Well, now we know that there won’t be a full series of Doctor Who in 2012. That’s from BBC1 Controller Danny Cohen, who told the 2011 Church and Media Conference that the show will have episodes aired in 2012 but not a full series, and will have a “special run” for the 2013 50th anniversary year. We heard before that 14 episodes have already been ordered and that Matt Smith will be in them, but exactly when we’ll get the 14 is now up in the air. Again, he didn’t say there would be NO episodes in 2012, but he didn’t say how many we’ll get then and how many will be delayed until 2013.
So, when next year rolls around, you’ll have to be patient.
At least try.
And here’s an update: Steven Moffat has tweeted this:
“Dr Who: misquotes and misunderstandings. But I’m not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we’re ready. Hush, and patience.”
See? Patience. You can be patient. All will be well.
Most likely the shift to the fall season debut is due to the fact that there is a massive studio move coming up. The British do things differently than we do. So just bear with it and everything will be fine. Plus next spring Game of Thrones will start again, and before you know it, Doctor Who will be back. (we still have 6 more episodes of series 7 and a Christmas episode coming this year)…
14 episodes of Doctor Who would take about a year’s worth time for the BBC to produce. With Moffat writing and executive producing both Doctor Who and Sherlock, delaying season 7 to 2013 makes a lot of sense if you want to maintain the guy’s sanity and wits.
I trust Steven Moffat. I really do. I’ll just enjoy having marathons with my friends in the down time.
I don’t know if it’s a ratings thing, or if they are just doing what they believe is best for the the creative and/or financial functions of the show. I know a lot of people are comparing this to the mid-season finales that occurred due to the writers strike and how DW is taking advantage of the technique as if it equals profit, but I seriously SERIOUSLY doubt that it has anything to do with that.
Steven Moffats are cool.
With that being said… I liked the 8th Doctor himself, but BBC forbid if another movie occurs that is as terrible as that one. Half human my arse.
Sincerely,
USA side of the Pond
Interesting tweet from the Moff himself which seems to imply “Don’t Panic”, “Keep Calm and Carry On” and wait and see on the official news! Could yet prove to be a storm in the proverbial teacup!
http://twitter.com/#!/steven_moffat/status/81054183133941760
Seems like this is becoming the norm for these shows. Wish it wouldn’t. Also woulda been cool if they hadn’t cancelled Survivors. But that doesn’t belong here~
“FREE entertainment”? BBC is funded by a mandatory television license fee.
Bow ties are cool. Fezzes are cool. Extra-long hiatuses (hiati?) of my favorite show are not cool.
Yes, outrage! How dare this program and network that have brought me countless hours of FREE entertainment take their time to craft a series that I love. How dare they allow for actors schedules and production issues! Don’t they realize that I have a schedule in my brain that needs to stay on track. RAGE…..uncontrollable sobbing…(lays head on desk)
Yes we do things differently over here. We drive on the right for a start. That’s ‘right’ as in opposite to left and ‘right’ as in correct because otherwise your carriage driver would need to sword fight attackers and highwaymen left handed rather than right handed.
We don’t do 24 episodes, we don’t do large writing rooms, we don’t commission shows, show two episodes then cancel them if the ratings aren’t up to scratch. Over the years Blackadder, Red Dwarf and numerous other shows took these sort of breaks.
Besides didn’t Soprano’s and Mad Men have these sort of breaks on your side of the pond.
All will be fine.
In Moffat we Trust.
So they’re making a movie instead…?
There is an alternate universe where they only made two series of Doctor Who, and a Holiday special and a few years later, it was turned into an American single camera sitcom. That sitcom ran for 7 years and is fitting into america small screens.
That being said. Doctor Who is a British programme that this American is happy to have come across. I can be patient. Besides it will take me a great amount of time just to understand this current season.
Honestly, does Moffat expect anything less from nerds? We are an impatient bunch.
Ahahaha I love seeing all you Johnny-come-latelies cry about a year with only a few episodes. Now imagine what it was like for us old-schoolers having to wait FIFTEEN YEARS with only a shitty TV movie to try and tide us over!
MOVIES!?!?!?!?!?
Sure it sucks, but since they’re not an American company they can hardly be held to Americans’ expectations of instant gratification. Ultimately it’s a British show for a British audience made with British funding. The world of UK Television is a strange one with televised orchestral concerts, miniseries, and international news on “network” TV. UK fans, are irregularly scheduled series common?
Regardless, I’m just happy BBC is real-time sharing now! As long as they’re NOT canceling the show for another 15 years I can handle waiting.
As long as that Tardis appears in my living room to take me on adventures, I will be happy.
My dream for the 50th Anniversary… The Three Doctors Redux, just immagine Eccleston, Tennant and Smith together. I know, crazy talk. But they did it for the first big anniversary as a special (then they did the 5 Doctors for the next big one.) So you never know.
I’m honestly not worried, the BBC have done some stupid things in their day (see tossing out all the original negatives for the first few seasons of Doctor Who back in the 80s.) But they have a money generating machine, what’s probably happened is poorly communicated scheduling conflicts. They are not stupid and they certainly wouldn’t have spent the money building up hype here in North America only to can it the next season when the numbers are higher than ever.
Don’t Panic.
Odds are we’ll have to wait until fall of 2012 to see the next series, the same length of waiting period we’ve had since the show came back . So maybe the series is split over the new year. OK. How is this cause for concern? That’s what all other shows do!
And no one has said anything about only having specials during the anniversary year. There will be something “special” coming up. But would we expect anything less for the 50 [expletive deleted] year anniversary?
So there will be less Who in 2012. There’s been less Who in spring of 2011 than we’ve usually had. And there’s something special planned. The sky is not falling.
Well, it might be falling, that does sound like a pretty cool idea and this is Who so for all we know, yes, that might happen in some upcoming episode. My point is:
DON’T PANIC.
Is this any way to run a network? What exactly is the problem? They have short seasons anyway and then they can’t even pull those off?
People seem to misunderstand.
We’re still getting as many episodes as we would (13 + Christmas 2011). But since we have a somewhat later start date for production this year, a bulk of those episodes will air late 2012, and the rest of series 7 airs early 2013. Probably a 7/6 split of episodes like in series 6.
Series 5 ended late June 2010, series 6 debuted late April 2011. So 10 months of downtime in between. If series 6’s second half begins in September as we’re led to believe, the finale will air in October 2011. If series 7 does a similar mid-season break like series 6, then to air 7 episodes in 2012 they’d have to start by November. So probably 13 months between seasons, maximum. To me, the difference between a 10 month break and a 13 month break isn’t huge.
Plus, this means that filming will start a bit later, so it’s all the more likely that Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan can reprise their roles even though they have other commitments into this fall.
Worst. Summer. News. Ever!
it just means we get a new doctor and there will be back episodes with smith in them to make a full circle …..b/c full circles are cool
I’m getting flashbacks to Tennant’s final year of specials. Next thing you know, Matt Smith is going to decide he wants to leave and go do plays, then he’ll sign up for a doomed NBC pilot, and then finally end up making remakes of 80’s movies.
I just hope this doesn’t hurt the show in the long run. People have short attention spans. I’m sure the die-hard Who fans will stick around, but I know a few more casual fans who might lose interest.
Maybe instead of a spring/fall split, we’ll get a fall/spring split, then leaving late 2013 for… whatever 50th anniversary stuff they plan.
Strangely, this would be a good point to have a TARDIS…
Another hipster move from the hipster programmers. They’re all like, “I’m so cool.” Then, when everyone finally agrees, they’re all like, “I’m too cool for you to watch me.” I hope the first episode will be all about cadavers.
now if only I could cryogenicly freeze myself now…
Wait… what? You have one of the most successful seasons of Doctor Who ever and so you decide to reduce its order?
Protest… I’m sending a very stern letter to the BBC….. PROTESTINATE!!!!
UGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! whyyyyy must I keep waiting and waiting? It’s long enough waiting for the second half of this season to show up. Not to mention It took long enough for seasons 5 and 6 to even start airing. Now I gotta wait like this even MORE??? blehhh. oh well. š
WTH this makes no sense, why? Why build a US audience and then shut it down. I’m so mad
WTF?? This is NOT cool!
Figures. I get into the show, and catch up, and shit like this happens.
This is why I can’t have nice things, apparently…
Hopefully this means that despite having fewer episodes they can make longer, more in depth episodes like Sherlock.
BALLS!
Just got back from the future guys. The episodes are…were…will be worth the wait. Oh my, tenses are difficult.
Ugh! Worst summer ever.
so much sadness š I don’t have a single patient bone in my body
This makes me want to start sobbing uncontrollably on the BBC’s doorstep. Hopefully this means that with more time to create the episodes, they’ll be of incredibly good quality. Can’t wait for more Matt Smith Doctor awesomesauce.