Doctor Who '05 - perhaps October? (1 Viewer)

[MatthewLouwrens]

Actually, the Doctor Who Confidential documentary you refer to is really good, and well worth watching. It's a 13-part documentary exploring the history and the making of Who, and is available on the BBC website on streaming video - very handy for those of us outside the UK, even if we haven't seen the actual show yet.

Sadly, I understand the Confidential series is unlikely to be on the DVDs (just bringing this post back on topic).

 

[PhilipG]

Well, we're singing from the same hymn sheet there, my friend. But let's face it: Rose is still 100x better than the likes of Ace, Mel & Peri.

 

[Ric Easton]

Any chance of us seeing it on BBC America?

Ric

 

[andrew markworthy]

Amen to that.

 

[RickER]

Any chance of us seeing it PERIOD. Even if they try and sell it to PBS i dont hold much hope of Oklahoma's PBS station picking it up. We have not had any Dr. Who in Oklahoma for almost 20 years. I know it was popular here, but i think it got to expensive for our local station. BBC America is kinda lame. If it were to go to a cable channel id hope for one with more visibility, like A&E, Si FI, or TNT. PBS would be my first choice though, no commercials, and no stupid pop up ads every 5 minutes. I read that we wont see the DVDs in America until after it airs here. I am more than willing to cut to the chase and just buy it direct on DVD.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Oh, you just know they'd save new Doctor Who for pledge season. Twenty-five minutes, awkward freeze-frame, ten minutes of "if you pledge $120, you freeloading bastards, we'll send you a $15 book", twenty-five minutes, credits shrunk down to tiny because PBS stations freaking invented that, ten minutes of "come on, we know the Doctor Who fans can do better than the Susan Ormand fans", repeat.

in terms of who will air it, now that Sci-Fi has pased, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox were to give the BBC a call, with an eye to using the series as a placeholder for 24 during the fall.

 

[Ian Such]

Ah, a man after my own heart

Anyway, I agree that the first episode was very good, even allowing for the time taked to "set the scene". Special effects - OK not to movie standards, but far, far better than the cardboard sets and puffs of smoke from the old days And the sound was pretty good as well - don't know if it was originally a 5.1 soundtrack, but it did come across well in DTS Neo:6 on my processor.

 

[Tony J Case]

SO I found this over on IGN. Take it as you will, but it sounds like the show is not long off for us Yanks:


Either way - I'm still torn. Get the releases now, or wait and avoid the double dip. October is SO far away. . . . .

**EDIT**
Oh, BTW - the show pulled in 10.5 million viewers with a 43% share. The next closest was something like 7.3m viewers. Sounds like a winner to me.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I cant wait for this. I wish I had some "contacts," so I could see the show sooner.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Surely BBC America will pick this up?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

BBC America isn't actually run by the same people who run the British channels. For them to run Doctor Who, they'd have to bid on it, just like anyone else. My guess is that BBC Worldwide want more money for the show than BBC America can justify, as they're still pretty much a "fringe" channel (i.e. not mainstream like USA or TBS).

Worldwide (and their predecessor, Lionheart) made the mistake of overpricing Doctor Who back in the late '80s-early '90s, thinking they'd make bucketloads of cash, but instead causing the number of PBS stations which bought the show to take a sharp nosedive. Just before the recent PBS contracts were nullified, I think only five or six stations in the entire country still carried Doctor Who.

Perhaps the BBC are again overestimating the brand's "value" in American broadcasting. Not that there wouldn't be an audience for it, but that US broadcasters probably don't see it as worth the financial risk.

As for the suggestion that it could appear on Fox as a place holder for 24, please, no! If the show ever appears on Fox, it will either be cancelled in just 5-6 weeks, or bounced all around the schedule and then cancelled before all the episodes are shown. It's happened too many times in the past on this network. Fox is not a very good outlet for shows with a "cult" following, The X-Files excepted.

 

[Mark Lx]

To be honest, I don't know if it belongs on PBS. Will the average PBS viewer find it that different from mainstream American Sci-fi fare. Classic Doctor Who was noticably low budget and script driven, in other words, a healthy alternative to "normal" television.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

The WILL out of Champaign IL must have been one of them. I have been wondering why Dr Who suddenly stopped a few weeks ago.

 

[Tony J Case]

First, I thought that you might enjoy this bit of good news:


Then - official comfirmation of the two no-frills DVDs from the BBC Shop - due out May 16 and June 13, respectively.

Disc one
Disc two

The serial number for the first is BBCDVD1755 and the second, BBCDVD1756.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, it depends on the deal the BBC cuts wtih them. I imagine the Beeb could say "we're putting this out on DVD in March, so you can either run them or not, but understand that the value of your first-run episodes will plummet at that time, so better to run it sooner rather than later". Also, seeing that Fox wouldn't have to foot production costs like they do for other shows, there's a possibility that they could get it for relatively cheap - inexpensive enough to make it worthwhile even with low ratings.

And maybe Fox isn't the best outlet for niche shows (although it's not like there are many better ones), I can't think many other broadcast outlets would have much interest in a series where they're only getting 13 episodes, without a chance to order a back nine, until some unknown later date. They're also relatively unique in having that hole in their schedule for September-December before 24 returns.

 

[PhilipG]

Well, Eccleston has quit after one series. :frowning: (BBC News)

Depressing, but not unexpected in light of some of his recent comments. I just hope they find someone decent to replace him (ideally, Sean Pertwee) and not a wretched actor-comedian (like Alan Davies, Graham Norton or Bill Bailey).

 

[AndyMcKinney]

*Shudder* I can imagine with Norton's Doctor would do with that sonic screwdriver!

What a cruel April Fool's joke that would be if they announced something like this tomorrow!

 

[Rick P]

Actually they are looking hard at David Tennant (late of RTD's Casanova on BBC3), however if I had my druthers, they would snag Bill Nighy. I could handle Alan Davies (I did enjoy Johnthan Creek) if necessary.

 

[Mark Lx]

Eccleston's announcement was quite predictable. Why would anyone with a reasonably successful film career commit to television longterm. None of the former Doctors had that issue (except McGann but it didn't matter). Now people say get Nighy, get McGann, get R.E. Grant. They never learn. A competent, charismatic television actor is what you want.

 

[Mark Lx]

Anyways, I'd like to see Claws of Axos/Horror of Fang Rock as the next R1 (old series) releases after Leisure Hive/Ghostlight (two 80s releases at once is a bit much), followed by the Beginning Box set.