Doctor Who: Mind of The Hodiac

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article by @M_Kresal here

 

[Charles EP M.]

This spurs a thought: if RTD creates an episode of Doctor Who in 1987, for the "oh it's so embarrassing and dated isn't it??" era as far as the BBC and later retrospectives (by non-fans) would have it, does he bring back the show? Assuming his entire career is the same afterwards, does the BBC go "well, he has done all this stuff, but look at the Doctor Who story he did, look how CRINGE, can we trust it won't be like that if he's in charge??"

 

[Ncw8]

This spurs a thought: if RTD creates an episode of Doctor Who in 1987, for the "oh it's so embarrassing and dated isn't it??" era as far as the BBC and later retrospectives (by non-fans) would have it, does he bring back the show? Assuming his entire career is the same afterwards, does the BBC go "well, he has done all this stuff, but look at the Doctor Who story he did, look how CRINGE, can we trust it won't be like that if he's in charge??"

Given the time elapsed, it might be seen as an old shame for him. There might be some reluctance to give him the job, and maybe he’d be given a bit more oversight than he had in OTL. That could prevent him blowing most of the effects budget on a single episode.

I guess the closest we have in OTL is Moffat’s writing of The Curse of the Fatal Death, which didn’t seem to harm his chances. There again, it was a parody for a Children in Need broadcast, so wouldn’t be treated as seriously as an actual script for the series.

Interestingly, it did include some features that showed up in Nu Who. More of a romantic relationship between Doctor and companion, a plot involving time travel paradoxes, taking the slow path, Humanoids fitted with superior Dalek technology, and a female regeneration of the Doctor.

 

[Charles EP M.]

I guess the closest we have in OTL is Moffat’s writing of The Curse of the Fatal Death, which didn’t seem to harm his chances. There again, it was a parody for a Children in Need broadcast, so wouldn’t be treated as seriously as an actual script for the series.

There's the 2001 pitch by Gatiss (with Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman) as another example, a guy who wrote NAs and P.R.O.B.E. trying to pitch the BBC on letting him & his mates bring Who back after League of Gentlemen did well. They said "no".

 

[Walpurgisnacht]

The dark timeline here is one where Hodiac is successful enough that JNT looks at Eric Saward and goes "you know, the logical way to replace one overpromoted young writer is with another overpromoted young writer..."

 

[Charles EP M.]

The dark timeline here is one where Hodiac is successful enough that JNT looks at Eric Saward and goes "you know, the logical way to replace one overpromoted young writer is with another overpromoted young writer..."

The Davies Masterplan!

 

[M_Kresal]

There's the 2001 pitch by Gatiss (with Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman) as another example, a guy who wrote NAs and P.R.O.B.E. trying to pitch the BBC on letting him & his mates bring Who back after League of Gentlemen did well. They said "no".

I do tend to think that had more to do with the timing not being right within the BBC and Worldwide insisting a Hollywood movie was somehow the way to go with the future of Doctor Who than the strength of the actual pitch. Indeed, one of the reasons why Who was given to RTD was to lure him back over to the BBC. That and the timing working out that there were enough folks in the BBC with fond memories of the show's heyday who didn't regard it as an utter embarrassment from the eighties or a failed nineties revival.

The dark timeline here is one where Hodiac is successful enough that JNT looks at Eric Saward and goes "you know, the logical way to replace one overpromoted young writer is with another overpromoted young writer..."

It's tempting to imagine RTD and JNT working together to revitalize the series with a popular audience while the die-hard fandom complains about it becoming "too soap-operay." Hmm...

 

[Charles EP M.]

I do tend to think that had more to do with the timing not being right within the BBC and Worldwide insisting a Hollywood movie was somehow the way to go with the future of Doctor Who than the strength of the actual pitch.

The pitchers don't seem to think much of it IIRC, but that's likely coloured by it being a pitch from (at the time DWM interviewed them) fifteen years ago and not the show that happened. One of them mentioned how they'd put "don't worry this can all be done without spending much money!" in the pitch and felt that was accidentally doing themselves down, while RTD's pitch is promising blackjack and hookers.