Doctor Who Regenerating. When I say that, I’m not just talking about the cosmic concept of the protagonist’s cells regrowing to trick death, and the classic reason for changing actors. I’m talking about the whole show: it’s morphing, it’s changing. It’s going to be something very different and very new, but still something familiar.
This is not uncommon with Doctor Who. Compared to its equally long-running American rival, Star Trek, “The Blue Box Show” can be divided fairly neatly into different eras based on the creative team in charge and the actors who play the Doctor. Still, it’s a bigger turnaround than most — in part because it marks the return of legendary TV writer Russell T Davies to the top job as showrunner, but more Importantly, it saw the series embraced by American money and influence.
Davis’ return is significant because he was the man who revived the show in 2005 after a hiatus of more than a decade, continuing to bring some of the show’s most popular shows. He’s also a savvy writer, deftly weaving poignant real-world commentary into family-friendly science fiction. But naturally, money is more important — and this time, Doctor Who has Disney’s backing.
Known for its wobbly scenes and dodgy CGI, the concept is pretty simple: the BBC retains overall creative control and will air the show in the UK, but it gets a cash infusion and will be broadcast globally via Disney+.Disney influence offers huge cash infusion, BBC reports it will effectively inject three times The show’s budget, turned it into a £100m series.
All of this is a big deal for Doctor Who on TV, but I also think it sparks an interesting conversation in the game. The reason is simple: Mechanically and tonally, Doctor Who’s world is fertile ground for video games — and hardly explored.
Of course, there have been games since the 2005 reboot, as well as old games from the 80s. But they all have one major downside: they’re cheap to produce, and they’re aimed at a limited audience for the show – mostly in the UK. For the Wii, a game is big enough to warrant paying actors for voice work and releasing a Wii remote in the form of the Doctor’s Sonic screwdriver tool, but at the same time not big enough to release anywhere outside the UK and Australia.
The most recent big change is Edge of Time, a VR game that also has a clunky, hasty non-VR port as Reality’s Edge. This version has some interesting ideas, and some lovely voice acting from two different TV doctors – but again it feels like it’s been held back because of its big ambitions and possibly rather small budget. It also didn’t help that it was released alongside the show’s era, whose popularity was almost disastrous. But with this new deal, that could all change.
The reason I feel like Doctor Who is a great fit for a video game isn’t just because I’m a fan of the show, because of my sins — it’s because of the structure of the show. It can go anywhere and do anything, across genres, and is the perfect place for creative development teams to unleash their imaginations. The Doctor’s nature as a hero is also different from most – willing to blow things up from time to time, but equally focused on intelligence and non-violence – but in a scrappy way rather than a buzzing, interstellar The way the fleet lectures. The character is painfully British in style and execution – which always makes them stand out in the genre.
As unique and important as it is, the best part is that the doctor doesn’t need to be the protagonist! That’s what “Edge of Time” does right — understanding that the audience’s aspirational dream in Doctor Who isn’t necessarily to be a doctor, but to be with a doctor. It’s not like Star Trek, where people want to be captains, not redshirts. In Doctor Who, companion characters are always the entry point for the audience – this provides room for the perfect player of any video game to insert characters. It also separates the game’s protagonist from any weird canonical red lines that the Doctor won’t cross, in terms of actions available to players. This has been explored, but always with limited budgets, high levels of lag, and little success.
I can see this in a number of ways. A Telltale-style adventure game is a perfect fit for the series. The same goes for action-adventure games full of puzzles and quirky battles. Probably the most interesting is a game that leverages TARDIS’ travel abilities to provide a type-hopping experience that changes mechanically and even visually as you travel to different places and face different threats. That’s my point, really: the budget is never really used to get the most out of and take advantage of this property. I’m sorry to continue the comparison, but Doctor Who fits the video game concept better than Star Trek, which is only available as your own adventure choice or something like Bridge Crew. Just like on TV, the series’ greatest strength is its sheer, unstoppable breadth.
I hope this Disney+ deal unlocks all of that. If the show’s creative teams old and new get their way, and if Disney’s money is put to good use, Doctor Who could soon become one of the biggest family-watched shows on TV — if not one of the biggest in general. If this happens, a video game is actually required. Definitely when, not if, now. I just hope it lives up to its potential.
