Wouldn't that mean they'd have to wait until the "last minute" so to speak? Its still a long time before 10 premieres, afer all.
Doctor Who due a major shake-up as bosses aim for 'brand new show' in 2018
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He said they've asked him to stay on and he hasn't decided. So apparently, yes, it is up to him. Even if he'd signed an earlier contract committing him to X number of seasons, there would be options for getting out of it.
I prefer not to default to the assumption that everyone is lying.
Through no fault of his own he is more of a liability to the series now than an asset.
I can certainly imagine the higher-ups at the Beeb being more involved in the decision this time than they have been for the past few.
Do you really mean that?
Maybe, whether this is a good or a bad thing is another matter.
I hope he stays on. It feels like he only just got here! I want to see him under another showrunner.
Not just another showrunner, but also a season of solid writing. Unfortunately, Capaldi has worked with very inconsistent and sometimes outright poor writing, and not just from Moffat. While the comparison isn't entirely apt, I would hate for Capaldi to leave without a strong legacy like Colin Baker.
Sadly, I agree. I wish he'd left behind at least one solid story arc. Capaldi only has zombified-Cybermen-destroyed-by-Danny-fucking-Pink, and so-what-the-hell-was-the-Hybrid-again arcs, complete with THREE fates for Clara and no satisfaction out of any of them.
Sometimes I feel like Moffat wants to write for anyone but the Doctor. His interview about the Christmas special, in which he talks at length about how awesome the guest stars and their story arcs are, is a case in point. Partly, that may be due to Moffat's treatment of Doctor Who as a fairy tale; the wizard isn't the main character, instead he's the Macguffin so the main character can learn and grow. A prime example of this is "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe," in which the Doctor exists to set the story into motion so that Madge and her family can have an adventure on another planet and save the tree spirits.
You're right, I remember when they were hyping Day of the Doctor that it was a story about the Doctor finally, like it the show really isn't about him really, but this one special is.
OK, lets forget Name and Time of the Doctor while at it, Grand Moffster. Or any of the regeneration stories (maybe aside Power, he might get a point there). Even if we take this statement at face value, that certainly doesn't apply for NuWho, cause even when the focus was on Rose, the story was still about the Doctor and him coming to terms with what he did in the Time War.
But what do I know? I'm not super-clever like Moffat is, after all.
OK, lets forget Name and Time of the Doctor while at it, Grand Moffster. Or any of the regeneration stories (maybe aside Power, he might get a point there). Even if we take this statement at face value, that certainly doesn't apply for NuWho, cause even when the focus was on Rose, the story was still about the Doctor and him coming to terms with what he did in the Time War.
But what do I know? I'm not super-clever like Moffat is, after all.
I'm not even sure Time of the Doctor is about the Doctor. 
It starts out with the Richard Curtis-esque family Christmas romcom about Clara and her wacky boyfriend. (If you remember that the Doctor is completely naked in those scenes even though he doesn't appear that way to us, the viewers, that part of the episode plays like deleted scenes from Notting Hill.) And then it becomes a story about Clara watching her best friend grow old and die, and she rails against that, ultimately finding a way to keep him from dying.
Yes, the Doctor destroys the Daleks, but that's become Clara, quite unintentionally, weaponized him when she talked to the crack in the wall about how important the Doctor was. The Doctor resigned himself to his fate; he's content to wither and die in that clock tower. Clara actively fought against that fate, and because she took action the Doctor is able to escape from Christmas Town. The regeneration scene, as lovely as it is, isn't earned by the Doctor. The Doctor takes Clara someplace where, ultimately, she's able to save the day.
Matt Smith's performance masks just how much his era of Doctor Who isn't about him. I don't think he's a selfish actor by any means; he gave his costars the room to work, to shine. The energy he brought to the role, supporting though it was at times, hid just how much to the side he was. Capaldi is a lower key actor, and Jenna's energy filled that void, which made his Doctor look even more marginalized.
It starts out with the Richard Curtis-esque family Christmas romcom about Clara and her wacky boyfriend. (If you remember that the Doctor is completely naked in those scenes even though he doesn't appear that way to us, the viewers, that part of the episode plays like deleted scenes from Notting Hill.) And then it becomes a story about Clara watching her best friend grow old and die, and she rails against that, ultimately finding a way to keep him from dying.
Yes, the Doctor destroys the Daleks, but that's become Clara, quite unintentionally, weaponized him when she talked to the crack in the wall about how important the Doctor was. The Doctor resigned himself to his fate; he's content to wither and die in that clock tower. Clara actively fought against that fate, and because she took action the Doctor is able to escape from Christmas Town. The regeneration scene, as lovely as it is, isn't earned by the Doctor. The Doctor takes Clara someplace where, ultimately, she's able to save the day.
Matt Smith's performance masks just how much his era of Doctor Who isn't about him. I don't think he's a selfish actor by any means; he gave his costars the room to work, to shine. The energy he brought to the role, supporting though it was at times, hid just how much to the side he was. Capaldi is a lower key actor, and Jenna's energy filled that void, which made his Doctor look even more marginalized.
Well, Doctor Who being more about the companions than the Doctor was the original concept of the show. Starting out, Ian and Barbara were the leads, and the Doctor was this mysterious figure (hence the title) who whisked them off through time and space and served as both a source of exposition and a catalyst for trouble. It pretty much stayed that way throughout the Hartnell era as companions came and went, especially as Hartnell's failing health required giving him a lot of time off.
And it's not like Moffat was the first modern producer to treat the companion as the real lead character. He was just following Davies's precedent in that.
And it's not like Moffat was the first modern producer to treat the companion as the real lead character. He was just following Davies's precedent in that.
One of the most interesting things about this conversation, as it it's taking place here and in various other places around the Internet ,is that a year ago there'd have been a lot more push back from people against the complaints being made. Even among all but the most hardcore of Moffat fans there seems to be a feeling that things need to change, it's just the degree that differs.
That seems to happen with any Who showrunner who stays around too long. I remember reading issues of The Whovian Times back in the late '80s and seeing a lot of fan letters about how John Nathan-Turner had overstayed his welcome and needed to go for the good of the show. As it turned out, the show left when he did.
JNT should've left instead of Colin Baker, at the time.I completely, totally, utterly, etc agree with this!
Mr Awe
There, I said it.
But if JNT had left in 1986, effectively so would Baker. Had JNT left, the show would have been over, and he was well aware of that.
I don't believe that Christopher is quite correct when he wrote, "the show left when he did," as JNT remained involved with Doctor Who internally at the BBC beyond 1989 and there were tentative plans for season 27. I think it's more accurate to say that the BBC quietly stopped production on the series while they tried to figure out what to do with the property so as to not have a repeat of the "Cancellation Crisis."
There was a distinct difference in the Davies era however, which I insinuated at with last post. The fact that the narrative was about the Doctor in a post-Time War world, having to adjust and remember how to be the Doctor again in it (even before the Warrior retcon). That turmoil, which you seemingly disliked but I loved, drove the show for those first five years, until RTD himself run it to the ground with End of Time, allowing Moffat to do with Who whatever he wanted. With Moff, the narrative for the first two and a half years was, really, about Amy Pond and how much she loved to travel with the Doctor. The fact that Matt Smith played the part so well, that masked that fact is thankful, cause I was still able to enjoy the show massively even under those conditions.
The even more correct thing to say is, that JNT's last Who works are the completion of Shada, with the Tom Baker narration links, and the infamous Dimensions in Time, which we can all agree is a rather unfavourable curtain call for any producer to go out with.