The five-part spinoff has yet to be officially announced by the BBC but it is believed to be called The War Between The Land And The Sea and will feature the ancient race the Sea Devils.
If the rumor is true, this could be a test to see if fans would support a new Sarah Jane Adventures type show.
I'm up for it, Martha was a pretty cool character and I liked the Sarah Jane Adventures a lot. I do wish that they would revisit the characters from that show sometime.
shareI liked Martha a lot and see more possibilities with her character than Rose or Clara.
An Amy and Rory show could be fun, but Karen Gillan is too big a star now.
Interesting.
I like Martha but don't see her in the same way as Sarah Jane but being connected to UNIT could help.
It's interesting though as rebranding to season 1 but then doing a spin off with a past companion seems odd. It's like they want to do a soft reboot but not do one.
I also wonder if they would do what they did with Sarah Jane, bring her into the series to reintroduce her to the new audience before bringing her into a spin off. I can see it working more if they did that.
Hell, I'd be happy to see a Mel spinoff
A Mel spinoff would be easier since she is already working for Unit. But you are probably right about reintroducing Martha in the main show first as new fans would not know who she is.
shareIf the rumor is true, this could be a test to see if fans would support a new Sarah Jane Adventures type show.
Like I mentioned above, while interesting, I think it's also risky.
For example, new Disney fans wouldn't know who Rose is. By trying to do a spin off, it risks alienating new fans. Big Finish gets away with this as it's mainly hardcore fans but it's also a very niche audience.
I do think things like a UNIT spin off make sense, introducing them to new audiences, then creating spin off shows
I agree. Indeed, I might even go further and say it's not only risky but makes no strategic sense. For the new Disney+ audience, they'd be better off establishing the show for at least three seasons (and the contract only runs for two, doesn't it?) before attempting any kind of spin-off at all and -- yes -- that would have to be a UNIT one as it's the only one established on the 'new' show.
But all the same, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the plan. RTD has certainly talked about expanding the Doctor Who 'universe' and referenced Marvel as a touchstone. But I would also imagine the show will have to be doing pretty well for Disney+ to put any money into such a venture. I'm not sure the main show is currently getting the kind of numbers to warrant such an investment.
I mean they could still do it with the BBCs budget but Disney does help.
I like the idea of having 2 spin offs a year, one after the Christmas special, then we have the main series then another special. Basically meaning that every few months there will be some new content. May help with the fact the main series is now very short
I don't know how keen the BBC would be on spin-offs either. I mean, obviously, they've done them before with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures but that was back when Doctor Who was a bit more zeitgeist-y and hip. Now it's just part of the furniture again. And obviously they've had their finances squeezed for fourteen years by a government that's been hostile to its very existence, so it's a different landscape. But who knows?