Dr. Who but make it American I guess

[brigid]

Disney + is brokering a deal with the BBC to acquire streaming rights to Dr. Who, something that the BBC does - offering non-exclusive streaming rights. Part of the deal, apparently, is funding from Disney to juice up the special effects etc. This really feels like a gross misunderstanding of the appeal of Dr. Who, as well as a lot of classic BBC shows. When you only have so many props and sets it inspires a unique kind of creativity, and it's also a fun game for viewers to spot well-used favorites. Throwing money at special effects, especially from a company who's recently produced shows with visual effects (notably "She-Hulk," a show I really enjoyed otherwise), feels like something that's just... not going to fit with the feel of the show and also look dated in a way that "blue box spinning against a void" doesn't. Like yes, it's dated, but it's simple and practical and somehow universal and timeless despite being dated. Sometimes shitty but earnest graphics and effects are just part of the show. Other times they're the result of underpaying and overworking your VFX team and settling for low quality stuff because it's cheap and you're not willing to pay for the actual high quality stuff your VFX team is capable of and wants to do.

Something I wouldn't mind at all seeing, though, is a new version of a Dr. Who-type show stripped back to the original concept: a rogue dude with a time machine traveling through history to explore things and be goofy. Look, aqueducts! Flint knapping! Making ink out of gall! How to play stickball! Berlin prior to WWII! The evolution of paper/books! The Harlem Renaissance! A focus on saving endangered animals and which have been brought back and how!!! Just pick a bunch of random stuff that's cool, that's important, that's fun trivia, that's influential, that's forgotten, that's hopeful. Don't focus on famous people - mention them, maybe - focus on every day people. "Normal" people. Don't visit Jane Austen or Pliny the Elder or whatever. Just every day stuff.