Classic Who Doctors + 12 Character Archetypes (insp.)

Ooh cool

Chris Chibnall wants his era to be more like the 1st and 2nd Doctor’s era

2 things to mention here: The Doctor’s origins and how new companions are introduced

Back in the 1st and 2nd Doctor eras, The Doctor’s origin of where he was from was a mystery to the audiience hence the show title “Doctor Who”.  I think they wanted the Doctor’s origins to mysterious and not known. After they revealed the Time Lords, they started getting rid of that mystery (Time Lord, 2 hearts, regeneration limit, etc.) to the point that the only mystery left was The Doctor’s actual name

I think one of the reasons for The Timeless Child reveal was to bring back that mystery of where The Doctor is from that’s been lost. The big difference now is that it’s a mystery to the audience and The Doctor as well. 

Now with companions leaving, ever since the show’s been in color, it’s always been companion leaves, next episode new companion. But back in the 1st and 2nd Doctor’s era it was different: There was always a continuing companion even if one left. Most of the time new companions would be introduced in the final story of a previous. Chibnall’s doing the same thing now, the first time it’s happened in the revival era:

Compare:

1st Doctor: Ian, Barbara, Vicki –> Vicki, Steven

13th Doctor: Graham, Ryan,Yaz –> Yaz, Dan

One of the reasons why it’s nice to not have an overlap between the companions is the inevitable time when the current era will join the Big Finish lineup. Then, they have pretty much unlimited freedom to insert as much content as they want, be it the stories with the Doctor on their own, or brand new companions. Not that they don’t try their damnest regardless, but compare what they’ve done with Six, Seven & Eight vs Five -> the former have a lot more freedom that the latter. We don’t have as many stories with the new Doctors yet, when they aren’t paired up with their companions. With Nine, so far most of them are set before Rose. Most stories with Ten are set after the Waters of Mars. Eleven - around the Closing Time and/or before Snowmen. With Thirteen, it has been established that she occasionally leaves her companions and just goes off to have alone time for a bit (and obviously, her time in prison, but there wouldn’t be much traveling there) - there could be some gaps to be found for EU stuff. But it is more creatively limiting than having a complete blank slate in between.

Oohhhhh wow