Doctor Who (7 Viewers)

[Adam Lenhardt]

While the live viewing numbers for the show have undeniably plummeted in recent years, that's also true of live viewing across the board. In the UK, iPlayer has changed viewing habits and made "appointment viewing" much less of a thing than it once was. And that's more the case since the Disney+ deal, since new episodes are available on iPlayer at 8:00 AM, well before the broadcast on BBC One.

In the US, it's even harder to make an apples-to-apples comparison since it went from a linear cable channel (BBC America) to a streaming service.

So I don't have a good handle on what metrics that BBC and/or Disney are shooting for. I do think, even in the worst case scenario, the franchise is too big to go away forever. I could see it being like Star Trek after "Enterprise", however, where it rests for a decade or two before it's brought back to life with a new creative team.

 

[darkrock17]

While the live viewing numbers for the show have undeniably plummeted in recent years, that's also true of live viewing across the board. In the UK, iPlayer has changed viewing habits and made "appointment viewing" much less of a thing than it once was. And that's more the case since the Disney+ deal, since new episodes are available on iPlayer at 8:00 AM, well before the broadcast on BBC One.

In the US, it's even harder to make an apples-to-apples comparison since it went from a linear cable channel (BBC America) to a streaming service.

So I don't have a good handle on what metrics that BBC and/or Disney are shooting for. I do think, even in the worst case scenario, the franchise is too big to go away forever. I could see it being like Star Trek after "Enterprise", however, where it rests for a decade or two before it's brought back to life with a new creative team.

Disney's contract was 26 episodes, I don't know if specials are counted as episodes in the contract or not, if they are then after this coming Saturday's season finale, 21 episodes well have aired and only 5 episodes remain of the 26 ordered.

After the series was cancelled in 1989, it was 16 years; minus one as there was a TV movie in 1996 before coming back as a regular series since 2005. If the show were to get cancelled again, I would hope it wouldn't be that long again as almost 20 years is quite the wait.

The Doctor might not age much in that amount of time, but the actors who've played them unfortunately will and might not be around anymore when it were to return.

 

[NeilO]

Disney's contract was 26 episodes, I don't know if specials are counted as episodes in the contract or not, if they are then after this coming Saturday's season finale, 21 episodes well have aired and only 5 episodes remain of the 26 ordered.

The War Between the Land and the Sea may count as the remaining episodes in the contract.

The season finale seems to have a lot of hefty lifting due in the episode. There are a few loose ends which may or may not be wrapped up.

1. Mrs. Flood talking to the camera - will there be an in story explanation for that?
2. Will mavity be changed back to gravity?
3. How did the robots or the civilization get the star name certificate in "The Robot Revolution" ? Did Mrs. Flood have something to do with that?
4. Why was The Doctor looking for Belinda in "The Robot Revolution" ?
5. Poppy is seen in "The Story & the Engine". How did she get there? Was it a precursor to "Wish World"?
6. Everything that was set up in "Wish World"
7. Is there more to the cameos in "The Interstellar Song Contest" and "Wish World"?
8. By the end of the episode will we be done with the gods storyline and "magic"?

Any others that I didn't think of at the moment?

 

[darkrock17]

The War Between the Land and the Sea may count as the remaining episodes in the contract.

The season finale seems to have a lot of hefty lifting due in the episode. There are a few loose ends which may or may not be wrapped up.

1. Mrs. Flood talking to the camera - will there be an in story explanation for that?
2. Will mavity be changed back to gravity?
3. How did the robots or the civilization get the star name certificate in "The Robot Revolution" ? Did Mrs. Flood have something to do with that?
4. Why was The Doctor looking for Belinda in "The Robot Revolution" ?
5. Poppy is seen in "The Story & the Engine". How did she get there? Was it a precursor to "Wish World"?
6. Everything that was set up in "Wish World"
7. Is there more to the cameos in "The Interstellar Song Contest" and "Wish World"?
8. By the end of the episode will we be done with the gods storyline and "magic"?

Any other that I didn't think of at the moment?

2023 60th Anniversary specials - 3

Christmas special 2023

2024 series 1 - 8

Christmas special 2024

2025 series 2 - 8

All of that adds up to 21


As for all of your questions, who knows; Doctor Who doesn't always wrap everything up at the end of a season, it usually raises more questions than answers.

 

[NeilO]

Watching right now. Had to laugh at "It's a goodnight from me."

Edit: finished it. Maybe when I think of it more I'll think differently, but at the moment I think he stuck the landing.

 

[NeilO]

Regarding the loose ends I posted earlier.

Spoiler: Loose Ends

1. Mrs. Flood talking to the camera - will there be an in story explanation for that?
We got something of that
2. Will mavity be changed back to gravity?
Not yet it seems unless the 1 deg change fixed that as well.
3. How did the robots or the civilization get the star name certificate in "The Robot Revolution" ? Did Mrs. Flood have something to do with that?
We got the explanation of how they got the star name certificate and Mrs. Flood had nothing to do with that.
4. Why was The Doctor looking for Belinda in "The Robot Revolution" ?
Not quite sure I followed that, but I think we got the explanation of him following him through her timeline.
5. Poppy is seen in "The Story & the Engine". How did she get there? Was it a precursor to "Wish World"?
I don't think there was any explanation for this.
6. Everything that was set up in "Wish World"
Most of it appeared to be resolved.
7. Is there more to the cameos in "The Interstellar Song Contest" and "Wish World"?
And no. We didn't see Susan again or Rogue (except in another flashback of sorts).
8. By the end of the episode will we be done with the gods storyline and "magic"?
Maybe? Or does it have something to do with The Boss of the Time Hotel?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Well, I feel old:

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Wow - a lot of times they cast child actors to look like the adult actor, and it works perfectly in that moment in time, but when the child actor grows up, they don't actually look like the adult they were playing the younger version of. But she still looks like she could be Karen Gillan.

 

[David Weicker]

Wow - a lot of times they cast child actors to look like the adult actor, and it works perfectly in that moment in time, but when the child actor grows up, they don't actually look like the adult they were playing the younger version of. But she still looks like she could be Karen Gillan.

The fact that they are cousins could be part of that.

 

[darkrock17]

The fact that they are cousins could be part of that.

Not all cousins look a like though, they all aren't like Bewitched and Patty Duke.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The fact that they are cousins could be part of that.

Never realized that!