Disney+ is to become the new global home for upcoming seasons of Doctor Who outside of the UK and Ireland.
misc Big Announcement thoughts, take 2:
"upcoming seasons" – for now, the rest of New Who will remain on HBO Max. Disney wouldn't be interested in the show if prior series were required viewing, so this basically confirms that RTD will be going for a full "soft reboot" with Gatwa after (via?) the 14th Doctor specials.
Will this mean new episodes become available in the US right after they finish airing on BBC 1, like how iPlayer works now? As sad as it may be to see BBC America consigned to 24/7 reruns, I won't miss the ads very much.
RIP to my Irish friends tho. Shafted again.
This year BBC sold its share of BritBox to ITV, who will be folding it into their new ITVX platform next month. So the Classic Who distribution rights will probably be up for grabs at the end of this year. Odds that Disney+ snaps them up? Would be nice to stream all of Classic and New Who in the same place – would much rather it be anywhere but Disney+ though!
Come to think of it, between Classic and New Who, Torchwood and Class, Sarah Jane and even the K9 series that used to air on Disney XD … even without anything new, there's already enough to justify a new tile on the Disney+ homepage. A realistic mockup from Gerard Groves on Twitter:
This begs the question: what would we see in the MCUfication of Who – the WhoCU, if you will? Educated guesses below the cut:
Because of Chibnall's switch from Christmas to New Year's, Daleks didn't appear on TV in 2018, and it led to the first year that the Nation estate made less from Dalek merchandise than they had before the revival. This triggered a clause in Tim Hancock's original deal – which both sides were still holding to, even though it technically expired in the move to BBC Worldwide – so I've heard that the estate started shopping the Daleks around to other studios. (Hancock also recently resigned.) Rumour has it that Disney bought ~30% of the rights in a silent auction. BBC still owns the designs from the TV show, but after 2023 they wouldn't be able to call them "Daleks" anymore – the "drones" were introduced in Revolution as a workaround. This has probably changed with RTD's emergency return and this Disney+ deal, but the fact remains that Disney can use redesigned Daleks with or without RTD's permission.
We might also get shot-for-shot recreations of missing episodes with new actors! According to people I trust – and many thanks to [redacted] for inspiring most or all of these bullet points – the BBC received film print copies of "Marco Polo" from a private collector in 2013, but they're so damaged they're basically unwatchable. Following UKTV's success with Dad's Army in 2018, BritBox had been talking about reshooting "Marco Polo" for the 60th anniversary, like An Adventure in Space and Time had been for the 50th. (It's mostly a single set, after all.) This would be a test run for a more ambitious First Doctor revival. Animation is not the future for our "missing" episodes…
Or maybe as Gerard visualized, McGann will get another shot – he looked pretty good in The Power of the Doctor, didn't he? According to one of the same sources for the spot-on Centenary leaks, BBC Studios looked into doing a live-action Eighth Doctor miniseries after the big hit that was "The Night of the Doctor", but management changed and ordered Class instead. I love Class and all, but … what a missed opportunity!
Is MCUfication a good idea? I have very mixed feelings. As Neo from WhoCares remarked, after so many years of ambling, the franchise being steered in a new direction so purposefully is uncomfortable and kind of scary. But this won't be RTD's first time reinventing Who. In the end I have to trust that we're in capable hands!
Yeah, we danced on table tops and we took too many shots. Think we kissed, but I forgot. Sometimes, romance happens under the influence. Below are my Top 5 Favorite stories:
“in the morning i'll be sober and you'll still be mine” (T, 2k) by mcwho
Steve always marveled at how people lost all their inhibitions after they got a little alcohol in them.
And then Thor gets him drunk on Asgardian liquor. Events unfold.
+ Post WS. Steve gets drunk and can’t contain his pining anymore. Bucky doesn’t mind at all.
-☆-
“Let's Fall in Love” (T, 3k) by Desdemon
“I really am sorry, dollface,” Bucky said, his eyes huge and stupid. “I’m just flapping my gums, you know what a chucklehead I am.”
+ Post WS. Steve and Bucky go to a themed bar, and get really into roleplaying.
-☆-
“the place where you were in my heart is not closed” (T, 3k) by shestepsintotheriver
Steve and Bucky used to spend every summer together, but when Bucky didn’t turn up for his last year at summer camp, Steve had no way to contact him.
Seven years later, a semi-drunken toast brings them back together.
+ Modern AU. Steve’s made friends at college, but still pines after his long lost childhood crush. Turns out his crush is right down the street.
-☆-
“Save a Horse, Ride a Captain” (T, 2k) by galwednesday
Bucky tapped him on the shoulder, swaying back and forth a little as he waited for the man to turn around. “Hello,” he said, and then promptly forgot what else he was going to say, because this guy was fucking beautiful. “Wow. Good face.”
Two of the guy’s friends, a man wearing a suit that fit so well it had to be bespoke and a man with a cute little gap between his front teeth, started cracking up. The petite redhead sitting next to them cocked her head to the side and pulled her phone out of her handbag. Beautiful Face just looked kind of pained, so Bucky redirected. He was a gentleman. He could take a hint. No hitting on beautiful guys who were uncomfortable with that sort of thing, no matter how lickable their jawlines were.
“Hello,” he repeated, doing his best to mind his manners. “I’m very sorry to bother you. Can I have a piggy-back ride?”
+ Shrunkyclunks. Captain America carries drunk Bucky back home and makes him coffee in the morning. The Howling Commandos are thrilled
-☆-
“Bubbling up” (T, 4k) by Niitza
"And that's the story of how Captain America drove safely to the French zone libre, with the rest of his team three sheets to the wind, while being fearfully saluted by Nazis."
+ Post CW. Bucky is slowly recovering his memories, and finds out drinking champagne brings back a nice one
-☆-
-☆- And a freebie when they’re sober!! -☆-
“When You're Drunk” (M, 3k) by Kellyscams
Seventy years ago, Bucky Barnes was in love with Steve Rogers and could only express his love for him under the misguided courage of drunken nights.
Seventy years ago, Steve Rogers was in love with Bucky Barnes, and could only have Bucky's love under the misguided courage of drunken nights.
Seventy years later, what happens when a drunken night is nearly impossible?
+ Post WS. Bucky has a hard time telling Steve how he feels, so he tries for a little liquid courage. Turns out Steve has enough courage for both of them (the angsty prequel is here)
-☆-
+ More Alcohol fics in College AU and Seasonal Sampler lists
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Summary:
Steve is spooning Bucky, an arm draped loosely around his middle, laying on the large sofa opposite the TV. His lips are against Bucky’s hair, breathing him in.
It’d be an average Thursday night if it wasn’t for Steve being buried to the hilt inside of him and showing no signs of moving any time soon.
Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/ Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Cock Warming, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Established Relationship, Steve Rogers Is An Asshole And Bucky’s Plight Is Unimaginable, Light Dom/sub
Bucky did nothing wrong here. A little playful pre-dick banter that maybe led to him making the comment that topping requires less effort and skill than the other option – and now this.
And okay, maybe Bucky had doubled down on it and gotten a little overconfident about his perceived abilities to take Steve’s usual role. So what?
Steve is such a fucking baby.
https://bit.ly/2XogwgZ
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
What is it like to talk to someone regardless of distance? To reassure and be reassured as soon as doubt rears its head? Below are my Top 5 Favorites:
“20th Century Limited” (E, 52k) by Speranza
"Where am I? Where is this?" and he was in Brooklyn, he was on a beach, the train was shaking around him. He was in the plane, ice splintering up onto the windshield. He was in a tank, tubes trailing from his face, from his groin. Christ, he was cold. There was still ice on his fingers. He was in the Grand Canyon. He was in Times Square. This couldn't be Times Square. Where the hell was this? "Tell me! Where am I, who are you, where's—" —Bucky?
+ TFA to CW. Everyone with the serum gets linked together
-☆-
“Open Book” (E, 3k) by mcwho
“You’re lying,” Bucky says. “Fuck, even if I couldn’t read your mind I’d know you were lying, Jesus, Rogers, are you seriously this bad at lying? Didn’t you used to be part of a major intelligence organisation?”
or, bucky wakes up one day with unlimited access to steve's mind
+ Post WS. Steve is perpetually horny and Bucky has no time to be stressed
-☆-
“On the Outside” (M, 5k) by zilia
Love in a cold climate in the 21st century.
+ Post CW. Soulmates have telepathic bonds, but after 70 years of separation, they’re unable to physically touch without blacking out. They make it work
-☆-
“In Your Head” (T, 47k) by sara_holmes
Getting Bucky back is possibly the best thing to happen to Steve ever. Even if Bucky is not exactly the fella he used to be, keeping him close is definitely #1 on Steve's to-do list. That being said, ending up with Bucky's consciousness riding shotgun in his brain is probably too close for even Steve.
+ Post WS. With Deadpool’s intervention, the boys take turns in each other’s heads
-☆-
“memory, rewritten” (M, 9k) by augustbird
The only way to remove the trigger words is by resetting the associations in Bucky's mind. Unfortunately, Steve is the only one who can help.
+ Post CW. Sharing memories and finally getting their happy ending
Hot for teacher! Is it the intelligence kink? The nurturing aspect of building youthful minds? Plain schadenfreude of Academia? Whatever catches your fancy, below are my Top 5 Favorites:
“they’re gonna send us to prison for jerks” (T, 24k) by napricot
“Hey Steve, this is Jack Murphy, our other neighbor. Jack, this is Steve.” Steve looked at Sam a little wildly, expecting to see—he didn’t even know, but some reaction other than Sam’s usual easy friendliness. And there was something there, but it was just the twitch of Sam’s mouth that said he found something hilarious and he was trying not to show it. Was this Sam’s idea of a joke, or a prank? Because this guy—behind the glasses and mustache, Steve could have sworn—well, he looked like Bucky.
+ Post WS, Bucky’s made a new life for himself as a math teacher. Hijinks abound, with a sequel of Bucky’s POV for extra giggles
-☆-
“Pedantic Affectations” (M, 15k) by relenafanel
Steve Rogers: khaki pants and ugly tweed wearing art history professor specializing in historical queer art (by day). Is actually Captain America, vigilante and the bane of Detective Barnes’s existence (by night).
Detective Bucky Barnes: A very clever cop who suspects something is up with Steve. Is frustrated that Captain America exists and is dedicated to finding him because he loves a good puzzle.
So, how does Steve convince Bucky that he's too boring to be Captain America? Go on a date with him.
(Steve is kind of really, really bad at this secret identity thing)
+ Modern AU where Steve is professor by day, vigilante by night, and a disaster all around
-☆-
“Introduction to Fake Dating Your Best Friend 101″ (T, 24k) by crinklefries
Bucky stares at his best friend as though he’s absolutely lost what’s left of his dumbass mind.
“Excuse me?” he asks dumbly.
Steve sighs and sags back onto the couch, covering his face dramatically with one large, well-manicured hand.
“Dean Coulson thinks we’re dating. And gay. But like, for each other. And now I need you to fake date me so I can convince the Chancellor to fund my research.”
+ Modern AU where they’re both professors who fake date and pine for each other
-☆-
“Dear Teacher, With Love” (T, 61k) by fancyh
In which Bucky Barnes becomes a teacher. Includes snarky teenagers, copious amounts of Starbucks, a cat named Alpine, and a soft redemption story for our favorite hero.
+ Post WS. While recovering, Bucky impersonates a science teacher and gets adopted by the students and staff
-☆-
“good on my own (needed me)” (E, 11k) by mcwho
There are some mistakes that could be made by anybody. Anybody. Bucky taught high school pretty much his whole life, and that was fine, those were kids, and he knew all of them anyway, which meant there was very little chance of him accidentally fucking any of his students during an impulsive post-marital-breakdown Grindr hook-up. Which is exactly what he had done with Steve.
+ Modern AU where Bucky’s a college professor and found out his summer grindr hookup is a student at his university
Steve is spooning Bucky, an arm draped loosely around his middle, laying on the large sofa opposite the TV. His lips are against Bucky’s hair, breathing him in.
It’d be an average Thursday night if it wasn’t for Steve being buried to the hilt inside of him and showing no signs of moving any time soon.
https://bit.ly/2VXgziE
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
