The "Disneyfication" of Doctor Who: Is it real?

Ever since the RTD2 era started, I've seen a number of people insisting that Disney is ruining the show, or that they can see the corp's fingerprints all over it, or other things to that effect. These statements have come not only from the corners of the internet that I'm completely comfortable ignoring, but also from people I respect.

My question is simple: do you think this is a real phenomenon, and if you do, can you provide some examples of what you mean? The examples can be based in fact, or purely vibes-based, I would just like you to clearly identify which it is, and if it is vibes based, what makes you feel that way.

It's probably clear by now, but I just don't see it. Nothing about the RTD2 era has screamed "studio interference" to me, nor do I get a "Disney vibe" from it (Disney is such a massive conglomerate at this point, I don't even know what that vibe would be). I guess you could point to the musical numbers as an example?

Ultimately, I feel like for better or worse, RTD has been doing the things that RTD likes to do for these past two seasons.

There is one example of Disney directly influencing the show that I'm aware of: RTD has said that in "The Church On Ruby Road", Disney felt that the Doctor needed to be introduced earlier in the story, so he wrote the scene with the Doctor "rescuing" the lady with the baby carriage. And honestly? That's a pretty good note.

Anyways, no wrong answers. Just help me understand.

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I think Disney did fuck up the show, but just through the deal in general, not through any direct creative interference. Their refusal to say whether or not they were extending the deal until (presumably) after The War Between The Land And The Sea has aired really fucked up the rhythm of production, and has led to some indirect creative shenanigans (ie. pretty much forcing Ncuti Gatwa to leave because he needs to work, which forced a big rewrite to the end of S2 etc.)
Also if rumours are to be believed, the extra Disney budget didn't even help that much because they apparently insisted on everything being in 4K HDR, which ate up most of the time and budget anyway.
- Yeah, I think it's pretty uncontroversial at this point to say the Disney deal was a dud.
Nah, I agree. People who blame "Disneyification" never point to any specific thing, it's always just a general accusation of meddling, presumably with RTD's artist's vision or whatever. Plans can fail for a variety of reasons, there rarely is a big bad pulling the strings in the background.
We'll learn in a few years why Millie left early and how that apparently had a cascading effect on the show.
Disney is such a massive conglomerate at this point, I don’t even know what that vibe would be
Safe and unchallenging. Entertaining without much depth that you forget about shortly after.
To be clear I agree with you and don't think this is happening with Who, just that it is a thing to look out for.
- I don't want to dispute this too much, because it's obviously true, but Disney is also making the occasional thing like "Andor", which is neither safe nor unchallenging.
  But the exception proves the rule, and so on.
@ValueSubtracted Well … the obvious ones may be
singing with those goblins
singing a musical at the end „always a twist“
the whole ending double episode based on a pure fairytale … 7th child of a … kissing and wishing to make things come true. Here in earth. Yeah. Sure. I know, aliens landing here … I know I know but anyway for me it’s a different level 🫣
Yasmin just being a mother having a baby with looking back to scenes we never saw this way? (1/3)
- Yasmin just being a mother having a baby with looking back to scenes we never saw this way? (1/3)
  That's not Disney, that's a rewrite and reshoot they had to do after they'd already shot the original ending, I think it was even reshot after the first episode had aired. They were scrambling to accommodate for Gatwa's decision to leave. IMO it was better than the original ending and they handled it well, considering the circumstances.
  (I'm assuming you meant Belinda...)
  
  @Uruanna Oh damn - yes Belinda of course 😅
  Hm. Reshootings you say? 🤔 and the best idea was to take her out of the story for the last episodes and almost completely in the final just to … meh 😒 don’t like it.
  I’m sad that Ncuti is gone. If he had a bit more time … I think he had potential for a really good doctor! But maybe it was rushed from the beginning? I had the feeling that his character wasn’t really build. An episode here and there but overall? Very sad, I like him as Doctor.
- There me other details and nitpicking…
  Like a cute robot that could be right out of Pixar or Star Wars, the castle, a Toon-Villain that remembers a bit at the early Mickey style, maybe more… (2/3)
  
  That said: I’m not sure I would call it Disneyfication - I don’t know whose idea this all was and I don’t care. I think if one likes to see a problem, it’s not Disney or Disney alone. Personally i say: I like to see more of Doctor Who - but only if some writers really have creative ideas and know how to tell a story better then a - b - LISTEN!! WE SHOWED YOU B BECAUSE ITS VERY URGENT- c 😅 (3/3)

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