With Matt Smith's departure, hopefully the era of Doctor-Who-as-fairy-tale is over. True to the show's timey-wimey nature, I'm going to look backwards for ideas on where the show can go.
U.N.I.T.
I'll be the first to admit I don't know what the show's budget is, but it seems like they're either on Earth or in a studio an awful lot. While I do miss the "disguise this quarry as an alien planet" approach that Classic Who often took, maybe it's time to acknowledge their budgetary limitations by having the Doctor settle down for a little while.
Now, obviously, it wouldn't be a direct throwback to the 3rd Doctor's era. Nothing would compel the Doctor to stay on Earth in the 2010s. What if the Doctor were to discover some massive conspiracy spread throughout all of human history? (Like, say, Scaroth from City of Death.) Maybe you wouldn't keep him in one time, but you'd give him a reason for never leaving Earth. Each episode would only have to be tangentially tied into this arc, a la the Key to Time (Season 16).
And what if the companion didn't travel in the TARDIS? What if the time frame is roughly 1968 through 2038, and the Doctor interacts with the companion at various points in his* life?
*Yes, the companion here has to be a guy, which means there would indeed be a usual female "what's that, Doctor?" character. The reason for this is simple: in addition to doing the "what's that, Doctor?" routine, the companion also has to be eye candy.
And yes, I'm basically saying "Do River Song again, but right this time." Making River a time-traveler was a mistake. It made her and the Doctor's timeline about forty-two gajillion more times complicated than it needed to be.
Robert Holmes
When Bob Holmes was the script editor (1974-1977), the show was frakking awesome. You had Genesis of the Daleks. You had Pyramids of Mars. You had, above all else, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Now I'm not suggesting you put white guys in yellowface, but you could do the "Hammer Horror meets sci-fi" shtick that Holmes kept doing. Make Doctor Who scary again (inasmuch as a hideously fake giant rat and The Phantom of the Opera on videotape could be scary).
Cartmel Masterplan/Early Hartnell
Moffat's not going to do this because he's on record as hating the Cartmel Masterplan. I think. That isn't going to stop me from pitching it because this is my blog and I'll say what I want.
After 11 regenerates into Sir Swears-A-Lot, he disappears for a while. Yeah that sucks for Jenna-Louise Coleman, but... what's going on with her again? Has all the mystery been sucked out of the Doctor such that he must be surrounded by infinitely more interesting companions? Between Amy The Girl Who Waited and Clara The Girl Who... Died A Lot, it seems like The Moff has forgotten that the whole damn point of the companion is to be Arthur Dent.
Anyway, drop him in on some new guy. And girl. And make the guy and girl an item. Get as far away from the mold of the last three Doctors-as-chick-magnets as possible. So these new companions have to discover the Doctor for the first time. And as they do, we the audience are slowly cued in to the fact that this is not the same guy we're used to, either. He's one death away from the Valeyard. (I swear, that fact alone gives this so much potential.) If we're really ignoring the 13-life-limit, this is going to be around the time the Doctor works his way around it. He's been reunited with that shell of himself that got Chestbursted during the Time War. DO SOMETHING. Make the Doctor unfamiliar again.
Do the same damn thing you've been doing since 2005
Excitable Nerd Who Helps People.
Because it works. Ugh.
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