Doctor Who news: Time Lord Victorious was almost cancelled

Time Lord Victorious looks set to be the Doctor Who event of the year. But, as revealed in a recent panel, the pandemic threatened to cancel it before it had even begun.

Easily the most exciting Doctor Who event that we can look forward to this year is Time Lord Victorious. Taking place across multiple media and featuring a huge amount of merchandise, it looks set to be the most ambitious multi-platform event that didn’t include the TV series itself.

However, it’s not surprising to know that – in the year of an ongoing pandemic – there were fears that it would have to be delayed, if not completely canceled. During the Time Lord Victorious panel hosted by Comic-Con@Home, producer James Goss – who was basically given the words of “Time Lord Victorious” by the BBC and virtually nothing else to begin the project with – reveals his initial fears regarding the project’s cancelation.

"I was trapped in Turkey for a week and by the time I got back, the world had ended. I was convinced [Time Lord Victorious] was gonna be over."

So how was everyone able to carry on with the event?

There’s a huge amount that we can look forward to from Time Lord Victorious across many platforms – including several audio dramas starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Carrying on

James Goss has revealed that, thankfully, most of Time Lord Victorious has been able to carry on virtually as planned. Titan Comics, Big Finish, and BBC Books have all been able to continue with the comics, audios and the novels, at least. However, two experiences have been significantly affected, but not necessarily canceled, at least.

"The immersive theatre project has been finding ways in which they can reopen safely and still have a full immersive theatre experience. The escape room is looking at how social bubbles could work, so they can reopen safely."

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Unsurprisingly, Goss is extremely pleased that Time Lord Victorious has been able to carry on, thanks to the hard work of everyone involved.

"The thing that keeps on happening whenever I have a meeting about [Victorious] is not just how exciting it is, but how lucky we are — because I genuinely thought the project would’ve been cancelled.But because the licensees have all gone at every single stage, ‘Don’t worry, there’s a way through, we’ve found a way of carrying on…’ It’s amazing."

A major event

It really is quite impressive. Time Lord Victorious looks set to be a major event that any Doctor Who fan can take part in. One thing we’ve been consistently hearing is how it’s designed to be as accessible as possible across all platforms. While fans can certainly enjoy the bigger picture created by all the various media, they can also just jump onboard easily with virtually any story.

It’s that combination of strong continuity and accessibility that has helped Doctor Who to appeal to both long-term fans and newcomers alike for several decades now. So it’s certainly fantastic that – despite all odds – the project has been able to carry on, at least. We can’t wait for the project to begin in Sep 2020.

Are you excited about Time Lord Victorious? Are you surprised that they’ve been able to carry on with this ambitious project? Let us know in the comments below.