Officially no series 8 in 2013

[Samurai8472]

It was discussed and speculated a few months ago by Stcoop

From the new DWM.

Series 7b doesn't start until April.

(So both halves manage to miss screening on those "dark winter nights" that Moffat claimed the delay was to allow the series to move to. And his "more Who than ever" actually turned out to be "one series in two years".)

The Anniversary Special (singular) doesn't shoot until (again) April.

(Anyone who was still holding out for any of Series 8 next year should really give up now.)

Now we have this schedule from the UK Toy Fair:

As expected we get:

-One special
-One tv movie documenting the start of the series

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ Wow, and the special is only 60 minutes?! They really dropped the ball on this, if this is true.

Mr Awe

 

[The Wormhole]

Meh, this seems to fit with my expectations. I'm assuming "An Adventure in Time and Space" is that thing Mark Gatiss is writing about the early days, but what's this "Doctor Who Revisited"? Since it's eleven 25 minute episodes, I'm guessing it's a new retrospective on each Doctor.

^^ Wow, and the special is only 60 minutes?! They really dropped the ball on this, if this is true.

Mr Awe

What were you expecting?

 

[diankra]

Follow up news: BBC Cymru currently in brewery, wondering what to do for the rest of the year.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Well, the 25th was a 90-minute special. I would have hoped for that too, personally. Feature-length story? Score!

Though one can easily argue that most classic Who can be halved in length and still tell the same story by today's standards.

Mark

 

[Samurai8472]

Though one can easily argue that most classic Who can be halved in length and still tell the same story by today's standards.

Mark

BBC- Stay tuned for "Doctor Who: Revisited" as we go back the sixth doctor and show you "The trial of the timelord"

(Ofcourse that was 14 parts....)

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, the 25th was a 90-minute special. I would have hoped for that too, personally. Feature-length story? Score!

Yeah, but how much nu-Who has gone beyond 60 minutes? Journey's End at 65 minutes and The End of Time Part 2 at 75 minutes. It doesn't surprise me the anniversayr special is only 60.

 

[Konata Izumi]

It doesn't include a Christmas episode so most probably it's not a 100% perfect list.

Unless they moved the Xmas 60 mins to Autumn o_o

 

[The Wormhole]

Good point about Christmas. It seems unlikely they wouldn't do one, those are always big events for BBC.

 

[Konata Izumi]

It seems unlikely they wouldn't do one, those are always big events for BBC.

As are the series. I wonder where the money and runtime got used.

I was expecting 90 mins too as 60 is a really ordinary length. They did 75 mins just a few years ago.

 

[Starkers]

A few years ago they had more money

 

[The Nth Doctor]

This doesn't really surprise me base on earlier reports, but it is a little disappointing, especially the length of the 50th anniversary special.

I am curious about Doctor Who Revisited. If it is indeed retrospectives with new interviews (and perhaps interwoven with clips from those who are no longer with us), then I'll be thrilled to see those episodes.

 

[The Wormhole]

It seems unlikely they wouldn't do one, those are always big events for BBC.

As are the series. I wonder where the money and runtime got used.

As I understand, the pla always was to hold season 8 back until 2014 and make 2013 something similar Tennant's gap year back in 2009. Even though we already had something similar with 2012.

I was expecting 90 mins too as 60 is a really ordinary length. They did 75 mins just a few years ago.

Reviewing the episode lengths, the only ones to have gone over 45 minutes:
The Christmas Invasion (60)
The Runaway Bride (60)
Last of the Time Lords (52)
Voyage of the Damned (72)
Partners in Crime (50)
Fires of Pompeii (50)
Turn Left (50)
Journey's End (65)
The Next Doctor (60)
Planet of the Dead (60)
The Waters of Mars (60)
The End of Time Part 1 (60)
The End of Time Part 2 (75)
The Eleventh Hour (65)
The Vampires of Venice (50)
The Pandorica Opens (50)
The Big Bang (55)
A Christmas Carol (60)
A Good Man Goes to War (50)
Let's Kill Hitler (50)
The God Complex (50)
The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (60)
Asylum of the Daleks (50)
The Snowmen (60)

 

[Samurai8472]

I am curious about Doctor Who Revisited. If it is indeed retrospectives with new interviews (and perhaps interwoven with clips from those who are no longer with us), then I'll be thrilled to see those episodes.

It just sounds like that special David Tennant narrated before becoming the doctor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=037l_bPCh94

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I am curious about Doctor Who Revisited. If it is indeed retrospectives with new interviews (and perhaps interwoven with clips from those who are no longer with us), then I'll be thrilled to see those episodes.

It just sounds like that special David Tennant narrated before becoming the doctor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=037l_bPCh94

I was thinking the same thing. That was a great special.

 

[Peacemaker]

Hmmm, in the US our version of Doctor Who Revisited is a monthly run of a single classic Who story that represents each Doctor. January is William Hartnell, and the story is The Aztecs. It airs from 9pm to 11pm Eastern Time this coming Sunday. Maybe (hopefully) the UK Toy Fair information has garbled what this is for you all in the Motherland is.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It doesn't include a Christmas episode so most probably it's not a 100% perfect list.

The 2013 Christmas Special (and series 8, for that matter) either hasn't been commissioned yet or has been commissioned and not announced yet, so BBC Worldwide (even if they know it's coming) can't jump the gun and mention it in their marketing materials for merchandising shows. That said, I'm not optimistic that there will be anything more than what that marketing material shows for 2013.

The disappointing news, of course, is that the anniversary special is only planned for 60 minutes. This may make a televised multi-Doctor story for the 50th less likely; an hour isn't a lot of room to fit twenty-odd actors all competing for attention and lines.

 

[bigdaddy]

How is a toy fair stand official?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

How is a toy fair stand official?

It's official in the sense that these are marketing materials that someone within the BBC (probably Worldwide) would have signed off on as being accurate and properly representative of their plans. The question, of course, is whether or not someone in Cardiff has seen these materials and knows what they represent.

 

[Konata Izumi]

I was expecting 90 mins too as 60 is a really ordinary length. They did 75 mins just a few years ago.

Reviewing the episode lengths, the only ones to have gone over 45 minutes:
The Christmas Invasion (60)
The Runaway Bride (60)
Last of the Time Lords (52)
Voyage of the Damned (72)
Partners in Crime (50)
Fires of Pompeii (50)
Turn Left (50)
Journey's End (65)
The Next Doctor (60)
Planet of the Dead (60)
The Waters of Mars (60)
The End of Time Part 1 (60)
The End of Time Part 2 (75)
The Eleventh Hour (65)
The Vampires of Venice (50)
The Pandorica Opens (50)
The Big Bang (55)
A Christmas Carol (60)
A Good Man Goes to War (50)
Let's Kill Hitler (50)
The God Complex (50)
The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (60)
Asylum of the Daleks (50)
The Snowmen (60)

Only?