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Doctor Who moving to Disney+ in 2023

Given how like Doctor Who Loki the series was, I wonder what the odds are of a Dr Who/Loki crossover? ;)

Controversial opinion but given I've enjoyed the majority of Disney's MCU and SW televisual output way more than I've enjoyed Who the last few years is their involvement necessarily a bad thing?

That being said I think @Steve Roby is spot on, this is likely a defined, contractual partnership where the BBC continue to own Dr Who and Disney agree to put money into the show in exchange for the exclusive distribution rights to show it everywhere outside of the UK. I'm sure there will be strict rules about what Disney can have input into and what they can't.

So long as the BBC retain the overarching IP I'm not going to worry unduly.
 
Doctor Who deserves ILM level effects.
I would keep the BBC’s folk employed still, of course. If costs must be saved, maybe some of the “Jupiter Ascending” work can be re-used if possible. Say what you will of the movie…but the golden hues fit with Time Lord decor, where blues work better with ‘Trek and ‘Wars.

Grant Hill and Dan Glass would be a good addition to Disney.
 
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Starkers said:
Given how like Doctor Who Loki the series was, I wonder what the odds are of a Dr Who/Loki crossover? ;)
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I love that idea!

Technically they're already in the same shared universe since both have been on The Simpsons (and Futurama in Doctor Who's case). ;)

Starkers said:
Controversial opinion but given I've enjoyed the majority of Disney's MCU and SW televisual output way more than I've enjoyed Who the last few years is their involvement necessarily a bad thing?
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I don't think that's too controversial. I, too, enjoy to love the MCU and Star Wars televised output so Disney's involvement isn't inherently a bad idea.

Starkers said:
That being said I think @Steve Roby is spot on, this is likely a defined, contractual partnership where the BBC continue to own Dr Who and Disney agree to put money into the show in exchange for the exclusive distribution rights to show it everywhere outside of the UK. I'm sure there will be strict rules about what Disney can have input into and what they can't.

So long as the BBC retain the overarching IP I'm not going to worry unduly.
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Yup, exactly. That's how I read the situation right away and I was a little surprised (but not too surprised) by the kneejerk reaction by some who think the show is about to become Disneyfied.

That said, Janet Fielding has already noted her possible Disney Princess status. :lol:
 
A thought I had about this new Disney+ deal, will there still be physical media releases of the new seasons? Disney+ does not do physical media releases of their shows, and even the Disney shows which do air on broadcast TV haven't had physical media releases in recent years. For that matter, I don't think any 20th Century Fox shows have had a physical media release since the Disney buy-out.

The only wrinkle here is that Doctor Who is still owned by the BBC, and if they wanted to do physical media releases, I would guess they could? The only comparable situation I can think of would be Amazon Prime, which does not do physical media releases for most of their shows.* However, Good Omens, which they co-produced with BBC did have a physical media release. So, it's anyone's guess whether Doctor Who will get physical media releases in the future.

Obviously, the Blu-ray releases of the classic era should remain unimpacted by this deal.

*There have been a few other Prime shows which have gotten physical media releases, but there are extenuating releases surrounding those. Jack Ryan, and the movie Without Remorse have had physical media releases, but that's apparently a condition of the deal they have with Tom Clancy's estate. The first two seasons of The Boys were released together just prior to the premiere of the third season as a promotional tool for that season. Season 4 of The Expanse (the first season of that show produced by Prime) was released as a manufacture on demand DVD set, but the fifth and sixth have not.
 
It’s not a Disney show.

The Beatles’ Get Back was carried by Disney+ but got a Blu-ray release.

Disney has no impact on the UK or Ireland so there is no reason why BBC Studios wouldn’t continue to offer physical releases, which continue to sell well.
 
The Production Diary column in the new issue of DWM mentions that in September edits of the three Tennant specials were sent to the BBC and Disney+ “for notes,” so Disney does evidently have some level of creative input under this deal.
 
Brendan Moody said:
The Production Diary column in the new issue of DWM mentions that in September edits of the three Tennant specials were sent to the BBC and Disney+ “for notes,” so Disney does evidently have some level of creative input under this deal.
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It might just be for age rating and stuff too.
 
Brendan Moody said:
The Production Diary column in the new issue of DWM mentions that in September edits of the three Tennant specials were sent to the BBC and Disney+ “for notes,” so Disney does evidently have some level of creative input under this deal.
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And the first round of Princessing has started.
 
These aren’t final cuts, so they wouldn’t be doing age rating etc using them; the whole point of sending a rough cut out for notes to someone is to get them to suggest editing tweaks.

Still not a reason to panic— we know plenty about the specials already, and the idea that they’re somehow Disneyfied is pretty risible.
 
We still don’t know how much money they’re putting in, although near-worldwide distribution would cost a pretty penny with or without creative input.
 
Brendan Moody said:
We still don’t know how much money they’re putting in, although near-worldwide distribution would cost a pretty penny with or without creative input.
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The key point is buying just the streaming rights to a series doesn't give you any say over the actual production of the series. We don't know the degree of their control over the series (and maybe never will) but we do know now that they have some.
 
A buiness does not put a good chunk of money (and getting worldwide rights to air exclusively a property like DW is definitely expensive, not to mention money being put into the actual production season) just for kicks. They will have some level of creative control or input. It is naive, and frankly stupid, to assume Disney would not exercise that ability. Best comparison to make, if you watch SHARK TANK, it's one of the big reasons why business owners want to keep at least 51% of a company.


Another point to consider is this... given that this is very new still, the BBC will likely put in whatever input from Disney in the short term (at least from now until the end of the new season) simply because it's such a new deal. You never want to piss off or alienate the other side in any kind of new deal.

In other words, they won't bite the hand that feeds them, and the Mouse Hand is likely feeding the BBC a huge, full spoon.

And let's not forget, Bad Wolf is owned by Sony, and Sony and Disney are in bed together, too.
 
Farscape One said:
A buiness does not put a good chunk of money (and getting worldwide rights to air exclusively a property like DW is definitely expensive, not to mention money being put into the actual production season) just for kicks. They will have some level of creative control or input. It is naive, and frankly stupid, to assume Disney would not exercise that ability. Best comparison to make, if you watch SHARK TANK, it's one of the big reasons why business owners want to keep at least 51% of a company.


Another point to consider is this... given that this is very new still, the BBC will likely put in whatever input from Disney in the short term (at least from now until the end of the new season) simply because it's such a new deal. You never want to piss off or alienate the other side in any kind of new deal.

In other words, they won't bite the hand that feeds them, and the Mouse Hand is likely feeding the BBC a huge, full spoon.

And let's not forget, Bad Wolf is owned by Sony, and Sony and Disney are in bed together, too.
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Disney has given Kevin Feige a lot of creative freedom, since Marvel is a huge moneymaker. I'm fairly confident someone like RTD wouldn't just sign over creative rights to a company that doesn't know DW without some contractual protections on his end.
 
Jedman67 said:
Disney has given Kevin Feige a lot of creative freedom, since Marvel is a huge moneymaker. I'm fairly confident someone like RTD wouldn't just sign over creative rights to a company that doesn't know DW without some contractual protections on his end.
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But RTD is not the one who owns DW. The BBC is. RTD is the head writer, and since he's part of Bad Wolf, some say in the other stuff.

I hope RTD has more of the creative leeway, but the main power ultimately goes to whoever forked over the most cash. Disney certainly has the dollars to do it.
 
BBC still retains ultimate editorial approval, so they get the last word.

But obviously it's going to be a collaborative process with RTD right in the middle.
 
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