He WHAT???

[caz963]

DO. NOT. WANT.



I mean, serioualy, WHAT. THE. FUCK.?

We get 13 episodes plus a Christmas special per year. I'm happy with that, because I think that once you start getting series that are longer than 12 or 13 episodes, it gets difficult to maintain a decent story, the standards of scriptwriting and production values. (The only show that, IMO has ever managed to sustain incredibly high quality over a 22 episode season was S2 of The West Wing.)

But splitting a series of DW in half, airing six months (ish) apart? No thanks.

Moffat says it's to serve the storytelling because he wants to put in a massive "game-changing" cliffhanger. Well, okay, I'm all for something like that. But having to wait MONTHS rather than DAYS for the resolution? Is he stupid, or what? I know people who got fed up with all the twisty-turny, timey-wimey plotty stuff in S5, who couldn't get invested in the new characters and stopped watching as a result. What makes him think that the audience will want to wait months for the resolution of this "game-changing" twist? ^**

I keep banging on about this, but the DW audience is not just made up of fans. There's a large contingent of casual viewers and that makes up the majority of the viewing numbers. I haven't seen a detailed analysis recently, but I remember reading something a while ago in which the numbers of casual viewers vs. fans was actually rather surprising. If anyone's got any info on that, I'd be interested to read it.

But my Spidey PR-bullshit sense is also tingling, because I can't help wondering if what Moffat's saying is really putting a brave face on the fact that he's been told that he has to do this for some reason. I can't see how splitting a series in two would mean they could make financial savings - if anything I'd think it would be more expensive if the filming and production has to be split into two. On the other hand though, if they film everything in the same way as now, splitting the season could save money in post-production as there will be more time to work on some things. Rush jobs always mean overtime.

Whatever the reason, I'm certainly one very uhnappy bunny about this news. Has anyone started a campaign to bombard the BBC with protests yet?

^**I do realise that many complete series/seasons of many shows end on cliffhangers - but I'm going to dig my heels in and whine "but that's different!". I also know that most episodes of Classic Who ended on cliffhangers - but we usually only had to wait a week for their resolution.

So yeah. I'm pissed off.



ETA: There is some spoilery speculation in the comments.

Comments

[teresadivicenzo.livejournal.com]

LJ ated my comment. Can you c&p it from your email and post it for me?!

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my first reaction was basically.... WOW, THAT IS WEIRD. I wonder if it was a BBC directive or what.

I know people who got fed up with all the twisty-turny, timey-wimey plotty stuff in S5, who couldn't get invested in the new characters and stopped watching as a result. What makes him think that the audience will want to wait months for the resolution of this "game-changing" twist?

That's a good point. I was one of those who spent most of S5 wishing for more characterization and less plot twists, so I could see myself wandering off from S6 if it just sort of.... stopped in the middle. D:

[killingfrost87.livejournal.com]

UGH. Do. Not. Want.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

To be a devil's advocate here... this may be a step to move the show entirely to autumn for S7? I'd think there'd be more casual viewers around in the fall compared to spring. And the split did work for the 2009 Specials. Granted, there were only PotD and WoM, and they were stand-alone episodes, but still, the overnight/total numbers for them were good, 8.6/9.5 and 9.4/10.3 million respectively.

[Moffat] wants to put in a massive "game-changing" cliffhanger.

I have a pretty good idea of what the cliffhanger will be. Who wants to bet? *g*

I remember reading something a while ago in which the numbers of casual viewers vs. fans was actually rather surprising. If anyone's got any info on that

That would be interesting, but I don't know where those numbers would be. I did a comparison of general audience vs fannish audience appreciation, but that's not the same.

But my Spidey PR-bullshit sense is also tingling, because I can't help wondering if what Moffat's saying is really putting a brave face on the fact that he's been told that he has to do this for some reason.

My guess is possibly the ratings? The average for S5 was the same as previous seasons, but the trend was steadily downwards compared to V-shape curves in S2-S4. (The graphs are really interesting. Why yes, I've made them. *g*) Bumping the show to autumn would definitely boost ratings, , OTOH there was less than 1 million difference in viewers for the Specials.

Or, it could be this Doctor Who Live Tour I keep hearing so much about, maybe they want time for the actors to appear?

splitting the season could save money in post-production as there will be more time to work on some things.

I don't know about this. My impression from The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter was that RTD was constantly looking for ways to cut back on post-production hours.

[cerisaye.livejournal.com]

I had a hard time sustaining interest through a straight run of S5 so the idea of a split series isn't appealing, and I would consider myself a serious fan, admittedly one who has issues with Moffat vs RTD. I'd be happier if they ran the complete series starting in the Autumn, like it used to, with a regular 7:00 p.m. start-time, though that'd put it up against the X-Factor. Are the two finales being given longer slots as with the Specials last year?

I do wonder, though, whether this has anything to do with freeing up more time for Moffat's Sherlock commitments?

[scarab-dynasty.livejournal.com]

Hiya. I got here from your doctorwho comment, hope you don't mind.

You know, they pulled a similar thing with a completely different fandom a few years back: Trekkies, specifically the ones who watched The Next Generation, will probably gladly recount to you the story of "The longest summer" where they had to wait an entire series to find out if the main protagonist had been assimlated by evil aliens and if his former crew had just blown him up... it didn't have the same effect for me popping in a DVD ten years later but it must've been HELL for the fans at the time... you can get there was a big ratings jump when autumn finally rolled around.

I guess he COULD be just doing the whole "putting on a brave face" thing (at the very least I get the series was adveristed to the bosses at the BEEB based on the whole "this will bring in more money and viewers" thing; though whether or not that reflects on his own reasoning for it is anyone's guess: what they think and what they tell the bosses who hand out the cash in order to get stuff done could be two different things) but at the moment I'm trying not to think that way, because... well because I don't want to spend six months to a year getting stressed out over this. I can't change it...I've loved what we;ve had the last five or six years so much, the thought of it going out that way leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and seems unnessecary since that this point we have no REAL conclusive proof that this is the beginning of the end.

Though I agree with you that the Beeb is at it with their budgeting lately. The BBC seems to be a bit of a mess. I'm doing animation at uni and they actually opened up to a FIRST YEAR CLASS offering a contest for aniamtion series pitches: five years ago, the BBC would NEVER have done that. So that says something about how... well, desperate they are.

On the other hand... with that in mind, why would they then cut one of their BIGGEST merchandise earners and a show which, even in spite of a slight drop in viewers lately, is bringing in more attention than almost everything bar the televised football matches?

As for having to wait months to see a conclusion... irking, yeah. But then Doctor Who's endings are... not always happy, not always great but usually it leads to a victory for the good guys and I'm going to stick with that mind set for now. it's not like they're gonna destroy the universe XD so (tempts fate)... how bad can it really be?

[oolookitty.livejournal.com]

I am already pretty checked out of this show, so I can only imagine that having to wait months for a cliffhanger to resolve itself will only resolve in my not caring enough to actually tune in. This is an incredibly stupid idea... and I have a feeling that a lot of people like me, who didn't love Series 5, will find this a good reason to drop out.