Call me crazy, but instead of going to frankly some old men, maybe we need someone we’ve never heard of who can do the job, who is roughly in their forties and do have some fondness for the show.
The only reason a ‘fan’ has become necessary is because of the amount of time spent fiddling with lore or looking backwards. They can have a separate consultant for when they really *need* to do that.
If you’re just doing new stuff, moving forwards, all you really need is the basic descriptions that fit on the back of a card for recurring elements — and the good sense not to mess with things. If you’re doing an anniversary year, or you’re intent on introducing some new element, you just need some archive dude or dudette who knows their Who (and stick to TV Who, with a passing knowledge of the other stuff) to give scripts a once over. (Lucasfilm used to have that exact job. I wanted to apply for it back in.. about 2004. I doubt my Star Wars and Indy was up to snuff though.)
A simple ‘do not contradict or rewrite’ edict is all you need to keep fans mostly happy, and allow you the freedom to just make Who.
It’s sort of what happened in 2005, but by the time we get to Chibnall it’s not even paying attention to the last ten years of stuff, whilst ripping bits out of forty year old stuff rather than doing new. (However, to his credit — and I almost can’t believe he wrote it — at least Power of the Doctor was careful with Ace and Tegan enough that it didn’t overtly contradict and could even be seen to support some of the oldest other paths for those companions. Ace in particular, and her parting from the Doctor, could easily be was as supporting various of the takes over the years.)
Just needs carefulness, not an anal and fastidious attention to detail. And if they are worried, just have a couple of advisers handy. They can also help out with stuff like brand management and licensing — especially as it’s mainly the classic stuff that’s even selling merch wise.
The only reason a ‘fan’ has become necessary is because of the amount of time spent fiddling with lore or looking backwards. They can have a separate consultant for when they really *need* to do that.
If you’re just doing new stuff, moving forwards, all you really need is the basic descriptions that fit on the back of a card for recurring elements — and the good sense not to mess with things. If you’re doing an anniversary year, or you’re intent on introducing some new element, you just need some archive dude or dudette who knows their Who (and stick to TV Who, with a passing knowledge of the other stuff) to give scripts a once over. (Lucasfilm used to have that exact job. I wanted to apply for it back in.. about 2004. I doubt my Star Wars and Indy was up to snuff though.)
A simple ‘do not contradict or rewrite’ edict is all you need to keep fans mostly happy, and allow you the freedom to just make Who.
It’s sort of what happened in 2005, but by the time we get to Chibnall it’s not even paying attention to the last ten years of stuff, whilst ripping bits out of forty year old stuff rather than doing new. (However, to his credit — and I almost can’t believe he wrote it — at least Power of the Doctor was careful with Ace and Tegan enough that it didn’t overtly contradict and could even be seen to support some of the oldest other paths for those companions. Ace in particular, and her parting from the Doctor, could easily be was as supporting various of the takes over the years.)
Just needs carefulness, not an anal and fastidious attention to detail. And if they are worried, just have a couple of advisers handy. They can also help out with stuff like brand management and licensing — especially as it’s mainly the classic stuff that’s even selling merch wise.
