New Dr. Who Episode Leaked

Cougem writes "BBC News is reporting on how an episode from the brand new series of the old science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, has been leaked onto the Internet. 'A 45-minute episode, called Rose, has appeared three weeks before the series is expected to begin on BBC One. Rose is the name of the character played by pop singer Billie Piper, who will be the assistant to the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston.' With people saying sci-fi appeals more to the technical minded viewer, will this TV show's release onto the Internet damage the ratings considerably for the BBC? Or is it a minor problem for a corporation whose role is just to provide the public with entertainment?" Maybe it will boost ratings, instead; the public buzz about "leaks" is still far ahead of the average viewer's ability to actually find and download.

Comments

Saw it over on demonoid yesterday

[dJCL]

There was a reasonably large argument over there about actually distributing it, but in the end a full seed was completed.

And no I have not watched it, yet.

The argument really did center around - would geeks watch it - or just download it and not support it. If there is no support for the series, then it will not continue being produced.

Counter arguments included: I will watch and pay for it anyway, I'm such a big fan - almost my opinion.

and

It's not scheduled here - I need my fix - usually americans...

Anyway, I think I will like it, and if I can catch it on TV, at a reasonable time - I will watch it.

For now - I have my fix if I need it.

JC

Dr. Who Cleans My Bathroom

[King Fuckstain]

Are you claiming that Sci Fi fans make repeat viewings of shows at a higher than than non-Sci Fi fans? And, if so, how do you know this? Certainly there have been DVD releases of Sci Fi television shows that have sold well but, from my glances at the DVD sections at various outlets, other shows sell just as well on DVD. With all that being said - and let's assume Sci Fi fans do make repeat viewing a habit - why would the broadcast on television be of better quality than the Internet download? Is this going to be broadcast in high def? And, again assuming you are correct and the television broadcast is a better quality broadcast, the resolution of the majority of televisions in homes today offsets any increased resolution.

Thank you and have a nice day.

People who liked it didn't just watch once anyway

[ianscot]

What did they lose, the ad revenue from one airing? In exchange for a big "tease" to whet the appetites of the fanatics?

People who loved this series were religious, they'd watch the thing over and over anyway. It's not quite on the level of The Simpsons, but expose any given fan to any three minutes of any episode, and it was "Hey, this is the one where... Oh, yeah, SHE was the Doctor's assistant then..."

Ellis review

[ajs]

Warren Ellis reviewed just this (I'm not going to link to his site, it's already slow), and said that Americans would almost certainly not enjoy it. It's (as far as he's concerned) a return to many things that're right and wrong with Brittish television, but far too Brittish for most of the rest of the world to enjoy, especially us Yanks.

"Word is that Sci-Fi Channel declined to acquire this new DOCTOR WHO series. And I can see why. It's too damned English." -Ellis

Re:Oh come on!

[servognome]

Who believes these 'leaks' anymore?
"Leaking" a program is not good advertising, good advertising is hyping something up and not letting anybody peek behind the curtain. For your premiere episode you want to keep people curious.
The XFL (An American Football League created by a Pro-Wrestling executive) was an example of excellent advertising. The premiere had amazing ratings just because nobody knew what to expect, then the league folded because it sucked.
A certain % of the interested audience will not like the show, whether it is good or bad (look at the people who hated Battlestar Galactica). But if nobody knows what to expect everybody from the interested audience will tune in.

Re:Just a FYI

[mbourgon]

so its quite a bit rough with the cgi, credits and theme not even being done.

Dunno about that... they've already said they're keeping the "classic" theme music, the end credits looked just fine, the CGI is classic "bad-as-in-BBC" bad. And it tells a complete story - it's not like it cuts off at 45 minutes. (Maybe there's extra scenes, after dealing with the conspiracy nut?)

Overall, A-. The comic bits are a bit too frequent, but it felt like The Doctor.

what about us bloody yanks?

[Yonder Way]

We don't get BBC over here and PBS hasn't had favorable deals to air Doctor Who in many years in my market, so there is almost no Doctor Who fix for me. It seems like when MythTV does catch it for me, it's an old William Hartnell episode. Bah.

Will the Beeb export this...

[DLWormwood]

...so that PBS stations here in the States will play? No, that's not a snide joke. I have fond memories of watching Dr. Who while I was in high school on WBGU out of Bowling Green, Ohio. (It came on after Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser.)

Also, is this series in continuity with the previous series? Or are they going for a tabula rosa to avoid the kinds of problems that plague series like Star Trek? (For example, Enterprise.) I'd hate to see the new series go in a weird direction in 12 years or so when the Doctor regenerates into the Valeyard.

Re:Ratings?

[91degrees]

The BBC needs to justify its existence to the general public, and the amount they spend on a series to the governers. Ratings do come into this a bit. Even though the BBC is regularly told it shouldn't be chasing ratings, it is a convenient easily measurable figure for the success of a series.

It is important that it entertains a lot of people. Ideally it should be watched by demographics that are less interested in other shows. The BBC has a responsibility to provide somethign for everyone.

well lets see:

[Nik Picker]

im a tax payer ( well i pay the license fee for BBC TV ) so technically ive already paid for the Beeb to produce this. I wonder how it can be convulted to prove that if I download it then im not infringing copywrite !

Re:Wider audience?

[abb3w]

Public TV has been the only place besides Sci-fi channel to air the show.

...for decades. I do recall it on the 5AM slot on the local CBS affiliate back when I was watching Saturday morning cartoons. After seeing "The Horns of the Nimon" (this would have been about the mid-70's or so, putting me about age six), I decided I'd be happier watching the "Mission: Magic" reruns that the local ABC station was still running, followed by the reruns of "Around the World in 80 Days" on NBC. Fresher fare started showing up around 7:30 AM, but the best stuff was on earliest-- cancelled good stuff got rerun by the locals for a few years, and it was new to me.

The local CBS gave up on it too in favor of reruns about when the local PBS affiliate discovered that Dr. Who fans made enthusiastic (if daftly dressed) volunteers and generous donors to educational television, and joined the bandwagon of PBS stations showing it.