They done fucked up, the BBC bide as well release it regularly online--Itunes, what have you--and triple price it for an "early release" copy. You there's going to be a shit ton of troll videos on youtube spoiling the episode or claiming to spoil it. This week si going to be "interesting"
Only problem is that the BBC is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can't exactly release it prior to airing and charge people for it esp. in the UK given that viewers in the UK have already paid for the episode.
Oh dear. But it was going to happen given the total mess over transmission and delivery dates since they stopped doing the straightforward thing: Making 13 Episodes and A Christmas Special Each Year on a Vaguely Reliable Schedule. If any heads roll, I hope it's at the top at Cardiff (not Moffat and co, the idiots at the level above that).
GallifreyBase has, of course, not disappointed those of us hoping for a hilarious overreaction to this. The following, with bolding and capitalization in the original, is now pinned to the top of every page: Is it the futility or the pomposity that's funnier? I can't decide.
My local Best Buy is notorious for sticking DVDs on the shelf a couple of weeks prior to release. Of course, the rub is their cash registers have failsafes so that if a product is scanned before release date, a message pops up on the screen and they don't let you purchase it.
The bizarre thing is that I can remember him at the Tavern once, responding to the active - and pre-transmission - discussion of Girl in the Fireplace by saying "Bloody hell, is there anyone in this pub who hasn't seen it already?" Like BrendanMoody says: pointless. Once it's out it's out. Back then he knew that...
Yeah, cause that'll keep off the 'net--if the leak is real. There's ways around failsafes if you want to sell a product early. Just saying a sheet of UPC codes of equal value or that ring up "miscellanous merchandise" aren't unknown of
Regarding the "bribe" of a video of Matt and David played after the ep on Saturday, I think it's a safe bet that even if it leaks and every man and his dog sees it prior to the actual airing the video will still be released. Imagine a teaser like that and then them NOT releasing it, the call for blood would be as bad as any leak!
Yeah BBC has no leverage. People who will have seen the episode will just tune back in for last few minutes They have to hype the Anniversary special somehow. The teaser would have been on the episode regardless of the leak. Comic-Con is coming up. They could have released it then.
They could also release all but the last 15 to 30 minutes of the episode online as an extended preview
Well the good news is - and I'm in the 'even if it's there I'm not going to' camp - there are no torrents I can see just yet. So hopefully fans that received the box set aren't interested or don't care about uploading the episode. Which is very good. And that's all I'm gonna say on the matter.
Generally the Hype-up machine wants to tease, not provide a way for full copies to be released onto the internet before the actual show.
Plus annoying the 99.9% of fans who won't get it early is hardly good PR. Best never to assume conspiracy where incompletence will do.
I love the appeals to "Goddammit, I'm a license fee payer!" on Gallifrey Base. I'm not sure what that argument is meant to do -- 2|Entertain isn't going to change the street date (if BBC America sent it out, then other retailers are likely to already have it), the BBC isn't going to broadcast the episode early, etc. Shit happens. True, that.
We might not - depends on number of people who received it - if it is low, how hard is to contact each of them and brace them with possible legal consequences?