6 Biggest Problems Doctor Who Needs To Fix In Season 16

Doctor Who has some major issues that need to be fixed ahead of season 16. While Doctor Who is a celebrated show that has earned the title of longest ongoing sci-fi series on TV, the show is potentially in one of the worst ruts in its history. With more questions than answers about what is next for Doctor Who, it feels like the show needs to address some fundamental issues in the upcoming season to get back on track.

Of course, as a show that began back in 1963 and has come through major changes in not just the TV landscape as a whole, but also the powers that be regarding producing and distributing the series, Doctor Who has proven its resilience. The series enjoyed a largely uninterrupted run from that initial release in 1963 until 1989, when the show went into hiatus.

While the 1996 TV movie failed to reboot the series, Doctor Who did return in 2005 and has once again enjoyed a largely unbroken streak over the last 20+ years. Unfortunately, a few unpopular seasons and more big changes behind the scenes appear to have put the series in jeopardy once again. But if Doctor Who can fix a few core problems, it should be able to thrive once again.

Doctor Who Needs To Stop Building Up Season Finale Expectations And Then Not Delivering

When Doctor Who was first revived under Russell T Davies’ stewardship in 2005, the series came out of the gates strong with a spectacular premiere season. Yes, Christopher Eccleston left a little sooner than expected after his debut season ended, but RTD managed to make it into something special and weave in some major story events that would continue to be explored in the following seasons.

Then, when Steven Moffat introduced the world to Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, they captured lightning in a bottle with an incredibly interwoven story that connected the ‘Raggedy Man’ and ‘The Girl Who Waited.’ But in all honesty, since then, several of the major reveals that seasons of the show have been working up to have fallen flat.

While some people enjoyed the narrative around Clara’s ‘Impossible Girl,’ major reveals like the Timeless Child, Ruby Sunday’s identity, and more have all felt convoluted and underwhelming to a vocal majority of the fanbase. Even the most recent seasons, exploring the concept of a Pantheon of Gods, or the Return of the Rani, have fallen massively short of the goal, and ultimately felt less spectacular and more forced than most Whovians would like.

It’s Time To Stop Making Big Canon-Breaking Swings

In all honesty, part of the issue likely comes from the recent efforts of showrunners to make some sort of significant mark on the tapestry of Doctor Who beyond just developing their Doctors and their stories. Rather than embrace the chaotic and full history of a series that has been ongoing for more than 60 years, there have been several moments where the story is being rewritten and undone in unsatisfying ways.

The Timeless Child phenomenon is potentially the biggest offender here, but RTD is not innocent. Upon his return, RTD offered up some quirky and unique moments that now remain canonical parts of the legacy, despite not being universally well-liked or accepted. For instance, David Tennant returning for a brief stint as the Fourteenth Doctor, aka, the shortest run of any Doctor ever.

And with the jaw-dropping ending of Doctor Who season 15, with Ncuti Gatwa unexpectedly regenerating after two seasons in the TARDIS, only for him to transform into Rose Tyler, things are more uncertain than ever. Sure, RTD has suggested that Billie Piper is not an actual Doctor, but having Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor both start and end by bi-generating and then regenerating into two of the most pivotal characters in RTD’s initial run, it feels a little self-indulgent.

We will have to wait and see how this is resolved in the story going forward, but the fact that these impossibly bizarre and out-of-pocket additions to the show have been so frequent in the last five years frankly feels exhausting. It’s time to get back to the formula and stop trying to break the canon just to be different.

Doctor Who’s “Mystery Girl” Companion Trend Needs A Break

The classic era of Doctor Who held the Doctor’s companions as important parts of the story and positioned them in such a way that the Doctor often learned and grew by having them in his life for whatever period of time. However, the modern Whoniverse seems to have doubled down on a trend of making the companions into something mythical.

Rose Tyler was the ‘Bad Wolf,’ Donna Noble became the Doctor-Donna, Amy Pond became the Doctor’s mother-in-law, in addition to being the ‘Girl Who Waited.’ Clara Oswald embraces her identity as ‘The Impossible Girl,’ Ruby Sunday was being set up to be an extraordinary being, only to subvert expectations and reveal she was absolutely ordinary.

It’s been overdone, and it’s gotten tired. Several companions don’t fit into this trope, and honestly, it often leads to more fun and exciting dynamics between them and the Doctor as they both complement one another without the overbearing mystery that ultimately ends up being a red herring or making them one of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

Answer Unresolved Mysteries Before Creating New Ones

Doctor Who has long tended to introduce elements that go unanswered and often fade into the history of the show. In the classic era, there were several times when the Doctor was confronted by mysterious future regenerations, like The Valeyard, and flashbacks to faces that he had never worn, as seen in “The Brain of Morbius.” The modern era continues that trend, with lingering details that hang over the audience’s heads without ever being answered.

Most notably, the introduction of the concept of The Timeless Child, along with the Pantheon of Gods, who remain somewhat mysterious to the Time Lord. The Timeless Child concept had huge implications for who the Doctor really is, and the lives they may have had prior to becoming William Hartnell’s First Doctor. But such a notorious myth and legend should have crossed the Doctor’s radar in his many hundreds of years of life.

Even ignoring the fact that the Doctor should have heard some whisper of this concept, the reality that the Doctor is not actually of the Time Lord race, but that the Time Lords were granted their powers of regeneration from him, raises significant questions about where the Doctor really comes from, and where his people reside.

As much as the show has a tradition of moving on and not answering these types of questions, it would be great to get some clarity about what the heck is now happening in a series that is slowly losing so many core aspects of its own identity.

Doctor Who’s Past 2 Seasons Relied Too Heavily On CGI

With the Chris Chibnall era of Doctor Who, the production quality of the show saw a dramatic shift as the series became a lot more polished and began making use of modern visual effects in a way that hadn’t really been done before on Doctor Who. However, the Disney deal opened the floodgates with a larger budget and a significant bump in the use of CGI.

Yes, there were still plenty of practical effects and sets in play, but the show also pushed the bounds of what could be done with creating massive CGI monsters like Sutekh and Omega. Unfortunately, these creatures failed to capture imaginations in quite the same way as the practical monsters.

Not to mention the fact that the budget constraints meant these monsters usually had very little screentime, which again reduced their impact overall. It just didn’t fit with the show, and ultimately, it led to a worse product and story that was trying to make use of a bigger budget than it actually needed.

Doctor Who Needs A Team Committed To The Show For The Next 5+ Years

Finally, the biggest contention that Doctor Who needs to get settled going forward is that they need a dedicated team working on the show. When RTD announced his return and Ncuti Gatwa was shown to be the next incoming Doctor, there were promises made about new Doctor Who episodes every year, and filming was done many months in advance.

However, the trajectory of the show on Disney+, and the meteoric rise of Ncuti Gatwa’s career in Hollywood saw plans change. Gatwa decided to leave prematurely. In two seasons, there were two separate companions who both came and went during this short run, and now RTD is preparing to leave after the 2026 Christmas special.

Of course, this leaves the show in an extremely weird place, but it also highlights what is desperately needed moving forward. Doctor Who needs a team that will stick with the series for at least the next five years, even if that doesn’t mean a new season every year. In order to stabilize and earn back the trust and adoration of the fanbase, we need some sort of consistency.

Ideally, this means the next showrunner will be willing to stick with the series through at least one regeneration cycle, if not two, and that the on-screen talent is willing to commit to exploring some larger narratives that span across multiple seasons. If Doctor Who season 16 can get this in place, then the show stands a chance for a comeback.