Doctor Who News: Series Seven Date Announced!
It was made official this week: I was right! What do I mean? At the end of last month, I posted an article about the death of Romana actress Mary Tamm, and made some comments about the upcoming series. Remember? If not, here’s that article. Anyway, in that article I said the following:
Does this mean the new series will start the following week (September 1st)? That might be implied, but nothing has been explicitly stated. I would say it’s possible, especially given that US TV schedules appear to be less flexible than BBC schedules. Announcements for when shows will run are given months in advance here in the US, whereas in the UK, the BBC may not announce a date and time until two weeks before! So, while there’s a good chance the new series will start in September, I wouldn’t mark the calendar until an official announcement has been made.
Well, mark your calendars Who fans, and everyone else because you all really ought to be Who fans. Next Saturday, September 1st, marks the beginning of series seven–the series that will take us into Doctor Who’s fiftieth year. Here’s the BBC America trailer:
The episodes that will run this side of Christmas are:
- Asylum of the Daleks by Steven Moffat
- Dinosaurs on a Spaceship by Chris Chibnall
- A Town Called Mercy by Toby Whithouse
- The Power of Three by Chris Chibnall
- The Angels Take Manhattan by Steven Moffat
It promises to be an interesting, and exciting ride (as usual). So, if you need to catch up on Doctor Who, this is the week to do it! And if you are new to the show… umm… you’d better get started, and don’t plan on getting much sleep. You’ve got six series of the re-vamp to get through!
Gah! Too many seasons to start watching and get caught up on. O_o Question for you: Are the Who seasons shorter than most standard TV show seasons? Because that could really help with the catching up thing. In other news, I saw a couple little sneak peeks for Series 3 of Downton Abbey the other day! Can’t wait for that one to roll around again. 😀
The new Doctor Who (i.e., since 2005–let’s call it “New Who”) has 13 episodes per series/season. Each New Who episode is about 45 mins long, give-or-take. In addition to the 13 regular episodes, there is a regular Christmas special, which is usually about an hour long. There have been some special episodes that are an hour or even slightly longer, but there aren’t many of these. So, theoretically, you could probably get through an entire season in about 12 hours, watching each episode back-to-back.
I should add that you could probably jump into New Who next Saturday and still enjoy the show. However, the series do build on one another, so watching previous stories will help you understand the backstory and better appreciate what’s going on.
Ooo! I don’t need to ask if the DA sneak peek looked good… of course it did! 😀
Aaaaah, I’m so excited! And so nervous–Amy and Rory have become my absolute favorite characters, even over the Ten/Rose season, I think (although Ten is still, narrowly, my favorite doctor.) I don’t know if I can take whatever this season will throw at them. I’m not good at goodbyes.
And Jaime–you could probably start at the beginning of the Matt Smith seasons, if you wanted to catch up on the most relevant bits. That’s only like two seasons! You can do it! (Or you could do nothing else for a week but watch old episodes. That’d be good too.)
I’m not a huge fan of Amy, but it’ll be sad to see Rory go. They’ve certainly got some interesting ideas lined up for this season by the look of it. And I’m excited to see how they’ll celebrate the fiftieth anniversary next year! 🙂
I’m so excited! And really sad to see Rory and Amy leave (Rory’s been my fave companion so far) but I can’t wait to see how Jenna-Louise Coleman will do in the new role. I always love change in the show whether it’s a new companion or Doctor because everyone always works so hard in the roles and brings their own uniqueness to it.
And now that I know Rory’s and Amy’s last episode is with the Weeping Angels I have my theories about their exit.
Yeah, Rory’s departure will be sad. I’m not shedding too many tears over Amy, though, I’m afraid. Change is a good thing, and it’s what’s kept Doctor Who going for fifty years. The fact that you can go anywhere in space and time, so you have a new environment with different people every story, and the companions–and even the lead actor–can change, means that new life is breathed into the show constantly.
“Change, my dear… and it seems not a moment too soon!” (The Sixth Doctor in “The Caves of Androzani”)
Haha — you can tell it’s in American trailer because of the dramatic, staccato, smokers-voice narrator growling over everything. 😛
Like you, I won’t be sad to see Amy go, but I’ll miss Rory a lot.
I hoped my British friends would get a kick out of the American trailer. 🙂 I must say, it is a little strange hearing promos for Doctor Who over here, where it’s treated like a “major motion picture event” with all the accompanying hype and hyperbole. Not that it doesn’t deserve it… 🙂
I’m a little nervous about Jenna. So far, the new series female companions have been a bit hit-and-miss. Donna has been the best so far, IMO, so I’m curious to see what direction they go with Jenna-Louise Coleman’s character. I guess we’ll find out at Christmas… 🙂
I’m so excited for and a little terrified of the new series! I live in the U.S. and have been lucky enough to find a few fellow Whovians (and convert some more) to watch the premiere with me. I like Amy and adore Rory so I’m scared of what their exit is going to be like. Especially because I was thinking…Moffat has never written a companion’s exit so I’m not sure what to expect (besides tears).
I’m also a little nervous of Jenna Louise-Coleman’s character. I didn’t start watching the show until series five so I’ve never had the worry of whether or not I’m going to like the next companion or not.
How cool for you, Rachael! I’ve been watching Who for as long as I can remember, all the way back to when I was a child in the UK during the 1970s. Changes of companions and Doctors have become par for the course for me, and while there’s always a sense of trepidation, it’s not the same for me as it is for you. That “new fan” excitement/worry is something you never re-capture, so thanks for reminding me what it’s like. 😀