Officially no series 8 in 2013

[Starkers]

Be nice to get a fourth series out of Matt before he moves on to other things, and I do think he should move on, however much I like him as the Doctor. Tom proved you could stay in the role too damn long (though Peter Davison proved you could jump too early as well...)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The timing of that means series 8 (or 8a if it's still split, though there's no reason for that ATM) would be starting at Easter 2014

It is very vague and interesting that the BBC could officially announce 2014 series for a bunch of other shows this week but not DW.

I really do suspect now that they're waiting on Matt Smith to sign a contract for another full series (or not) before they decide exactly what they're going to do.

There's another possibility.

They may see no need to announce a 2014 series for Doctor Who at this point when they still have a series to broadcast for 2013. Yes, the hardcore fan will want to know what's coming up a year from now, but the casual viewer would only be confused by announcements about Doctor Who a year-plus out.

 

[StCoop]

Yes, the hardcore fan will want to know what's coming up a year from now, but the casual viewer would only be confused by announcements about Doctor Who a year-plus out.

That's pretty damn insulting.

Plus they've announced new series of Call The Midwife & Death In Paradise before their current series have finished. You're not suggesting their audience is more intelligent than the average Doctor Who viewer?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Yes, the hardcore fan will want to know what's coming up a year from now, but the casual viewer would only be confused by announcements about Doctor Who a year-plus out.

That's pretty damn insulting.

Plus they've announced new series of Call The Midwife & Death In Paradise before their current series have finished. You're not suggesting their audience is more intelligent than the average Doctor Who viewer?

It's all about linking stuff in people's minds- Death In Paradise, Call The Midwife and Ripper Street are all airing now, so announcing their renewals makes sense. DW returns at Easter, so I'd expect an April announcement of season 8 - i.e. while new episodes are airing.

 

[Lonemagpie]

As for Smith, personally I'd like a mid-season regeneration...

 

[Sindatur]

Yes, the hardcore fan will want to know what's coming up a year from now, but the casual viewer would only be confused by announcements about Doctor Who a year-plus out.

That's pretty damn insulting.

Plus they've announced new series of Call The Midwife & Death In Paradise before their current series have finished. You're not suggesting their audience is more intelligent than the average Doctor Who viewer?

"Before their current Series is finished" is kinda different from "2 months before the current Series has even started"

Yes, it is Too much information for the average viewer to be hearing about next year, when this year hasn't even started yet.

8 episodes Series 7B April - 8 weeks after premiere
Anniversary Special
Anniversary DocuDramatization
Christmas Special

That's quite a bit of information for the average viewer to hold onto/keep track of. They don't build their life around the program, or tick off days on the calendar waiting for it, they're just happy to tune in to it when it comes around

 

[StCoop]

Yes, it is Too much information for the average viewer to be hearing about next year, when this year hasn't even started yet.

How on Earth did people cope in 2005 when they knew what would be happening in 2007 and 2008 when they know what would be happening in 2010?

 

[Starkers]

As for Smith, personally I'd like a mid-season regeneration...

Hmm, that would certainly make a change, but I'm not sure of the logistics of it all, I suppose if all the first half of the season episodes are in the same shooting blocks then its feasible.

 

[Sindatur]

Yes, it is Too much information for the average viewer to be hearing about next year, when this year hasn't even started yet.

How on Earth did people cope in 2005 when they knew what would be happening in 2007 and 2008 when they know what would be happening in 2010?

Say what?

No one is saying it does them any kind of damage. It's simply not something that's important enough for them to spend the brain power keeping track of it, so, therefore, it's a waste of time and time and resources to be announcing it, when it's not going to benefit them, because the general audience won't retain the information.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Yes, it is Too much information for the average viewer to be hearing about next year, when this year hasn't even started yet.

How on Earth did people cope in 2005 when they knew what would be happening in 2007 and 2008 when they know what would be happening in 2010?

Say what?

No one is saying it does them any kind of damage. It's simply not something that's important enough for them to spend the brain power keeping track of it, so, therefore, it's a waste of time and time and resources to be announcing it, when it's not going to benefit them, because the general audience won't retain the information.

It's just makes more sense from the POV of making people go "ooh" to announce while a show is airing and in the audience's attention field that that show will be back next year. It's basically how it's done for, you know, everything else...

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Not that I would prefer it one way or the other, but what difference would it make if Smith bowed mid-season? Unless they went back to a 13-week block and the Doctor regenerated in the middle of it, it'd functionally be no different than the 4 or 6 month wait we had between Doctors in the last couple go rounds.

What I would much rather have it a regeneration happening that, story-wise, isn't hanging over the Doctor for years. Sure, the Doctor KNOWS that at some point he's probably going to regenerate into another body, but lately I've been sick of this need RTD / Moffatt have had to explicitly tell us it's coming. We thus have it hanging over the viewers' heads for years at a time (almost two years betwen "Planet of the Ood" and "The End of Time", and two years and counting between "The Wedding of River Song" and whenever Smith makes his exit) and I know I'm not alone in being distracted in my enjoyment of the show because of it. Let alone having the Doctor voice his concerns about it - talking about dying doesn't make for pleasant family entertainment IMO.

I hope that we'll have another "Parting of the Ways" or most Classic Who regeneration stories, where the Doctor changes his face as a result of the adventure he's currently in and not some twisted, confusing, and drawn out set of circumstances as we had with Ten and now apparently Eleven. I'd rather our Doctor go out with an "hey, saved the day. Aw nuts, gotta change" instead of a "this has been bothering me for YEARS NOW and I'm FINALLY going to get it OVER WITH!".

MArk

 

[FreddyE]

I would like a very sudden regeneration and not in the last episode of a season. It´s a bit anticlimatic to know "okay, this is the episode where it happens".

 

[The Wormhole]

I would like a very sudden regeneration and not in the last episode of a season. It´s a bit anticlimatic to know "okay, this is the episode where it happens".

The regeneration is always a significant event. Regardless of where it's paced in the season we're going to know before it airs "this is the episode where it happens."

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

One new spin on it would be if a regeneration happens in the middle of a STORY. Imagine a two parter, even a season cliffhanger if you will, whose first part has the bad guys essentially winning and "killing" the Doctor. Then part two picks up with the new Doctor delivering righteous vengeance upon his supposed vanquishers.

The closest we've had is the Doctor defeating the Master back to back in Logopolis and Castrovalva, but those were two different threats and not the same universe-dominating plot.

Mak

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ I doubt they'd want the old Doctor to go out with a loss! There'd have to be some aspect of a win to the departure.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

In storytelling there are personal victories and then there's winning the conflict. This could be something that has both.

For some reason "Armageddon" comes to mind, with Harry reconciling with his daughter before sacrificing himself. I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE that there better examples out there though.

Mark

 

[Professor Zoom]

In storytelling there are personal victories and then there's winning the conflict. This could be something that has both.

For some reason "Armageddon" comes to mind, with Harry reconciling with his daughter before sacrificing himself. I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE that there better examples out there though.

Mark

Yeah, but Harry killing himself was the end of the movie, the end of the story. And he won by sacrificing himself. The Doctor regenerating because he "lost" I think would be a down ending for the Doctor, and I can't see an actor wanting to leave in that way.

The Doctor sacrificing himself for a win... like in Logolopolis, Planet of the Spiders, Caves of Androzani, yeah... that works.

 

[Starkers]

Well I guess you could argue that if he has to regenerate the Doctor has 'lost' in some respect. And some of the Doctor's regenerations were quite personal, Ten didn't need to regenerate because he sacrificed himself to save the earth. he had to regenerate because he sacrificed himself to save Wilf, same with Five, his only victory was in saving Peri.

 

[Green Lantern]

I guessed as much that there'd be no series 8 this year. Really, what I want to see some time soon is a huge dalek arc. The closest Smith's ever got to doing a real Dalek storyline is in Asylam of the Daleks which to me was a huge disapointment. We've not got a decent Dalek story since the end of Tennants era, and as for cybermen, not a full on story since way back in series two, although they did have a pretey good episode at the end of Tennents era. Still not really a good arc though. As for Sontarans, they've not been done properly since the end of Tennants era either. Now we know that we're getting Cybermen at the end of series seven, so next series I'd love to see daleks and sontarans done properly.

 

[Green Lantern]

Not that I would prefer it one way or the other, but what difference would it make if Smith bowed mid-season? Unless they went back to a 13-week block and the Doctor regenerated in the middle of it, it'd functionally be no different than the 4 or 6 month wait we had between Doctors in the last couple go rounds.

What I would much rather have it a regeneration happening that, story-wise, isn't hanging over the Doctor for years. Sure, the Doctor KNOWS that at some point he's probably going to regenerate into another body, but lately I've been sick of this need RTD / Moffatt have had to explicitly tell us it's coming. We thus have it hanging over the viewers' heads for years at a time (almost two years betwen "Planet of the Ood" and "The End of Time", and two years and counting between "The Wedding of River Song" and whenever Smith makes his exit) and I know I'm not alone in being distracted in my enjoyment of the show because of it. Let alone having the Doctor voice his concerns about it - talking about dying doesn't make for pleasant family entertainment IMO.

I hope that we'll have another "Parting of the Ways" or most Classic Who regeneration stories, where the Doctor changes his face as a result of the adventure he's currently in and not some twisted, confusing, and drawn out set of circumstances as we had with Ten and now apparently Eleven. I'd rather our Doctor go out with an "hey, saved the day. Aw nuts, gotta change" instead of a "this has been bothering me for YEARS NOW and I'm FINALLY going to get it OVER WITH!".

MArk

Although I love the end of time, I do have to agree with you there. I'd like it to be done dramaticly, maybe with the Master planning this for years and years, but I'd like the dr and the viewers not to have a clue about the regeneration happening until abotu a few months before (the dr not included). Although what I would like to see done is a cliffhanger like they did in the stolen earth where we all thought the doctor was going to regenerate. Maybe have no one in the public know that the doctor is regenerating, and after the episode, have them announce that this is for real, and we all have to guess who the new doctor will be. Maybe do that and then split the series in half so we're guessing for months, and even right up until the episode itself, no one will know. That'd be a really fun way of doing it, might be a bit annoying, but fun none the less.

As for villain for regeneration, as much as I love the master and daleks, they've been overused for the regeneration storyline. Although I wouldn't want a new villain to be in the storyline (unless it was a really cool one like the Silence). Hell, maybe use the Silence or eeping Angels in the regeneration storyline.