"Now, THAT'S 24 carat!"
IN THIS ONE... Mel is on a show like Dragon's Den or Shark Tank.
REVIEW: The idea that Mel would have started an intergalactic carrot juice business and traded her success in to star in a one-woman "Shark Tank" called (watch out for the pun) "24 Carat" is a pretty hilarious one. Bonnie Langford and Sylvester McCoy both reprise their roles for the first time in live action since their last canonical appearances, and so do a number of actors from the episodes featured in the boxed set, each pitching a business for Mel to invest in. It's pretty funny, and I like the commitment to the bit. If you're wondering how all these natives of different time periods could be there, note the time travelling bus from Delta and the Bannermen in the opener.
As for the ad portion of the story, they have the Doctor present a boxed set of their adventures recreated in 6D... perhaps tying into the idea that the TARDIS records everything for the Matrix's use, cobbling things together telepathically. If you accept that, all these boxed sets floating around in these stories could be canonical, even if the minisodes seem to depart from canon whenever they're invoked.
THEORIES: When Mel had last been seen, she was left on Iceworld, or really, in Sabalom Glitz's company, somewhere in the future. They never explained how she could be back in the 15th Doctor's era, working with UNIT in the 21st Century. This minisode, if taken as fact, could supply the answers. She made it big in the future (and shook off Glitz), which would certainly give her the resources to charter a time-travelling bus back home. But is that even necessary? Or has the 7th Doctor just now returned to give her a ride? There's still an untold story there, but it's starting to make more sense.
VERSIONS: AKA "A Business Proposal for Mel!"
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - A fun bit of business, especially in conjunction with Mel's return to the series in the years that followed.
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