You mean the good old days when ST and other Sci-Fi shows where on BBC at 18:00, only for episodes to be postponed due to the great TV god of sport, and even if the sport had finished by 18:00 if it had overrun, the Sci-Fi show would be posponted in favour of the show that the sport had overran into? Ah yes the good the old days.
Per Moffat at a preview screening: I'm curious to see how Doctor Who takes over television in 2013. A repeat season, perhaps.
^^ Well, Moffat also promised more Who than ever. So, I'd take all of that with a huge grain of salt!
Doctor Who taking over television in 2013 will just end up along with some of Moffat's other memorable quotes like "more Who than ever," "airing in those cold, dark winter months," "splitting the season means less gaps between seasons," and so on. Rule 1: Moffat lies.
I'll cherish those 7-8 weeks of WHO in April before we go back into the dark until 2013 Christmas special I hope a Proms or SOMETHING is wedged in between the wait
There is going to be an anniversary special, presumably in November. And that thing Mark Gatiss is doing, which I guess will also air in November.
Last I heard there were to be two specials, but one live, so that doesn't need to be filmed ahead of time...
I miss Torchwood, good Torchwood anyway. I think the BBC should considering giving the show one last chance, with the mandate that it go back to the standalone format from Seasons 1 & 2. Also, try to ask RTD if he can write the series without turning all the characters into a bunch of contemptible twats. Unless you're an American. In that case, it just feels like they're toying with us. But Doctor Who is still better than Sherlock or Red Dwarf or The Catherine Tate Show. What the hell is the point of doing a "season" if it's only going to be 3-8 episodes long? [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT7TR3Td6KQ[/yt] I'm not sure if BSG was THE first, but it was one of the first to do DVD half-seasons. And it was certainly one of the first new shows to do it. (A lot of old shows do half-season DVD sets but that's because they did 30+ episodes each season, like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, etc.) It's OK to strech things out if you're doing 20 episodes per season. But if you're only doing 13 episodes, splitting it seems rediculous. That said, it feels less awkward this year than it did last year. Last year, lodging a big mid-season cliffhanger like "A Good Man Goes to War" in the middle of the season just seemed to completely throw off its rhythm (especially when they'd already crammed two 2-parters into that 7 episode half season). On the other hand, this year, there seems to be a natural narrative break between the departure of Amy & Rory in "The Angels Take Manhattan" and the introduction of the new companion in "The Snowmen." Not to mention they seem to be redesigning everything else on the show, from the opening credits to the console room to the Doctor's wardrobe. (BTW, if the show is really hurting for money, why would they spend money redesigning the console room after they already redesigned it a couple years ago?)
They didn't have a choice. The old (old!) set was literally welded to the foundations of the previous studio (BBC forsesight at it's finest!), so when they moved they couldn't take it down and rebuild it. Hence the new smaller, cheaper set.
Huh. I didn't know that. Why did they have to move? And why didn't they figure on this in the first place? Didn't they have to move the old Eccleston/Tennant console room between Seasons 2 & 3? And wasn't that a total pain in the ass because it was never meant to be moved? Still, I kinda like the new, smaller console room if only because it reminds me of the console room from the classic series.
The BBC's lease on the facility at Upper Boat expired. Rather than re-up (probably because it was too small for the productions the BBC wanted to stage there), the BBC decided to build a new (and bigger) soundstage facility at Roath Lock. At the time the new console room was built in 2009, they probably didn't expect that they would have to move it. When the production move was announced, I'm sure they looked at moving it but then discovered that it was more trouble than it was worth.
All this stuff about splitting the season, more who actually meaning less who, budget, etc....makes me worried. I guess season 8 might very well be the last?
Now you're just jumping to conclusions. It might be the last for Moffat and Smith (and that's just idle speculation which means nothing, I don't actually know for sure that it will), but given the ratings the show pulls in, it will continue in some way.
No. The BBC, through Worldwide, likes the revenue that Doctor Who brings because it helps to fund all of the BBC. If the series were ever really threatened by monetary issues at the BBC, a coproduction deal would be found, probably with BBC America.