Everything is new againRussell Thomas Davies will be taking over Doctor Who for the first time since 2005. Hell will make his return to Doctor Who in 2023. He is the second showrunner who has replaced him since 2005.
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Doctor Who fans speculated wild about what kind of RTD vibe might return to him in the days following the bizarre news that the BBC would be turning back time and bringing back the man who revived Doctor Who. Rose, Martha and Donna are down-to-earth friends! Camp! More monsters! More silliness! This list could go on. Davies does not seem to be the type of person who would want to re-litigate and erase what has gone before. The writer left Doctor Who when he was just a novice, dabbling in the genre with the likes Wizards vs Aliens and the dystopian future that sets the stage to Years and Years. However, he focuses more on queer dramas like the twin series Cucumber & Banana, and the seminal Its a Sin.
Davies' return to Doctor Who does not mean he will continue to do the same thing he did in the past, for good or bad depending on how you look at his tenure in retrospect. It is to try something completely new. He will hopefully use the lessons he's learned over the years to continue the evolution of Doctor Who. Perhaps Davies' tenure has taught the series something that it could use again: less about the show and more about its place within a TV universe that has grown around the show since 2005, when he and the BBC returned from the TARDIS.
Even though it was immediately culturally popular, the TV landscape in which Davies' revival took place was very different to what we see today. Davies and his team were able to see the potential for Doctor Who's success. This idea was not common in today's TV genre. Some of the most popular shows are spinoffs that have emerged from a larger storyline, such as Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones. The Mandalorian and Lower Decks are just a few of the many franchises that dominate the streaming space. They are not limited to TV screens or theaters. Instead, they are extended upon in all formats (novels as well as audio series, movies, shows, and games). This was what Davies had hoped to accomplish since 2005.
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Davies recently revealed to Paul Kirkley that Davies was in the middle a running an empire. There should be a Doctor Who channel. Look at all the Disney announcements. You think we should be announcing The Nyssa Adventures and The Return of Donna Noble. And, given the current media environment, it is hard to believe how remarkable Davies's leadership of Doctor Who during its early years. It was almost unheard of to have announced mature spinoffs such as Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures, which were behind-the scenes accompaniments for Doctor Who: Confidential. What is the future? It's only...what happens on TV.
Davies knew when enough was enough for Doctor Who. He even saw the abandoned plans for a Billie Piper-led spinoff Rose Tyler Earth Defence. She left the series in 2006. Davies thought a decade ahead on Doctor Who, expanding the universe beyond what a Time Lord can do in a TARDIS. This was something the series has always been proud of, whether it was in the New Adventures novels that carried it on after she left, or in the ongoing Doctor Who story world told by Big Finishs Doctor Who audio dramas.
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Doctor Who has the formula in place to continue its ambitions. It can take the diversity, scope and dreams that Davies brought to the series and expand them into a whole new universe. Now that TV is behind them, the writer may be able to return to the TARDIS console within a few years and take the first steps into a larger universe in time-and-space than he ever imagined.
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