08 October 2011

The Future of Doctor Who

So, I was thinking about how Doctor Who ended last week. And I've pondered some of the comments on the web about it. Thus, I've come to the conclusion that show runner Steven Moffat has created what amounts to a loose trilogy of seasons on Who. Last season was about the newly regenerated Doctor, but there is an arc to the season, beyond Amy and River Song. The exploding TARDIS is central to last season arc and one that was left hanging; it was also not solved last season. Which means, that it will have to be central to next seasons arc, along with a whatever the Silence is -because the creatures are not the Silence, and remain un-named. And I seriously doubt we've seen the last of River Song as well (if only because she told Amy that she has images of the Doctor in all of his regenerations, which could mean his earlier ones or ones we the audience have yet to see. Decides on how you view that statement).

Now there is some speculation that season 7 will more episodic than the last two seasons. Which might happen due to two things: cut backs at the BBC and the fact the season will be split again, but this time between the fall of 2012 and the winter of 2013. On the speculation front, let us say that in the fall of next year, we see seven stories. All could, essentially, be stand-alone, cost saving stories (after all, the universe will consider the Doctor dead, which lends to a sort of reboot of the show, thus giving writers a fresh slate to work from), with the exception of last episode of the fall season, most likely a beginning of a two-part story (I mean, you do want the fans to come back after a 2 or 3 month break) and one that could lead into final part of Moffat's loose trilogy.

Of course there is problems with my assumption. With November of 2013 being the franchises 50th anniversary, I'm thinking Moffat won't tie up all the loose ends -even the ominous "fall of the Eleventh" that Dorium Maldovar mentions.  To me, while the second half of season seven airs in the beginning of 2013, the series true birthday is November 23. And its no doubt that the BBC and Steven Moffat are already planning something big for the shows 50th birthday, so I would hope that Matt Smith does not leave after his third season is over. If I  was Smith, I would stay at least through an eighth season that will make up the series fiftieth, which would be the fall of 2013 and the winter of 2014. And, by far, it could make him the longest actor to play the Doctor since the show was revived in 2005.

Which leads back to the possibility that the first half or the entire seventh of Doctor Who might be more episodic than arc based of the last two seasons, and where my loose trilogy sort of falls apart. 
But we have a long time to speculate. With the change in air dates, production on season seven won't start until spring of 2012, with the first batch of episodes starting (most likely) around September/October of that year (which, ironically, will return the series back to schedule TOS had during its heyday)

2 comments:

Dale Who. said...

There's going to be a FULL season next year. The only difference is the starting date.

Anonymous said...

I'm not convinced about there being a full season next year, unless Dale W has other knowledge.

Though I'm dreading it already, 50 years is likely to be some sort of classic series crossover special.

(Actually that's probably a bit unfair, because so far all the new-series specials have been by RTD and have been awful, except for Moffat's one, which was absolutely wonderful.