FEATURE: How A Doctor Who Movie Or TV Reboot Could Work

 FEATURE: How A Doctor Who Movie Or Reboot Could Work

Rumours have been circulating lately that Doctor Who could be receiving a big screen feature debut or TV reboot, which would aim to bring both new and old fans aboard. The source comes from a mysterious poster on Gallifrey Base, who claims that the BBC and Warner Bros. are collaborating on a secret project at Leavesden Studios, the production lot most famous for the creation of the Harry Potter movies. Of course, this would not be the first time the show has received the cinematic treatment, or indeed a televisual reboot, given the show's tendency to reboot itself whenever a new Doctor and/or showrunner takes over the reins  -  the last reboot was only in 2018 with The Woman Who Fell To Earth, and Doctor Who was shown in cinemas as recently as 2014 with Deep Breath, although it is worth noting that this was a TV simulcast rather than a production made exclusively for the cinema circuit. 

However, Warner Bros.' involvement, if true, would suggest bigger and more widespread changes to bring the series more in line with their other film and television properties. For that reason, I thought it would be fun to speculate just what a BBC/Warner Bros. co-production could look like, by offering a few possibilities for the direction they could explore...

A Prequel Film/Series

In 2006, CBBC's original idea for a children's spin-off revolved around a prequel series concerning the Doctor's younger days at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. Russell T Davies famously was not a fan of the idea, and this led to the creation of The Sarah Jane Adventures. And the rest is history.

But what if the BBC and Warner Bros. chose to revive this idea? It's worth noting that this is an approach that Warner Bros. have taken with the Wizarding World franchise, which their popular Fantastic Beasts series of films, so they are clearly open to the idea of exploring the early days of a British multimedia franchise. A prequel series could suit either the film or television medium, and possesses a variety of different directions they could take. How about a series showing a TImeless Child Doctor growing up on Gallifrey, for instance? Or the Doctor's work with The Division? Maybe we could even get a series that shows the rise of Rassilon, Omega and The Other, and how they collaborated to create the first ever TARDIS machine?

                                                                       A Time War Movie

Big Finish have had considerable success telling stories within the Time War. Their audios concerning this most mysterious area of Doctor Who history began with the late Sir John Hurt's audio adventures, and have since expanded to encompass ranges featuring the Eighth Doctor, Susan Foreman and even Ace. It's clear that there is still a lot of interest in this part of the mythology, and so what better way to explore this important event in the Doctor's history than with a cinematic feature?

A film budget would allow the Time War to be fully realised on screen, giving it the necessary budget required in order to show the unstoppable threat that the war posed for the universe as a whole, and whilst we would no longer be able to see Sir John Hurt reprise his role for such a movie, there would still be the possibility of Paul McGann reprising his incarnation of the Doctor. It would be great to see Paul McGann's incarnation receive a further visual adventure after having only starred in a TV Movie and a minisode up until this point, and a Time War movie would also likely give us Paul McGann's first on-screen confrontation with the Daleks, which would be very cool to witness on the big screen.

Shared Universe TV Spin-Offs

Lately Russell T Davies made the suggestion that Doctor Who should be expanding into a shared universe, similar to what Disney Plus are currently exploring with their Marvel Studios TV Series. Whilst I may not entirely agree with this idea - I personally believe it would be a mistake to have more than one Doctor operating on TV at the same time, as Russell T Davies suggests in the interview - it's hard not to see the merits in the idea.

For one, it would create untapped fan excitement - imagine the hype within the fandom had Time Lord Victorious been a series of television spin-offs, with one solo show each for the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Doctors, the Daleks and Rose Tyler, and each tying into a singular narrative arc resolved in a big televisual event series? The fandom may have just exploded. 

And then there's the limitless potential such a concept would provide.

Want a Jenny (the Doctor's Daughter) spin-off? Wait a couple of months, and it will be on Netflix or HBO Max. Eager to see the continued adventures of The Paternoster Gang? Sure, that's coming this Summer. Practically any character could be given a shared universe series, as viewers would watch regardless of the obscurity in order to see how the series all tie in. 

This is an avenue that Warner Bros. is actively exploring with their Worlds of DC franchise, with the likes of directors such as James Gunn (Pacemaker, based on the obscure DC Comics villain by the same name) and Zack Snyder (Justice League: The Snyder Cut) providing content for their HBO Max service. Doctor Who could perhaps follow in the footsteps of the Worlds of DC, and offer yet more content for geeks around the world to lose their minds.

A Torchwood Movie

In 2019, John Barrowman revealed in an interview with the RadioTimes his ideas for a Torchwood movie featuring David Tennant and Billie Piper. Whilst this was likely pure speculation on John Barrowman's part, it is admittedly a very strong idea, and something which - let's face it - many fans would love to see. 

During the course of Torchwood's TV run, the Doctor was banned from appearing by executive producer Russell T Davies, who felt it would be inappropriate for the Doctor to show up in an adult-orientated show, and potentially encouraging children to watch the series. This rule has since been broken, with David Tennant set to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor in the upcoming Torchwood audio drama 'Absent Friends', but nothing would beat seeing this happen in a visual format, as great as the Big Finish audios are, and so the prospect of a Torchwood movie starring David Tennant is still a very exciting thought to ponder.

A Non-Canonical Film Reboot

In the 60s, two Doctor Who movies starring Peter Cushing were released. Dr Who And The Daleks and Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD were non-canonical adventures featuring a human inventor known as 'Dr Who' battling the Daleks alongside his grandchildren Susan and Barbara, Barbara's boyfriend Ian and hapless policeman Tom Campbell. A future Doctor Who movie could follow the same path, by creating its own separate canon away from the television series and removing the years of mythology that the show has built up during its years on air.

This approach would solve a number of issues that creating a canonical Doctor Who movie would possess. Firstly, it wouldn't require the current TV cast, seeing as it would be an entirely new set of actors, and free up the current stars of the television franchise to concentrate purely on creating new TV adventures. Secondly, it would remove the need for new audiences to understand and be aware of the TV Series' past history in order to understand the film, as it would not contain the baggage that comes from the show's pre-existing canon. Thirdly, it would offer more creative freedom to the writer and director of the feature movie, as they would no longer be saddled with having to stay within and avoid contradicting the show's continuity.

A full-scale film reboot is also a concept that Warner Bros. have previously expressed interest in before. During the Moffat era, esteemed Harry Potter director David Yates was in talks to helm a Doctor Who film that was planned to form its own separate continuity. Steven Moffat, however, was not happy with the idea and stepped in before the project progressed any further. It is currently unknown as to whether current showrunner Chris Chibnall holds the same reservations about a Doctor Who film reboot, and so it is entirely possible that a similar project has been given the go-ahead by the current Doctor Who production team.

What are your thoughts on the Doctor Who movie/TV reboot rumours? Let me know in the comments.