1990's Doctor Who

JSmith

Banned
Not sure if this has been addressed before but what would it take to have had Doctor Who run throughout the 1990's and into the 2000's and 2010's ? Who would have been the Doctor in the 1990's ? How many would we have by now. Any more spinoffs? Would it still be as popular today ?


Seems related :)

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AltBBCGordon

It would have fallen foul of the massive shake up that affected the internal structure of the BBC by John Birt.

Though on the other hand it could have been picked up by an independent team for the BBC and that might have revitalised the show.

I think there are 2 outcomes:

1. Revitalisation. This would have been a reinvestment in the show as the BBC heavily reinvested in dramas in the 1990s. It would probably have had it's budget beefed up and moved to a Saturday night slot.

Then it could form the start of what was arguably a ratings juggernaut as Saturday nights were in the 90s.

This may have lead to probably an Ace spin off show and I would actually imagine a U.N.I.T. spin off as well. Or some type of X-Files cash in.

I think this is most likely as the creation of Crime Traveller fulfilled a Saturday night sci fi slot.

2. Wind down. It would have been cancelled either way. Jonathan Powell didn't really like it. And all the changes in the internal structures allows the show to fall through a chasm as it is passed from department to department
 
Meadow

Meadow

I've always had a hunch that Alan Davies would've ended up in the role at some point. Jonathan Creek is so much like a late-90s Doctor Who stand-in at times it's unsubtle.
 

AltBBCGordon

Meadow said:
I've always had a hunch that Alan Davies would've ended up in the role at some point. Jonathan Creek is so much like a late-90s Doctor Who stand-in at times it's unsubtle.
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I agree. If I can find it somewhere there is an interview with David Renwick tactfully avoiding whether Jonathan Creek is a rewritten Doctor Who
 

Marky Bunny

There where detailed plans drawn up by Andrew Cartmel for season 27 and beyond.

Several stories had been planned with Ace being written out and sent to Gallifrey to become a Timelord.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_(season_26)
This gives some of the background to the planned season 27. Sylvester McCoy planned to leave after season 27, he would have done four series.

DWM did a brilliant article in about 1997/98 written if season 27 and beyond had actually happened it was brilliant!
 

JSmith

Banned
Marky Bunny said:
There where detailed plans drawn up by Andrew Cartmel for season 27 and beyond.

Several stories had been planned with Ace being written out and sent to Gallifrey to become a Timelord.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_(season_26)
This gives some of the background to the planned season 27. Sylvester McCoy planned to leave after season 27, he would have done four series.!
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Thanks :)

Marky Bunny said:
DWM did a brilliant article in about 1997/98 written if season 27 and beyond had actually happened it was brilliant!
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Link?
 

Marky Bunny

JSmith said:
Thanks :)


Link?
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No link for that it was not on-line in the early years of the web, so I am not sure if it ever appeared on-line at all. After Series 27 in 1990 it ended with the 7th Doctor regenerating after being subjected to a mental attack and he took his own life (regrenration).

Basically Richard Griffiths became the 8th Doctor in Jan 1992 and the show returned to Saturday nights!!
 

The Vet

Apparently Richard Griffiths wasn't up for the role so I wonder who would have succeeded Sylvester? I wonder what 90s Daleks would have looked like? Would we have some of the ideas that ended up in the New and Missing Adventures books turn up on the small screen? An alternate Earth ruled by Silurians would have been interesting as would The Monk as a Richard Branson type millionare
 

TheYoungPretender

I just imagined an X-Files crossover, and my mind was officially blown.

More nuts and bolts though, can you up-budget Who without a cancellation that doesn't have the fan base up in arms? As it is, the fifteen year gap allowed for some emotional closure, and some acceptance of the changes. Killing the spirit of it, etc. And, can you up budget it in a way that doesn't end up killing some of the spark?

Does 90's Who end up like Deep Space Nine in the Star Trek franchise? Darker themes, even bigger overarching plot arcs, characters that grow.... and legions of fans who never forgive it for not being a carbon copy of what they started on (TNG in the Star Trek example, full on, Colin Baker wearing clothes he stole from a clown in the Who example). So quite good, but inspiring of even many irritable fan debates.
 

Garrison

Donor
The Doctor trundling into the 90's would probably have been a disaster. Although Star Trek TNG had been running for a couple of years by the time of Doctor Who's cancellation in 1989 but it was season 3 that premièred in 1989 where the show really took off. X-Files and Deep Space 9 would arrive in 1993, Babylon 5 in 1994. US TV sci-fi would have made Doctor Who look really tired and the catch is the kind of changes that would have freshened up the show would have alienated many the Doctor Who fans of that era. The show would probably have ground to a halt in the mid-nineties and been seen as having come to a natural end rather than having been bumped off.
 
ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

Garrison said:
The Doctor trundling into the 90's would probably have been a disaster. Although Star Trek TNG had been running for a couple of years by the time of Doctor Who's cancellation in 1989 but it was season 3 that premièred in 1989 where the show really took off. X-Files and Deep Space 9 would arrive in 1993, Babylon 5 in 1994. US TV sci-fi would have made Doctor Who look really tired and the catch is the kind of changes that would have freshened up the show would have alienated many the Doctor Who fans of that era. The show would probably have ground to a halt in the mid-nineties and been seen as having come to a natural end rather than having been bumped off.
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Not necessarily.

Many fans of those shows were ALSO fans of Doctor Who. The Doctor's special effects would have improved as time went on (and indeed they DID improve -- compare the 3rd doctor's effects with the 7th's.).
 

TheYoungPretender

But what's to say the fans will stay? You start changing the budget, and some of the feel and setting of Who, and it'll make some of the current Moffet vs. Davies fanbase jihads seem tame. Thence cancellation sometime around 1996.
 

Marky Bunny

As I mentioned on the Other thread with Ian Richardson as the Doctor in the early 70's he was on a short list, as was I believe Michael Kitchen!

Some the new Adventures stuff as TV adventures would have ben great. The problem was the show was cancelled at just the point when 1) the show was re discovering itself with some excellent shows (watch Curse of Fenric from Season 26, all location "period" filming and superb story) 2)Special effects where improving and heading towards the CGI we have now.
 
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Plus-Sized Scribe

Plus-Sized Scribe

Well, we can assume that in 1990 or 1991, depending on how long the BBC twiddles its thumbs, the show comes back. Let's say, for the sake of argument, in 1991. Same production team as before, with an additional three episodes added to the season to allow for the production of the Seventh Doctor's regeneration story.

Earth Aid premieres on BBC1 at 7.25 on Sept. 7th, which is followed by Ice Time, cuing Ace's departure to become a Time Lord (as was planned). From there, Raine Cunningham joins the TARDIS crew in the following story - Crime of the Century. The next story is Night Thoughts (later adapted for Big Finish), and the season wraps up with the Seventh Doctor's regeneration story, Alixion.

Earth Aid - by Ben Aaronovitch - 3 parts
Ice Time - by Marc Platt - 4 parts
Crime of the Century - by Ben Aaronovitch - 4 parts
Night Thoughts - by Edward Young - 3 parts
Alixion - by Robin Mukherjee - 3 parts

From here things get murky, but we can assume the Eighth Doctor's first season would look something like this, assuming there were an order for 20 episodes. Let's also assume that Marc Platt has taken over as script editor.

Network - by Ben Aaronovitch (and Marc Platt, uncredited ) - 4 episodes
Animal - by Andrew Cartmel - 4 episodes
Hostage - by Neil Penswick - 3 episodes
A School for Glory - by Tony Etchells and (Unknown co-writer) - 2 episodes
Avatar - by David A. McIntee - 3 episodes
Illegal Alien - by Mike Tucker - 4 episodes

This is, of course, mainly well-inferred guesswork for Season 28 here.

As for the Eighth Doctor? Richard Griffiths, Robert Hardy, and perhaps John Thaw all stick out as being clear choices. At least to me. Maybe Ben Kingsley?
 
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