The War Between the Land and Sea needs to take certain steps to increase its chances of success, or it could meet the same fate as a Doctor Who spinoff from the Steven Moffat era. While the upcoming project has a confirmed premise, there’s still a lot to learn about what the latest edition to the Doctor Who franchise will be like. The War Between the Land and Sea’s cast will be led by returning Doctor Who actors Russell Tobey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, but showrunner Russell T Davies has already confirmed they won’t be reprising their previous roles.
Davies’ interesting casting decisions make the upcoming spinoff even more intriguing but do nothing to address the risk of it ending after just one season. The show will also include members of Doctor Who’s new UNIT team, the characters a mix of franchise debutants from the show’s Disney era, and at least one returning actor. Doctor Who’s Disney era is softly a new start for the long-running British sci-fi, but the spinoff can’t follow the same framework as Ncuti Gatwa’s initial run as the Fifteenth Doctor.
The War Between The Land & Sea Must Adopt A Different Tone Compared To Doctor Who
RTD’s other Doctor Who spinoffs have been very different from the main show
Doctor Who has had several spinoffs during its six-decade history. However, two of its most successful came during Russell T Davies’ first time in the showrunner’s chair. During his initial spell in charge, Davies created Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, serving as showrunner to both as well as their parent show. What made these spinoffs stand apart from Doctor Who was the fact they each had vastly different tones to the show that spawned them. Torchwood was aimed at a more mature audience with its sexual themes and increased violence, whereas Sarah Jane was incredibly child-friendly.
Davies needs to follow his own rules for The War Between the Land and Sea , making sure the spinoff doesn’t just feel like watching Doctor Who .
Davies needs to follow his own rules for The War Between the Land and Sea, making sure the spinoff doesn’t just feel like watching Doctor Who. On the other hand, it still needs to recognizably be part of the Doctor Who universe. It’s a delicate balance, but the showrunner has already proven he can do it. If the upcoming spinoff doesn’t sufficiently separate itself from Doctor Who, there may not be enough of a unique appeal to justify its ongoing production. If so, the entire endeavor could be over before it has had the chance to hit its stride.
2016’s Class Wasn’t Unique Enough To Survive As A Doctor Who Spinoff
Class should have ventured into unexplored Doctor Who territory more
Class ran for a single season, ultimately ending because there wasn’t enough interest for its continuation. Although Class had its strengths, the Doctor Who spinoff wasn’t different enough from its parent show. Because it didn’t offer anything to viewers that was sufficiently unique, it felt like watching a watered-down version of Doctor Who. While he wasn’t the main driving force behind Class, Moffat’s status as the Doctor Who showrunner at the time meant he was still involved as a producer. This contributed to a partially shared tone with his era – especially during Peter Capaldi’s reign as the Doctor.
More successful spinoffs like Torchwood and Sarah Jane rarely acknowledged the Doctor and focused on their own stories.
Patrick Ness wrote all eight episodes of Class, the only instance of a Doctor Who spinoff being penned by a single writer. This can help with a show’s consistency, but in this instance, it resulted in the story feeling a little long with little deviation. In addition, Ness wrote Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor into the very first episode of Class. While this may seem like a good idea, more successful spinoffs like Torchwood and Sarah Jane rarely acknowledged the Doctor and focused on their own stories. In fact, the Doctor never appeared in Torchwood and was only mentioned.
David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor both had appearances in The Sarah Jane Adventures. However, the Time Lord didn’t make his debut until season 3. This allowed the child-friendly spinoff plenty of time to establish itself before relying on the presence of the Doctor. Class brought the Time Lord into the fold much too soon, and would have benefited from delaying Capaldi’s entrance or omitting it completely.
A Darker Spinoff Would Be A Welcome Change After Doctor Who Season 14
Disney’s Doctor Who doesn’t get gritty enough
The War Between the Land and Sea’s tone would go one of two ways. It could opt to go darker than Doctor Who, as Torchwood did. Alternatively, it could target younger viewers as its target audience, like The Sarah Jane Adventures. Now, Doctor Who has always been family-friendly viewing, even if certain episodes do push the boundaries of what’s too scary or existential for children. However, Doctor Who season 14 did largely neglect the more mature edge displayed by the show in the past. So, the upcoming spinoff would do well to correct this issue.
Hopefully, The War Between the Land and Sea not being the franchise’s flagship show will give it greater license to explore more mature themes.
It’s not really a huge surprise that Doctor Who’s Disney era has lost a little of its darkness. Although not owned by Disney, Doctor Who is now co-produced by the family-friendly studio. As such, it’s understandable – if a little unfortunate – that the scarier or more tonally mature aspects of the show would be pushed to the back a bit. Hopefully, The War Between the Land and Sea not being the franchise’s flagship show will give it greater license to explore more mature themes – or at least be darker/grittier than Doctor Who season 14.
Doctor Who Season 14 Hints The New Spinoff Will Be Worryingly Similar To The Main Show
The new UNIT episodes in Disney’s era haven’t suggest a big deviation from the formula
Doctor Who has a history of teasing the tone of a coming spinoff in an episode to feature the character who’ll lead the show. For instance, John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness debuted in Doctor Who season 1’s “The Empty Child” two-parter. The story was rather dark but found time to be fun – which foreshadowed Torchwood. Similarly, Doctor Who season 2, episode 3, “School Reunion,” felt very much like it was aimed at younger audiences. As such, Elisabeth Salden’s return to the franchise as Sarah Jane Smith served as a preview to her spinoff show. Disney’s era has done something similar.
Davies confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 that Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge-Stewart would be a major character in the upcoming spinoff. She has reprised her role as the leader of UNIT in four episodes of Doctor Who’s Disney era so far. All four have called for a tone much darker than Doctor Who typically displays, but none have made the necessary accommodations. So, it wouldn’t be too surprising – although it would be disappointing – if The War Between the Land and Sea felt very similar to Disney’s Doctor Who era.