Fuck this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/apr/05/doctor-who-new-series
"We're not lying, we're not cheating. One of those four people [The Doctor, Amy, Rory, River] is going to die," Moffat told the new issue of Doctor Who magazine.
"The Doctor's darkest hour is coming. Shows like Doctor Who should have big colourful, memorable moments that make you go, 'What the hell?' Well, this is one of them.
"It's hard to create shock in Doctor Who when we've already blown up the universe a couple of times. What do you do next?"
There are two possibilities here.
As the article points out, Smith and Gillan are signed up for the entire series. So it's unlikely to the Doctor (who would just regenerate anyway) or Amy. And we already know how River dies. So, if this isn't Moffat being all twisty-turny, then Rory is going to die. And you know, I do appreciate the warning to some extent, except that this whole thing makes it clear that it's just something they're doing for shock value -- just like with Ianto, this is about reducing someone from a character to a plot device. That is just lazy, shitty writing. (And it IS possible to kill characters in ways that don't do that -- see Mitchell in Being Human S3 -- a wonderful in-character death that was done, not because the show needed a "shock", but because it was the natural end of his character arc.)
The other possibility is that Moffat IS being twisty-turny, and it DOES refer to River -- that River is actually fob watched Romana, so River has to "die" in order to allow Romana to return. This is actually awesome, and I would love it so much if this happened. But I absolutely HATE the deceptive manipulation of fans. As verasteine says, it would not hurt the Powers that Be to recognise that their audience consists of actual people, and that manipulating people like this is, quite simply, a shitty thing to do. And I don't think the means justifies the end here -- I know Moffat wants as many people watching S6 as possible -- but I don't think that excuses being a jerk.
The really ironic thing is, until this revelation, which is supposed to create enthusiasm for S6 -- I was starting to feel REALLY EXCITED about it -- I was feeling excited about the Whoniverse in a way that I haven't seen before CoE. Now I feel slightly sick and I'm not sure if I really want to watch it unspoiled.
As I said, if the first option is what's going to happen, then it IS better to be warned -- and I'm going to work on the assumption that the first option is true, because I learned my lesson with CoE -- I spent so much time arguing that the talk of Ianto's death was some twisty-turny fake-out thing, but I was a fool. And at least, if this option is true, Moffat is NOT trying to sell S6, deceptively, as something that it isn't. It still pisses me off that it's just being done for shock value, because I think that's insulting to both the character and the audience, but at least he's being honest.
If it's the second option, then there are far more creative, and less manipulative ways of getting people excited about it. And, I would argue, more effective ways, given that I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person whose excitement levels have plummeted as a result of this.