Doctor Who Theory: Different formats season eleven could have
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JULY 25 (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images): Doctor Who’s new Doctor
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked a lot about season eleven and possible new ways the seasons could be aired. We talked about the idea of an Easter/Spring special or keeping it with a regular Christmas Special. Of course, there’s one scenario that hasn’t been thought about yet.
What about a split season? In case you don’t remember, this is something that Moffat did in season seven. The first half of the episode was the last part of the Ponds, and the second half debuted Clara. The two parts debuted at different times of the year, giving us a bit more Doctor Who year round.
So, which one is the best for Doctor Who?
Currently, there are three options that could give us Doctor Who. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each format of a season of Doctor Who.
Option 1: 10 episodes, with a Christmas special (October airing)
This is what many people are expecting when they say a “season” of Doctor Who. Ten weeks of Doctor Who leading either directly up to or with a few week breaks. We haven’t heard if there would be an eleventh episode with the Christmas episode or if it would be one of the ten. However, this is what it looks like is the most “normal” option right now.
The October airing comes from a variety of different articles where Chibnall talks about the show not coming back to BBC One until late 2018. Some are saying October, some are saying November. If it started early enough in October, we would have a perfect 10 weeks, leading right up to Christmas with no awkward breaks.
Pros:
- It’s always been done like that. A season, a Christmas special. Should things really be shaken up that much?
- If the Christmas Special was no longer going to be a one off, just an episode to expect, then it would be better not to have a break between episodes.
Cons:
- The wait! Think of how mad we’d all go, waiting from December to October! I think we might go crazy trying to wait that long!
- But seriously, the waiting could really hinder the show. Some shows, like Game of Thrones, can take the long wait, because they haven’t had one before. But Doctor Who fans just went through a year of nothing in 2016, and they’re most likely not keen on waiting again.
Second Option: Easter Special + October airing
This was purely a fan theory I heard a lot of chatter about on various websites and on Twitter, so I decided to write a “what if” piece! Well, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think the Cons outweigh any pro you might get from this happening.
For instance: Pro! We have a spring special! Con: Does that mean we don’t get a Christmas special? Does the Easter Special AND Christmas Special come out of our 10 episode a season budget? If so, that doesn’t leave a whole lot for October.
And even though it would give us something to look forward to and possibly a way to see Jodie’s Doctor in action before the actual season starts, it could actually feel incredibly disjointed. Too much time in between episodes leaves a certain problem as well.
Oh well, it was a fun theory to think about. Let’s not count it out, but there would be issues, in my opinion, should they go down this path.
Third Option: A Split Season. 5 episodes in April, 5 in August, a Christmas Special
Even though I wasn’t a fan of the split season, perhaps it was because it was too confusing. To give the Ponds half a season and then a new companion half a season seemed weird. To me, I felt that the Ponds deserved a longer goodbye episode, and Clara deserved longer time with Eleven, considering they had built up a weird connection between Oswin and Christmas Clara.
But if the split season was done right, with five episodes in spring to not have us wait too long, leaving us with a major cliffhanger, and then five in either August or October with a gift episode in December…doesn’t that seem like the best idea?
It gives us year-round Who! It’s more like the American style episodes with a spring and fall season, and that can garner more popularity during those 3-5 months of waiting during the cliffhanger!
Pros:
- Year-Round Who
- Cliffhanger can give us more things to talk about for a less amount of time
Cons:
- It’s less Who at one time
- Cliffhangers are annoying!
The constant talk about what it could be, rather than making up farfetched fan theories about nothing to mask the waiting could be a great way to spread the word about the show. That gives it more popularity, and hopefully garner more fans!