Doctor Who will apparently not be back next year after all

[frelling_tralk]

Doctor Who Series 12 Announcement

As series 11 came to a close on BBC One tonight (Sunday 9th December) the show announced that series 12 is on its way and will be returning to BBC One in early 2020.Well this is going to seriously kill momentum I would imagine, especially with younger viewers who have only just been introduced to DW and Jodie’s

Comments

[tasabian]

That is a long gap - fall of 2019 would have made more sense. I hope it doesn't derail Jodie's momentum. I have the same doubts about Chibnall's writing as you, but only admiration for Jodie's performance.

You might want to try a few eps past ep #4 - I thought "Kerblam" was the best of the season (no Chibnall writing credit)

[frelling_tralk]

I’ve been following the fan reaction (which was what convinced me to not even bother with the fifth episode quite honestly) and there’s been a few that sound interesting, so I’m sure that I will catch up at some point. It was becoming a struggle for me to stay invested in the episodes though without the usual close Doctor/Companion relationship, really not a fan of this new ‘fam’ format

And it seems like a terrible idea to take such a long gap after they’re only just rebooted the franchise and hooked a lot of new fans (even if I’m not among them :P ) I remember that it was even treated as a very big deal back in RTD’s time to take a year off with the specials, and then that was only to wrap up Tennent’s time after four successful years building on the new success of the show. But taking a long break already just seems like a bad sign when they’ve only just started this new era, it makes me wonder if it’s turning out to be a larger undertaking than Chris Chibnall was expecting?

[domluver]

This is probably my favorite series in a long time so I was really sad to see it would be that long until the new series. Makes me wonder why so long, but still can't wait.

[frelling_tralk]

The new series does seem to be really popular with fans who didn’t enjoy Steven Moffat’s style as much, but unfortunately I was pretty much the opposite. I loved Moffat’s writing, but I really can’t get into Chris Chibnall’s, so I guess now I know how the viewers felt who hated what Moffat was doing to DW :(

But still it has been nice to see the show doing so well with the public recently and it seems a shame to go into a gap year right away after that, maybe I’m missing something, but I’m not sure why it’s not possible for them to get ten episodes filmed and ready before 2020 :shrugs:

[domluver]

Ya I got tired of Moffat's writing fairly early on, so I had to stop watching it because I just couldn't stand it anymore. I like Chibnall's because he wrote my favorite Torchwood episode so I'm used to his writing.

I'm sure there is a reason but maybe they don't want to release it, suppose we'll see in time.

[snogged]

That is a long gap, but I wonder if the "Netflix" generation is used to binging a thing and then waiting nearly a year to get another season.

[frelling_tralk]

That’s true, it’s possible that it won’t make of a difference to the ratings, it just seems like a bad idea to me to be even chance losing the audience when they’ve only just relaunched things with a new Doctor. And I don’t get why they suddenly need such a long gap for anyway, it should not take more than a year to film 10 episodes...

[paynesgrey]

UGH. Another long gap. I just don't get it.
And we only got 10 episodes this year. Bah.

[frelling_tralk]

Yep, it seems like we get less every year! Cutting from 13 to 12 was fine, and then cutting from 12 to 10 was a bit ‘oh but the episodes will be an hour long though supposedly, so that’s not so bad’, only to turn out that after the premiere that they were all just five minutes longer than usual. And now we’re hearing that it’s not even going to be ten episodes each year?! I’m just waiting for them to cut the episode order down to 8 next 😕

[goldenusagi]

Lots of shows have a lengthy post-production period. I honestly can't imagine that shooting ten episodes a year and getting them on air is just, like, TOO MUCH. Especially since Doctor Who managed a season year basically every other year it has been on since 2005.

That said, I don't really care. I've watched every episode this season (except tonight's) and nothing has really grabbed me.

[frelling_tralk]

Maybe US television has spoiled me with how fast they seem to crank out episodes, but it does seem a bit odd that they can’t get ten episodes out by next autumn, especially when they were managing 13 a year at one point!

And yeah I’m the same sadly, it feels too much like a procedural to me these days almost, without any of the character development and relationships that I’m used to following. It seems like the only real nod to that has been Graham and Ryan’s relationship, but it’s getting to see the Doctor closely bonding with his (or her) companion that I care about, and there just hasn’t been nearly enough of that in the episodes I saw.