Officially no series 8 in 2013

[diankra]

The Toy Fair material is official in that it's advertising from an official BBC licensee, issued with BBC Worldwide's approval, designed to encourage toy shops to stock Doctor Who toys by telling them how much on-screen promotion (in the form of episodes) the BBC will be giving Doctor Who.
It's ironic that this has come out just as the new Argos catalogue has been released, giving a very practical demonstration of how the retailers currently view Doctor Who's sales prospects.
18 months ago the Argos Doctor Who range took up a page and a half.
In the new catalogue it consists of... nothing.
Nothing at all. Zip, zero, sweet FA. Not one single piece of Doctor Who merchandise in the entire place (and it's as bad in Tesco's toy section).
Hope those brand managers are getting a good salary, 'cos they might be lucky to get a bonus this year...

 

[Samurai8472]

^There's still the scaled down action figure line for the new series but i'm thinking it would give out too many spoilers to reveal it now.

 

[Mr Awe]

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?

90 minutes.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

Reviewing the episode lengths, the only ones to have gone over 45 minutes:
sniped

That's all nice, but this the 50th Anniversary, which comes around only once! Also, if they are having more Doctors, wouldn't it be nice if their screen time wasn't quite so rushed? Some of the more elder actors may not be around for many more anniversaries.

I thought the 90 minutes for The Five Doctors was perfect. Why not just do that length?

Mr Awe

 

[StCoop]

Even though the writing was on the wall from the time that BBC1 Controller Danny Cohen revelaed that we'd only be getting half a series in 2012 because Moffat couldn't manage to run two series in a timely fashion, I'm still amazed that the Anniversary Special will only be 60 minutes. Which means, assuming they do a Christmas Special, they'll have produced two whole episodes of Doctor Who in its 50th Anniversary year.

I wasn't expecting a multi-Doctor story (maybe Tennant and and Eccles) before today, there's absolutely no chance of one now. In fact I'd amazed if it wasn't just Fields Of Trenzalor, The Question and Matt Smith's Regeneration.

And if it is... don't expect Series 8 until Autumn 2014.

 

[JoeZhang]

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

Maybe this uses the money that would normally be allocated for the Christmas special?

 

[StCoop]

Maybe this uses the money that would normally be allocated for the Christmas special?

Or they don't want to introduce a new Doctor at Xmas and then leave eight months before their next episode.

 

[Samurai8472]

I wasn't expecting a multi-Doctor story (maybe Tennant and and Eccles) before today, there's absolutely no chance of one now.

With 60 minutes allotted that's probably enough time for just Tennant and Smith.

That would be a shame though.

They need to get Tom Baker before he kicks the bucket.

 

[ToddCam]

Why is the BBC so strapped for cash? Isn't Who a big moneymaker?

 

[StCoop]

Why is the BBC so strapped for cash? Isn't Who a big moneymaker?

Their Charter doesn't allow them to reinvest the money they make from it into the Show.

 

[Mr Awe]

I wasn't expecting a multi-Doctor story (maybe Tennant and and Eccles) before today, there's absolutely no chance of one now. In fact I'd amazed if it wasn't just Fields Of Trenzalor, The Question and Matt Smith's Regeneration.

And if it is... don't expect Series 8 until Autumn 2014.

But, Matt Smith seems to have committed to series 8 already. Link

Their Charter doesn't allow them to reinvest the money they make from it into the Show.

Time to amend that charter! Silly restriction!

Mr Awe

 

[Admiral_Young]

I thought this was pretty much already wildly known and accepted? Like Stcoop said, I myself wasn't expecting series 8 until at least mid summer 2014, but he's probably right and we won't get it until Autumn 2014. Makes sense.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ The 60 minute length for the main special was not known. I guess it's still not totally official but it seems to be heading that direction.

Yeah, I know there are some other related things, like the docudrama about the show's beginnings, which I'm looking forward to. But, a 60 minute story misses the mark for the 50th anniversary.

Mr Awe

 

[diankra]

Time to amend that charter! Silly restriction!

Mr Awe

A central restriction: without it the BBC is just another commercial broadcaster, and the justification for the licence fee rather than advertising goes.

Much as I like Doctor Who, I don't personally feel it's more important than all the other good aspects of the BBC that would go.

 

[StCoop]

But, Matt Smith seems to have committed to series 8 already. Link

Not really much different from Moffat telling Tennant his Series 5 plans.

 

[ToddCam]

Interesting... where does the money go then?

 

[davejames]

60 minutes does seem a bit short, but then again this is Steven Moffat, and he usually manages to cram all kinds of cool stuff into his stories (just look at his season premieres and finales). And with all the jumping around in time he likes to do, I wouldn't be surprised if he DID manage to fit in all the other Doctors somehow.

That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

 

[Mr Awe]

Time to amend that charter! Silly restriction!

Mr Awe

A central restriction: without it the BBC is just another commercial broadcaster, and the justification for the licence fee rather than advertising goes.

Much as I like Doctor Who, I don't personally feel it's more important than all the other good aspects of the BBC that would go.

I don't know about the UK, but in the US, non-profits can invest their profits back into the business in the manner they see fit. You just can't have individuals getting increased rewards based on increasing profits (e.g. profits can benefit the company/charity but they can't benefit the people who run it.)

I could see a system like that for the BBC. Keep it essentially a non-profit but let them use the money they earn to more effectively run themselves.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

That's funny, brief and ultimately meaningless cameos seems uninspired to me. More creative is where their presence actually is important and advances the plot.

Mr Awe

 

[StCoop]

That's how I'd rather use the other Doctors anyway-- in brief, fun cameos throughout the special. Having them all just sort of.... hang out together the entire time (like in 5 Doctors) seems kind of uninspired to me.

They didn't want to do pointless cameos 20 years ago when they tried to make The Dark Dimension. Plus Colin Baker for one, if being pretty blunt about not being asked and not being interested.