Doctor Who Loses at the Hugo

[Brendan Moody]

The Hugos were given out tonight, and for only the second time since the new series began,* Doctor Who didn't win the award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Instead, the Game of Thrones episode "Blackwater" got it, beating out "Asylum of the Daleks," "The Angels Take Manhattan," and "The Snowmen," as well as the Fringe episode "Letters of Transit."

*The first was in 2009, when "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" and "Turn Left" lost to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Edit: oh, look, a thread title typo. That will annoy me out of all proportion to its significance.

 

[Mr Light]

I agree with that. Blackwater was an amazing episode, and I was never that hugely into Game of Thrones.

 

[Cutter John]

I've never had any interest in GoT, so I'm just going to be bitter about this if that's okay.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I like that Blackwater won, as that was an amazing episode. Nothing against Dr Who.

 

[Starkers]

Blackwater was absolutely supendous, sometimes however good you are someone else is better.

I kinda like it that Who doesn't win all the time, makes the times it does win more special, imo.

 

[Cyke101]

Agreed that Blackwater deserved the win. Now, I'm not too knowledgeable about the Hugos, but does DW always split the vote between its own episodes every year? I imagine that might have done something*

*That, and, well, I personally found only one of those three episodes actually engaging.

 

[Green Lantern]

Asylum of the Daleks was crap. It tried to pack too much into one episode. Would have been a great two or even three part story with more classic daleks, but one episode didn't do it justice. But Angels Take Manhattan was an outstanding episode, especially for a Moffat episode, and the Snowmen was alright. But these are all 2012 episodes.

 

[Starkers]

So was Blackwater!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Agreed that Blackwater deserved the win. Now, I'm not too knowledgeable about the Hugos, but does DW always split the vote between its own episodes every year?

If I remember correctly, the Hugos use Instant Run-off Voting. If nothing gets past 50%, then the lowest vote getter is dropped and second-preference votes are counted. This continues until something crosses the 50% threshold. This minimizes the problems due to vote splitting.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't watch Game of Thrones, so won't comment on that winning. But I will say I'm not surprised Doctor Who didn't win this year. Those weren't exactly great episodes. The best out of the nominated DW episodes is easily The Angels Take Manhattan, and that's hardly what I consider a masterpiece or award-worthy.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Agreed that Blackwater deserved the win. Now, I'm not too knowledgeable about the Hugos, but does DW always split the vote between its own episodes every year?

If I remember correctly, the Hugos use Instant Run-off Voting. If nothing gets past 50%, then the lowest vote getter is dropped and second-preference votes are counted. This continues until something crosses the 50% threshold. This minimizes the problems due to vote splitting.

Right. That's how Doctor Who has been able to win most years despite having multiple episodes nominated. (And ironically, the one previous year it didn't win was the only year in which two stories from the franchise rather than three were up for the award.)

The full award statistics are up. They show that, unsurprisingly enough, Doctor Who took second, third, and fourth place in the category ("Angels," then "Asylum," then "Snowmen"), with the Fringe episode in fifth.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I don't watch Game of Thrones, so won't comment on that winning.

My only comment on Game of Thrones's win is that I'm puzzled why the first season was nominated en masse for the Long Form Hugo, while this year a single episode was nominated in the Short Form category. I'm sure there are reasons, yet I can't help but wonder if "Blackwater" was nominated as it was to ensure that Joss Whedon and George R.R. Martin both took home statues (for Avengers and "Blackwater" respectively).

But I will say I'm not surprised Doctor Who didn't win this year. Those weren't exactly great episodes. The best out of the nominated DW episodes is easily The Angels Take Manhattan, and that's hardly what I consider a masterpiece or award-worthy.

QFT, none of the Who episodes nominated were especially outstanding.

However, I think "The Snowmen," which came in last of the three, was the best of the three. I know others disagree.

 

[Starkers]

Actually I'd probably agree. Angels was emotionally effective, but overall I thought The Snowman was far more enjoyable!

 

[Brendan Moody]

Both this year and last year, Game of Thrones had enough nominations to make the ballot in either the Short Form or the Long Form category. I don't know who makes the final call as to which, or if it varies from year to year based on what the award administrators decide; this year's statistics say "nomination declined" under Long Form, which suggests that it was someone from the show, while last year's say only "Ineligible" under Short Form. If the producers did decide, I would agree they were thinking strategically both times-- nothing was going to beat Neil Gaiman + Doctor Who last year, and nothing was going to beat Joss Whedon + Marvel blockbuster this year.