Doctor Who USAU - Part 8: The Doctor Returns to Television (2005 - Present)
PREVIOUSLY: After Doctor Who completed its broadcast run, the series was in a state of limbo. Revived as a film trilogy, Doctor Who entered the 21st century with refreshed interests from old and new fans alike, and, under the direction of a trio of partners, Doctor Who finally returns to television for a new (re)generation.
DISCLAIMER:
The following is Part Eight of a nine-part alternate history series about the history of Doctor Who if it was an American-made production rather than a British production. It's purely speculative and a work of fiction, although some real-world elements were included and presented for realistic situations and scenarios. Neither this series nor its author are connected to nor reflect the views and opinions of BBC Studios (the owner of the Doctor Who franchise) or any entity or persons mentioned and does not mean to infringe on the copyrights and trademarks of those parties. - JH
“There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them, this is an opportunity. Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!” - The Doctor
On Monday, September 29, 2003, the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who’s premiere, NBC aired a mysterious teaser throughout the night featuring the TARDIS flickering on the screen with its familiar engine powering itself up. When it disappeared, the words “Mox Regenerans” (Latin for “Regenerating Soon”) flickering on and fading out with the logo of Sci Fi doing likewise.
In the United Kingdom, the exact same teaser aired on November 23, 2003, the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who’s premiere on BBC TV. Instead of the Sci Fi logo at the end, the end logo was for BBC One in a blue box rather than the network's traditional red box logo.
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| The end card to the Mox Renegenerans teaser with the Sci Fi and BBC One logos beneath it |
The following day, Universal Television, BBC Worldwide, and Amblin Television officially announced they were jointly producing a new Doctor Who series. Steven Spielberg would be an executive producer for Amblin Entertainment (which had previously acquired a 15% stake in the franchise in 1993) and Julie Gardner would serve as an executive producer for BBC Worldwide (which now owns a 15% stake in the franchise as well as full broadcast and non-theatrical home media rights in the United Kingdom) with showrunning duties shared by veteran Welsh TV writer Russell T. Davies and Star Trek writing veteran Brannon Braga. The new series, which had been in pre-production since 2002, would debut in the United States on Sci Fi and in the United Kingdom on BBC One in spring 2005.
Many wondered if NBC, the most recent broadcast network to air the series, would air it. While they wouldn't get the premiere since their lineup was already loaded, NBC did encore the first in the late summer of 2005 Tuesday nights at 8 PM. Ratings were modest and helped promote the second season on Sci Fi that fall.
The revival series would be a continuation of the original series and film series. However, it was determined that a new Doctor would be the lead, and the Ninth Doctor would be played by actor and singer Neil Patrick Harris, who initially was one of the finalists to play the Doctor in the film trilogy.
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| Neil Patrick Harris as the Ninth Doctor (2005) |
While shooting the series, Harris auditioned and got a supporting role in a sitcom for CBS, How I Met Your Mother, which premiered in September 2005. Producers of both Doctor Who and HIMYM created a schedule for both shows around his character, but the Doctor Who producers knew that they were going to need a full-time Doctor.
As Doctor Who was shooting its first season in 2004, they were also conducting a secondary search for the Tenth Doctor but didn’t make that public to the media. Scottish-born American comedian and actor Craig Ferguson was cast as the Tenth Doctor in 2004.
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| Craig Ferguson as the Tenth Doctor (2005 - 2010) |
While not the first non-American actor to play The Doctor (that honor belongs to the Sixth Doctor, Canadian actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd, and his successor, Rick Springfield, was born in Australia), Ferguson was the first Doctor born in the United Kingdom, which more than thrilled audiences in that vital market.
The shooting schedule for the second season unconventional and done under a shroud of secrecy and concurrently with the first season. While episodes featuring the Ninth Doctor were in production as if they were producing two separate Doctor Who series, which, in a way, what they were doing. The US-based writing team led by Braga and the UK-based writing team lead by Davies collaborated on scripts and created a lengthy continuity tying both series together with a new version of The Master, who would be played by Scottish actor David Tennant, who had previously worked with Davies on Casanova for BBC.
Davies would later lament about not being able to cast Tennant as The Doctor since that casting decision would have been made by Spielberg and Universal, though Tennant’s run as The Master was quite memorable as fans would declare him one of the best to play the villainous role, which had traditionally gone to actors from the United Kingdom, including Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and, in the Eighth Doctor trilogy films, Paul McGann..
“Rose” and “The End of the World,” the first two episodes of the Doctor Who revival, premiered on Friday, March 25, 2005, on Sci-Fi in the US and March 26 on BBC One and received critical acclaim and a massive viewership on both sides of the Atlantic. The US premiere was one of the highest-rated series in the history of Sci Fi, and the UK premiere was one of the highest in the country’s history. A total of 10 episodes were shown during the first season/series of the revival.
The second season/series began with “Boom Town” in September 2005 with the mid-season finale, “The Parting of the Ways,” the lone revival-era episode directed by Steven Spielberg, airing on November 25, 2005, in the US and November 26, 2005, in the UK. It was only fitting that the man who directed the first regeneration scene in Doctor Who's history would also direct the first regeneration scene of the revival series.
A Christmas special, “The Christmas Invasion,” showcased the first full adventure of the Tenth Doctor and aired on Christmas Day, December 25, in both countries in a rare simulcast. Sci-Fi encored the special that evening in the States.
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| A Torchwood continuity card from HBO, circa 2007 |
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| Robin Williams (The Fourth Doctor) and Craig Ferguson (The Tenth Doctor) on the set of "Foreign Tin" |
One of the highlights of the 45th anniversary year in 2008 of Doctor Who was “Foreign Tin,” a two-part serial featuring a team-up with the Tenth Doctor and the Fourth Doctor, played once again by Robin Williams as a strange dimensional rift brought a seemingly-aged Fourth Doctor into 2008 where he meets his future self (who had no memory of this encounter) and takes on an army of Cybermen led by The Master’s Daughter, played by Georgia Moffett, the actual daughter of Peter Davison, who played The Master from 1983 to 1989, and the future wife of then-current Master, David Tennant.
In 2009, Ferguson announced that he was stepping down from the role of the Doctor, and although he helped reignite the franchise, he personally felt that he didn’t want to overstay his welcome and that five seasons was more than enough in the role.
While Ferguson’s Tenth Doctor was wildly popular, the Eleventh Doctor would truly make the role even more iconic.
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