The future of Doctor Who remains uncertain, despite recent rumors of a partnership between the BBC, Sony, and AMC. These were triggered by a “press release” posted on Reddit, purporting to be a leak; although it only seemed to be a draft, the dates specified in it have now passed. That means we should certainly consider this dubious; it doesn’t appear to have been AI-generated, but it has yet to be fulfilled.
That said, the supposed leak does raise an important question about Doctor Who’s future. It used the critical word “reboot” rather than “relaunch,” an important distinction. Relaunches are an everyday part of Doctor Who – every regeneration provides the opportunity for another relaunch – but a full-scale reboot has never happened before. Is one likely, and would it be a good idea for the world’s longest-running sci-fi TV show to go through its first ever reboot?
This isn’t the first time we’ve had reports of a potential Doctor Who reboot. Doctor Who was cancelled once before by the BBC, in 1989, in part because the show had become too insular and continuity-focused. In the aftermath of that cancellation, there were discussions about launching a rebooted series out of a made-for-TV movie. The franchise ultimately went in a very different direction, with a 1996 TV movie that carried straight on from the main series but featured several retcons; still, details of the proposed reboots were published in Jean-Marc Lofficier’s fantastic book The Nth Doctor, and they make fascinating reading.
Looking through those summaries and scripts, Doctor Who reboots all tended to be revised origin stories. Some were smart attempts to reconcile conflicting lore (the Time Lords themselves were a retcon introduced in “The War Games,” and elements contradict with the show’s first episode). Many focused on the relationship between the Doctor and the Master, exploring how their friendship fell apart, while others tried to give the Doctor a more personal stake in Earth. One of the 1996 TV movie’s most hated ideas, that the Doctor is half-human, came from these scripts.
One other element is particularly striking; these all attempted to deal with Doctor Who‘s reputation for cheap special effect. They featured spectacular plots and galactic stakes, clearly demanding big budgets, and they should really be seen as spiritual ancestors of the 2005 Doctor Who relaunch. There, showrunner Russell T. Davies did his best to ditch the worst aspects of Doctor Who‘s reputation, and the pattern continued under Steven Moffat, Chris Chibnall, and during Davies’ return. BBC execs admit Doctor Who‘s budget remains a concern, and this is why.
There are really two different ways the BBC could reboot Doctor Who. The first, following the pattern of The Nth Doctor, is to present a revised origin story for the Doctor and run from there. This option is arguably more attractive than ever before, simply because it could well be used to erase the controversial Timeless Child retcon that has divided the fanbase; alternatively, it could commit to it instead, finally bringing narrative purpose out of an idea that was added purely to tweak the lore.
A smart showrunner may well initially attempt to blur the lines as to whether this was a reboot or a sort of “prequel” series to the main show. The Timeless Child and Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor canonically prove there were pre-Hartnell incarnations of the Doctor, so an unlimited number of stories could be slotted in quite easily. Unfortunately, conflict would be inevitable; there’s simply too much more, and any encounter between the Doctor and a classic monster – say, the Cybermen – would cause problems.
The second option is perhaps the most interesting. This would use Russell T. Davies’ upcoming Christmas Special to reset the timeline, perhaps by introducing a “timey-wimey” plot device. The Moffat era literally rebooted the universe at one point, and then featured a story in which the Doctor and his companion entered his own timeline to prevent it being rewritten. Davies’ Christmas Special already features Billie Piper in an unknown role, perhaps related to the “Bad Wolf” arc where her character Rose absorbed the time-space vortex. Smart writing could easily write a reboot into the actual story.
Doctor Who fans are understandably nervous right now. This is a show that was cancelled once before, and there are striking comparisons between the Chibnall and “RTD2” eras and the last wave of Doctor Who stories in the 1980s. Continuity and lore has been over-emphasized, seen as a selling point at a time when pop culture is moving into a post-franchise era. Character arcs haven’t been handled consistently, when they’ve existed at all. A reboot – a big red button that erases all of this – feels tempting.
In reality, though, it should be unnecessary. Every regeneration serves as a potential relaunch point for Doctor Who, so a general reset has been baked into the show’s design since Troughton replaced Hartnell. The problem does not lie with the continuity and lore, or with Doctor Who‘s age; it lies with the decisions made by showrunners and their writing teams, when they focused in on these aspects of the franchise and thus lost general audiences. Doctor Who doesn’t need a reboot, it just needs better judgment.
In fact, a reboot runs the risk of continuing the problems. It’s easy to imagine showrunners stepping in who were focused on lore and thus thrilled at the possibility of remaking iconic stories for the modern age; a new “Genesis of the Daleks,” for example, or a new Cyberman origin. But this would just mean the reboot became a pale imitation of its successor, forever compared with what had gone before; there’s a reason J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot dwindled and we’re back to the main Star Trek timeline now. Doctor Who would be wise to avoid the same mistake.
Do you think Doctor Who needs a reboot? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
