Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14, episode 1, "Space Babies."

Summary

• Doctor Who's new season includes jarring dialogue for existing fans, as Disney welcomes in a new audience.
• Gatwa's debut episode of his first season as the Fifteenth Doctor is impacted by Disney, introducing new fans to the show's intricate lore in a clunky way.
• Despite some changes, Doctor Who remains true to its core audience and established canon, exploring new and old elements.

Doctor Who begins Ncuti Gatwa's first full season as the Fifteenth Doctor with a slew of dialogue that's pretty jarring for existing fans. Disney's acquisition of the international distribution rights for the new era of Doctor Who raised eyebrows when the deal was made with the BBC in 2022. However, while nothing major has negatively changed the show so far, it'd be false to say there's been no impact at all.

While the first three episodes of end of the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials, Ncuti Gatwa had his first full debut in the 2023 Christmas special, "The Church on Ruby Road." The show's new look immediately blended well with the storied Doctor Who canon, but the first episode of season 14 begins with an odd dissonance between the two.

Doctor Who's Season 14 Opening Really Tries Hard To Attract New Fans

Gatwa's Doctor arguably over explains the show's premise

Despite Disney's first season of Doctor Who being branded as "season 1," the show's substantial canon has remained intact. So, Ruby Sunday's opening exchange with the Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who season 14, episode 1, "Space Babies," has been included to bring newcomers up to speed as quickly as possible. The clunky conversation is packed full of expositional information about the origin of the Doctor, including his name, age, planet of origin, and even how the TARDIS works.

While it's understandable why Disney would want to include a moment like this, it could have been done much more effectively.

While there's often an element of this refresher course each time a new companion is brought on board, they never learn all this information at once, and the Doctor's background is usually introduced gradually and in a much more subtle way. While it's understandable why Disney would want to include a moment like this, it could have been done much more effectively. The existing viewers shouldn't be aware they're being spoon-fed the show's promise, despite already being familiar with it.

Doctor Who Season 14 Still Caters To Its Core Audience Too

Russell T Davies hasn't moved on from established Doctor Who canon

Thankfully, "Space Babies" is more of a jumping-on point for new viewers without being a hard reset for Doctor Who's pre-Disney audience. Although the episode's opening exposition dump is a little jarring for the initiated, the new era still explores the nooks and crannies of Doctor Who lore that perhaps wouldn't make much sense to newcomers. So, although the early stages of Gatwa's run could be viewed as a cause for concern, the past of Doctor Who isn't being wiped clean.