ListNook

greenearrow Mar 30, 2026 +105

If Star Trek and doctor who both end up under paramount’s thumb, it will be a very bad day for sci fi

105

The-Soul-Stone Mar 30, 2026 +73

There’s no prospect whatsoever of the BBC ever giving up control of Doctor Who. If Disney couldn’t wrestle some control off them, nobody can.

73

sethsom3thing Mar 30, 2026 +33

There needs to be some type of quality control. The BBC really needed to reign RTD in.

33

ImpossibleGuardian Mar 30, 2026 +42

You can't really blame the BBC for giving him free rein after how successful his first stint as showrunner was (and even how strong most of his shows post-Doctor Who have been). He should have been one of the safest pair of hands they could have chosen, but he seemed to forget what worked well from 2005-2010 and leant into some of his worst storytelling instincts instead.

42

alexjuuhh Mar 30, 2026 +6

That’s still so strange as well, because after Doctor Who he’s had some great projects with *Cucumber/Banana/Tofu*, *Years and Years* and *It’s A Sin*. I wonder why he suddenly dropped the ball with his Who return.

6

EchoesofIllyria Mar 30, 2026 +8

Eh, his second reign wasn’t really THAT different to his first. The truncated seasons just made the bullshit-ridden series finales much more prominent in the overall quality (and he definitely crowbarred in social commentary in a heavy-handed, counterproductive way). But really the overall episode quality fluctuated just as much in his first run, particularly the endings. But you can get away with that more with 13 episodes rather than 8, particularly when they don’t end well.

8

TheJoshider10 Mar 30, 2026 +7

> Eh, his second reign wasn’t really THAT different to his first. Massive disagree. RTD2 was all of the bad parts of of the RTD1 era with very little of the good. Even some of the shit in 2005 like plastic Mickey and farting Slitheen were levels above the goblin and space baby nonsense we got in RTD2.

7

EchoesofIllyria Mar 30, 2026 +4

Gotta be honest, I don’t think they were. I think that’s just nostalgia. But obviously it’s all opinion. I think Wild Blue Yonder, Dot and Bubble, The Well (except for the needless sequel element), 73 Yards and a couple of others I forget off-hand, stand up to the best of RTD1. Having said all that, I don’t like RTD1 as much as many others do, which might be the difference.

4

tomrichards8464 Mar 30, 2026 +1

RTD1 had Moffat episodes to raise the average. We wouldn't think of it so fondly without Blink etc.

1

williamthebloody1880 Mar 31, 2026 +1

RTD2 had Moffat episodes as well

1

geek_of_nature Mar 31, 2026 +3

I think the budget constraints really helped him out the first time round too. He seems to get drawn in by the spectacle of it all, that at least when hes got a smaller budget to work with he does focus more on the writing and character work. But when hes got a larger one he tends to get a bit lost.

3

Kevbot1000 Mar 30, 2026 +3

I honestly liked most of his recent run, but I just disliked both finales.

3

The_Man_of_Steel Mar 30, 2026 +6

Because he was trying to do it differently and trying new shit he wasn't skilled at writing rather than doing what he was good at. Instead of grounded character drama and 2000AD-style science fiction he was looking around at Stranger Things and Loki and Sex Education, and wanted to do magical stories with lots of political commentary about issues he is out of touch with and serialised mystery plots and Marvel-style deep lore references. He just assumed he'd be good at it I guess.

6

Kevbot1000 Mar 30, 2026 +1

Especially when 'Bring Back RTD' was being cried from fans for the entire time he was gone til the actual season happened.

1

Sloppykrab Mar 30, 2026 +6

Bring back Moffat.

6

Frostymagnum Mar 31, 2026 +1

get someone new

1

Wrong-Vermicelli4723 Apr 1, 2026

Why so we can be in the same situation as now? His run in the end is why doctor who isn’t in the best place lol. Find someone new

0

Sloppykrab Apr 1, 2026 +1

His run was my favourite.

1

The_Man_of_Steel Mar 30, 2026 +4

Yeah for better or worse the Disney run was clearly not written by someone who was told "no" at any point.

4

British_Commie Mar 30, 2026 +2

Disney got to send notes and suggest some changes (RTD spoke about changes to Ncuti’s first episode made off the back of notes from Disney, for example), but RTD had final say creatively and boy does it show

2

Morgan-Moonscar Mar 31, 2026 +2

Meanwhile he used half the budget to make some shitty spinoff nobody asked for. We got less Ncuti Gawa as the Doctor so that RTD could make a long protracted recycling joke.

2

HolyFreakingXmasCake Mar 30, 2026 +6

There would be riots. Doctor Who is a British institution, it would be better off air than sold to the Americans.

6

KeremyJyles Mar 30, 2026 +9

> There would be riots. The reason the show is in the toilet is because nobody cares about it anymore.

9

ImpossibleGuardian Mar 30, 2026 +15

Not really true. The problem is the show has failed to significantly engage new audiences since about 2018, whilst also failing to meet the expectations of a lot of fans. Fans in particular still care - that's why they want some fresh leadership to hopefully bring a new lease of life to the show. There will always be an audience for Doctor Who, it's just a matter of making a good show within the confines of the modern media landscape. RTD had a pretty good opportunity but squandered it.

15

Quixotic_Seal Mar 30, 2026 +6

Even the Twelfth Doctor failed to engage a new audience, and basically isolated the existing one outside the h******* fanbase. Go back and look at the ratings, and you’ll see the start of the show’s ratings decline start there, with Season 11 absolutely trampling season 10 viewership despite it falling apart again afterwards. Capaldi’s run is an all time great era of the show, don’t get me wrong, but it did basically nothing to endear the mainstream audience to a different type of Doctor who isn’t a manic pixie dream boy. Even Clara seemed to hate and resent him for most of the first season. It was a classic example of how good storytelling doesn’t necessarily mean a successful show.

6

KeremyJyles Mar 30, 2026 +4

Every show has *some* kind of fanbase. There would not be riots over doctor who being given over to HBO, there would barely be a perceptible response on a national level at all, because people in general simply do not care, and with good reason given the state of it.

4

ImpossibleGuardian Mar 30, 2026 +5

In fairness I don't think the person you were replying to thought there would be literal riots (although maybe I'm wrong lol) There would be a negative response if the BBC started selling off its historic properties to American corporations - it would mark a significant shift in their media strategy and have wider cultural ramifications beyond just Doctor Who. A distribution deal like the Disney+ arrangement though? Sure, no one would really care.

5

tfhermobwoayway Mar 30, 2026 +1

Even if you aren’t a fan, it’s still British. Everything is becoming American these days. A British property being sold to Hollywood and propped up like Weekend at Bernie’s would be terrible.

1

KeremyJyles Mar 30, 2026 +1

Hollywood would genuinely do better than the last two seasons

1

tfhermobwoayway Mar 30, 2026 +2

Hollywood would make it totally identical to every other thing Hollywood makes.

2

KeremyJyles Mar 30, 2026 +2

See previous comment

2

minnick27 Mar 30, 2026 +1

I watched Christopher Ecclestons Doctor and enjoyed it, but never really followed up with Tennant. I just started in on the Disney series and it is not grabbing me at all. It's ok, but just ok

1

Quixotic_Seal Mar 30, 2026 -1

If you thought that was okay, go back and watch all of Nu Who. RTD2, the Disney era stuff, is the absolute worst Doctor Who made since 2004.

-1

tfhermobwoayway Mar 30, 2026 +1

The show is in the toilet because they’ve had a bad run of showrunners and plotlines. Happens to all sorts of beloved franchises.

1

Vironic Mar 30, 2026

Amazon to buy Doctor Who, and UNIT will now be under MI6 where they can have James Bond cameos.

0

nedlum Mar 30, 2026 +7

That explains the ending of *No Time To Die*, where Daniel Craig explodes and then regenerates into Idris Elba.

7

fentown Mar 30, 2026

I feel Gatwa's doctor was Disney going up to the BBC and asking "can we borrow this?"

0

NuPNua Mar 30, 2026 +6

They're not going to sell the IP, just a distribution deal.

6

pikachus_ghost_uncle Mar 30, 2026 +2

But hear me out, Dr who crossover episode with the cast of Starfleet academy /s

2

tin_dog Mar 30, 2026 +7

The Doctor would fit much better in the Star Wars universe. "Somehow the Master returned."

7

Wrong-Vermicelli4723 Apr 1, 2026 +1

They both don’t have any real rules so yeah I agree

1

mvallas1073 Mar 30, 2026 +4

No way BBC would allow an openly pro-MAGA propaganda company to even touch Doctor Who

4

SupervillainMustache Mar 30, 2026 +1

I agree but I also wanna mention there was a pretty cool comic a while back that had them crossover with the enemies being The Borg and Cybermen.

1

Careless_Royal8209 Mar 31, 2026 +1

It’d be Joever

1

Jerthy Mar 30, 2026 +1

Both franchises are completely destroyed anyways. No loss. Not anymore. Apple is the new safe haven for Sci-fi. And maybe Amazon.

1

JigglesTheBiggles Mar 30, 2026 -3

Why would it be bad for sci fi? How is Paramount any worse than Amazon or Netflix?

-3

questionernow Mar 30, 2026 -1

Agreed. Struggling to figure out how Amazon is any better.

-1

JigglesTheBiggles Mar 30, 2026 -1

Especially after what they did to The Wheel of Time

-1

fishy512 Mar 30, 2026 +15

C’mon Apple, you know you wanna take over Doctor Who.

15

Caleb902 Mar 30, 2026 +1

Has apple took on any existing IP ever? I don't think so.

1

Zanoklido Mar 30, 2026 +11

It has the Monarch monsterverse show.

11

Caleb902 Mar 31, 2026 +1

It's still an original show, and in a universe that didn't already have tv

1

Spacey_Penguin Mar 31, 2026 +6

Fraggle rock and Peanuts.

6

SupervillainMustache Mar 30, 2026 +2

Do you mean TV IP? Because Silo is an adaptation and they're going to be making Sanderson's Cosmere series IIRC.

2

Caleb902 Mar 31, 2026 +1

Yes tv, they've never bought in a IP from somewhere else to revive it or keep it going. Apple just doesn't do that

1

MajorFuckingDick Mar 30, 2026 +4

Didnt Disney just reboot the series for their service? I missed 2 seasons because it was considered a new show.

4

British_Commie Mar 30, 2026 +8

The two newest seasons were called ‘Season 1’ and ‘Season 2’ because Disney had concerns about potential new viewers not wanting to tune in to a long-running show. But bafflingly, despite being marketed as a fresh start/soft reboot, the two seasons were very heavy on callbacks with the big bads of both two seasons being Classic Who villains that preceded even the 2005 revival.

8

tfhermobwoayway Mar 30, 2026 +3

I don’t like how every great show is being Americanised.

3

bluehawk232 Mar 31, 2026 +3

BBC just needs to keep the show themselves, give the show a low budget, and pick a new showrunner and say make it work. Trying to make DW a big budget flashy scifi show goes against what we love about the series. Make it jank again

3

Herby_Hoover Mar 30, 2026 +6

It ain't never not gonna happen.

6

eldenpotato Mar 31, 2026 +2

Maybe some franchises should just be retired?

2

mvallas1073 Mar 30, 2026 +5

Netflix just got that nifty multi billion dollar payoff. I’d be happy if Doctor Who was under the same umbrella as Sesame Street

5

drelos Mar 30, 2026 +2

Agree, but they have to secure the rights to the revival new-Who worldwide (I am in South America and couldn't legally stream 2004- series here) too

2

Quixotic_Seal Mar 30, 2026 +2

Worth noting that streaming rights for the show are currently in limbo worldwide. They’re likely waiting to use them as bargaining chips to strike a deal for the post-RTD era .

2

drelos Mar 30, 2026 +2

Regardless the backlog and lack of time to watch everything I understand a newcomer at least feeling they have the chance to check the new-who (and even more a curated selection like a top 10 or 50). I watched most of it except the last 2 seasons with Jodie.

2

Lumpy_Masterpiece644 Mar 30, 2026 +5

HBO won't touch Dr Who with a barge pole. The show needs to rebuild credibility and an audience before any streaming platform takes a look.

5

wartopuk Mar 31, 2026 +2

HBO already did. A few years back they bought the world wide rights to it for a year or two, and did feck all with it. It was on Netflix at the time, and because they bought it, it had to leave netflix, even though there was no other way to legally watch it where I was.

2

Baumbauer1 Mar 30, 2026 +1

Another entertainment headlines based on a non answer.

1

Bananaman9020 Mar 31, 2026 +1

Disney may have left the party too early

1

Underwater_Karma Apr 1, 2026 +1

I'm sorry, is this really an article confirming that rumors are in fact rumors?

1

BambooSound Mar 30, 2026 +1

This would have been exciting if not for Skydance (and if they were going full HBO with it - rather than branching out into more family-friendly programming).

1

Cyan_Kurrokawa Mar 30, 2026 -11

"What if we had the Doctor regenerate into a black transgender drag queen? Surely that will win the fans back."

-11

SupervillainMustache Mar 30, 2026 +4

That was never the issue. The problem since Moffat left had been the writing. For all the criticism people had of his long term writing, he would always at least deliver a couple of absolute bangers per season.

4

GoggleDMara9756 Mar 30, 2026 +6

Ugh I hate how woke it is! I missed when the doctor never kissed men in the first season of new who… Oh wait…

6

HBO chief on potential Doctor Who partnership with the BBC: "It has not been presented to us. As with anything, I would say 'Never say never' – it's just not something that I know about."

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