What Doctor Who Needs to Bring in Season 13 to Save Itself.

To say Doctor Who has always been a hit with its own fanbase is difficult to say. This comes down to how a character travelling through space and time is bound to have episodes that resonate more with fans, than others they do not. It is a tricky thing to pull-off, especially when historical figures are involved. Often the show knocks it out of the park with these depictions, other times it knocks it into audiences heads and starts a fit of rage from within. The latest series of the show is a prime example of this, with some aspects fans loving and others them wishing the writers had not tried. It is perhaps a time where the fanbase in completely divided. So to save the Time Lord from falling into a time crack to cancellation, here is what the writers need to do to save themselves.

Reducing the Number of Companions.

Now this is not us saying that these three companions are terrible and we have not enjoyed watching their trips in the Tardis. The simple fact is, with three companions and a Doctor, it is just too many in that massive Tardis. The writers have not been able to develop the companions on the levels we have seen for past companions. You could even argue that companions such as Martha, Donna and Bill, who all only travelled with the Doctor for a single series, saw more development in their character than these three.

It is a shame these three haven't been developed more. Ryan's struggle with dyspraxia in the characters early episodes were something fans enjoyed, as it highlighted a disorder that many had never heard of. But this has essentially been removed from the show and instead focused more on him developing a relationship with his step-grandad. Graham had some episodes in the first series coming to terms with his wife's death. From there his progression has halted. Then we get to Yasmin, who has had family members appear in an episode and we know she had some issues prior to joining the police. But that is as much as the writers have given us from her.

With two series of these characters on the Tardis, we know practically nothing about them. This could be set to change, as it is being reported both Graham and Ryan are set to leave the Tardis for good at the end of the 2020, in the Christmas/New Years special episode. This would leave Yasmin alone with the Doctor, and hopefully they will stick with just the her and the Doctor in the next series. This way we can explore more of Yasmin and see the development that has been lacking in the last couple of series.

More Alien Planets.

Prior to Chris Chibnall's takeover behind the creative for the show, the Tardis would often land in many unknown and alien planets. This is something now rarely seen in the show. The majority of the show now takes place on Earth. We may get the odd alien planet a series, but they are few and far between. Chibnall seems to be landing the Tardis on space stations and starships more than planets. This is probably an attempt to save on the budget and reuse old sets, which is common in Doctor Who. But it is creating a disconnect with fans, as the Doctor almost seems to be avoiding alien planets.

It does not even need to be new alien planets. The show already has a massive line of alien world that the Doctor has visited before and there as some simply mentioned but never seen. Perhaps if the Doctor returned to New New York or Ood Sphere again, it would show we are heading away from Earth and connect it to past series better. The reason this is a needed change is down to reality vs. science fiction. Science fiction allows fans some escapism from reality. We all know the world has problems, but Chibnall has been using political problems in the show as settings and story plots.

This occurred heavily when the Doctor and her companions landed at a resort on a desolate planet. The resort was basically under a bubble, giving luxury for vacationers safe from the toxic and hostile planet. It turned out the planet was Earth in the future after global warming had destroyed the planet, and the savage inhabitants were mutated humans. Another episode was about a plague that turned its victims into plastic due to how much plastic pollutes our planet. While these episodes make a real problem in the world clear to the viewers, it is not why they tuned in. If they wanted political messages thrown at them, surely they would just go on Facebook or some other social media platform.

The Foes the Doctor Faces

Chibnall has not been shy about creating his own monsters and aliens for the Doctor to face. But it is safe to say he has not mastered this art yet. It is a shame, as he was the writer behind some episodes prior to taking over and these episodes introduced some great villains. But it seems he is trying to just make too many original foes for the Doctor. Instead he needs to start bringing back some older foes.

The only time he has used the Daleks was in his first New Years special, where a single Dalek did present a true threat. He reminded fans how deadly a single Dalek can be, so he proved he can write these old adversaries extremely well. He even tried something new with the Cybermen in the last series, and the Lone Cyberman did actually have a chilling and threatening feel to him. We even got the Jadoon return, hunting a fugitive on Earth, a past version of the Doctor. We need more of this!

We can pretty much assume the Jadoon are going to appear in the next special episode, as we left the Doctor being teleported to a prison cell at the end of the last series. so, it is likely the Jadoon have captured their fugitive. But what about some Sontarans or Silurians in the next series? The Sontarans have not presented a threat since the last series with David Tennant as the Doctor. We also have yet to see the Silurians awaken from their sleep in the year 3000 and share the planet with humanity. That is just two examples, there are literally hundred of choices available. Hopefully Chibnall will realise people long more for the familiar more than his originals.

Bring Back Some Old Faces

One highlight for fans in the latest series was the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness . His return to the show was a complete surprise and fans everywhere threw their fists to the sky in victory. It is highly likely we will see more of him in the future, especially given how he is dying to see the Doctor as a woman. Chibnall needs to take note of this, as fans have always enjoyed old companions returning for an odd episode.

Obviously all fans would love to see one of the revival companions return, but many have closed stories and it would be difficult. One easy option would be bringing Martha Jones and Mikey Smith back. Last we saw the pair they were married and hunting down rogue aliens on Earth. We also know that both U.N.I.T and Torchwood are both out of business. So this pair could return, having now formed a new agency to become a new ally to the Doctor. But like U.N.I.T and Torchwood, they would be aware of how dangerous encounters with the Doctor can be.

However, we have literally dozens and dozens of past options. The one we feel fans would scream to see, is the return of the baseball bat swinging, TNT carrying Ace. Ace was the last assistant of the original Doctor Who run before its cancellation. There is even an option for how she could return. If the show had not been cancelled, it was planned for Ace to go to Gallifry and become a Time Lord, or Lady, herself. They could literally have the Doctor find another Tardis and be surprised to find Ace as the one flying it. The amount of options of old faces is massive, and they do not necessarily have to have been a travelling companion to the Doctor. Evan Osgood returning for an episode would be a delight fans would love to see.

Undo the Timeless Child

Now this is not to say the idea of how the Timelords gained the power of regeneration was a bad idea. In fact it was quite a good idea. But, what sank the concept was making the Doctor the Timeless Child. Fans just did not like the idea of the Doctor being the originator of regeneration. You can see it was a clever way to try and explain why in the original run of the show featured faces of the Doctor in the past that audiences had never seen on the show. But that could have been covered in another way.

Chibnall even created Ruth, who was revealed to be the Doctor also, which fans absolutely loved. They instantly knew the Ruth Doctor would be leading to an explanation behind the unknown faces of the Doctor. But the Timeless Child was not what fans wanted. The unknown faces could have been explained simply as the Doctor having a new set of regeneration granted to him/her. This is not unprecedented, as Matt Smith's Doctor received a new set of regenerations upon his departure from the role. Then all was needed was it to be amnesia as something went wrong during the process of the Doctor receiving the new set of regenerations in the past.

What needs to happen is for the Timeless Child to be canon. For there to have been a Timeless Child that was experimented on to grant the Timelords the ability to regenerate. But have it revealed the Master had altered the records he revealed to the Doctor. The Master's favourite form of warfare is mental warfare. So what better way to completely mess with the Doctor's mind than to make her question her origins. This simple change could allow fans to embrace how great an idea the Timeless Child is, but be happy that it was not the Doctor.

What are your thoughts? It is pretty clear the show has hit a road bump in the time vortex, and fans are not enjoying it. It is clear Chibnall needs to make changes, otherwise he is going to crash the Tardis into a wall of cancellation. What do you think needs to be changed?