DOCTOR WHO's Rani Plans to Bring Back Another Classic Villain
One of the hallmarks of the 1970s and '80s in Doctor Who was the appearance of dozens and dozens of other Time Lords and Ladies. The planet Gallifrey and its denizens were frequent focal points of the Tom Baker years and beyond and with it we got several characters of varying states of exciting. Like, the Rani, for example, the villain of two eponymous stories from the mid-80s, 'The Mark of the Rani' and 'Time and the Rani.' The Rani, as we now know, is the current villain of the second Fifteenth Doctor season and in 'Wish World,' she dropped the name of another, even more notorious Time Lord she wants to revive: Omega.
In terms of on-screen appearances, Omega has a pretty small footprint. In the lore of the series, Omega is the first Time Lord. That, as we know from 'The Timeless Children' is not exactly true. (The Doctor is, apparently, the source of regeneration energy.) But Omega was the Gallifreyan who harnessed and perfected time travel technology, the other pillar of Time Lord near-omnipotence. Various pieces of spinoff media have described Omega as a contemporary of Rassilon, another hugely important figure in Time Lord history.
Whilst harnessing a supernova to secure Time Lord time travel capabilities, Omega became lost and the Time Lords believed him dead. The truth, as we learn in the 10th anniversary serial 'The Three Doctors,' his first appearance, is that he hadn't died. Not really, anyway. The supernova had sent Omega into a pocket dimension, an anti-matter universe, which he was able to control and construct through sheer force of will. He blamed the Time Lords for abandoning him and remained alive specifically to return and seek revenge.
As stated, Omega's first appearance in Doctor Who was in 'The Three Doctors.' Largely, the Second and Third Doctors, plus members of the Third Doctor's UNIT family, squared off against Omega within the antimatter universe. During the course of that story, Omega finally got close to breaching his kingdom prison and returning to the pro-matter universe. (That is not what it's called; calm down, astrophysicists.) However, the Doctors rightly sus out that Omega isn't technically alive. Like the pocket universe itself, Omega only exists because his will power forces him to.
A full 10 years later, in the serial 'Arc of Infinity,' which began Doctor Who's 20th season, Omega returned. Looking much stupider, the angry Time Lord made of antimatter attempts to gain reentry into the proper universe by fusing with the Doctor. Fearing that the collision of matter and antimatter would destroy reality, the Time Lords call the Doctor back to Gallifrey to execute him. Surviving that (obviously), it's up to the Doctor to stop Omega once again.
Not on TV, though technically we see both him and Rassilon during the interminable flashbacks in 'The Timeless Children.' Omega has appeared in several Big Finish audio dramas, novels, and comics, however, and will very possibly make his grand return in 'The Reality War,' due to air on Disney+ May 31. The Two Ranis plus Omega? Our dear Doctor is really in for it this time!
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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