Doctor Who: RTD Attempts to Reassure Fans About Disney’s Involvement

Television

Many Doctor Who fans experienced hope for the future of the franchise reemerging for the first time in years upon the announcement that Russell T. Davies would be returning to the series after the phenomenal revival he championed back in 2005. Every announcement since has progressively dashed more of those hopes amongst fans, none more so than the news that Disney would be involved in the series going forward. The rumored budget that Disney is funding is astronomical, easily the highest this show has ever received. The reports surrounding this union of the BBC, Bad Wolf, and Disney claimed that Disney would have no creative control over the property, that they would merely be the foreign distributors via Disney+, offering a degree of the budget in payment for those distribution rights. Whether or not that is contractually an accurate claim, any time a studio puts that much money forward, they have creative control, officially or otherwise.

Nearly any major Hollywood studio would have garnered distrust from the fans and dashed their hopes for Doctor Who, but Disney’s involvement dashed far more than any other. Considering the astronomical degree of wokeness perpetuated by this studio, only rivaled by the BBC itself, there is little doubt that their involvement will include diversity and inclusion criteria and woke talking points. This has terrified even the stalwart fans who managed to maintain hope through many of the other announcements surrounding RTD’s return.

It appears that this concern for and criticism of the current era has made it all the way up to RTD himself, as he is taking it upon himself to assuage the concern amongst the fans. In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, RTD spoke about their worries, focusing on the American aspect of Disney’s ownership rather than the wokeness at Disney, which is more disconcerting. He said:

“I know people are, naturally, worried about American producers having notes on things. Well, don’t be. They’re giving excellent notes. . . It is absolutely the same show.”

Instead of focusing on the fans’ concerns or continuing the claim that Disney would have no creative influence, RTD verified all the misgivings, confirming that Disney was giving notes. In his attempt to assuage fears, all he did was solidify them. Now, this series can officially be called Disney Doctor Who,  making the show’s final destruction, begun by Chris Chibnall, complete.