http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014...ep-breath-with-peter-capaldi-before-its-on-tv I've also seen it alleged that it's 75 minutes, which I'll believe when I see it. Though if it's true it'd help make up for there being only 12 episodes.
Isn't that longer than Day of the Doctor? Why on Earth should this premiere be longer than an episode celebrating the 50th anniversary?!?!?!?
Search me, I'm skeptical about it - unless it was intended as a two-parter and has been edited together for transmission.
Could explain it. Still seems absurd that they'd choose to make the introduction of a new doctor (which is rarely a successful episode) over the celebration of 50 years of the show.
It looks like it has a two-hour slot on BBC America, at 8, with John Simm's crime drama Intruders following at 10.
Presumably because "The Day of the Doctor" was budgeted and produced for 3D (which forced Moffat to trim the script down, as 3D production takes longer), before the BBC decided that it was completely abandoning its pursuit of 3D. Edit: "The Day of the Doctor" was a 76-minute episode so I'm not sure what you're bellyaching about.
In hindsight, Day of the Doctor was really given the short end of the stick. It should've been longer, and budgeted more. Period.
The thing with Day of the Doctor is that it feels like it was meant to be much longer but the final product is the result of a condensed script which was hacked away at to fit into a certain allotted time. Which could very well be the case, given the constraints of 3-D. Something I noticed last time I watched it, everything just seems to go by too quickly, it's too fast paced an episode.
Its another proof of how little the BBC thinks of the program, regardless of its immense history. I couldn't believe it, but things like this, and the overall lack of anthusiasm towards the 50th anniversary as a whole... Truly dissapointing.
Oh for fuck's sake! The Day of the Doctor was brilliant. It didn't feel like we were shortchanged (except perhaps in the area of Eccleston). Also worth noting that there's a big difference between the production of a one off special and the production of a feature length premiere that's being produced as part of a season, this likely gives them additional time and space for re-shoots, pickups etc etc.
If you'd been in the UK during the anniversary you wouldn't have been saying that. The schedules were glutted with Who-related programmes; the shelves were heaving with (even more than usual) merchandise; the Excel centre was packed to the rafters. If I hadn't been a Who fan I'm pretty sure I would have thought it was ridiculously OTT. The BBC did a superb job in celebrating the fiftieth - far more so, I suspect, than will be the case with Paramount and Trek's upcoming anniversary...
As someone who saw Day of the Doctor in theaters, it seemed to me to be just the right length. Nothing felt dragged out or shortchanged. An episode with a new Doctor has to set up a lot more. Green Lantern above said that new Doctor episodes are rarely successful. I'd argue that part of this has to do with all the new things they have to deal with. Hopefully, the added length makes up for that. And, either way, so what? Is the new maximum length of an episode 74 minutes so as to never be longer than Day of the Doctor? Every episode should be as long as needed to tell the story they want to tell. I'm just glad BBCA is putting it in a 2 hour slot so we get the whole episode.
I was at the UK. I saw the thing in theatres. And it was a dissapointing year. The 50th basically consisted of November 12th and onward. The special itself was hardly flawless, and as time goes on, the War Doctor seems more and more distracting. And its not exactly a surprise that the BBC underplayed the anniversary. The fact that it worked well enough is because the fans, myself included, were determined to celebrate this year no matter what. But only two new stories in a whole year? Yeah, colour this a "whoops" by the BBC. But then again, it shouldn't be a surprise. When did the BBC ever take the public into consideration?
Between The Day of the Doctor, The Night of the Doctor, The Time of the Doctor and The Light at the End, I was completely happy with what we got for the 50th. It's just a year, after all.
The Five(ish) Doctors: Reboot was a special that Peter Davison had the initiative of making. It was great, but all credit to him, and whoever appeared in it. The Time of the Doctor was a Christmas Special. Technically part of the 50th year, but not of the celebration. In other words, the BBC would've made it regardless of the 50th. Night of the Doctor was a mini-episode, which Moffat insisted it happened, which means it wasn't part of the immediate plan. Plus, its honestly so essential to the plot of Day, that its practically its available-seperately prologue (at least, I do - I can't watch Day without Night before it, and if I re-edited the story for any reason, it'd be to add this to the narrative proper). Honestly, only Big Finish celebrated DW in a meaningful ways. The Light at the End was Big Finish's celebration, and while story-wise Day wins, this has nostlagia all over it, and for a celebration, you kinda want that, as well. And not to mention, Big Finish also did a wonderful Companion Chronicle trilogy starting with The Beginning where Susan details her and the Doctor's first adventure away from Gallifrey, and the 1963 trilogy featuing Doctors 5, 6 and 7 respectively. And if it weren't for some delays on their part, Dark Eyes 2 would've also been out in that year. Basically, the BBC only did An Adventure in Space and Time and The Day of the Doctor. Thats all. And while they're both rather fantastic (especially Adventure), the BBC should've done more. Its not because of lack of trying - the way Moffat struggled to have DW properly celebrated, when the BBC originally only suggested a 60 minute episode to his unknwon-how-long-it-was-to-be version, and the snivelling contempt some of them had for the program really is telling. I remember reading at Planet Mondas or wherever else it was, that the executives that thought DW wasn't gonna be celebrated as much were genuinely surprised. I still am that they were. How much out of touch can you be? The show's only gets more popular every, yet some dicks continue to underestimate it. Who said the BBC stand for fairness?