How to save doctor who
I love doctor who but it is impossible to deny that it has been going through a tuff spot for a few years, some bad creative decisions were made and because of those choices the show has been backed into a corner. Beginning from Tennent taking on the role and ending with Witicas second season we were lucky enough to have a great team running doctor who but sadly that changed and created what can charitably called a mess.
How to save the show has become such a problem now that there are people calling for an out right reboot of everything right to the beginning but I don’t believe that’s the answer. That said though there is a problem of what to do with the show in regards to the story and because of previous mistakes that is sadly very difficult to the point some are saying it can’t be done however I don’t believe that’s the case. I believe there are things that could be done and that is what I’m looking to demonstrate here plus I’ve always believed if you are going to criticize a choice you should be able to propose an alternative.
The problem
There are several issues that were introduced to doctor who that need to be corrected and in order to do that they need to be identified first. The retconning of established cannon being the most obvious examples being the reveal of so called unknown doctors or the changes to the history of Galafray I do believe there are others though. Killing off the time lords again I believe undid character and story development that had brought something good to the show that created problems when it was removed. Also I feel in a general sense the idea of what doctor who is supposed to be was lost a little by certain individuals, doctor who is meant to represent certain ideals and that kind of stopped happening.
There have been other bad storylines as well but I’d argue those came out of these previous mistakes and are examples of people attempting to fix the show while retaining certain changes which is a nearly impossible task. To truly fix the show I’d argue a lot of this stuff needs to be undone, sadly you can’t really keep these elements and have the show still be what it’s meant to be especially not if we all want it to be great. However doing that convincingly has become hard due to the fact the changes to the cannon of the show have altered the rules of the time travel element creating another problem that needs to be overcome to save the show.
The beginning of the fix
In a show like doctor who the obvious answer to fix things would be to use the time travel element however because of several elements that has become hard which is why I believe the start needs to be the multiverse. To save the show unworkable elements need to be removed so it occurred to me that they need to be treated as what they essentially are, elements of a different kind of show. A storyline where different dimensions have begun to merge with the past present and future having elements of different worlds appearing and creating problems would allow the show to try and find a way to correct these problems. The result of this would be at the end of the season the show could truly been said to have been reset and the next season could in a sense rediscover the kind of show doctor who is meant to be.
In terms of the story I imagine it could be explained that in a different dimension someone changed something they weren’t supposed to change using time travel and as a result several new dimensions were created due to the knock on effects of that said change. Then the problems would be revealed that because those dimensions weren’t supposed to exist they were filling in the space other dimensions were meant to fill and because of this dimensions were beginning to merge. Due to this lack of space two or even more dimensions would slowly be becoming one which would be creating problems because stuff would be appearing that isn’t meant to be where it finds it’s self. Also it would be made clear time has no relevance on this problem so the doctor would be left to worry how much in their past might be a result of these dimensions bleeding into each other.
The doctors
A benefit of this idea would be that it could create away to explain undiscovered doctors with them being revealed to be doctors from different dimensions. In fact for this season I could imagine leaning into this concept with not just established other doctors being brought back but doctors from other dimensions being seen on the show. This way we could have for part of the show a team of five, six or even seven doctors working together to figure out what is going on with the multiverse and how working together they could fix it.
I should also say for these doctors casting restrictions should be removed for these ones, spider man into the spider verse is a good movie and there is some inspiration that could be had there. I imagine that there could be a gun slinging American doctor who, there could be a Teckpunk south Korean doctor who, there could be a black Africana doctor who, there could even be a teen girl Teck wiz doctor who.
The villain
The primary problem to solve this season would be the forces that are beginning to tear the multiverse apart so beyond the villain of the week there wouldn’t be an especially big bad but there is still room for a villain I think. One a villain that has already been established because of these changes to the show could be folded into these ideas as an individual who doesn’t want the doctors to save the multiverse or in deed a new villain could be created. The cause of these changes could be said to be giving someone power somehow and as a result they don’t want things to be changed back which would in turn build them up as someone the doctors have to work around.
The companions
When it comes to the companion of the season I think it would be most effective if the show has someone new so at the beginning of the season this way the doctor could connect with someone new because of the changes happening in the main universe. Due to what’s happening they would start working together to try and solve the problem and as the season progressed they would meet other doctors and as a result other companions. Here I’d also add an enemies to lovers element with this companion getting off to a bad start with the American doctors companion but gradually they would start to work together and the two could even lead the other companions.
With the other doctors I’d largely just let that be a matter of who could be cast but I also think this would be an opportunity to revisits certain highlights such as an alternate version of K9 appearing with one doctor. Also some shock value surprises could be considered such as the south Korean doctor having a blue tiger or maybe one of them somehow being friends with a reformed dalek or maybe something in that vain. Whatever choices were made though I’d want to make sure the companions were built up as a team because going with old femes of the show I’d want them to be the ones who saved things in the end.
The showdown
As I’ve said previously I don’t think the villain would be the most important part here but I’s still want there to be a showdown where the villain confronts all the doctors at once. In the episode the doctors would have figured out which dimension it was where things started but not what was changed however just as they were making their plans to go and find out what happened the villain would attack.
While the villain was laughing at the doctors though in front of various Tardis I’d want to see the doctors start laughing and point out one Tardis is missing and that there are none of their friends in the room. Only then would the villain realise that the doctors have been distracting them while the companions all prepare to go to the world where the change happened and try and undo the change. All the doctors would have to battle the villain with this idea but I think an episode where the companions have to work together and save the day without any doctor could make for a really good episode.
The change
Now in terms of the dimension where the change happened to make things tragic I wouldn’t want the change to have been bad. I’d want it to be revealed that an assassination or something like that was prevented and as a result the group needs to let it happen in order to save the multiverse. Now I don’t know what in history this change would end up being because the one I’d use would be too political however the message would still be the same because the point would be you don’t erase the mistakes of the past, you learn from them so you do better today than you did yesterday.
Final scenes
After the change had been prevented I’d have a typical tragic time correction where time and the multiverse begin to reset, the team of companions included with them beginning to disappear. Eventually it would be left with the main two enemies to romance characters getting a moment to share a kiss before disappearing with a fade into black where things would pick up with the main companion back at the beginning of the season. I’d wanted to be built up like it’s the moment she met the main doctor but without the change that created the chain of events that led them to meeting possibly with them passing the Tardis in the background. I’d want this to continue just long enough that the viewer thinks this is how it’s going to end however there would be a chance meeting where the two companions end up meeting again now that things are how they are meant to be.
As to the doctor I think there would be two options for a final scene of the show with there either being a mysterious shadowy scene or there being a comedy pretend scene. There could be a scene where a shadowy figure is seen picking up a lost sonic and leaving in the Tardis which would mean the next season the show could pick up somewhere new with the correct cannon reestablished. There could also be a scene where we see all the doctors together wondering what they should do now while they wait for them to disappear and then one could say they could have a sing off where they literally sing off the season on stage singing something like time warp. Both endings would leave the show in the same place next season but there is a choice of ending note that is hard to settle on I find.
Conclusion
The point of all of this is to allow a way to have the show drop stuff that doesn’t work and get back to what made the show great with a soft reboot of sorts which I believe you get here with these ideas. Ultimately these are just a few ideas though and a possible way to fix the problem and I can’t be sure if it would work without a second opinion so I put it out to people here, do you think this would work?