Why no spinoffs under moffat?

[RoJoHen]

There's enough crazy shit going on these days to keep all of those organizations busy.

 

[Lance]

Yeah, we never had spinoffs before RTD, so it's reasonable to not expect them now.

It wasn't for want of trying. The classic series Doctor Who's history is littered with proposals for spin-offs that just didn't get off the ground. Torchwood was the first spin-off to actually make it to air, but it certainly wasn't the first to ever be conceived.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ Fair enough. And it's entirely possible they'd do another one at some point. But I can see not wanting to do one right now, especially since the precedents visible to the audience only came from a very narrow time period of one show runner.

I really just want Jack and River to have at least one episode together because I think those two characters would be hilarious. But yeah, she wouldn't be necessary for the show as a whole.

Yeah, they'd be great together. Personally, I think he was the Time Agent she stole her vortex manipulator from. I could see when they appear together, the audience would be told that they had a history together.

But why don't we see UNIT and Torchwood showing up at the same time when something happens in England? How do they know who responds to what? And how come they never show up on the things that Sarah Jane investigates?

Torchwood didn't really show up to many things. The only exception was Jack's Cardiff branch, but that was kind of a changed organization from how it started. UNIT, generally speaking, seemed better equipped to come in and save the day. Torchwood would kind of sneak in the background and steal the technology that got left behind and try to use it to fight back in the future.

That being said, I'm pretty sure UNIT was involved in the Children of Earth special, so both Torchwood and UNIT did try to address the same crisis.

 

[The Wormhole]

But why don't we see UNIT and Torchwood showing up at the same time when something happens in England? How do they know who responds to what? And how come they never show up on the things that Sarah Jane investigates?

Torchwood does feature a few UNIT references. Jack had to compile a list for UNIT in one episode, and Martha was a UNIT on loan to Torchwood in her episodes on the series. Also, Jack arranged to have Toshiko released from a UNIT prison.

I haven't watched very many episodes of SJA, but I know UNIT has shown up sometimes. As for why they don't show up all the time, the same could be asked why don't they show up for every incident the Doctor gets involved with on Earth in modern times?

 

[Mr Light]

At least with the Doctor, he shows up with his Tardis before they even know anything is going on, but when it comes to UNIT and Torchwood and Sarah Jane they're all operating on the same human level more or less.

 

[Sindatur]

But why don't we see UNIT and Torchwood showing up at the same time when something happens in England? How do they know who responds to what? And how come they never show up on the things that Sarah Jane investigates?

All depends upon who notices the "Problem" and wether they handle it themselves quietly, or call another "Agency" for assistance. UNIT and TORCHWOOD just don't notice SarahJane's cases, SarahJane doesn't worry about the ones she sees TORCHWOOD and UNIT have under control, and TORCHWOOD prefers to operate in the background and just collect the Tech and handle the situation in the background.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I'd watch a Tesselecta spinoff, actually.

 

[MacLeod]

Yeah, we never had spinoffs before RTD, so it's reasonable to not expect them now. Moffat has a lot on his plate and probably doesn't want to spend the time and effort creating a spinoff as well. In addition, BBC has been cutting back resources in original dramas so it would have to be a worthwhile investment. The Paternoster Gang could work, but I'm not sure BBC sees the point, I'm not sure Moffat wants to handle it right now, and, besides, they might just work better in limited guest appearances.

Well that's strictly true, there was an attempt at a spin-off during the shows original run that lasted all of one episode. K9 & Company.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, that was mentioned. And I believe Terry Nation wanted the Daleks to have their own show. I'm not aware of any others, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some. Still, in 50 years, that's not a lot of proposed spinoffs and only one small period of actual spinoffs.

 

[Mr Light]

I would love to see a sit-com starring the Daleks constantly shouting at each other about everything

 

[MacLeod]

I believe there was also a UNIT spin-off of sorts that was direct to video.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I would love to see a sit-com starring the Daleks constantly shouting at each other about everything

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0n88tZQc4Q[/yt]

 

[Green Lantern]

There was also a proposal for an animated series in the 1980s by nelvana but never came to anything. Here's some concept art.

And here's a link about it on The TARDIS Data Core:
Click!

 

[Professor Zoom]

It would be nice to have something in the Who downtimes. Part of it might be that it is just easier to do when the show (or at least revival) was young in the same way that we also used to have Doctor Who Confidential and Totally Doctor Who.

The only conceivable one would be a kid's show with the (urgh) 'Paternoster Gang'

Or The River Song Adventures...

No, no, no, no, NO. She has worn out her fucking welcome.

I still wish they would bring back Torchwood...

If they ignore Miracle Day. Or certainly learned the lessons creatively from Miracle Day. Sheesh. If I could unsee that show, I would.

 

[Redfern]

Thanks for the current link. I'd seen that concept art several years ago, but I lost the original link. Over the years I'd seen a few pieces reappear, but the whole collection.

This appears to be all the illustrations I from that original link.

Funny how some of the drawings make the Doctor resemble the animated version of Egon Spengler from "The Real GhostBusters". And the fair skinned companion looks like a blending of Nyssa and Sarah Jane.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Captaindemotion]

Funny, I've seen a lot of people complain that Moffat is spreading himself too thinly between DW and Sherlock, so I'm a little surprised that people would like a DW spin-off from his stable too.

Would any of the old companions lend themselves to a Sarah Jane-type show? Ace or the like? And if so, would it be able to distinguish itself from SJA? Should any spin-off be adult-aimed, like TW, kiddie-oriented like SJA or in the middle like Who itself?

 

[od0_ital]

I still wish they would bring back Torchwood...

If they ignore Miracle Day. Or certainly learned the lessons creatively from Miracle Day. Sheesh. If I could unsee that show, I would.

I'd prefer to see how they carry forward from Miracle Day, since Captain Jack Harkness isn't the only one with immortality by the end of the series. Gotta be consequences to that sort of thing...is Rex a fixed point like Jack, or just immortal? Will he age, or just keep comin' back?

 

[Mr Light]

I never heard of that would-be cartoon before!

 

[Redfern]

Well, it never got beyond the concept illustration stage you see at the link provided. Nelvana as you may know was the animation company that gave Star Wars fans the one saving grace segment from the infamous SW Holiday Special, the animated sequences that introduced Boba Fett before he "officially" appeared in "Empire". Later, the studio produced "Droids" and "Ewoks". A few years earlier, Nelvana released a string of synicated holiday one-shots that contained science fiction or fantasy elements like "A Cosmic Christmas", "Intergalactic Thanksgiving" and "Romie-O and Julie-8". Another, "The Devil and Daniel Mouse" (a funny animal retelling of "Daniel Webster" served as the inspiration for a feature length release about Faustian contracts, "Rock & Rule".

I have to wonder how Nelvana might have handled Doctor Who. Certainly science fiction/fantasy seemed to be its forte.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Lance]

Nelvana's a quality animation studio, they've done some great stuff over the years. Shame their Doctor Who proposal never got off the ground, it looks like it could have been awesome.