Have you ever danced with Disney in the pale moon light?

Doctor Who has. And, after two years, the dance is officially over per the BBC. We still have one more Disney/BBC co-production, the spin-off The War Between the Land and Sea. Although, to be honest, I feel like that production has gotten little to no traction in fandom. I'm just seeing very little excitement about it. But it looks like a solid story (not sure about the title) and I'm always up for more UNIT.

That being said, by the time it comes out in 2026, it might feel like a weird little side alley in the history of Doctor Who. When it was first announced, it sounded like Disney and the BBC were excited about many years working together, expanding the "Whoniverse" beyond the main show. Now, the show is back on the BBC, which is still having funding woes, after a relaunch that fell pretty flat with viewers, fans, and critics alike.

I'm sure there's already been a lot written about why it didn't work. That's not why I'm writing this. Whatever you thought of the two seasons we got as part of the Disney deal, we can see by the end result that it did not work. That leaves the question...

Where Does Doctor Who Go From Here?

As a fan since I was eight, I've seen a lot of Doctor Who. I've seen exceptional Doctor Who, mediocre Doctor Who, and (yes) downright bad Doctor Who. That doesn't make me an expert in what makes good Doctor Who. But, with that perspective I honestly think we've had a rough decade of Doctor Who. Certainly the show's popularity has been on a slide since the Tennant and Smith years. But that's almost a given with any long-lived series, and I don't think the ideas and efforts behind any of it were particularly wrong-headed. They just haven't quite worked as well, and the expectations for what Doctor Who could be rose signifcantly after the 2005 revival.

What Changes Would I Like to See?

Here's my prescription for change for the good Doctor. I've tried hard not to just be swayed by what I've liked best about Doctor Who, but rather really think about how Doctor Who can work in the 2020s.

More Episodes

I think a season of modern Doctor Who needs more than 8 episodes a season + a Christmas Special. Doctor Who production has been a punishing beast ever since it returned in 2005. And certainly it's not got cheaper to produce. But whereas RTD was able to riff on the concept of episodic storytelling with an overarching storyline so well during the show's revival, that was one of the areas that particularly suffered for me in the most recent seasons. While Christopher Eccelston famously only had one season of Doctor Who, Ncuti didn't have that many more episodes, and he had two seasons.

Imagine trying to take the Doctor and Rose's relationship in the first season and compress it by five episodes. That's what the show put on the Doctor and Ruby, and it simply fell flat by the end. I loved those two together, but by the end it felt like there just hadn't been enough time for the characters to become what they were supposed to be to each other (and us) by the end of the season. This only got worse in the second season, where the truly excellent team of the Doctor and Belinda were poorly served by the end of the season. Now, with that you can put some of the blame on reshoots necessary for Ncuti's decision to leave (following Disney dragging their feet) but even then, it feels poorly conceived trying to take the big bad arc that shows like Buffy had (in 22 episode seasons!) AND have your fluffy "for the kids" adventure AND a Doctor-lite episode. So, they either need to use a different formula when planning out the season or be less ambitious in the scope.

Smaller Stories

Part of the problem with Doctor Who relying on epic storylines for so much of it's post 2005 revival is that the stakes keep having to get higher and higher. Forget the Earth being in danger. All of reality and time are regularly in danger and it's just not sustainable. Putting aside the cost, each time reality/time/universe is saved, the returns feel more and more diminished. In theory, with a show like Doctor Who you want to keep bringing in fresh audiences. That's what RTD and team tried to do with Disney. But, again, with eight episodes it'd probably be wiser to build up to that big mega-plot over 2-3 years and not just one season.

Plus, some of the gems we've gotten over the years are actually quite small. Revolving around the fate of a small group of people. Or one. The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Midnight, and Vincent & The Doctor just to name a few.

Have the Doctor Shut Up Some

I think, in general, the manic verbal diarrhea mode of the Doctor has been done and done to DEATH. It's always a bit depressing when a new Doctor comes on and they're given the same bouncy, elaborate speech patterns that have defined the character since Tennant. The lone exception to that was Capaldi, a real attempt to break away from that some. Although he also indulged in the other vice the Doctors since Tennant have been known for—speechifying.

I am honestly so sick of hearing the Doctor tell us how great he is. I'm also not really that into him telling us how great we (humans) are and I especially don't want the Doctor fishing for some love from everyone around him like some desperate TikTokker at 3am in a doom spiral.

Enough Easy Plot Resolutions

It started with RTD, but it's only gotten worse as the show has gone on. RTD said in his (excellent and fascinating) book on writing and making Doctor Who that he isn't afraid to take short cuts when he wants to keep the plot moving. The sonic is always a problem, magically doing whatever the plot needs it to, unless something is suddenly "deadlocked" because the plot demands the sonic not be effective. It's not particularly interesting to have one made up thing stop another made up thing from doing everything when there's no real sense of the "rules." That being said, I'm honestly usually fine with these moments, especially if we get a satisfying resolution. But when that sort of hand-waving happens to resolve the whole plot. Well, now there are problems.

The Doctor is supposed to be brilliant. I know it's hard to write brilliant characters. It's one reason we didn't have more episodes of Sherlock at a go. But both the defeats of Sutekh and Omega felt incredibly rushed after a lot of build up. And those are just two of the bigger more recent examples. If all it takes is for the Doctor to make a speech and zip around a bit, you start to wonder why it took him so long to do that.

That's Not All, Of Course...

Obviously, that's not all I'd like to see. A fantastic writer/showrunner with a fresh and distinct POV in necessary. I'm a bit disconnected from the show these days when it comes to the behind the scenes stuff. Especially compared to when it first relaunched. So, I'm not sure if there are any bright lights in the current crop of writers who might qualify. To be honest, most of my favorite episodes from the last two series just had RTD's name on them. So there's no clear heir apparent, and while someone of the stature of J. Michael Straczynski taking over sounds amazing, I still wonder if the BBC would name a not UK citizen as showrunner. Plus, I still hope he'd be able to get that Babylon 5 reboot off the ground.

What about you? What would like to see? I'd love to hear more Doctor Who fans thoughts on this!