.. I've always wanted to know a bit more about that one :)

They should release it one limited release on dvd to celebrate children in need and all or part of the money goes to the charity from sales

I can remember being so excited to see it when I found a place to do so in those wild west early days of the internet... and my utter indifference-to-disappointment at the results. I think what hurt it the most for me was the complete randomness of the monsters appearing in part 2, and that somehow all the companions had become of one mind. Being completely unfamiliar with Eastenders, it just felt so bizarre on every level. Still, I'd welcome a chance for it to be remastered onto a DVD release as a bonus feature some day.

Considering this was the one time we got to see all the surviving classic Doctors together, I think it's a nice that it exists. I actually still have some of the 3D specs, which I blew pocket money on, just for Dimensions In Time. It was also nice to see the companions. Many of them hadn't been seen since their original seasons. Deborah Watling's line sums up the Rani perfectly, and strikes me as something Victoria would say. The fact that she hurt her arm rollerblading is rather cool! I just wish it had been able to focus more on the Doctors interacting with each other.

I have one question on The Dark Dimentions If the 4th doctor never regenerate then why would be the 3rd doctor disappear out of existance

DIT was fun and silly, raised some money and features The Rani. CIN gave us a 3D DW, and Cybertech provides a theme with a bit of welly. All in all, not canon but enjoyable telly. But don't diss Victoria, as we all loved Debbie. ☺ ❤

I'm curious, but could you do Shada next?

Awesome video!!!!!

Hated it and didn’t know of the question mark on Tom’s cheek . Ps loving your videos

Pickled in time like Gherkins in a Jar. And that's how this special should stay

There was also the radio Drama Paradise of Death with Jon Pertwee, Elizabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney.

The sixth doctor gets to meet the brig, this makes it worthwhile for me but it was such a big disappointment

Make what you want of Dimensions In Time, but when I was 8 years old, this was the most exciting thing ever!

why couldn't the BBC release it on home video now and just give all the proceeds to Children in Need?

I wanted more when i saw it and just wish it could have been a full story! it was so awesome seeing all the companions in one place so more than anything, its a nostalgic wink

"Dementia In Time."

This is one of many episodes I love of course :) thanks making this video :)-Mikeylugojr

How are you making these so fast?!

Why can't the BBC release Dimensions In Time on DVD and all profits from the sales of the DVD go to Children In Need.

I live for your videos

I remember it well and try to forget it at the same time it was like a pantomime

DVD version is coming up in the future please

I found it interesting , you could tell it was rushed . I liked it was the only time Colin Baker meet the brigadier on screen to my knowledge . I really wanted them to have a story as a team .

Always loved Dimensions In Time. Accept it for what it is and it’s a great fun campy romp. And at that time, in my opinion *any* new Who was better than nothing at all, so I probably would’ve loved anything!

Michael Gough didn't want to be reminded of his role in Arc of Infinity.

💀 *"What happened to him?"* "He watched Dimensions in Time"

A question marked scar... I never noticed that. Interesting though, The Doctor Who Lived. (Get the reference?)

Now I can see why they didn't let JNT write an actual episode during its run.

It's a bit of fun... and great to see all the Doctors and companions again... just a shame Tom once again was too snobby to be in it properly... but at least he's there sat on his own!

I like to think of it as the doctor having a bad dream/trip.

Are you going to talk about the BBV and Reeltime Doctor Who spin-off films? Now that would be interesting!

It was a bit of fun for charity. If you view it in that mindset it's ok. Plus fans who were around at the time were just glad to see the Doctor back on tv.

I had no idea about the bullet hole thing - that’s utterly bizarre and doesn’t sound like Tom at all, haha! Still love this episode for what it is, it’s a bit of fun and quite an epic bit of fun at that.

Wait wait wait.. you mean.. *we could’ve had the 5 doctors reboot with the celestial toymaker for the 30th anniversary.. and we ended up with DIMENSIONS IN TIME INSTEAD??*

Will there be anymore episodes of this?

JNT: let’s call it 3Dimensions In Time BBC: Shorten the name JNT: by how much? BBC: take away the 3

I loved and still love it

2:01 Came back to this video just for this

I first watched it in 2010, and as a who fan and a Eastenders fan, I really felt like it should have been a three part special. What we got was awful

I’m hoping that the dark dimension will be turned in to an audio them animated but keep it to what it would have looked like in 1993 with the music etc

I like it I hope someone animate this

I remember watching this at the time. It was great fun to see the then-current EastEnders cast interacting with the various Doctors. Is it canon? Well, that depends. Personally, I think it counts. There's no real reason why it doesn't.

It’s terrible but it has a great ‘car crash’ quality and a sense of what might have been. The scene of the Sixth Doctor meeting the brigadier is a highlight. Also who could forget dialogue triumphs like “Pickled in time like gherkins in a jar!”

I have a bit of fondness for DIT... it may not be canon, but if I had a life or death choice to ask what I thought was more canon between this and something like say "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", "Power of Three", or pretty much anything stupid in an episode in series 11 (which is every episode)... I'd go for this, there's no obligatory sonic-ing in this, cause JNT was above that sort of numpty nonsense. Also this finishes off the list of Doctors from the 20th century that Nicholas Courtney has appeared alongside... (since McGann lasted into the Millennium I don't really count him as a 20th Century Doctor despite the TV movie coming out in 1996)

Had The Doctor changed appearance, but the companions remained in their respective timelines, this could have worked. Oh take the monsters away at the end, just have a uniform enemy The Eastenders set was actually used a lot during 7 and Ace's timw. There's even an episode where the Doctor goes into a stripped down Kathy's and talks to the actor who would later portray Patrick Truman. So many actors have been in both shows. This could have been great!

Maybe Dimensions in time might b included in the season 26 blu ray

I’ve never seen it - how can you watch it?

When I was 15 I paid £30 for a tape of Dimensions in Time. Also had nineties a BBC trailer for The Daleks, one for Planet of the Daleks and several different trailers for the time meddler think the trailers were from 92 and 93

Please do a video on the TV Movie next!

The best 90s story

It's not a bad little mini episode thing. Still lots of fave Who actors in there...

I cringed behind the sofa. My problem with it was that it reifirmed all the bad points of Dr Who and after its broadcast I thought it would never be made again. Thankfully I was wrong.

It's heart or hearts as it may be, is in the right place, but it suffers from a poor script and seems both rushed and amateurish.

can you do nightmare fair next week

It's fine. It's just a crazy, fun little sketch that helped show the flame of Doctor Who was still alive.

I hate it with a passion! It’s like a bad nightmare and makes me cringe at the thought of it. I completely understand why Tom hated the script. Although, even the parts that he rewrote are bad “she hates children!” I never knew that he wanted to have a bullet in his head. He’s so insane.

What yearz iz thiz?

I'll say this. Andrew Orton's Production Subtitles version is probably the only way to watch Dimensions in Time and enjoy yourself more than what you think the story will be like.

It’s a nice little add on for classic who i is a bit crap tho

The equivalent of the Star Wars Holiday Special?

I find it a fun, but highly unusual story. Frankly, I quite like it.

I never new that they might of made a story with the toymaker... such a pity... as I remember when this came on and I ran behind the sofa... with embarrassment. Its so bad it makes the Twin dilemma look good...… did I say that?

I actually think Peter Davidson has one of his best lines in this...brief as his appearance was...I just loved it... "And the companions came in two-by-two..." 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Imho...if I can quote it, then something about it works... And I just quoted "Dimensions In Time"... So...something about it sticks, at least... 😂😂😂😂

Couldn't they release the item on home video and donate all the proceeds to charity?

I liked it. Sure, the plot is difficult. But when you get past that, it's a fun little episode.

Dimensions in time is underrated Change my mind

A wonderful silly nostalgia dump in the dark times of WHOlessness

i wish they could make a big finish remake.

JNT is a hard man to love

i see you look this of me you in an ross roll

I read a view of this which I share and am going to echo - as a silly self-parody trying to cram as many references in as possible, it's alright. As an episode of Doctor Who, it's absolutely atrocious.

The Rani is a 2nd rate villain , the plot is as mixed up as a plate of spaghetti and as exciting as brewing tea , and if everyone waived the fee as long as it was never put on sale it speaks volumes. It makes Time Crash look like The Caves of Androzani .The East Enders cast are like walking ornaments in this

Thought it would be better than the plot it would have worked if they had a lot more links to other stories that had happened over the years. Doctors Who in time and space would have been a good a better fit to the title I know it was for children in need but there could have pulled out the stops for more locations in London from out take maybe the new version of this story in coming or a cartoon version of this original story with more than a few other villains from our time lord a remake of this outing with a few more ideas?

I said I travel thought Space and Time, I don’t visit fantasy land.

4 million viewers? i'm sure he meant 14 million...!

I was always a bit baffled by The Rani having a dishy toyboy in her Tardis with her. I mean, more power to her, but it seemed a bit out of character..

I love love LOVE DiT!

who was that trebble woman

Fuck I want no need my adorable Anley master in dimensions in time