Doctor Who Series 13 continued: RTD2, Chib nil

[Replies From View]

Does anyone else feel like Chibnall is more awol than usual at the moment?  I feel like he has actively stepped down as showrunner even though it's still his job.

Maybe he knows that RTD is about to undo his life's work and he's bitter about it.  🤞

[olliebean]

Does anyone else feel like Chibnall is more awol than usual at the moment?  I feel like he has actively stepped down as showrunner even though it's still his job.

Are you saying he's the Boris Johnson of Doctor Who?

[Alberon]

Presumably his last episode is done by now. He's probably long out the door looking for his next project to stink up.

[Mister Six]

Yeah, what does he need to do now? Bit of contractual press when the episode is out and that's it.

Of course, RTD and Moffat kept the fanfare up right until (and beyond) the airing of their final episodes, but they came across as fans who were delighted to have been gifted with the job of a lifetime rather than an embarrassed dad left manning the Girl Scout cookie stall while his daughter runs off to play on the slide.

[Replies From View]

Yeah, what does he need to do now? Bit of contractual press when the episode is out and that's it.

Of course, RTD and Moffat kept the fanfare up right until (and beyond) the airing of their final episodes, but they came across as fans who were delighted to have been gifted with the job of a lifetime rather than an embarrassed dad left manning the Girl Scout cookie stall while his daughter runs off to play on the slide.

Good analogy.  But yes does Chibnall have a role now?  Is RTD officially the showrunner and Chibnall out of a job?  Or are two showrunners currently on the payroll?

Thing is, RTD has said "anyway it's not my turn yet, Chibnall still has an episode left and I mustn't overshadow him" in a manner that suggests Chibnall is still required to promote his own projects.

The SFX thing suggests there are duties not being fulfilled, in my view.  To my mind there are nonspecific things he should still be doing but he isn't - either he's not under contract anymore or he is but he's unenthusiastic or actively pissed off or something.

I can't believe that throughout 2009, when Moffat was working on series 5, all the work RTD and Tennant were doing to promote the specials was all voluntary and fan-based.  It's not tenable for the BBC to expect that, for one thing.

[Kelvin]

I'd say they'd be great at marketing if Chibnall's episodes were any good. If the mystery inevitably led to a thrilling adventure.

I think this is an odd definition of 'great' marketing. Yes, from the fan POV it may be better to know very little going in, but when you consider what marketing is meant to actually do - get the show under everyone's nose, generate excitement and, ultimately, get the maximum number of people watching it - the lack of hype, trailers, interviews, info, etc is a total failure. Even if the episodes had all been great, they still would have done a terrible job getting people excited about them or keeping it in the public consciousness.

[Mister Six]

I think this is an odd definition of 'great' marketing. Yes, from the fan POV it may be better to know very little going in, but when you consider what marketing is meant to actually do - get the show under everyone's nose, generate excitement and, ultimately, get the maximum number of people watching it - the lack of hype, trailers, interviews, info, etc is a total failure. Even if the episodes had all been great, they still would have done a terrible job getting people excited about them or keeping it in the public consciousness.

I'm also presupposing that the show still has the audience and adoration it had at its height, as well as the quality.

Although I reckon the SFX cover should have been done either way.

[Malcy]

Maybe he knows it's shite and he's embarrassed by it.

And Chibnall either agrees or it's out of his hands.

Star Trek has been fucking appalling for the most part but it's still promoted heavily. I believe a couple of things.

1. Chibnall doesn't have a lot of input with the promotions department.

And 2. Based on the Centenary special.

Spoiler alert

With rumours of several classic doctors and companions being involved he just doesn't want it spoiled which is fair enough.

[close]

Like mentioned upthread al lot of RTD/Moffat era was far too heavily known in advance. Or was available easily to know.

And that spiked info was readily available before RTD said there was "so many surprises left" or whatever.

[Replies From View]

Again though, it's not necessary to include spoilers in your promotional stuff.  If he had any skill, he'd be able to simply do the job without spitting in the faces of SFX.

[Alberon]

Then again the SFX audience is going to watch it whatever promotional material is produced*.It's not great to fuck them off though. It's the Radio Times audience and the like he should be chasing.

*I mean, nearly all of us have watched Time and the Rani at least three times.

[Malcy]

Again though, it's not necessary to include spoilers in your promotional stuff.  If he had any skill, he'd be able to simply do the job without spitting in the faces of SFX.

I was thinking more that he doesn't want ANYONE to see it in case of spoilers.

I think its happened before.

[Replies From View]

I was thinking more that he doesn't want ANYONE to see it in case of spoilers.

I think its happened before.

Like a media embargo thing because everyone involved has realised that the film or episode is too embarrassingly bad and nobody must know in advance?

Yes, I am vaguely aware of such things.

[Alberon]

I keep hoping RTD has been given a chance to recut it and maybe refilm a few scenes.

No chance of it, but I can dream.

[McDead]

I don't think this episode exists. Feels like vaporware

[canted_angle_again]

Does anyone else feel like Chibnall is more awol than usual at the moment?  I feel like he has actively stepped down as showrunner even though it's still his job.

Maybe he knows that RTD is about to undo his life's work and he's bitter about it.  🤞

I can think of a blond haired baboon in No.10 who is doing exactly the same thing. Damn, that jokes already been made.

[Mister Six]

Then again the SFX audience is going to watch it whatever promotional material is produced*.It's not great to fuck them off though. It's the Radio Times audience and the like he should be chasing.

*I mean, nearly all of us have watched Time and the Rani at least three times.

Doesn't hurt to have Doctor Who visible on the train station magazine racks for a whole month, even if most people aren't necessarily going to read that issue.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I suspect he's just done with it. It's pretty easy to read between the lines of his "stepping down" that it wasn't exactly his decision.

So with that in mind, I probably wouldn't be that excited to go on a press junket if I were working the redundancy from my dream job either.

[Replies From View]

Essentially the Colin Baker of showrunners.

[McDead]

Essentially the Colin Baker of showrunners.

At last! The catharsis of spurious morality!

Sent via Tapatalk from my megabyte modem

[Mister Six]

Very good.

[A Hat Like That]

So, what's your favourite bit of head canon?

The first two Doctors were colour blind.

[Norton Canes]

The Magma Beast in Caves of Androzani is in fact another android created by Sharaz Jek to guard his Spectrox - which is why it's so mechanical and clumsy

[McDead]

Very good.

Thank you

[Mr Vegetables]

"We're celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the BBC by bringing back loads of Doctor Who stuff, before we have a completely different, more hotly-anticipated Anniversary next episode" is a bit weird to me generally. It sounds quite hard to market even if you really wanted to, and I get the impression that the BBC don't.

[JamesTC]

It is the final episode for a Doctor. This should be a mammoth event. The marketing for Doctor Who has been poor for many years. Whether it is down to Chibnall or not, I don't know. The show being shite doesn't help, but I'm not sure if a showrunner should be relied upon to market the show in the way that RTD and Moffat did.

[Replies From View]

It is the final episode for a Doctor. This should be a mammoth event. The marketing for Doctor Who has been poor for many years. Whether it is down to Chibnall or not, I don't know. The show being shite doesn't help, but I'm not sure if a showrunner should be relied upon to market the show in the way that RTD and Moffat did.

I suppose we don't know whether the showrunner role has changed and it's no longer their job to do these things, but then obviously nobody else is doing it either.  He didn't bother to share anything with DWM even when there weren't huge spoilers to keep secret, just to communicate enthusiasm and excitement, so it seems to be he's looked hard at his contract and worked out the bare minimum he can get away with being arsed with.

While I agree that it's not ideal for one person to have the role RTD set as standard, it's also the showrunner who has the best idea of what's going on with any given series or story, and what can safely be shared in the media without spoiling anything.  And if you care about what you've made and you want people to see it, then you think you'd have a desire to promote it even if it's a bit more work on the side to do so.

The impression you get with Chibnall at all times is he never gave a shit.  In every interview it's seemed like he's been trapped in a deeply unsatisfying world of chore after chore, where both RTD and Moffat gave you confidence that they were doing a job they were thrilled by, and for that reason you could trust their passion was in whatever they were putting out even if you wouldn't personally love it yourself.

With Chibnall I always thought well if you're plainly unexcited by what your team are creating then why should anyone else be.  He's been like Eric Saward moaning right at the end of his time with JNT, except right from the first moment of taking on the job.

[Alberon]

Chibnall said this when Legend of the Sea Devils dribbled out.

"Everything on Doctor Who is exciting!" he says. "You have to live in the moment and enjoy it, because you know you're never going to do anything like it ever again, whatever you do."

So this is Chibnall having a blast.

[mjwilson]

I suppose we don't know whether the showrunner role has changed and it's no longer their job to do these things, but then obviously nobody else is doing it either.  He didn't bother to share anything with DWM even when there weren't huge spoilers to keep secret, just to communicate enthusiasm and excitement, so it seems to be he's looked hard at his contract and worked out the bare minimum he can get away with being arsed with.

I don't want to do an armchair diagnosis kind of thing but I wonder if he is just less outgoing than Rusty or Moffat, hates doing promotional stuff and as a consequence avoids it as much as possible.

[Replies From View]

"Shit" is the word you're fishing for.

[daf]

The impression you get with Chibnall at all times is he never gave a shit.  In every interview it's seemed like he's been trapped in a deeply unsatisfying world of chore after chore, where both RTD and Moffat gave you confidence that they were doing a job they were thrilled by, and for that reason you could trust their passion was in whatever they were putting out even if you wouldn't personally love it yourself.

I strongly suspect he massively gives a shit - but is like one of those actors who refuse to read any reviews - good or bad - in order to avoid the agony of having his soul crushed into a billion tiny pieces!

He might vaguely hear that some people don't like his era, but can just hand-wave it away as right wing blowhards having a beef about there being a female doctor, or the show's gone too PC or whatever - when neither of those things have been a problem!