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Doctor Who To Be Axed, Again
twofish writes "According to UK tabloid The Sun, hit BBC sci-fi program Doctor Who will reportedly end next year after its fourth season. Producer Russell T. Davies has decided to bring the hit sci-fi show to a close — to 'go out at the top' — so he can concentrate on other projects, according to the article. Davies and other senior staff are feeling the strain of the heavy workload imposed by the show, nine months a year of 16-hour days, and plan to resign en-masse in 2008. Davies, a long-time fan of Doctor Who, relaunched the series in 2005, 16 years after the original series was axed." Update: 05/31 16:36 GMT by KD : Reader palewook points out that the UK Guardian sets this story straight: "But there isn't any way it would be axed even if [Davies] left. He loves the show and he does feel that maybe it would benefit from some new blood."
it doesn't sound like its poor support for the show, and from what I gather its quite popular there. It sounds more like the senior staff are just burnt out. I guess it would be up to the BBC and others involved in the show to decide if they want to try and go at it with different writers/producers/directors/etc. They've got lots of notice, so its not like they don't have time to mull over the options.
It is the Sun after all. But don't mind me, please resume panic.
I'd like to thank Russel a lot for his efforts: a lot of people like me was missing the Doctor.
But I'd also like to tell BBC that there could be other producers able to continue the job.
After all you can slash resources from some other (maybe more stupid) program.
In any case, may God save the Great Britain and the Little one.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
FYI, a LOT of British series do this sort of thing (limited runs, going out on top voluntarily). Same thing happened with The Office, Ab Fab, etc. We Americans could learn a lot from these Brits (Lost and Heroes writers, I'm looking in your direction).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Two things:
The Sun has zero credibility in the UK. The only thing it gets right is the publication date.
RTD doesn't own the right to the show, the BBC do. If he quits they can get someone else to make it.
The X-Files lasted 9 seasons/series of 20-30 episodes each. TNG, DS9 and Voyager lasted 7 years each with 20-30 episodes each. SG-1 lasted 10 seasons of 20-30 episodes as well.
Why in heavens name would they be burnt out with 3 seasons with only 13 episodes each? i'd understand your standard US TV show but a UK show that churns out that few episodes shouldnt be complaining.
I'm thinking the writers are just being honest that they cant write proper stories no more.
I'm not pleased, either. I can understand the reasoning - high workloads can lead to burnout - but I concur with other posters. Let someone else do it...Doctor Who stories tend to benefit from fresh ideas and it can reasonably go in nearly ANY direction.
The current version has even managed to do a decent re-vamping of Daleks and Cybermen (when most re-hashings of old ideas tend to get tired). There is PLENTY more to do with this show...heck, remember that not only are there more incarnations left, we also have however long the FIRST doctor was around before his debut as an old geezer in a junkyard.
It IS a good formula for generating interest - "leave 'em wanting more" rather than getting stale (which, by the way, it wasn't at the end of its first run - internal issues in the Beeb got it canceled, not poor ratings or lack of interest).
Hey, Beeb, there's a SciFi channel out there doing reruns...and there are plenty of shows that should have found a second/third life there (Firefly is a three-four season show on SciFi, easily...and it's one of the few places US audiences can watch any Doctor Who that isn't internet).
What, someone at the Sun? The newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch? The Rupert Murdoch that owns Sky TV? And would like the BBC's TV licence abolished? Surely not.
For me there was something missing in the Christopher Eccleston Doctor. He wasn't the irrepresible, undaunted Doctor of the old days. That, and all the random pop culture getting thrown around didn't help.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
The Sun is always wrong about Doctor Who. It has been printing one manifestly untrue story about the series every week for months. Just because you read in a tabloid that a Lancaster Bomber has been found on the Moon doesn't mean you automatically believe it (note to self: excellent plot for Doctor Who episode).
Personally I would be a lot more worried if the Sun reported that Doctor Who was definitely on for ten more seasons.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
The Sylar thing, that's the only thing that's really bugged me the entire time. It's like when Sylar is tied to the chair, don't bandy words with him, kill him immediately! And when he gets free of the chair and Peter comes in and saves you and Sylar gets knocked down, do something to cut his head off! Never assume the bad guy is dead until you have his head removed from his body, then burn it all just to be sure. I hate it when they have to resort to character mistakes to keep a baddie alive.
With regards to that manhole thing, Sylar could have done it himself or maybe something else came up and got him. Convention says he's still alive, though. (drat)
The best way I ever saw this handled was in the Buffy v. Dracula episode. She dusts him, everybody walks off, and then they do the typical "baddie comes back to life, muhahahah!" thing with him coalescing from the vapor. STAB! POOF! Buffy was watching. Then he does the vapor thing again. "I'm still here," she says. The vapor goes away. Class.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Davies, in many ways, reminds me of the guy brought in last season on ST:Enterprise, Manny Cato. A guy who's a fan of the original show and understands what other fans actually want, as opposed to someone who thinks of it as a 'property' and tries to monetize the hell out of it until it's canceled.
Not attempting to appeal to the 'mainstream' may make shows slightly less popular in the short run, but, in the long run, you can either add shows the rapid fanbase likes, which will reap millions in rewards later, or you can add shows they don't like, which can utterly screw things up, like, again, Enterprise did for the first three seasons, which not only won't help but can harm the original property.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Heroes suffers strongly from an inability to live up to its own hype. Forget the commercials and all the crap they pump into the show, just watch the story build up and then fall completely flat in an oh-so-anticlimactic fashion. It happens repeatedly through small plot bumps through the series and then rears its head in an ugly fashion with the season finale.
[spoilers ahead?]
And that wasn't even the smallest problem with the finale. The characters became completely disassociated with their build-up through earlier episodes. Sylar goes from being able to control 100 pieces of glass simultaneously, to not being able to withstand an attack from two different people. Peter can fly, but requires Nathan to carry him up and out of harm's way. Mohinder states in one episode that he's a geneticist, not a doctor, and then later acts as a paramedic for D.L. and others.
I still hold hope for the show. I hope that they can get their act together and do some decent writing. It was an enjoyable, albeit absolutely aggravating, show to watch. I'm willing to accept all of the fantastical parts of the show, but such disingenuous writing, changing characters to allow for some poorly-though-out plot line is completely bogus.