Forget about Moffat and Chibby. Who's ready to wait 12 - 20+ months for a new series of Doctor who?

[Newspaper Taxi]

Seriously? Seriously?

I'm surprised they announced a new show-runner for Doctor Who at all. If I didn't know better this sounds like a cloak-and-dagger attempt at cancelling a TV show so that nobody notices. Hey, remember how Doctor Who series 9 started with the show shedding 2 million viewers? How do you think blinking out of existence for a year and a half is going to help the ratings?

And hey, speaking of a new show runner, they can't say if we'll get half-series with the new guy or full series, Or if they'll be aired the same year they're filmed. Having a new guy at the helm might be bumpy from a production stand point. Maybe they'll have to take another year off? At this point you could tell me half of Chibby's first season won't air until 2019, and the BBC is still thinking about whether they want to release the other half in 2019.

Maybe it's time Doctor Who starts reconsidering it's format. Maybe we should seriously consider six episode seasons. Or maybe Doctor Who should cut it's run time to twenty-something minutes and just air two episodes back to back, seemlessly. Or maybe Series 10 should be the final series and let it go out with a bang, since BBC obviously hates producing TV shows.

Now, granted, I'm sick, tired, and grouchy, but seriously! Why are we putting up with this shit?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I don't mind honestly. As much as I love Peter Capaldi (while wishing he had better material to work with), I've found myself needing a break from the show because I'm just not as engaged as I once was.

Besides, this will give me the the chance to refocus my attention on the great works Big Finish is producing right now but I've fallen behind on.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

That's probably a much healthier way of looking at things, certainly.

 

[tomalak301]

I found season 9 really hard to enjoy so maybe this is good for the show. It will come back fresh and maybe the wait will make me enjoy it again. Also, as a huge fan of another series on BBC America, the possibility of Doctor Who and Orphan Black on the same night is a very pleasing one.

 

[Hennessy Badger]

I wouldn't mind the year+ breather if it meant the show returned from its sabbatical completely refreshed (like they did with the soft relaunch for series 5). But no, we have to wait until 2017 for yet another lackluster Moffat series.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I'm really okay with the break. Aside from the occasional episode here and there, I really haven't rewatched much of Doctor Who since its return in '05, so this gives me an opportunity to revisit tons of episodes I haven't seen in awhile.

 

[Saga]

i think most of us assumed we would be getting very little Doctor Who this year anyway. still, the official announcement hurts. as others have said, this will give me time to catch up on Big Finish.

 

[ihno]

I must admit I have to join those who say that they can live very well with it. No deny, there were some issues with the scripts. I would have preferred if the new guy would start right away. Having one last season after a hiatus of one year might infect the quality and make the thing appear awkward. Pity for Capaldi.

 

[StCoop]

Regardless of how I feel about Moffat's work it could have been worse. If hadn't agreed to come back for one more year the next episode of Doctor Who wouldn't have aired until 25th of December 2017.

 

[John Clark]

Oh well. It wasn't totally unexpected and I've waited longer between series of shows I like.
We'll see if the extra time helps. In the meantime, I've got plenty of other stuff to watch.

(I'll probably hear a lot of complaints later on from one of my mates though)

 

[Christopher]

Meh. Twelve to twenty months is nothing. I once had to wait fifteen years for a full new season of Doctor Who, with just a single movie in the interim.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm surprised they announced a new show-runner for Doctor Who at all. If I didn't know better this sounds like a cloak-and-dagger attempt at cancelling a TV show so that nobody notices. Hey, remember how Doctor Who series 9 started with the show shedding 2 million viewers? How do you think blinking out of existence for a year and a half is going to help the ratings?

Maybe I've been around Washington and politics too long, but there's something really weird about the way the BBC announced this. First, it's a textbook Friday news dump; you put out bad news late on a Friday so the story gets buried. Second, the Radio Times headline that announced this -- the use of the word "quits" -- automatically spins the story in a negative direction. And third, there's absolutely no reason to make this announcement now, unless there was a much bigger story about to break and this was the BBC's way of getting out in front of really bad news. Then there's Mark Gatiss' tweet to consider. In short, this announcement screams political turmoil behind the scenes to me. I have no idea what that turmoil is, but the signs are there.

The tell-all book on this era of Doctor Who twenty years from now will be fascinating.

And hey, speaking of a new show runner, they can't say if we'll get half-series with the new guy or full series, Or if they'll be aired the same year they're filmed.

At this point, they probably have no idea what Doctor Who in 2018 looks like, except that Chibnall will be producing the series. The decisions about broadcast season and episode count probably have not been made yet.

The delay this year and Moffat's final series next year does suggest to me that the BBC has had Chibnall in mind for some time and they were waiting for him to be free and clear of Broadchurch before he could take over.

Maybe it's time Doctor Who starts reconsidering its format. Maybe we should seriously consider six episode seasons. Or maybe Doctor Who should cut it's run time to twenty-something minutes and just air two episodes back to back, seemlessly. Or maybe Series 10 should be the final series and let it go out with a bang, since BBC obviously hates producing TV shows.

I don't think the BBC hates Doctor Who at all. The commercial interests of the BBC certainly don't; it's one of their top money-makers!

It's possible that the episode count could be cut, but it probably won't go below 10 episodes a series. The BBC wanted six episodes for RTD's first series, as I recall, and he argued them up to 13 because the series wouldn't have been affordable at six episodes. (Prop and set costs spread across six episodes would have eaten up too much of the budget. Spread across thirteen, and the series was doable.)

Half-hour episodes are non-starters in today's television environment. They would be more difficult to sell.

 

[StCoop]

Then there's Mark Gatiss' tweet to consider. In short, this announcement screams political turmoil behind the scenes to me. I have no idea what that turmoil is, but the signs are there.

I definitely think he was guilted into staying another year so there wouldn't be a two year gap between episodes and quite late in the day too. The end of Series 9 wraps up not just his time on the series but really everything new since it came back in 2005 (with the Xmas Special as Epilogue) leaving a totally clean slate for what should have been a new Showrunner.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Maybe I've been around Washington and politics too long, but there's something really weird about the way the BBC announced this. First, it's a textbook Friday news dump; you put out bad news late on a Friday so the story gets buried. Second, the Radio Times headline that announced this -- the use of the word "quits" -- automatically spins the story in a negative direction. And third, there's absolutely no reason to make this announcement now, unless there was a much bigger story about to break and this was the BBC's way of getting out in front of really bad news. Then there's Mark Gatiss' tweet to consider. In short, this announcement screams political turmoil behind the scenes to me. I have no idea what that turmoil is, but the signs are there.

The tell-all book on this era of Doctor Who twenty years from now will be fascinating.

All of those individual pieces bugged me but I hadn't considered them as a whole. The situation does seem quite peculiar.

 

[dahj]

Not that bothered to be honest, there's loads of good TV going on these days I barely have time to keep up with it all anyway, and there's loads more I've missed or wish to rewatch.

 

[kirk55555]

It really sucks, but luckily there is a lot of Classic Who I haven't seen yet to help fill the void.

 

[The Wormhole]

Like I said in the other thread, the writing was on the wall about this year and it was kind of obvious we'd only get a Christmas special with no season until 2017. I made my peace with that months ago. It sucks, but there are other things to occupy my time, other TV shows, movies, new books. And if I get to bored, I could always put an effort into my job. Or maybe that's crazy talk.

The only thing that gets me about this announcement is that despite promising less of a gap between new episodes, Moffat has once again increased it. Remember, before Moffat took over the longest gap for the new series was seven months (between Planet of the Dead and Waters of Mars). And now we have one full year exactly. Pretty weak, dude.

 

[Christopher]

^It sounds to me like the people responsible for the longer gap are the BBC execs, not Moffat personally.

 

[StCoop]

^It sounds to me like the people responsible for the longer gap are the BBC execs, not Moffat personally.

They could be shooting Series 9 right now if it wasn't for 'Sherlock'.

 

[Christopher]

They could be shooting Series 9 right now if it wasn't for 'Sherlock'.

I'm sure that Sherlock exists for reasons other than annoying Doctor Who fans.