Doctor Who’s revived series has been on our screens for 19 years at the time of writing this. Author Paul Cornell penned the comic Four Doctors in 2015 for the 10th anniversary of the revival. With the reborn show’s 20th anniversary next year we at Scifipulse would like to ponder what that could look like. In comic form of course, as I’m aware that series 2 of Doctor Who has already been made. Please allow us to take your hand and whisper “RUN!” As we list what we think could be cool for the 20th birthday of the revival.
Returning monsters and multiple Masters
For Classic Doctor Who’s 20th anniversary. Producer John Nathan-Turner brought back monsters from the show’s history. Making them even more scary and threatening than before. It would be really cool to see the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) . Face an unholy alliance of Slitheen, Weeping Angels, Judoon, Silence, Vashta Nerada and Sycorax. Each revival villain could appear in a different monthly story. In like vein to the eleven Doctors in the IDW Doctor Who 50th anniversary special Prisoners of Time. On top of that, just as Four Doctors brought the 10th, 11th and 12th revival Doctors together. It would be epically awesome to see the War Master (Derek Jacobi), the Saxon Master (John Simm), the Spymaster (Sacha Dhawan) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) revealed as the power behind the enemies’ alliance. All of whom then attempt to destroy the Doctor forever. Although I’m aware that the writers would have to be careful with how they handled Missy. Given her return to the light side in The Doctor Falls.
Meta humour and meeting Sherlock Holmes’s creator
If you were a Doctor Who fan online in the 2010s chances are you will have come across the term Superwholock (a portmanteau of Doctor Who, Supernatural, and Sherlock). Referring to crossover fanworks between the three shows. This next suggestion might be too meta. But please hear me out. The Doctor and Ruby (Millie Gibson) meet Arthur Conan Doyle who could be drawn to resemble Mark Gatiss or Benedict Cumberbatch. Moreover, this could mean the Paternoster Gang’s return. Who are all always awesome. Maybe Ruby mentions that her favorite show is Supernatural also? Causing the Doctor to remark that he has met the Winchesters. Could this be a bit too in-jokey? Possibly. It would be a fun nod to the fans though. Additionally, perhaps they could rework Steven Moffat’s scrapped 50th-anniversary idea by having Ruby encounter fictional Doctor-like characters in films and TV. And attempting to solve the mystery of why they are so familiar. This would tie into the revival’s theme that the most ordinary person can be a hero.
A further 20(000,000,000) years of time and space
Doctor Who began in 1963 and ran until 1989. It came back briefly in 1996 with Paul McGann before the revival in 2005 with Russell T Davies as showrunner. And Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper as the stars. This Tumblr post sums up Doctor Who better than I ever could. Perhaps the final word should be from the late great Sir Terry Pratchett: “I love the fact that there are children out there who are learning that life can take you anywhere, and anything can happen, and it can be fantastic. But also that sometimes, life takes away as well. The hero can fail, or die, and we don’t all have a magical hand-wavey way to regenerate ourselves. It’s an important lesson.”
