APZonerunner
Member
Everything points to the previous rumour being bang on, which is a slightly shorter series (minus one episode, so 12) plus Christmas for 13.
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Doctor Who 50th Anniversary |OT| Splendid Chap, All Of Them
- Thread starter infiniteloop
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Everything points to the previous rumour being bang on, which is a slightly shorter series (minus one episode, so 12) plus Christmas for 13.
Is it confirmed that Sherlock is the problem causing splits? I kind of thought it was general problems, not just Moffat.
EDIT: Also, is it confirmed whether or not this series of Sherlock is the final one or not?
RTD tried to handwave it in a SJA episode but later admitted the regeneration limit has been made too big of a deal to handwave.
APZonerunner
Member
The problem hasn't been due to Moffat being busy with Sherlock -- I mean, think - RTD was running Torchwood & Sarah Jane Adventures, starting both shows from the ground up during Series 2/3 and then running them during 4. It's been due to production problems, bad staff and the odd scandal here and there.
The exec producers (that aren't Moffat) on Series 5 sacked the on-set producers who had been on Series 5 over a disageement. One of them had been with the series since 2005, the other since 2008, so they were experienced. The latter had been groomed by RTD's team specifically to be Moffat's go-to on-set producer throughout Series 4 and the specials, and produced episodes like The Eleventh Hour and The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang... but they sacked them at the end of Series 5, and then when they hit series 6 and bought in new people they realized they were in the shit. They asked the pair back, and they refused on the principal due to how they were dismissed (and one of them is now, irony of ironies, working on RTD's Sarah Jane replacement, Wizards vs Aliens).
So series 6 was in the shit from the word go due to that, and supposedly it went over time and over budget. At the time the Private Eye (a pretty good magazine for BBC insidery stuff) reported that the split was not intended and that the controller of BBC One was furious - but it was that or delay the whole series. Then it got out that one of the two producers had employed her boyfriend on the crew and ensured that he got to fly out to Europe when they filmed Vampires in Venice - and then stayed there after the rest of the crew went home for a cheeky BBC-funded(!) holiday! It was a disaster, basically. Those pair 'stepped down' after Series 6, and they've been struggling to catch up and get the right people into the right roles and up to speed since, really.
They finally got a good Producer in Caroline Skinner for Series 7, and then she and Moffat had a massive row or something, and he allegedly screamed at her "You are erased from Doctor Who!" at a BBC party, at which point she promptly disappeared from the credits of Series 7b. The new girl, Faith, seems very, very good though.
But that's the difference. It's been a musical chairs of staff, and while RTD had tantrums, Julie Gardner always used to shield everybody else from them, I think. Moffat has them just as bad, but he's never had a Julie figure, so that's driven people off as well.
Long story short, it's not to do with Sherlock, but everything else.
If only that was the case! Alas, who blew up the TARDIS, what's the deal with the Silent TARDIS clone, and so on.
In MasterBall's link Moffat pretty much admits it's Sherlock though.
It's definitely Sherlock.
APZonerunner
Member
Yeah, but you would say that rather than throw old colleagues you may one day have to work with again under the bus and/or admit your team has fucked up really badly and wasted loads of money, especially when you then have to answer to the taxpayer. It's the same as Moffat's "we did the split so there'd be less gap between Doctor Who! You'll never have long to wait now! Easter, Autumn, Christmas!" comments - it's spin.
At its height RTD was overseeing 14 episodes of Doctor Who, 13 of Torchwood and 10 of Sarah Jane Adventures in a year and things were fine. Three 90 minute episodes of Sherlock every 18 months was never the problem.
Hmm? Who built the TARDIS? Which, the Silent's TARDIS? Or the Doctor's? Wasn't the Silent's scavenged Time Lord technology?
If that's true, maybe they know where Gallifrey is?
But, yes, I acknowledge that the exploding TARDIS is still a mystery. But it is basically the only one left that we didn't learn about in the last series.
[edit] Also, why did they never bring back Adam Smith to direct more episodes? He was by far the best director they've had since the reboot.
Hot Coldman
Banned
No. Nooooooooooo.
I'm not sure it's a coincidence that Matt's only "complete" series is by far his best.
I'm not sure it's a coincidence that Matt's only "complete" series is by far his best.
Shoulda just called it Puzzle and Daleks.
Wasn't RTD known as a crazy workaholic though? I mean I'd trade Moffat away in a heartbeat if we could get RTD levels of output again but it doesn't seem like just any replacement could pull that off.
Hot Coldman
Banned
Wait, which is the previous rumour? Is everything pointing to 13 episodes in 2014 or not?
JonathanEx
Member
The good ship Cardiff is a bit leaky these days, isn't it?
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Because of the companion shift, Series 7 was really two smaller series anyway. There was nothing to put them "in series" with one another, apart from the very loosely repeated Trenzalore and Clara arcs. But there's multi-series plot arcs anyway.
APZonerunner
Member
RTD was mental, no doubt, but that doesn't change the fact that going from 13 episodes in a run to split series in one year to a split series in 2 crazy - and it's down to the gritty back-of-house problems they've had in Series 6 & 7, and people they got rid of/lost after Series 5.
Matt's wage doesn't change, y'know - the BBC can't be happy about paying him the same amount (if not more, I'm sure he would've had an increase clause!) for 5 episodes in 2012 as they did for 13 in 2010!
The rumour was that the series would be one episode shorter (presumably getting rid of the second two-parter if they go back to the Series 1-4 structure). Moffat keeps saying 13 episodes in 2014, and the BBC has commissioned them for next Christmas already, we know. So it's probably 12 + Christmas for 13, rather than what we're used to, which is 13 + Christmas for 14. They're getting rid of the double banking episode, basically, which makes sense. It just means no more brave/crazy less-Doctor stuff like Blink, Love & Monsters, Turn Left or The Girl Who Waited.
typo, meant to say "blew up", not built. That and the purpose of the Silent TARDIS are both mysteries over three years old now. But also the nature of the "silence will fall" prophecy, the long bitter war with the Doctor, how his name relates to all of this and Trenzalore, etc. All mysteries from 2011.
If you were watching the Moffat era all in one go, then yeah, it'd look he introduces mysteries only to resolve them shortly later (which, just as an aside, is a hilarious criticism in our post-LOST world). But in real time we've gone years without getting answers to some fairly significant plot points yet.
But all that aside, I understand what your point about keeping things mysterious, I just think your Nightmare Child and Cruciform examples aren't a good comparison because those aren't important to the plot and don't need any kind of explanation. Whereas cracks in the universe, Trenzalore, etc. do because these are season-long arcs and not resolving them when your whole drama revolves around them would be bullshit.
I do think, though, that River is a great example of building an unnecessary story out of mystery that didn't need solving. Seeing more of her and the Doctor's relationship is fine, but the tie-in to Amy and Rory wasn't a good idea imo.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
The tie-in to River/Amy/Rory would have been fine had Amy not treated her apparent daughter with absolute indifference.
I just hope that Capaldi gets a year or two under someone besides Moffat.
What is Armando Iannucci up to these days?
Hot Coldman
Banned
Ah, I see. I don't mind that at all. Although I'd like to see the Christmas episodes stay... relevant? Like "Time of the Doctor" or "The Christmas Invasion". If they must be "YAY IT'S CHRISTMAS WOO" at least make more "A Christmas Carol"s and less "The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe"s.
I'm predicting 5 years. Think about it, the only reason Matt's off and David left is because they need/ed to have careers beyond Who. Capaldi is the opposite; he's had his glorious career, and now he's about to become the Doctor. So I bet he sticks around... unless he hates it, and then it'll probably be a 2 year job.
I don't see Moffat giving it another 5 years or so, though. I bet he's done in 2015; it gives him that first year to let Capaldi settle in, and it gives him another year to make sure he's leaving behind no plot scraps.
Exterminieren
Banned
What are the chances that 12 episodes will herald 6 2-parters? That was the strategy that they used to use for the Sarah Jane Adventures, after all.
God I hope not.
The more I think about it, the more I like Armando Iannucci as the next showrunner. If he's interested, which he might be with Capaldi as the star. His sense of humor is perfect, with all its satirical morality. He could make the show feel more grounded.
I mean right now apparently he's writing a satirical novel about a privatized language. That sort of thing is perfect for Doctor Who!
Huh, well that's both surprising and awesome. I kind of figured with everyone's careers taking off they would round things up with these last three.
Hot Coldman
Banned
I don't think it will ever happen. At least, not exclusively in cinemas. It presents too many opportunities for sniping from BBC detractors, especially those that are currently in power. Plus it'd be a production minefield, damages the value of the show, etc etc.
Little Old Man
Member
Matt was screwed over by the last series. Utterly screwed over.
Thankfully we got to see him in the anniversary show, and the Christmas special should be worthy of him (since for once it isn't set in Victorian London).
Suddenly I realize that Victorian London has been the setting for almost every Christmas Special the entire time I've been watching the show. When it isn't just Modern London.
StalkerUKCG
Banned
How about we don't have a Xmas OT and we have a Spoilers and Shh No Spoilers OT like GoT does
I don't know about the rest of the crew, but both Benedict and Martin have said that they enjoy working on Sherlock a lot and would be open to working on even more series.
Hot Coldman
Banned
Nah, because most of the time spoilers aren't readily available. Like Jonathan said, Cardiff is just being leaky now.
The Spoilers thread for GoT is valuable due to speculation over how the show will handle book plot elements, it's a bit more involved than reading some supposed leaks on a fan site.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Of course, Torchwood was largely run by Chibnall, with RTD really only overseeing it in a broad sense. He was certainly involved with it on a production level, but he only ever wrote one episode across the first two seasons (and pulled out of a second because he just didn't have time). The same was mostly true for Sarah Jane Adventures.
Although I get the feeling that RTD was a lot more hands on with Doctor Who than Moffat, at least in terms of rewriting scripts, so I think a lot of that balances out.
BrokenFiction
Member
Managed to score last minute tickets for my son and me to go see DotD in 3D at the theater near me! Huzzah!
APZonerunner
Member
There's more to a show than scripts, though. He went to every single Torchwood/SJA readthrough there was, did the final say on every single piece of casting, etc. My point still stands; there was a lot going on there! It's no good to blame Sherlock.
R_thanatos
Member
Missed opportunity , trully.
Nah, it adds to the mythos. It's how you know the universe is vast and dangerous and stuff, because of unimportant, throwaway lines like Jim the Fish.
infiniteloop
Member
More missing episode rumors:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/11...-for-those-pesky-doctor-who-missing-episodes/
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/11...-for-those-pesky-doctor-who-missing-episodes/
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Reports of Marco Polo, The Massacre and The Macra Terror being the next three have been circulating for awhile. I think this is the first time I've heard Power mentioned along with that group (most of the folks talking about this have been saying it would be one of the last ones released, going with the 90 episode story).
Either way, hopefully we can get some official news on them soon.
Either way, hopefully we can get some official news on them soon.
aHebrewMenagerie
Member
Power and Evil of the Daleks?
HOOLLLLLLLYYYYYY SHIIIIITTTTT HHYYYPPPEEEE!!!!!!
HOOLLLLLLLYYYYYY SHIIIIITTTTT HHYYYPPPEEEE!!!!!!
The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe wasn't. That was fiftiesish, wasn't it?
aHebrewMenagerie
Member
WWII era.
Hot Coldman
Banned
Set during WWI/II, actually, IIRC.
Exterminieren
Banned
Bleeding Cool very, very rarely get Who leaks right. I wouldn't pay much credence to them, be it in terms of split series or in terms of missing episodes.
Hot Coldman
Banned
I wish Billie Piper got more dialogue. She was excellent as The Moment, to the point where you've almost forgotten she was once Rose Tyler by the end of her first scene with John Hurt. I love her "No More" dance.
infiniteloop
Member
this one:
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