I know there's a Big Finish new series UNIT spinoff being made but wouldn't a TV UNIT spinoff be great?

I think it would work pretty well now; I could imagine it being something similar in tone to Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD, with the constant threat of Zygons and whether you can properly trust whether somebody is the original UNIT soldier or not instead of Hydra.

To be honest I wouldn't think there would be much call for such a show. I'm sure it's something older fans would want and would watch but for new who fans and the wider mainstream audience, UNIT isn't exactly a big deal within doctor who. The only use of UNIT these days pretty much just extends to saying the name and having Kate and Osgood appear, along with the odd few soldiers, and there hasn't been any time where it's been really prominent or focused on since 2005(the sontaran strategem/poison sky probably came closest but even that didn't really make much of an impact). Besides It would just be like another torchwood except more dry due to the military nature of the organization and therefore probably not as fun to watch.

I like Kate Stewart and Osgood as characters in an adventure alongside the doctor, but out of all the idea's that could possibly be made into a spin off at the moment, a UNIT show seems the least interesting.

To be fair, you can say the exact same thing about SHIELD in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when AOS was announced but since the second half of season 1, its really taken off. SHIELD is now more prominent in the movies too.

A UNIT spinoff would likely have a similar impact on the new series. I don't necessarily agree that UNIT *isn't* a 'big deal', though. I think the casual audience have been familiar with UNIT ever since Aliens Of London/World War 3 and if anything, Moffat is making new viewers more familiar with the organisation than ever before in the new series. A UNIT spinoff wouldn't need any familiarity anyway; all they'd have to do is market it as a Doctor Who spinoff and people would watch.

Agents Of SHIELD is great fun to watch. I see no reason why a UNIT spinoff couldn't be also.

No. Mainly cos modern day UNIT has, what, two recognisable faces (who have only just started to become recurring faces) plus the Doctor and that's it. A UNIT TV show would be boring; also mainly cos they usually require the Doc's help. So it'd basically be Doctor Who.

Nah, having UNIT pop up from time to time and giving them some Big Finish stuff is enough. I like them but they don't need a spin off.

Agents of shield has no impact on the movies whatsoever. The only shield characters they ever show in the movies are the one's who have always been in the movies. They won't even show coulson in the movies since he died in them and joss whedon has even said that for the purposes of the films coulson will always officially be dead, so even though the films/tv show all officially operate in the same universe, the movies don't actually acknowledge the tv show at all.

Here is an article where I read some of the things I have just mentioned.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/04/2...th-joss-whedon

As a watcher of that show myself I have to say it is very uneven. sometimes it's great but often it is too dry and i've seriously considered stopping watching more than once.


Back on to unit though, where you say the audience have been familar with Unit since series 1, I'm well aware that they had mention's/appearances since that time as most on this forum would be, but that isn't the same as having a real impact on the show. Ask new who viewers about what comes to mind about the show other than doctors and companions and from most you'll probably hear captain jack, river song, the master, davros, torchwood and probably others before UNIT would come to mind.

Also, where you say familiarity isn't too important, I agree that they could build on that within the show itself, but it would still have to be a show where people were interested enough to watch in the first place and then be able to sustain interest, and for me, as I say, I feel it would be too dry as a show in it's own right. Sure in the 70's/80's when it was in the height of it's importance and popularity within the ahow a spinoff would probably have been popular then, but now, I just don't think it would resonate with today's audience.

I'm not trying to diminish your idea's or love of UNIT, and I'm sure there are many older fans and perhaps the odd few younger one's who would like the sound of your idea, but for me, I just don't think it would get very far in todays market, and of all the things they could do a spin off of, I'd much rather see a paternoster gang/river/new series of torchwood

SHIELD only had three recognisable faces in the MCU (Coulson, Nick Fury and Maria Hill) yet a spinoff was still made.

I'd like to see what UNIT would do when they can't get the Doctor's help. Because there must be times where the Doctor isn't there and they have to stop a alien invasion.

I don't know a thing about Shield, sorry.

I don't think 2015 is really in need of a UNIT spin-off to be honest. They're no longer a big part of Who like they once were. In fact, I don't see the need for any spin-offs at the mo. Vastra/Strax/Jenny I could see reasons for, but I think even that ship has sailed (for a TV show anyway).

I'll admit that I quite like the idea of a UNIT spin-off the more and more I think about it. I never used to, but I've warmed to it.

Torchwood is clearly out of the picture in the UK right now within the Whoniverse... its London base of operation is gone, as is the one in Cardiff, whilst another was "missing" to start with. That list of names for execution in Children of Earth could very well be other representatives of Torchwood, so as an establishment it would be fairly easy to write out.

A UNIT spin-off would allow mostly contemporary Earth stories involving alien threats, presumably focused on the UK for the sake of filming. The most interesting aspect for me though would be the chance to have some actually interesting UNIT characters. Kate Stewart is great but has so little to work with - a character like hers as part of a wider ensemble cast would be interesting I think. If done right you could flesh out the characters and it would make the prospect of crossovers for these characters into Doctor Who every now and again very exciting.

Whilst I'm not too fond of Agents of SHIELD, the premise is sound. I think such a thing for Doctor Who could work, especially with the increased UNIT presence since Series 7. There is room for another spin-off and if done well this one could be an interesting blend of what Torchwood offered earlier on and something actually quite original.

See Torchwood. What I mean by that is, as I said in an earlier post that this kind of scenario for a tv show has already been covered by Torchwood. The difference though, was that was a show which worked because although it was technically an organisation, the way the branch in question was being run was basically Jack and his mates getting saving the world (or at least cardiff) so had a casual feel in the setup similar to the main show. A UNIT spinoff, being military based, would be all procedure, bureaucracy, orders and yes sir, no sir. In short in would feel like the less fun cousin of torchwood in terms of show's. If and only if they had Kate Stewart and Osgood on board (as that's by no means a certainty) people might give it a try at first, just because of there popularity as characters rather than any paricular interest in UNIT itself, but I doubt it would survive past 2 series, and if there was no Kate and Osgood then I doubt it would even get a second series .

Plus in terms of seeing what the would happen when the doctor isn't around to save the world, do you really think anything could top Torchwood: children of earth on that subject, because to me, that was the perfect 'what happens when the doctor isn't around' story.

I couldn't care less about how Torchwood copes without the Doctor but to me UNIT without the Doctor is much more interesting, seeing how the Doctor basically works for UNIT (he never actually quit his job).

Pretty much the same, one suspects. Cos, to be honest, Torchwood is just a more updated less militaristic UNIT. They do the same job at the end of the day.

I don't think this is a bad idea. The use of UNIT could be developed and broadened, with Kate and Osgood as part of a broader ensemble with other interesting characters we've not seen before.

Didn't some people say similar things about how Torchwood was a bad idea before we actually saw it?

I think the days of televised spin-offs are over. With the exception of the Australian K9 series, I think the four main ones (six if you count the behind-the-scenes programmes) are perfect and perfect for the time when Whomania was at its pinnacle).
I've never got the obsession of having more and more to 'fill in the gaps', even as someone that has DW coursing through my veins, I think it will be DW-overload, goodness knows what your casual viewer must be feeling.
I don't share it but you only need to look at some of the backlash coming out from your average joe saying 'enough of the super-hero films'. It would sadden me if most people started to have that outlook on DW.

A lot of people would say they couldn't care less about UNIT. The point is that Torchwood:children of earth wasn't just about Torchwood, it showed how the world reacted and coped and what the governments did, how the normal people reacted and how it affected daily life. It covered all aspects of how the entire human race as a whole coped without the doctor in an alien invasion crisis, so I really don't see how a UNIT series could do it any better

Currently UNIT has two recognisable characters. Apart from that, the whole concept of it is basically just a generic army for the doctor who world rather than showing a real world specific army. In short, apart from those two characters, there is nothing appealing or unique to make a show from. It's not going to get made just because some fans are getting nostalgic for the old days when UNIT was prominent in doctor who.

Also, please just accept that some people think it's a bad idea. Pretty much whenever anyone starts a thread on here saying that something should happen or they would like something to happen, they do so knowing that there are bound to be some people who disagree with them. Surely you didn't start the thread expecting that every single poster who commented would jump up and say 'wow, great idea!'. There are always a difference of opinions on most threads. Something that sounds great to you will sound not so great to someone else. To be fair, looking down the thread, there are other posters also saying 'no thanks' to the idea rather than agreeing, so it's not just me. You asked in your opening post if people thought the idea of a UNIT spinoff was a good idea. I responded in good faith to your question by stating that I personally didn't think it was. You can keep trying to counter what I say are my reasons why, and I could easily keep telling you why it sounds utterly dull. You can't really win an argument when someone was just trying to tell you their opinion.

Forums are for debates. If you post your disagreement with the idea, of course it's going to be challenged whether by me as the OP or someone else. I'm not being arrogant here if that's what this post makes it sound like, I sometimes just like to passionately push my ideas when I publish them online. It is good practice for me for my uni work because I often worry about coming across as arrogant and that sometimes results in me not pushing my ideas enough.

That's fair enough, and in someways admiral that you have such passion behind your idea's. The point I was trying to get across was that you asked what people thought about your idea, which was a clear request for opinions on your idea, I in good faith participated by saying I didn't really like the idea, but since I said that it feels like you are trying to say 'that was the wrong answer' and seem incapable of accepting that someone can disagree with the idea. There is no right and wrong when you are asking for opinions of your ideas, as opinions are opinions. When people's opinions are that you have a good idea you can relish in it, but when people say 'no, not for me' you just have to say 'oh well' and move on.

Do keep posting your ideas though, from what I've seen of you on the various threads you seem very imaginative, and that's no bad thing.

The BBC are going to have to cut drama budgets so an effects-heavy action series would be a non-starter.

I once saw another programme described as "like giving UNIT control of the TARDIS and sending them to all the less interesting places".

That programme was Stargate SG-1.

(For the record, I thought the description rather harsh, although I have to admit that SG-1 was a slow starter)

I thought that big Finnish did an excellent job with their UNIT series, especially with rival organisation ICIS. I would love to see a UNIT series, starting with the organisation being saved from being scrapped at the SDSR by an aged SIr Alastair meeting with RTD AVM now Lord Gilmore. Heavily cut, a smaller UNIT would balance Its scientific and sceptical military elements.