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Big announcement?

Based on Patrick Ness' previous work, this is likely to skew a bit older and darker in tone than SJA. As witness its being on BBC Three (which is set to be online-only by the time this premieres; I wonder if they'll run it on One or Two as well, as they're set to do with other Three programmes) rather than CBBC.

Buffy is probably better as a very general comparison.
 
So it's for BBC3, a channel which is due to stop broadcasting and become some online only affair next March last I heard. Maybe that's why I'm hearing a voice in my head saying that it's going to be little more than a (very) cheap distraction from the abscence of the actual series next year.
 
Its refreshing to see the vast majority of twitter responses to this news be basically similar to ours. Hope this sends a message.
 
I saw the news about a spin off, and I was hoping it would be Missy as the star. I've really loved Michelle Gomez's take on the Master (Better then the last guy, I forgot his name) and I think she could have carried the show. Because it isn't, I wonder why I should watch this.
 
So, its a spinoff with apparently no characters actually spinning off from the main show? Torchwood had Jack Harkness and SJA obviously had Sarah Jane, so those made sense. This definitely doesn't seem like very big news. Some of the worst parts of series 8 involved Clara's school children, and heck some of the worst episodes in NuWho were the ones with child/teen actors getting a big focus, so I'll probably ignore this spin off.
 
Ultimately this seems to be more about keeping BBC3 relevant in its new online incarnation ("We've got a Doctor Who spinoff by a multi-award winning writer, so please stream us!") rather than making something most fans would want to watch.
 
I just can't fathom WHY this "spinoff". There are SO many other more interesting things and people in the WHO universe. What's the point of this besides just spending money?
 
I just can't fathom WHY this "spinoff". There are SO many other more interesting things and people in the WHO universe. What's the point of this besides just spending money?

Look two posts above yours for a likely answer. Doctor Who is the means rather than the end.
 
So it's for BBC3, a channel which is due to stop broadcasting and become some online only affair next March last I heard. Maybe that's why I'm hearing a voice in my head saying that it's going to be little more than a (very) cheap distraction from the abscence of the actual series next year.

What I wonder is how much work has been done to date. Is Class at the casting stage? Are locations being scouted? Could they start filming in a few weeks. If Class is, as you suppose, "a (very) cheap distraction from the abscence of" actual Doctor Who, I'd think the Beeb would want it on sooner rather than later, spring rather than fall.

I just can't fathom WHY this "spinoff". There are SO many other more interesting things and people in the WHO universe. What's the point of this besides just spending money?

Admitting that we know next to nothing about this, I wondered if Class might be a pre-existing concept that was retrofitted into the Coal Hill School and Doctor Who. Maybe Ness had pitched this series as a standalone, and then someone said, "What if we made it part of Doctor Who?" That idea then opened up new possibilities.

I don't have any real issue with a spin-off that stars characters that we (presumably) haven't met yet. The Star Trek spin-offs were largely independent series that just happened to be set in the same universe. I've wanted to see a Doctor Who spin-off that's more creative in its application of the universe than "Doctor Who without the Doctor." It might fail, but it would be an interesting ride. :)
 
Patrick Ness has confirmed on Twitter that Clara won't be in it, though I don't know why anyone thought that was likely. He also said, "One last thing, getting a few queries about 'YA = light'. Ha ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah, no."
 
But she's just left the main series and taken another large-scale, high-profile job. Even if this were a project interested in solid connections to Who, Jenna Coleman was never likely to provide one.

Frankly, I think Allyn's right to suspect this is a pre-existing project that became linked to Who for reasons of mutual PR benefit. Which doesn't mean it won't be a fine series in its own right. At this stage I'm more interested in something that finds its own style rather than doing Doctor Who for a particular age group. But promoting this announcement as big news about Doctor Who, even only for a few hours on Twitter, was silly. Fortunately we've got lots of time to forget about it before Class actually premieres.
 
If you wanna get me to watch you better have Ian Chesterton in the premiere episode. The young'ins won't know any better, but you'll draw in the Classic fans. A stunt? maybe. But if the rest of the episode is engaging, they'll at least have a hook.
 
Patrick Ness has confirmed on Twitter that Clara won't be in it, though I don't know why anyone thought that was likely. He also said, "One last thing, getting a few queries about 'YA = light'. Ha ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah, no."
Actually, my intention was to highlight that if she wasn't in it, does that mean she gets left somewhere or dies when she leaves the main show. I didn't necessarily think she'd be SarahJane" in this show, but, it certainly wasn't completely unrealistic to wonder if she might with all the "becoming the Doctor" she has done.

He laughs and says "Yea, No", to it being light, since it's YA. Hunger Games and it's brethren are YA, so, it's not guaranteed to be juvenile.
 
I'd rather have a Paternoster Gang. At least any available Doctors could guest.
Yeah. I wouldn't mind watching a series of specials featuring them. But this is just...ugh. Haha. Imagine how the pitch meeting for this was.

"We need to tap into the YA audience somehow. All those teens seeing movies like the Hunger Games! The Maze Runner! Why not Doctor Who? It'll be like Sarah JaneAdventures except grittier! And set in Coal Hill!"
"Yeah! It sounds great! Greenlit!"
 
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