Officially no series 8 in 2013

[Mr Awe]

StCoop wrote:

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I wasn't expecting a multi-Doctor story (maybe Tennant and and Eccles) before today, there's absolutely no chance of one now. In fact I'd amazed if it wasn't just Fields Of Trenzalor, The Question and Matt Smith's Regeneration.

And if it is... don't expect Series 8 until Autumn 2014.

But, Matt Smith seems to have committed to series 8 already. Link

StCoop wrote:

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Their Charter doesn't allow them to reinvest the money they make from it into the Show.

Time to amend that charter! Silly restriction!

Mr Awe

[Admiral_Young]

I thought this was pretty much already wildly known and accepted? Like Stcoop said, I myself wasn't expecting series 8 until at least mid summer 2014, but he's probably right and we won't get it until Autumn 2014. Makes sense.

[Mr Awe]

^^ The 60 minute length for the main special was not known. I guess it's still not totally official but it seems to be heading that direction.

Yeah, I know there are some other related things, like the docudrama about the show's beginnings, which I'm looking forward to. But, a 60 minute story misses the mark for the 50th anniversary.

Mr Awe

[diankra]

Mr Awe wrote:

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Time to amend that charter! Silly restriction!

Mr Awe

A central restriction: without it the BBC is just another commercial broadcaster, and the justification for the licence fee rather than advertising goes.

Much as I like Doctor Who, I don't personally feel it's more important than all the other good aspects of the BBC that would go.

[StCoop]

Mr Awe wrote:

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But, Matt Smith seems to have committed to series 8 already. Link

Not really much different from Moffat telling Tennant his Series 5 plans.

[ToddCam]

Interesting... where does the money go then?

[davejames]

60 minutes does seem a bit short, but then again this is Steven Moffat, and he usually manages to cram all kinds of cool stuff into his stories (just look at his season premieres and finales). And with all the jumping around in time he likes to do, I wouldn't be surprised if he DID manage to fit in all the other Doctors somehow.

That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

[Mr Awe]

diankra wrote:

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A central restriction: without it the BBC is just another commercial broadcaster, and the justification for the licence fee rather than advertising goes.

Much as I like Doctor Who, I don't personally feel it's more important than all the other good aspects of the BBC that would go.

I don't know about the UK, but in the US, non-profits can invest their profits back into the business in the manner they see fit. You just can't have individuals getting increased rewards based on increasing profits (e.g. profits can benefit the company/charity but they can't benefit the people who run it.)

I could see a system like that for the BBC. Keep it essentially a non-profit but let them use the money they earn to more effectively run themselves.

Mr Awe

[Mr Awe]

davejames wrote:

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That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

That's funny, brief and ultimately meaningless cameos seems uninspired to me. More creative is where their presence actually is important and advances the plot.

Mr Awe

[StCoop]

davejames wrote:

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That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

They didn't want to do pointless cameos 20 years ago when they tried to make The Dark Dimension. Plus Colin Baker for one, if being pretty blunt about not being asked and not being interested.

[diankra]

ToddCam wrote:

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Interesting... where does the money go then?

Into the BBC pot as a whole, to pay for six TV channels (not counting the two children's channels, as they just take over BBC3 and BBC4's broadcast slots during daytime: counting them as a separate channel is just branding and internal organisation), 10 radio channels, plus local radio, plus the website and iplayer. Plus payoffs for resigning bigwigs.

The problem is that with a near freeze on the licence fee (and the government shifting the cost of the World Service from the foreign office to the BBC), every department is having its budget squeezed, including BBC Wales drama department. And they seem to be making their budget work by reducing the number of episodes of Doctor Who in each financial year (so season 7 was part funded from 2011/12, and apart from 2012/13), rather than make the full run of 13+1 Who episodes in a single year, and dropping some other six part series altogether.

The effects are noticeable in other ways - over on Radio 4, longstanding continuity announcers are taking early retirement rather than do a 'merged' job, experienced news presenters are making far more on-air gaffes (probably because of problems with the systems at New Broadcasting House that there isn't the money to sort out), outtakes are getting left in the transmitted versions of recorded programmes (eg: "But the most important aspects... sorry, But the most important and unexpected aspects of this discovery..." the first bit should have been edited out, but got missed). And so on...

[Mr Awe]

^^ That sounds like very short term thinking. Cut the budget of one of the best money making shows in order to make their budget work. Sure, cuts their short term expenses but reduces their longer term income! I guess I don't get it.

[MacLeod]

^I think the lisence fee also pays for the maintenace of the transmission systems

[diankra]

It is short term thinking, but within the organisational structure it makes sense at departmental level - just as it did in 1985, when the drama department needed to save money to pay for the launch of Eastenders (which, in the long term, would save it money, but had massive start-up costs), and found it by dropping Doctor Who (or dropping it till the next financial year, as it turned out) even though the loss of Who sales would cut the income of the BBC as a whole. But when that loss was passed on the next year, it would be split across the whole BBC, so drama department itself would lose a lot less than it saved...

[Samurai8472]

Blogtor Who has had that 2013 timetable taken down from it's site.

There was also a picture of a Clara action figure, and a playset of the London Underground