Don't a lot of the series tack the Christmas special as essentially episode 0 of the series following?
When it's not a regeneration special, yeah. Regenerations are a whole different ball game.
Don't a lot of the series tack the Christmas special as essentially episode 0 of the series following?
I was curious too, though now I realized I made a mistake: I forgot Doctor Falls was 60 minutes long...I guess that depends on how you consider the christmas specials.
Mysterio is being sold as part of series 10, so I guess Twice Upon a Time will get lumped in with series 11 and will be at least one hour. So excluding specials, that's 9hrs20min (s10) vs 10hrs (s11). Including them, that's 10hrs20min (s10) vs 11hrs (s11).
However it remains to be seen if the BBC will get greedy and decide to exclusively sell this year's christmas special standalone, despite the past few specials being also included in the series sets. They've been known to be sort of inconsistent with them in the past. Were that to happen, it would indeed be 10hrs20min (s10) vs 10hrs (s11).
I guess the conclusion I've come to is this: It doesn't actually matter and I was just making a joke, but I still got curious about the math so I did it.
50 minutes? Aren't s11 episodes full hour?I was curious too, though now I realized I made a mistake: I forgot Doctor Falls was 60 minutes long...
Only counting the 12 episodes of s10, it's about 560 minutes long. S11 with its 65 opener and 9 50 minute long episodes would end up being 515 minutes long. A full regular episode shorter (and two eps shorter than pre-Capaldi WHO :( )
Nah, it's 50 minutes. You can see runtime details and whos' producing and directing the first block in the reports Spectromixer posted (there aren't really any story spoilers if y'all are afraid of clicking)
Nah, it's 50 minutes. You can see runtime details and whos' producing and directing the first block in the reports Spectromixer posted (there aren't really any story spoilers if y'all are afraid of clicking)
Damn, all the news stories were going around singing the praises of full hour, which I was excited about. An extra five minutes per episode is nothing to write home about.Nah, it's 50 minutes. You can see runtime details and whos' producing and directing the first block in the reports Spectromixer posted (there aren't really any story spoilers if y'all are afraid of clicking)
Still, can't imagine BBCW is all that happy about it.50 minutes isn't bad. Means the episodes probably won't be cut down for ad space as much as they would have to be if they were a full 60 minutes every week.
Usually yes, but that's not a hard and fast rule. I believe all of the 2009 specials were considered part of Series 4, and the 50th anniversary specials part of series 7.Don't a lot of the series tack the Christmas special as essentially episode 0 of the series following?
I guess that depends on how you consider the christmas specials.
Mysterio is being sold as part of series 10, so I guess Twice Upon a Time will get lumped in with series 11 and will be at least one hour. So excluding specials, that's 9hrs20min (s10) vs 10hrs (s11). Including them, that's 10hrs20min (s10) vs 11hrs (s11).
However it remains to be seen if the BBC will get greedy and decide to exclusively sell this year's christmas special standalone, despite the past few specials being also included in the series sets. They've been known to be sort of inconsistent with them in the past. Were that to happen, it would indeed be 10hrs20min (s10) vs 10hrs (s11).
I guess the conclusion I've come to is this: It doesn't actually matter and I was just making a joke, but I still got curious about the math so I did it.
Edit: It's all WRONG. I've been informed that the reports of full hour episodes are LIES and that they are actually only 5 minutes longer at 50min. Sad trombone.
Usually yes, but that's not a hard and fast rule. I believe all of the 2009 specials were considered part of Series 4, and the 50th anniversary specials part of series 7.
I thought "The Hungry Earth" and "Cold Blood" were great episodes.
I don't know about everywhere, but shows like Game of Thrones are generally broadcast on paid tv services that don't air adverts when they broadcast those shows.Probably not, but 10 episodes closer to an hour rather than 42 minutes isn't an unusual format in a world where HBO and Netflix have quickly become the standard for Western TV. If international networks can find room for 10 Game of Thrones episodes ranging anything from 50 minutes to a little over an hour then they should be able to do the same for Doctor Who.
Glad to see people made the move. I was this close to checking GallifreyBase.
I mean, of course, everything other than 6th Doctor is trash and gets a 0. It's science.I only use GallifreyBase for spoilers now. The ratings threads are always full of people rating every single episode a 0/10 unchallenged.
lol. Can never understand why they keep watching. If I hated a season that much, you bet I'd stop watching the show for a while :/I only use GallifreyBase for spoilers now. The ratings threads are always full of people rating every single episode a 0/10 unchallenged.
Hate-watching something is far too easy. There's some measure of enjoyment to be had from watching something you know you won't enjoy, and then picking it apart afterwards. And if you get to be the dissenting voice among people who actually liked it? All the better.lol. Can never understand why they keep watching. If I hated a season that much, you bet I'd stop watching the show for a while :/
Hate-watching something is far too easy. There's some measure of enjoyment to be had from watching something you know you won't enjoy, and then picking it apart afterwards. And if you get to be the dissenting voice among people who actually liked it? All the better.
Apathy is the actual reason people stop watching shows. I fell off of GOT not because I particularly disliked it, but mainly because it was just boring me.
God, I can't. I might laugh a bit at the stupid stuff, but I'd eventually just get tiredHate-watching something is far too easy. There's some measure of enjoyment to be had from watching something you know you won't enjoy, and then picking it apart afterwards. And if you get to be the dissenting voice among people who actually liked it? All the better.
Apathy is the actual reason people stop watching shows. I fell off of GOT not because I particularly disliked it, but mainly because it was just boring me.
Don't think we know if Murray Gold is staying or leaving
The writer's room is something that's become accepted wisdom, but we still don't know whether it's actually happening or not.
You'll still get individually-written episodes, but with a lot more collaboration, I'd imagine.
I hate watched Gotham and the Walking Dead for a little while because I wanted to see how bad they got, but I gave up on Gotham after the end of last season and I think I gave up on the Walking Dead at the end of Season 5.
You hate overarching story arcs in general or do you simply not like how they are executed in Doctor Who?Here's hoping we don't lose out. All of my favourite episodes from NuWho have been single stand alones with no plot or thematic ties to the overall arc.
I hate arcs.
You hate overarching story arcs in general or do you simply not like how they are executed in Doctor Who?
I would love seeing something like they attempted in Season 8 with MissyMaster and her plan again but maybe not have the payoff and resolution in the same episode.
I love River Song's character but the story got very muddled over the time. Real shame. Season 10 didn't really have a full arc like that so I'm guessing that was more enjoyable?I think arcs have been done very badly by Doctor Who. I also really like the 'I'll just watch this episode' aspect without any annoying foreshadowing or contrived plot ties at the end. The absolute worst arc was the River Song arc. Really destroyed Season 33/Series 6 for me. Hated the 'Me' arc. Hated the 'Missy' arc.
I just want good sci-fi without all the self-referential nonsense we've got over the last few years.Keep some aspects of the melodrama, but keep it moving forward without too much looking back.
I love River Song's character but the story got very muddled over the time. Real shame. Season 10 didn't really have a full arc like that so I'm guessing that was more enjoyable?
If it's not an arc over the span of a season I would at least like some stories that span over two or three parts more often. Sometimes I feel like the writers rush the plot too much so that might help.
I sometimes forget how good RTD's era was at it's peak. Still wouldn't say it was better overall than the stories we get now are but not as bad as I often falsely remember it.I like two or three parters but again, I can only think of one I truly enjoyed and that was in Eccleston's series (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances). In general there is always one good one and one really naff one that loses the tone or the impetus of the other.
I thought series 10 was pretty average actually. Liked the lack of arc but I thought the episodes themselves were rather disappointing, barring a couple.*
*disappointing in terms of their potential, not bad episodes.
Did that for most seasons of NuWho. Loved being surprised as often as I was (Never saw that SimmMaster reveal or the OG Cybermen design coming!). I never watch any teasers or trailers about films and series I know I want to watch because nowadays they already put most of the jokes and reveals in the advertisment material.I'm very excited for the Christmas special and cautiously anticipating the next era.
S11 may be the first time I try to go on media blackout for Who. I've realised how much the artificial cycle of expectations that the show's promotion creates (the filming news, the trailers, the interviews about upcoming episodes, the summaries, the preview screenings, the next time trailers the spoiler-free reviews...) has actually damaged my experience of each new episode by taking away most of the element of discovery. I feel like Doctor Who must be so much better of a show when you come into each new episode clean, with no expectations, and get totally curveballed.
The Chibnall era will be the perfect time to put this to the test.
I sometimes forget how good RTD's era was at it's peak. Still wouldn't say it was better overall than the stories we get now are but not as bad as I often falsely remember it.
As I already said I'm in favour of having longer stories since I feel like that makes it all the sweeter once you have that payoff. And even if the finale sometimes fell flat or was just kind of boring the epsiodes leading up to them could be fantastic like Turn Left or Heaven Sent, making it still worthwhile to me.
You hate overarching story arcs in general or do you simply not like how they are executed in Doctor Who?
I would love seeing something like they attempted in Season 8 with MissyMaster and her plan again but maybe not have the payoff and resolution in the same episode.
But there's still merit in those episodes, even if the story following it is not as good. It doesn't undo how amazing (for example:)Turn Left was. And that episode was only made to lead up to the "meh" finale.I think the payoffs are actually the bit that turns me off most multi-part stories. They are often rushed or hand-wavey. Heaven Sent is one of the best episodes I've seen of anything but the two parter is massively crippled in my eyes by the follow up. Same with 'World Enough and Time'. Fantastic and what I want more of whereas The Doctor Falls was narrative guff and undid the bravest thing Moffat did during is tenure.
I have a massive love of multi-part stories (I'm a huge classic Who geek who is far too excited about the new Shada Blu-Ray!) but maybe I hold modern writers to too high of a standard or weight of expectation, given that some classic Who was awful.
Oh, didn't know we are getting less episodes per season now. Bummer. But it might mean the budget doesn't get stretched thin as much so that's an upside, right?I think I'm definitely in the overall "not really a fan of single arcs in Doctor Who" camp. I don't think it would help the show much, and with less episodes per season it basically means we'd be seeing a lot less new Doctor Who per year.
Doesn't help that I haven't found any of Chibnall's serialized storytelling particularly exciting in the past, so a total structural change for the show isn't hugely appealing.
Oh, didn't know we are getting less episodes per season now. Bummer. But it might mean the budget doesn't get stretched thin as much so that's an upside, right?
But there's still merit in those episodes, even if the story following it is not as good. It doesn't undo how amazing (for example:)Turn Left was. And that episode was only made to lead up to the "meh" finale.
Can't really talk too much about Classic Who since I haven't watched even half of all those series. Maybe one fourth of it. :p There's some exceptional series like the one in where the Second Doctor gets caught in some imagination of an evil genius but most of the time it's pretty standard sci-fi programme, not in a bad way of course. Some of the old series I watched were mostly bad because the pacing was horrible, or they made the protagonist too unlikeable or the companion (the young brunette girls the Doctor never ran out of) too ditzy and without agency.
And the fact they're redoing the TARDIS, sonic screwdriver, and god knows what else, they could only get so much cash under the guise of reinvigorating the brandUnfortunately, that's not how budgeting works. In an ideal world, yeah, you'd be right, but in reality the season is budgeted around the number of episodes they get, rather than the season getting a set budget and the production team having to figure out how to make it under those constraints.
And since the BBC isn't a for profit venture like, say, HBO, they aren't going to bump the funding up just because they're doing a few less episodes a year.
I wish it could happen, but honestly unless they had a huge jump in cash inflow we probably wouldn't get too much higher than SciFi Channel Original-level budgeting.
My first impression of the "10 episodes, but longer" format is that it sounds like a step back for me. Longer Who episodes generally seem too long to me, and even if the length is justified by better pacing or something, 10 eps instead of 12-13 still means we're getting 2-3 fewer new stories each again.
Then again, this will be a new show with a new showrunner and writing team behind the scenes, so drawing comparisons to overly long RTD or Moffat episodes is probably going to be off.
River and Tombo, you say? I'm game. Can't wait to hear the flirting.