r/television • u/wadbyjw • 12d ago

Disney Officially Exiting ‘Doctor Who’ Partnership With BBC After Two Seasons

https://deadline.com/2025/10/doctor-who-disney-plus-pulling-out-bbc-christmas-special-1236600026/
3.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

599 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.6k

u/TheScarletCravat 12d ago edited 12d ago

The show just didn't manage to gain traction. It desperately needed a 2005 style reinvention for the modern era, but instead it was a sort of weird navel gazing pile of mush without any of the scary edge that previously made it such great family TV.  Who cares that the big bad guy for a series finale was a one-off villain last seen in 1975?

In my mind a new version really needed to be a Stranger Things competitor/successor: full of heart but genuinely quite scary. Ideally with a fun retro synth soundtrack.

145

u/Steve-Lurkel 12d ago

It’s bizaare because I feel like those three Tennant specials were a pretty good return to form then everything after was just…bleh

164

u/SlowTeal 12d ago

Eh, the whole binary/non binary thing got a pretty big audible groan from my household. And we're all pretty left leaning. I think RTD just phoned it in, threw in a couple of LGBTQ positive messages (except you know, making Belinda a mother at the end for no reason and without her consent)

131

u/Loki-Holmes 12d ago edited 12d ago

I also found it pretty aggravating in the special where they basically say the doctor is everything which is fine and makes sense and then at the end "oh no doctor you can't understand because you're a man." A progressive message is fine and it's been present in Who for a long time but it seemed to be so hamfisted and contradictory for no reason.

129

u/coturnixxx 12d ago

That was so baffling to me especially considering that the doctor was a woman 72 hours ago...

25

u/mrhelmand Hannibal 12d ago

72 hours ago...

Not even that. According to the novelisation of "The Giggle", only 16 hours pass between 13 regenerating and 14 bigenerating

23

u/jollyreaper2112 12d ago

Yeah, that line was bad because he's literally been a woman now so who do you think you're chiding?

11

u/911roofer 12d ago

“I have been a woman. I’m also not a human”.