Big announcement?

[inflatabledalek]

I'm assuming this is basically going to be a Clara spinoff, with them holding back on announcing her presence until after she's left the series proper.

Otherwise, it's a really odd tangent to go down. Not automatically wrong, but considering the two previous spinoffs were based around well received characters, doing one based around a building that has only ever recurred sporadically seems underwhelming.

 

[Tarek71]

It's basically a DW universe Buffy. Teen Scooby gang, and the storytelling equivalent of the hellmouth judging from the description. Something to explain why such a concentration of weirdness happens in that one place. I am sure the Doctor will make an appearance, maybe UNIT.

But Buffy had super powers and Magic to actually fight the monsters. It remains to be seen what abilities, powers or tech the Scoobies will have to help them.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm completely meh at the moment. This idea doesn't enthuse me, but I'm not 100% against it either. Personally, I'm shocked going by the build-up before the announcement just how many fans seem to think a continuing Paul McGann series actually is a viable and practical idea at this point.

I do wonder how international distribution will be handled. As far as the US goes, I guess it's almost certain BBC America will air it, they aired Torchwood and SJA, right? Well, I know Starz aired Miracle Day, but that was because they co-produced it.

Canada has me wondering, though. CBC aired the first season of Torchwood and Space aired the rest of the series (including Miracle Day) though I don't recall SJA ever airing in Canada. I had to wait for the DVDs to be released to watch that.

The issue here for people tends to be that the PR doesn't suggest any links to the Whoniverse other than the Coal Hill School, especially now that Ness has shot down Clara as a possible character. (Jenna's doing that Queen Victoria series, so I don't see why anyone thought she would be a realistic possibility as part of the cast.) That seems to be rubbing people the wrong way, because there aren't any Coal Hill characters they're clamoring to see again. (For myself, I don't see why this is a problem. DS9 and Voyager didn't recycle characters from TNG outside of a handful. There's a lot to be said for doing something original in the universe so it has its own voice.)

I think a lot of it stems from the transmedia nonsense which is so in vogue these days, particularly with the MCU and Star Wars, everyone wants their favourite franchise to get in on that pie. After all, in the past year alone there's been talk in fandom circles that if Star Trek returned with the kind of output it had in the 90s it could total rule all mediums.

Personally, I'm okay with spin-offs being their own thing with no real interconnectivity with the main show outside of the occasional crossover. I definitely don't want to see anything as overblown as what Disney is doing with Marvel or Star Wars, where they actually have paid continuity and canon consultants. Which really seems silly and unnecessary, especially since one of the most cohesive shared universe continuities out there is Star Trek's 24th century novel continuity from Pocket Books, which doesn't need any such consultants.

I'm assuming this is basically going to be a Clara spinoff, with them holding back on announcing her presence until after she's left the series proper.

It's already confirmed Clara won't be in the show.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

They teased an announcement a few hours before they made it and you all turned it in to big hype yourselves. Blame yourselves.

 

[Karzak]

Did they say Big or Massive? In the Witch's Familiar thread, it says Massive

The official Twitter feed has used...

HUGE

MASSIVE

BIG

Philip Hinchcliffe

 

[JoeZhang]

I'm assuming this is basically going to be a Clara spinoff, with them holding back on announcing her presence until after she's left the series proper.

Unlikely - her salary isn't a BBC three salary...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

(For myself, I don't see why this is a problem. DS9 and Voyager didn't recycle characters from TNG outside of a handful. There's a lot to be said for doing something original in the universe so it has its own voice.)

I agree mainly with your analysis but wanted to address this. The advantage that Star Trek has through all of its TV series is that it is one cohesive universe that has an established history, politics, alien species, etc. It's more akin to a real but distinct universe. Really, DW's strength is that it can go anywhere and do anything but it doesn't really have a distinct universe it can claim as its own. It has distinct aliens, villains, etc. But, they seem to show up in a random assortment of places for one off conflicts rather than an ongoing conflict with context and history, say like with Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans.

So, for a DW spin off, it's not enough to say it's set in the same universe. I think you really need some strong carryover element, particularly characters.

I disagree.

I think the Doctor Who universe is developed enough and rich enough to be as cohesive as any other fictional universe out there. Just because the Doctor's adventures cross times and genres doesn't mean that you can't place something in the Whoniverse. You could do something like "House of Cards in the Doctor Who universe" (which is what Children of Earth's "Day Four" basically is) and see how the British government deals with Who things happening in the background. You could do "The Hour in the Doctor Who universe" and see how the media (Trinity Wells, anyone?) covers things like giant eyeballs appearing the sky. Heck, you could even do "Star Trek in the Doctor Who universe" set on an exploratory starship from one of the future Human Empires.

All of that said, I would love an Osgood sitcom with Ingrid Oliver, which I think could be brilliant -- socially awkward genius who works for a government organization and her screwed up social life (like her sister) in London. I'd watch the heck out of that.

They teased an announcement a few hours before they made it and you all turned it in to big hype yourselves. Blame yourselves.

I think the reaction from fandom would have been better had they not teased the announcement. They gave fandom a few hours to imagine things, which led to fandom feeling disappointed.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I think the reaction from fandom would have been better had they not teased the announcement. They gave fandom a few hours to imagine things, which led to fandom feeling disappointed.

"It’s much bigger news than some people are guessing…"

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think the reaction from fandom would have been better had they not teased the announcement. They gave fandom a few hours to imagine things, which led to fandom feeling disappointed.

"It’s much bigger news than some people are guessing…"

That was probably their biggest mistake. I started to imagine that they were going to announce a Paul McGann series or a John Hurt mini-series.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I'm assuming this is basically going to be a Clara spinoff, with them holding back on announcing her presence until after she's left the series proper.

Unlikely - her salary isn't a BBC three salary...

Patrick Ness has already said Clara isn't in it.

BTW to most people a new show is bigger than a special episode, a guest star or an audio. It's only us nerd who think those would be big news.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

BTW to most people a new show is bigger than a special episode, a guest star or an audio. It's only us nerd who think those would be big news.

Then don't adress your nerdy audience likes its big news - especially when the said show seemingly has no tangible connection to main program. Why is it difficult for you to understand that the BBC botched this announcement, I don't know.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

BTW to most people a new show is bigger than a special episode, a guest star or an audio. It's only us nerd who think those would be big news.

Then don't adress your nerdy audience likes its big news - especially when the said show seemingly has no tangible connection to main program. Why is it difficult for you to understand that the BBC botched this announcement, I don't know.

They announced it on their twitter account. Then put out a press release. It's hardly as if they hyped it for days or weeks then announced something we already knew. It's beyond pathetic that people think they were owed more than what amounts to a channel getting a flagship series.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

BTW to most people a new show is bigger than a special episode, a guest star or an audio. It's only us nerd who think those would be big news.

Then don't adress your nerdy audience likes its big news - especially when the said show seemingly has no tangible connection to main program. Why is it difficult for you to understand that the BBC botched this announcement, I don't know.

They announced it on their twitter account. Then put out a press release. It's hardly as if they hyped it for days or weeks then announced something we already knew. It's beyond pathetic that people think they were owed more than what amounts to a channel getting a flagship series.

So patronizing them for their expectations actually makes up for the BBC's mishandling of it? Really?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Then don't adress your nerdy audience likes its big news - especially when the said show seemingly has no tangible connection to main program. Why is it difficult for you to understand that the BBC botched this announcement, I don't know.

They announced it on their twitter account. Then put out a press release. It's hardly as if they hyped it for days or weeks then announced something we already knew. It's beyond pathetic that people think they were owed more than what amounts to a channel getting a flagship series.

So patronizing them for their expectations actually makes up for the BBC's mishandling of it? Really?

How exactly did the BBC mishandle it? They said they had big news and they had what is actually pretty big news. It's hardly their fault if Fanboys went ahead and dreamt of things that were never likely to happen.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Clearly, what qualifies as "big news" (which was really the tip of the iceberg of the hyperbole that they used) will vary from person to person. It didn't pass that threshold for many DW fans. Nothing wrong with that, no need to be insulting about it. You just have a different opinion is all.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

(For myself, I don't see why this is a problem. DS9 and Voyager didn't recycle characters from TNG outside of a handful. There's a lot to be said for doing something original in the universe so it has its own voice.)

I agree mainly with your analysis but wanted to address this. The advantage that Star Trek has through all of its TV series is that it is one cohesive universe that has an established history, politics, alien species, etc. It's more akin to a real but distinct universe. Really, DW's strength is that it can go anywhere and do anything but it doesn't really have a distinct universe it can claim as its own. It has distinct aliens, villains, etc. But, they seem to show up in a random assortment of places for one off conflicts rather than an ongoing conflict with context and history, say like with Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans.

So, for a DW spin off, it's not enough to say it's set in the same universe. I think you really need some strong carryover element, particularly characters.

I disagree.

I think the Doctor Who universe is developed enough and rich enough to be as cohesive as any other fictional universe out there. Just because the Doctor's adventures cross times and genres doesn't mean that you can't place something in the Whoniverse. You could do something like "House of Cards in the Doctor Who universe" (which is what Children of Earth's "Day Four" basically is) and see how the British government deals with Who things happening in the background. You could do "The Hour in the Doctor Who universe" and see how the media (Trinity Wells, anyone?) covers things like giant eyeballs appearing the sky. Heck, you could even do "Star Trek in the Doctor Who universe" set on an exploratory starship from one of the future Human Empires.

All of that said, I would love an Osgood sitcom with Ingrid Oliver, which I think could be brilliant -- socially awkward genius who works for a government organization and her screwed up social life (like her sister) in London. I'd watch the heck out of that.

I'll agree that you could do all of those. But, as appears to be the case of Class, if the only carryover that is distinctly from the DW universe is a building, I wouldn't expect that to overly excite DW fans on the basis of it being specifically a DW spin off.

In that case, why not make it it's own stand alone series rather than making it a DW spin off? Then you don't have all of these expectations about what it should be like.

Mr Awe

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ Clearly, what qualifies as "big news" (which was really the tip of the iceberg of the hyperbole that they used) will vary from person to person. It didn't pass that threshold for many DW fans. Nothing wrong with that, no need to be insulting about it. You just have a different opinion is all.

Mr Awe

OK, I said it was beyond pathetic to pretend that a new show isn't big news but I haven't been particularly insulting here. In a world where we're seeing teasers for movies a year and half in advance and hearing how this is the biggest film ever or you've never seen anything like it, some how a few tweets don't seem to register as over hyping it to me. Call me strange.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Just because that is your opinion doesn't mean everyone shares it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yes, I needed that clarifying. Thanks.

 

[Mr Awe]

You're welcome.