Officially no series 8 in 2013

[ToddCam]

What terrible timing. Would it be at all profitable for the BBC to sell Who to a network? Forgive me if it's ludicrous, I don't know anything about broadcasting...

[StCoop]

ToddCam wrote:

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What terrible timing. Would it be at all profitable for the BBC to sell Who to a network? Forgive me if it's ludicrous, I don't know anything about broadcasting...

There have been rumours that it could move over to becoming a BBC Worldwide production, which would allow BBC America to come in as full co-production partners rather than just chipping in the odd bit of cash as they do now. (It would also put Julie Gardner back in charge of it again!)

[Captaindemotion]

As long as we get some new episodes in spring, I don't really care if they call it season 8, 7B or whatever. But I'm disappointed that the 50 year anniversary is only going to be 60 minutes (if that's accurate). I would have expected at the very least a 90 min special or a 2 - 4 part miniseries.

This is the first time DW has been on the air in a year ending in '3' since 1983, it's now one of the BBC's mainstays and biggest attractions and this is the best they can do?

[MacLeod]

You never know dear old Auntie Beeb might have something in mind, that hasn't been announced yet.

[StCoop]

MacLeod wrote:

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You never know dear old Auntie Beeb might have something in mind, that hasn't been announced yet.

Like what? Every statement from everyone involved now sings from the same sheet and points in the one direction.

And they're hardly going to leave anything important off advertising material that's aimed at Trade rather than the general public.

[MacLeod]

^Unless they haven't finalised that material.

[StCoop]

MacLeod wrote:

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^Unless they haven't finalised that material.

It's nearly February now. They know exactly what's happening this year.

[Allyn Gibson]

StCoop wrote:

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It's nearly February now. They know exactly what's happening this year.

Plus, the point of that material is to let merchandise buyers for the retail chains know what kind of support they can expect from the series. If there's eight episodes in the spring or a special in the autumn, buyers will want to know that because that's when their customers will be high on Doctor Who. Likewise, if there's nothing in the summer or winter months, buyers will want to know not to stock Doctor Who merchandise then because it's dead weight. The list, in other words, is a guide for the buyers to let them know when to stock their stores -- and when not to. And buyers don't like surprises and rush solicitations because they're very hard to plan for and very difficult to gauge accurately.

[Samurai8472]

^Exactly it's a chain reaction.

If I was a toy seller and heard there was 50th anniversary special planned then i'll make sure to stock up on some classic series figures etc.

Strike while the iron is hot.

[DalekJim]

We've only had one properly scheduled series since 2008 so I'm used to being fucked about but this is still shit news. The show has really failed to build up a momentum for me over these past few years and it's precisely because of random dicking about like this.

[Captain_Amasov]

StCoop wrote:

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

Which is sad when you consider that with the cut backs the BBC has had, it still manages this:

"The BBC generated more than £8bn for the UK economy in 2011-12, almost twice its licence fee spend."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21041587

[Mr. Adventure]

diankra wrote:

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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...

Luckily for us that has never been a problem in Doctor Who.

[diankra]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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Luckily for us that has never been a problem in Doctor Who.

It's a good example of why people used to swear -as offensively as possible - when they made a slip, just to make sure it wasn't used.

[Ar-Pharazon]

Count me in the group that thinks if we aren't getting anything else after 7b, that a 60 minute 50th anniversary special isn't that impressive.

At least give us a 2 parter like The End Of Time. Even without lots of Doctors, it gotta be a big enough story for 2 hours, whatever it is.

[The Wormhole]

Konata Izumi wrote:

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Only?

That's 24 episodes out of 94 total. Significantly less than half, so yeah, "Only."

Mr Awe wrote:

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I thought the 90 minutes for The Five Doctors was perfect. Why not just do that length?

The Five Doctors being 90 minutes isn't really all that impressive when you consider a four part classic Who story (which were the norm during Davison's years) had a combined total run time around 90 minutes. The only difference is that it was shown in one fell swoop as opposed to hacked up into four parts.

Besides, in Pertwee's years six-parters normal but The Three Doctor was only a four parter.

I'm sorry, but while many things about the state of DW these days concern me, the anniversary special being 60 minutes is a non-issue. Sure, I wanted a two-parter like The End of Time featuring all living Doctors, but I've only been expecting a 60 minute story. Honestly the fact that we basically have two gap years in a row as more upsetting to me, and that's not even all that upsetting.