So, about Doctor Who.

 

Well, here we are at the end of it all, again. The last time this happened, I was eight years old and didn't know what Doctor Who even was. Now I've had it as a consistent part of my life for decades, writing about it and adjacent to it, and it's come to this. The series is now effectively up for bidding, with generous estimates saying the soonest it could come back is 2028. Alongside this comes news from Russell The Davies that there was neither Christmas script nor considered actor.

As a friend of mine very accurately put it, now is the time when everyone issues their lukewarm takes on what went wrong and how to fix it. So I guess it's my turn.

What went wrong?
I don't know, and I think most people who claim they do know are answering the wrong question. Plenty of people can explain why the most recent run (in whole or in part) didn't work for them, but the whole Disney+ era feels like it's been fraught with half-truths behind the scenes and in the press.

The Reality War was the first time in Doctor Who history that we've had an incumbent actor depart without an official statement to the press beforehand. (I did my research.) (Also leaks don't count as press.) The news we got about the big changes via reshoots, the suddenness of Billie Piper's appearance, all of it, it's clear there was a scramble and a shuffle. For months, we've been asking ourselves what a Bad Wolf-faced Doctor means for the show, when we should have been stepping back and going "What is going on?"

As to the posts and press releases, I remain neutral. I've worked in a corner of the entertainment industry long enough to know that legalities are weird and that just because someone says something on the record doesn't make it true. I'm sure a tell-all will come out in a decade or two, or the right person will be on the right panel at a convention and it'll all come out.

For now, I'm not going to say it's pointless to discuss where the show went wrong story-wise. But I will say that I'm pretty sure the real problems are still being hidden from us.

How would I personally fix it?
Panic and hand it to Paul Magrs.

No, seriously. When it comes to "fixing" Doctor Who, I have never believed I'm the person to ask, and I still don't. Bear in mind that my contributions to the Whoniverse so far have been writing an Initial D-inspired short story starring Sgt. Benton, introducing a pro-wrestling branch of Faction Paradox, and putting two Sailor Moons in the City of the Saved. (And that's just counting what's published; certain publishers have more from me in the wings.) You don't want me to try to fix Doctor Who.

What I will say is that I don't believe throwing more money at it will fix it. I don't think Disney money was ever the answer, and I certainly don't think the partnership as a whole was necessarily wise. But also I'm a professional Disney monopoly opp, so I might be biased.

I've seen others online (including a Classic Who writer) say that the problem is in the story becoming too mired in its own lore and canon. That definitely felt like a sticking point in an era when we got hammered with a lot of things that required (to quote Stephen Wyatt) a "course in Who-ology" to parse. I'm a big believer that viewers should be able to enjoy a show at any stage of their fandom. But I'm also not wise enough to know how to make that right.

What should we do in the meantime?
Well, there's loads of Who-adjacent media out there. Heck, I work on some of it.

My hope is that Big Finish will be nice and active during this time, since I believe their Doctor Who license is already pretty nicely renewed. There's also the Circuit Breaker multimedia project starring Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor. That might be a tricky one to keep up on, especially since it's spread across so many companies, but I will say I'm intrigued.

And of course there's Obverse Books, whom I am rather biased toward since I do a lot of writing for them. Depending on what you fancy, there are a few things to keep you busy:

• The Black Archive: Book-length looks at Doctor Who stories from all across the series's run. I'm one of the main editors for the line and have also written two entries (with more in the wings). New books are released every two months: plenty of time to grab copies, rewatch favorite episodes, and read the related archive!
• Forgotten Lives: Extremely unofficial, but it does appear to have a thriving fandom. Eight authors were called upon to pick one face each from The Brain of Morbius and design a Doctor from the ground up. I'm the primary (but not only!) writer behind the Hinchcliffe Doctor, a sort of frustrated swashbuckler with a sour side. Three whole volumes are available for your reading pleasure!
• The Cushing Doctor Novelisations: Several Obverse writers under pen names contribute to another "alternate history" project, in which Cushing's "Dr. Who" character adventures through more adaptations of televised episodes!
• Iris Wildthyme: There's a boatload of Iris to enjoy, including an ongoing series of "new adventures"! Paul Magrs's fabulous time traveller, her companion Panda, and her Celestial Omnibus have appeared in past Doctor Who tie-ins, and now she's having more of her own.
• Faction Paradox: There's a boatload of these as well, including the City of the Saved spinoff series (for which I've written three times now). A returning threat to the Doctor, once again from the tie-in novels, now wreaking havoc in a variety of spinoffs. The latest is the multi-volume Boulevard anthology.

This is absolutely not a complete list, either from Obverse or in general. There is so much Who out there in so many formats, by so many talented people. As we wait to see what's next, it would be wonderful to support those people and groups.