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8 Aborted Story Arcs That Would Have Totally Changed TV Shows

Unlike movies (though they can change a lot, too), TV series are made in such a way that the unfolding story is constantly evolving and being reformed. Even at the start of the process, after the idea goes through the network and producers, a show rarely ends up being exactly as the creators originally conceived it. Other times, shows take unexpected avenues during their run as public reaction or actors’ performances influence the direction of certain story arcs.

3) Doctor Who

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After running for fifty three years and counting, it’s not surprising that Doctor Who has had various storylines that didn’t make it to the screen.

One that would have had the most impact on the show is the original plan for the Third Doctor’s regeneration story back in 1974. The original outline would have seen the Doctor and his arch-enemy the Master revealed to be two sides of the same being – the ego and the id. With this revelation out of the bag, the Master was then to have sacrificed himself to save the Doctor. This plotline was only rested when Master actor Roger Delgado tragically died in a car accident.

Another scrapped plotline is the planned US-based version of the show that was mooted during the 1990s. It would have been a reboot of the series, which would have redesigned the Daleks as spider-legged robots and been focused around the Doctor’s quest to find his mother and father.