Doctor Who's newest season on Disney+ is a blast, and some may credit that to the boost in budget it received by bringing on Disney as a co-producer. That said, there have been rumblings on the internet with those concerned that the House of Mouse may have too great of an influence on the British series. As such, CinemaBlend asked Steven Moffat about his experience writing "Boom" in relation to working with Disney, and he gave his blunt thoughts on the matter.
Steven Moffat is the longest-running showrunner of Doctor Who's modern era, and he was recently featured as the writer for the episode "Boom," now available to stream with a Disney+ subscription. Moffat led the show from 2010 to 2017 when it was under only The BBC, so I had to wonder what his thoughts were about Disney being in the mix when writing his latest episode. Here's his take when it came to the company trying to influence the work:
[Russell T. Davies] will give you a more complete answer, but I find none at all. The notes we got from Disney were all good, and they were not trying to impose a Disneyfication on Doctor Who whatsoever. I never heard one word of that. Never. And I'm pretty confident that's what Russell would tell you. That simply didn't happen. They know that Doctor Who is a particular kind of show. It's that show that you've frightened your kids with! And it’s got on being that.
Hilarious comment at the end there by Steven Moffat, because I would wager a good number of the best Doctor Who episodes would terrify my child. Of course, the writer could only speak to his experience working on "Boom" alongside that upcoming Christmas special fans sussed out before it was officially announced. The bottom line is, however, that he didn't feel like Disney stepped on Doctor Who's toes and isn't trying to alter the show in any way.
While I would argue that Disney has generally done a good job of staying out of the way of franchises it acquires, it's hard to dispute that the marriage between it and Doctor Who is the most natural pairing. As Steven Moffat noted, while there are some dark moments in the British series, few of them are really any darker than some of the sadder moments of Disney's most classic movies:
You look at some of the especially older cartoons. Pinocchio is not for me. That’s terrifying! I think the first time I discovered true cinema was capable of tragedy was man entering the forest in Bambi and Bambi’s mom dying. I've got to say, as collaborators, as far as I'm aware, they've been terrific and very respectful and not at all trying to impose a vision on it. They've been respecting Russell's vision is what I believe is the case.
If that won't comfort the Doctor Who fans concerned that Disney has too great of an influence on the franchise, I don't think anything will. This new era is entirely under the vision of Russell T. Davies, and it wasn't Disney who came up with Ruby's recurring snow mystery or anything like that.
Doctor Who's first season starring Ncuti Gatwa as the timelord is rocketing along, and we're learning loads more about the story of the Fifteenth Doctor along the way. I'm curious about who the remaining members of the mysterious Pantheon of villains are, and I'm not so sure I know any more about who Mrs. Flood is.
With only eight episodes in this first run with Disney+, The midpoint is almost here. While it's a bummer that this installment is shorter than a lot of previous seasons of Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies did note when taking over that while the number of episodes would be reduced, fans can expect to see less of a gap between seasons like in the past. So, while the ride is already halfway over, the next set of episodes is, presumably, not very far off. That's a good thing because the quality of these stories thus far will make the wait for more down the road very difficult.
Why talk about the past, however, when there are still new episodes on the 2024 TV schedule? Doctor Who streams new episodes on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. ET. Those who haven't had a chance to check it out yet should certainly do so and continue to check in with CinemaBlend along the way for more about the season.
