Chibnall?! Noooooo...!!!
Only kidding, I think. I'm sure you've all seen the momentous news by now; the king is dead (metaphorically speaking), long live the king!
Well...two years from now, anyway. I suspect right now the more pressing revelation is that we're only getting an Xmas special in 2016 (possibly due to international sporting competitions clogging up Auntie Beeb's schedule, possibly due to Moffat really needing to get on with the next series of Sherlock), followed by Moffat's (and I strongly suspect Capaldi's) swansong season in spring 2017, with Mr Chibnall taking up the reins in 2018. Assuming, that is, we still have a BBC by 2018. I'm sure it will all go over much quicker than it seems right now.
Don't worry, even if you don't like the Euro football/soccer championship or the Olympics, we've got Class to tide us over. Yay.
Aw, c'mon, you don't know, it might be alright.
So, what do you think of the news? I know there are quite a lot of very vocal fans who will be dancing jigs of joy to see the back of Der Moff, but to be honest I have no personal beef with the man. I think he's had a good run on Who, and has been a safe pair of hands these past six years. He pulled off the 50th anniversary, potential snakepit that it was, with aplomb and gave us both Eleven and Twelve who I'm not ashamed to count amongst my favourite Doctors of the lot. And along the way, from his own pen (or keyboard) Moffat has given us some of the very best Who stories of all time. I certainly don't subscribe to the seemingly widely-held view that there was anything tired or substandard about Series 8 and 9 or that it's "time for a break." In fact I think Capaldi's run has been the most consistently good and interesting period since the magisterial Series 5. If I had any issue with Moffat's tenure, it would be the overlong and imho rather mishandled River Song story arc, but I know I'm in a minority on that one and I find that my misgivings there are more than outweighed by all of the good stuff.
As for Chibnall, I don't think I'm as excited by the prospect as I was when I heard Moffat was getting the job way back when. He was always one of the obvious choices, though, given his track record of showrunning as well as writing. None of his work for Who has been as standout good as Moffat's RTD-era stories...quite the opposite in at least one case I can think of (the nadir of S5 - that bleeping Silurians two-parter), and he did write Cyberwoman, for Rassilon's sake. However, I'm by no means as underwhelmed by the news as I would have been five or six years ago. Chibnall's two S7 scripts for Who were actually not bad, even if they weren't classics, and his recent work on other projects, particularly the first series of Broadchurch, has been very encouraging indeed. Besides, I'm not convinced one does have to be a genius writer to be a good showrunner. It helps, no doubt, but I don't think it's the only skill needed to succeed in such a role. If he can assemble a good (and hopefully ever more diverse) stable of talent, he should be fine. And, you know, change and renewal are an essential part of what Doctor Who is. I'm very excited to see whatever new direction the series takes.
And besides, if it's rubbish I'll have the fun of being one of those spleen-venting fans for a while. It might even finally get me onto Tumblr... ;D
Well...two years from now, anyway. I suspect right now the more pressing revelation is that we're only getting an Xmas special in 2016 (possibly due to international sporting competitions clogging up Auntie Beeb's schedule, possibly due to Moffat really needing to get on with the next series of Sherlock), followed by Moffat's (and I strongly suspect Capaldi's) swansong season in spring 2017, with Mr Chibnall taking up the reins in 2018. Assuming, that is, we still have a BBC by 2018. I'm sure it will all go over much quicker than it seems right now.
Don't worry, even if you don't like the Euro football/soccer championship or the Olympics, we've got Class to tide us over. Yay.
Aw, c'mon, you don't know, it might be alright.
So, what do you think of the news? I know there are quite a lot of very vocal fans who will be dancing jigs of joy to see the back of Der Moff, but to be honest I have no personal beef with the man. I think he's had a good run on Who, and has been a safe pair of hands these past six years. He pulled off the 50th anniversary, potential snakepit that it was, with aplomb and gave us both Eleven and Twelve who I'm not ashamed to count amongst my favourite Doctors of the lot. And along the way, from his own pen (or keyboard) Moffat has given us some of the very best Who stories of all time. I certainly don't subscribe to the seemingly widely-held view that there was anything tired or substandard about Series 8 and 9 or that it's "time for a break." In fact I think Capaldi's run has been the most consistently good and interesting period since the magisterial Series 5. If I had any issue with Moffat's tenure, it would be the overlong and imho rather mishandled River Song story arc, but I know I'm in a minority on that one and I find that my misgivings there are more than outweighed by all of the good stuff.
As for Chibnall, I don't think I'm as excited by the prospect as I was when I heard Moffat was getting the job way back when. He was always one of the obvious choices, though, given his track record of showrunning as well as writing. None of his work for Who has been as standout good as Moffat's RTD-era stories...quite the opposite in at least one case I can think of (the nadir of S5 - that bleeping Silurians two-parter), and he did write Cyberwoman, for Rassilon's sake. However, I'm by no means as underwhelmed by the news as I would have been five or six years ago. Chibnall's two S7 scripts for Who were actually not bad, even if they weren't classics, and his recent work on other projects, particularly the first series of Broadchurch, has been very encouraging indeed. Besides, I'm not convinced one does have to be a genius writer to be a good showrunner. It helps, no doubt, but I don't think it's the only skill needed to succeed in such a role. If he can assemble a good (and hopefully ever more diverse) stable of talent, he should be fine. And, you know, change and renewal are an essential part of what Doctor Who is. I'm very excited to see whatever new direction the series takes.
And besides, if it's rubbish I'll have the fun of being one of those spleen-venting fans for a while. It might even finally get me onto Tumblr... ;D