I think about this a lot, to the point where I have several conflicting pitches. The easiest one to convey is broadly what Big Finish is doing with the 9th Doctor (no companion, the Doctor is effectively a recurring side character, and each episode focuses on a different main character), but with a few more layers. My goal is for every episode in the first season, including the finale, to work as a not just a standalone story, but as someone’s first story. In an 8 episode season, we’re basically making 8 pilots, designed to be as accessible to casual viewers as possible. That being said, while each episode is standalone, when viewed in sequence, an arc forms.
The first episode is very triumphant, almost easy, very much showing the Doctor off at their best. I like the framing of someone trying to summon a demon and they end up summoning the Doctor. The climax of this story should feature one of those “I am the doctor” speeches, where they list off previous titles, like “The Oncoming Storm”, “The Timeless Child”, and so on. Among these titles, they say “The Knight of the Vel”, something that casual viewers just watching this episode will group with the other titles and dismiss, but fans will spot as a new thing.
As the episodes progress, the situations get trickier, less clear cut, more morally complex, and the Doctor is more visibly frustrated with each new complication, as if they just want to do easy stories for a bit, but the universe won’t let them. The lack of a constant companion means they don’t get called on this.
Each episode focuses primarily on a new character, most of whom we’ll never see again. I like the idea that to most of them the Doctor remains a mystery. Some never see the tardis. Some never learn that the fake backstory they give is fake. I’d also like this season to focus on new monsters, ideally ones that could come back. I’d quite like this season to create the next Daleks or Weeping Angels.
Around episode 5 out of 8, we get the first of what I’m going to call “consequences episodes”, basically the situation from episode 3 wasn’t fully resolved, and is coming back to haunt them (like Shades of Fear). This episode has a totally different cast, so, again, nobody can call the Doctor on it, but it still clearly affects them.
The ending of episode 6 sees the Doctor nebulously injured, either via radiation or slow-acting poison or something. Nothing visible, and at the end they brush it off as something that can’t hurt timelords.
Episode 7 is the hardest to make standalone, but I think it can work. It’s the second consequences story, this time with the fallout from episode 1 (you know, the triumphant, easy one). Making matters worse is that it does feature the same protagonist as episode 1 (who we’re setting up to be a companion in season 2), so they know it was the Doctor’s fault, and that they were extremely glib, almost arrogant, and then they didn’t actually defeat the villain. I think the ending note to this episode is the protagonist insisting on coming with the doctor, asking them what’s going on with them. The Doctor brushes off the question with “I’ll explain later”.
Episode 8 is called “The Night of the Vel”. It’s a flashback, designed to recontextualize a lot of things from season 1, and set up a lot of beats for season 2. The main idea is that the planet Vel is dying. Maybe it’s an invasion, maybe a natural disaster. Whatever it is, the Doctor keeps trying their hardest to save this planet, but it keeps not working. I think at one point, a proposed solution ends up costing the Doctor their ability to regenerate. Maybe the plan will release radiation that disables it, maybe they willingly funnel the energy away into a machine that just doesn’t work. Either way, they give up their regenerative ability for ultimately nothing. When they learn that it doesn’t work, they take a beat, but continue, saying that they’d do it again in a heartbeat. Eventually, the planet, the civilization, is doomed. The only way for their culture to survive is for the Doctor to become the Knight of the Vel. Basically, to upload the Vel version of the Timelord Matrix into their brain, and swear to guard it with their life.
This all means that we end the season with a self-sacrificial Doctor, slowly dying, unable to regenerate, who also can’t let themself die because their brain houses the only remaining trace of a civilization they failed to save. They’re now travelling with a companion who’s seen the doctor fail, is willing to call them out, but knows none of the above context. That sets up an incredible season 2.
With this context, looking back on season 1 we see a Doctor coming off a colossal failure, just looking for an easy win. They stick to the sidelines because they can’t risk dying and losing the Vel Matrix.
Naturally, the plot of season 2 is the Doctor looking for a way to offload the Vel Matrix onto some other archive or system or something, and the companion working out what’s happening, then looking for a way to stop the Doctor from dying/restore their regenerations.
The main concept I wanted to explore with this is to see what it would take to turn the Doctor into the Master, to see them turn darker, more pragmatic and self-serving, but not by choice. They have an external reason to survive, and they’re suddenly much more physically vulnerable. I think season 2 sees the Doctor start carrying a gun.
For casting, I like Kirby Howell-Baptiste as the Doctor. I know her from The Sandman, where she plays Death, and I like how she plays a being so clearly ancient, and effortlessly kind.
it would be consistently inconsistent in terms of types of story per series.