Why did RTD even create the Time War and get rid of the Time Lords?

[Haggard01]

Like why wipe out the Time Lords, Gallifrey etc.? Just to have a clean start or something for the new series?

[Austin 3:16]

Thats my guess. Plus, its probably to have something in his back pocket to draw on when he needed a story idea. He did that with The Master too, saying he was gone but could always come back if a good idea popped up.

[DJ Doena]

Like why wipe out the Time Lords, Gallifrey etc.? Just to have a clean start or something for the new series?

One of the reasons that the show was originally cancelled was that it had become too childish, to absurd. It started out as a teaching program for kids (that's why the First Doctor visited cavemens and and other historical eras).

By the mid-eighties it had totally lost its way and didn't know what stories to tell.

When it was rebooted they wanted to get away from the silliness (celery on the lapel anyone?) so they decided to go darker. And one way of doing that was having the Doctor living through an horrible event like the Time War.

[KSiteTV]

I think he wiped out Gallifrey because being "the last of his kind" was something that made the Doctor special when he returned for his new series - he had that loneliness of losing his people, which is also a thing that drew him to Rose initially.

Also, one of the criticisms of the 1996 Doctor Who TV-movie is even in the opening voiceover, there was way too much mythology to deal with - Time Lords, Master, Daleks, regenerations, etc. - it was surely the right thing to go in fairly fresh, and reveal those things over time.

[Austin 3:16]

I think he wiped out Gallifrey because being "the last of his kind" was something that made the Doctor special when he returned for his new series - he had that loneliness of losing his people, which is also a thing that drew him to Rose initially.

Also, one of the criticisms of the 1996 Doctor Who TV-movie is even in the opening voiceover, there was way too much mythology to deal with - Time Lords, Master, Daleks, regenerations, etc. - it was surely the right thing to go in fairly fresh, and reveal those things over time.

Very good point. Starting off fresh and diving more and more into detail later on was a great thing to do. I love how they did it. Then when we got to The Eleventh Hour with Matt Smith and it shows his foes, friends, other stuff about Earth and his former lives, it worked really well. Theyd gotten us fans reinvested in the show and its mythology. Smart way to do the restart.