The Problem With The "Whoniverse"

and before I start this video I would like to give a special thanks to my banum level skipper Fallon Cortez thanks for supporting the channel so everything around do 2 is heating up now as we anxiously wait for series 14 to arrive and bless. With our first real Doc 2 series in 3 years, it's been a long wait, but we've become very used to such long periods without Doctor Who, naturally most fans suggest spin-offs to fill the gaps during these periods and The scaled Universe was presented. by showrunner Russell T Davis seems to indicate an official desire to take such an approach by creating a Connected Universe much like the show previously had during the first Davis era, of course this is a very exciting prospect, something many fans are looking forward to. cravings but recently my friend Joe Brennan made a great video about the reality of this one-size-fits-all approach and the many ways the doctor's creative team can go wrong if they're not careful.

It's a fantastic video and I highly recommend watching it. However, I think there's still a lot to say and explore about the floating spinoff approach, especially when it comes to the different types of spinoffs that could make things fresh and unique independently, so today I wanted to take a look at the goals of the universe, the shortcomings of its contemporaries, and how it can justify its existence and even potentially push do 2 to be bigger than ever, so join me as we delve deeper into the

problem

stemming from do who in Old J boy's Banger from a video he called I left Davis's backseat showrunning before returning to Doctor Who and I agree that it is now up to the showrunner himself to deliver many of the spin-off ideas he advanced years ago when suggested that a group of colorful spin-offs is needed.

Just like in Nisser's adventures, it was very easy for Davis to sit there like us and list all the things Doctor Who should do, but it's much harder for him to put his money where his mouth is now that he's in a position to do it. . It's kind of like how you always make politicians talk about all the very important popular policies they will definitely implement only to have them conveniently forget about them the moment they get elected, while Joe says it's time to finally address the Universe part of the term puniverse. Shared universes are all the rage right now, but the closest thing to a spin-off in the current ERA are the TARDIS stories, which definitely shouldn't tell if a spin-off can be a bunch of characters sitting there for a few 4 minutes. either side of a 50-year-old story, then you might as well tell C BB's bedtime stories.

Doctor Who spin-offs have always been the same sort of thing, as the video points out, as good as Sarah Jane Adventures and Tortured could be. As both sides of a doxu demographic spectrum, they are very similar and somewhat derivative with a focus on alien cops defending Earth from aliens and monsters who are always evil and a threat to deal with. I very much agree in this sense that the universe is trapped. This situation where Earth has to be the centerpiece even though the main show can go anywhere and everywhere, the spin-offs have to have a more specific setting because they are more traditional mainstream shows with fixed casts from the point of view of budget and distribution. is the easiest scenario to base a spin-off show on, this has led to all existing and fan-suggested spin-offs being basically the exact same concept: you have your group of Earth heroes and all sorts of evil aliens with everything going back to status quo at the end of each episode, a single show like this would be fine, but it would be doing itself a disservice by cementing it as its own status quo because there's an entire universe to play with instead of one endless alien cop . shows a big part of the video that I really disagree with is the claim that derivatives can't change the Earth too much with the suggestion that the integration of aliens or extraterrestrial culture makes the Earth too unrecognizable and lessens the impact of invasions because the well- Being threatened doesn't feel like ours like it does in the main show.

I think it is quite reductionist to think that the public cannot identify with an Earth with creative freedoms. I mean, the show already has things like a torch with a unit for the fans. You can easily suspend disbelief to still feel the identifiable threat of an invasion despite not being an individual replica of our own reality, as long as the story is good, fans will enjoy it. There have been many indications that the Earth has a future in which humans coexist. extraterrestrials and Silurians, so I think it could be really interesting to have a period of Earth's history across the universe where there is some extraterrestrial integration into society, maybe have a companion from 50 years in the future so there is some freedom and you can build it as the center.

Earth for that period of the program there is nothing to say that the Universe has to center absolutely around the current Earth. There have been all sorts of successful shows set in the future of Earth like the extension and the altered carbon sedu could easily plug into such a landscape for an era and a spin-off without damaging the structure of The Wider show. Doctor Who's infinite time and space environment is more of a curse and a blessing. I can definitely accept that when each episode takes place on a different planet, a different period in history. or a completely different reality, it's hard to boil it all down to one scenario because how do you choose the right one?

Most ideas aren't designed for longevity, but I think the video rules out the farm in fools example. Honestly, it's a little unfair, as I already said, if a story is good enough, fans would accept it regardless of setting up an invasion of a colony ship by Proto Cyberman. It could be a fantastic premise for a Walking Dead-style show that explores the characters and the ever-present threat. of these relentless faceless creatures give a solid ensemble, some great writers and an AMC budget, and you could have a huge hit on your hands completely divorced from the wi do 2 show and it all comes from an idea established in a cold open of an En episode 2, the universe is that versatile, obviously the biggest obstacle for a spin-off like this is the fact that do 2 is not a powerful IP as many fans think, but that may change over time, opening the possibility of different spin-offs like this that appeal to completely different audiences who would otherwise never give Do 2 a chance, fans often paint themselves into a corner when it comes to a spin-off, they usually just want Doctor Who, but slightly different, as Joe himself emphasized. always the single character bridge approach that we've already seen several times, which is very redundant, even taking a character like River Song, who can move freely through space and time, only leads to River Song, who to use same example as Joe Andor, this is a A show that tells a really good, interesting story first and just puts an existing character inside it because it makes sense for the workflow is the exact opposite of what Andor has always done and should absolutely be studied by Do's creative team when it comes.

To justify the existence of a spin-off and the use of an existing main character, it rejects all the fan-favorite ideas, like the adventures of Nisser or the Patos Gang Mysteries, and goes really crazy by prioritizing scenarios that must explored, stories that need to be told and going further with creative genres a great finish used to be great with that kind of thing, although nowadays it's falling into the same traps of not being very unique or experimental, there are so many interesting ideas suitable for choose if there is true creativity. Vision and not just glorified fan service.

I'm not going to sit here and make my own spin-off suggestions. Well, I'm Doctor Who. Spin-offs can and should be completely different from Doctor Who, they don't have to be that way. Hobby City in Casualty or the many shared police and emergency services universes created by Dick Wolf, yes that's actually their name, these things are basically all the same show, but slightly different as one show is based in Cops and the other in a hospital in the same city. for example, because everything is based on reality, but doctor, who doesn't have the same strength limitation and fans shouldn't lock him in like that, is a versatile program where you can do literally anything.

I know the class was a failure and most people weren't. I didn't even know it existed, but I feel like it was the most unique high-ceiling spinoff because of how loosely related it was to Doctor Who. The weak link wasn't the main reason it failed, it died due to lack of BBC support and it could have become something really successful in its own right if there had only been some slight changes and more support - you know, not including BBC 3 on the I player in an era when that wasn't really a thing. There's a lot of power and potential in just branding things as being from the world of Doctor Who and letting them be something else by simply using a few licensed elements to keep you connected and otherwise hands-off - think about the idea of ​​sister shows. like Eureka Warehouse 13 and Alphas coexisting through crossover episodes forming a loose Universe even though each show is very different and has different goals and different audiences or maybe look at Millennium as a retroactive spin-off of xfile, it didn't start the life that way, simply made by the Creator himself before the show was included in an xfiles episode, therefore integrating Millennium into the xfiles universe even though they are again different shows.

Doctor Who has a lot of potential for these kinds of universal shows that are related but not necessary to each other. they exist and can take completely different lives and forms and before anyone tries to be disingenuous, I don't recommend just taking any show and just slapping the documentary logo on it, obviously there would be more elements that intersect, but again. it would be much more independent and would allow it to breathe and have its own audience without needing them to watch Doctor Who. I know that heavily interconnected shared universes are all the rage now thanks to the MCU DCU and Star Wars, these are very literal cinematic universes where you have to constantly follow new media and watch everything to fully understand what's going on.

I don't like this approach. I don't like having to look at a spreadsheet of every random TV show I need to watch to understand a new supposedly independent movie. It's definitely an approach that has plagued Marvel again, so it's not at all what The Doctor should be trying to emulate because it dilutes the quality and enjoyment. Instead, each spin-off should be approached as a standalone project with tie-ins that keep it linked to the main program. In the Connected Game Universe, for example, the game Allan Wake references the previous Max Pain games along with sewing the seeds of what would eventually become the current centerpiece of the Connected Universe thanks to the Federal Bureau of Control starter and Alan Wake are similar. but very different and different games with different independent narratives, but they clearly exist within the same universe.

Remedy and Giga director Chad Sam Lake has even explained that each game in RCU is standalone but is also a gateway to a larger universe with exciting opportunities for crossover events. You can play control and enjoy all the references and plot threads you notice as you see how it connects to Alan Wake, especially in the DLC, but you don't have to. You can play controller without even knowing Alan Wake exists and you'll still have a great time. Nothing changes. It works perfectly for both casual and hardcore fans. It's the same with Alam Wake 2 despite featuring much more explicit crossovers and references to controlling it, it remains completely self-contained and gives you all the necessary context you need to know even if the control didn't exist. you still get the full story, shows like Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood aren't as self-contained in this way, so you could benefit a lot from this approach by creating very distinct standalone experiences with deeper connections that eventually intertwine to form a universe that occasionally It crosses.

Without falling into the same pitfalls that most cinematic universes tend to do, it's not unusual for shows to try very strange and experimental spin-offs. In fact, we've seen it quite often over the years. Watch had a short-lived companion show called Baywatch Nights where David Hasselhoff investigatedsea ​​monsters and aliens. Little Lies of all things, they had a spin-off where real ghosts and spirits existed and everything was normal even though you know the main show is about a teenage girl who fakes her death for increasingly ridiculous reasons. Even Happy Days, the nostalgic '50s American sitcom that inspired WEA Holly's classic body music video, had a four-season spinoff centered on a literal alien dude played by Robin Williams—you know, casual ol' stuff. 50s and somehow that's not even the strangest happy one. spinoff of the day since apparently there was an animated show about fs with time travel and a badass sidekick, you know, casual 50s stuff.

I guess that means happy days are fun, who now and yeah, Look, I get it, all these spin-offs were nice. horrible and didn't work, so they don't inspire much confidence to push the boat forward with many experimental genre spin-offs of their own, however there have been some good examples like Trapper John MD, this was a serious medical drama. It is a spin-off of the sitcom Mash that ran for seven seasons and only shared the main character with him. source material and almost never referenced it. He didn't try to be Mash, but in a hospital it was something completely different and it clearly worked.

What kind of unique spin-offs could Doctor Who play with to really change things up and experiment with genres, well how about an animated anthology series for previous Doctors? It would give the old Doctors a chance to have new adventures on screen without overshadowing the main show and would also give them a chance to have stories that the show's budget never allowed them at the time, but that's just Doctor Who again in animation, How about something a little further from the core? Well, to go back to the more obvious fan-favorite approach, you could have a Legends of Tomorrow-style ensemble show about the time agency as they travel through time writing mistakes from Of course, that's like Doctor Who again, but as a whole with an entire team it would feel distinctly different.

It's the same thing with my favorite idea I came up with, you know, not boasting a Star Trek-style show where a bunch of pioneering Time Lords. Explore the universe in the early days of Gala Fray similar again, yes, but different enough to stand on its own, but okay, let's go a little further from home, an animated anthology series in the style of Star Wars Visions could be really interesting when telling creative stories. within the world of Doctor Who without the need for familiar characters and to stray even further from the original show in its genre, you could have a gritty military political drama showing Davos his rise and rise to power in Scaro long before the creation of Darx. definitely an audience for a story like that, even outside of Doctor Who, other shows could just use sets from the show Doctor Who Like A New Earth Centric or a bare-bones miniseries like the great Finn did or about one-off anthologies like Tales of the Walking Dead, lastly, could take advantage of the license that gives a24 the rights to make a scary crying angel horror movie without the slightest mention of time.

Lords or retardis put us in the world, it's created, you know, kind of like all the BBV stuff from the 90s, but really good or you know, give us a cult comedy Scarrow as they try to adapt to the crazy world of the 1930s New York yes no, this is a joke, okay, as Joe points out in his video shows, it doesn't have to be multiple series. TV shows like when Sarah Jane Adventures dominated CBBC, there's been a big push towards limited series to the point that even Sonic's Knuckles has his own six-part streaming event seemingly as strange as all of this.

I have to accept it and understand that it creates a lot of opportunities for Doctor Who, like my theoretical rise of the Davos show, which couldn't be a full 8 series show, but would probably work as something very short; However, this is also a very dangerous game. plays because people like to see shows and characters evolving as a long-term project, that's how they stay in the public consciousness longer, you know, things like Breaking Bad and Betical Soul developed and created huge fanbases over a period of time. long period of time and it wasn't just short stuff released on a streaming service that people immediately forget about a year later, not everything has to be a 6 hour movie, but it's also a format that can be used very successfully and I think the video ruled out that approach as well. quickly take do shu's past for example children of the earth it's a fantastic five part 5 hour experience it's a whole series of torches that are standalone you can access them without needing much of the series 1 or 2, and when it's over you don't have any loose threats requiring another series, it's the exact kind of experience that would thrive on modern media trends that show a dark corner of the dror universe for exactly as long as needed without having any major implications. in the main program. or last too long, so it's a format that can definitely be successfully applied to documentaries as a media property in an ideal world.

We would still have traditional spin-offs with multiple series cast changes and an evolution, but we would also have some occasional limited episodes. series event that tells a specific story that is too long to be a movie but also too short to be a 10+ episode series, they can coexist as part of a larger shared universe and that is exactly the balance that the team creative must achieve to keep the university alive. and encourage discussions when the main PhD series is not broadcast, such as in the so-called Glory Days of 2006 to 2010, when there was always something PhD-related on screen to exploit one last point in Joe's spin-off videos. breeding ground for new talents, allow more different stories to be told in the world of Doc, who with different unique voices with Creative Visions exploring different experiences, the class was led by Patrick NES, who young adult angst and stories do not They adapt to do 2's main show, but it absolutely works for a teenage audience looking for something a little different within the same universe.

Things that don't work in Doc 2 specifically can still work within the broader universe and actually add to the show's pill appearance by introducing it to everyone. new audiences through a spin-off right for them, we also saw in interview series 1 and 2 that spin-offs can serve as a great way for writers to develop showrunner experience. Chim ni, despite all his many writing flaws, is a good example of this. he was the writer of the tortured series 1 and 2, which eventually helped him present Broad Church in turn. Getting the job of showrunner for Doctor Who as a whole, regardless of what you think of its stories or creative direction, you can't deny its living proof that a doctor stemming from the showrunner process is a viable long-term strategy for the show as a whole, you know, just because it didn't have a hugely successful era doesn't mean it's a bad concept entirely, we're still very early in Davis' second era, it's unlikely we'll get any kind of news about future plans. until at least series 14 has finished airing.

There have been unofficial confirmations of a spin-off anthology about monster doctors that begins with the war between Land and Sea, which is about sea and Silurian demons, although I personally couldn't care less about any of these species, it's the exact type of spin-off experimental champion because It's very different and helps emphasize the idea that all of these things are happening. On the fringes of the Doctor Universe, of course, they'll probably just add Unet and make the whole thing another alien cop style show, but I really hope Davis is smart in how and when he uses the derivatives to create this so-called Universe.

It's a difficult maze to navigate, especially in an admittedly niche media property that fans tend to believe is valued much more than it really is, but if H can manage to build a successful American audience and Disney plus greenlights many spin-offs, I hope to make them really make sense and create a useful sustainable ecosystem for the program. I don't want to have to watch the male Ventures to understand the end of series 14 or, you know, series 15.5 to understand series 16 like you have the overare book. I really hope Do doesn't fall victim to that whole mandoe approach because it really drags everything down, but a brief series of political drama here and a galaxy-spanning exploration procedural there could really help flesh out Do 2's universe and capitalize its literally infinite potential. any show ever made could fit within Doctor Who because the property is so expensive it's flexible any genre any tone any length everything has a theoretical place somewhere and I hope the creative team can understand it as a bigger picture rather than continuing to interpret it .

Sure reskinning programs that worked 14 years ago. I just think there's a gold mine waiting to be unearthed and I really hope it happens because I mean, to be honest, I always want more doou content but of course I still hope it ends up being Well, anyway, what do you think about this spin-off enigma? What shows or genres do you want to watch? Let me know in the comments. Thank you so much for watching and as always, see you next time. Bye bye. I would just like to give a special thanks to my banum level patron Fallon Cortez, my diamond level patron glana Clark, my Platinum level sponsors Matthew Burns and maximilan foreman and all of my gold level sponsors Daniel Shilo Fran AK lion Vortex Lee Marie Farrell Tomasar and Thomas Price thank you very much for your support