THE END IS NIGH! Time to get ready for season end. What to expect, and what we will do about it…
Hello all.
THIS IS AN UPDATE FOR THE #NotMyDoctorWho CAMPAIGN: SIGN N SHARE HERE:
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-director-general-bbc-fix-doctor-who-now-either-change-it-or-end-it-but-this-cant-go-on-add
We are now a couple of days away from episode 9 “Ascension of the Cybermen” and nine days away from series end “The Timeless Children”
Shortly after that, any interest still remaining amongst the general public for Doctor Who will collapse into negligence and effectively the fanbase will settle into an 18 month sleep before the currently planned series 13.
As we have maintained throughout our campaign, one of the primary targets of the agenda behind the show is the dismantling of Canon, especially unseating William Hartnell as the ORIGINAL Doctor, to “strike a blow against/remove institutional patriarchy”, as the Doctor Who Feminist Front would put it.
Series 12 has NOT done well. The ratings have taken an undeniable horrendous blow, and any hope the BBC might have had that the collapse in the week by week, not average, rating of series 11 was a blip that people would have got over by now have been dashed as the show has lost over a million more viewers on overnights since New Years Day. Online catch up ratings have collapsed twice as fast as ratings for the live broadcast, which has also demolished any claim bad overnight figures are just because “people watch TV differently these days”. When it comes to Doctor Who, the change is MILLIONS just not watching it at all.
The BBC is worried. VERY worried!
While for a number of reasons our petition has only gained signatures at a much much lower rate than people reading our content, our example and determination to keep making sure our voice is heard in the debate throughout series 12 has had a powerful cumulative effect: certainly earned me the personal ire of many of the most devoted supporters for having the temerity to write the petition text and get this wheel rolling.
And what do we see from the BBC it response to this fear? GASLIGHTING!
Just as in series 11 supporters of the Chibnall era took that abnormally high series average as “proof” the show was a success, and ratings MATTER, now it’s the opposite “ooo ratings don’t matter at all”, in other words “This show suits me so keep making it as it is even though a huge number have switched off and walk away!"
And its exactly the same with the issue of Canon.
Just a couple nights ago tame pet RT journo Hew Fullerton interviewed Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis, who waxed lyrical at length about how “they don’t care about canon and it doesn’t matter”. From the pair that recently “woked” Dracula to weak audience response, and with their reputations also tied to the fate of the show if its cancelled, their objectivity comes into question.
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-02-19/doctor-who-jo-martin-canon-steven-moffat-mark-gatiss/
All this wrings VERY hollow when at the start of series 11 it was “The Doctor is a woman now and its Canon so tough!”
Talk about trying to have it both ways!
Furthermore, other warnings the show plans big lasting major changes to its backstory are coming from Chibnall himself, warning the fanbase, without irony, that it will need to take to strong drink to cope with whats coming… https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-02-19/doctor-who-finale-rollercoaster/
^This does not look like a show that’s going to find it easy to take an already very divided fanbase with it as it makes major changes #NotMyDoctorWho has proved are driven by political radicalism.
Canon and fandoms are not a black and white issue, thats true, there is a lot of grey. Creatives are right to say that long term franchises need to be able to change and try new things. But its equally true that not all ideas work and when trying an experiment fails and is harming a franchise, it’s a bad, indeed inevitably disastrous, idea not to course correct and a failure to do so leads only towards cancellation: but that would mean the BBC admitting it has failed in its plans for the show.
Over the course of series 12 we have had the Master return as a male again, confirmation UNIT is gone for good, confirmation Torchwood is no more, the total destruction of Gallifrey (all while the Doctor knew and did nothing), then the introduction of ANOTHER female Doctor who the showrunner has insisted is a PAST Doctor not a future one, with the possibility of maybe ANOTHER "hidden" female incarnation waiting to be sprung.
The fanbase is rightly fearful there are agenda’s other than story telling behind the rate and speed of change being forced because the current creatives have problems with the shows past: literally they are using an “open page on their Macbook” to destroy a creative legacy they hate, to replace it with something else… far too much, far too fast, demanding respect that is UNEARNED: a recipe for total disaster that is unfolding as might be expected.
And the BBC is so concerned the fanbase is rejecting this behaviour they now try to argue Canon doesn’t matter at all!
The problem is, there has been so much change so fast, so much “wokeness” in the scripts, so much sneering condescension especially towards majority democratic decisions in UK society from a BBC now hopelessly politically partisan, that the show has become toxic and driven people away. This has included parents who no longer want their children watching the show, because they aren't stupid and can see messages being pushed on their kids, just as the kids aren't stupid either and know when they are being preached at.
The cumulative effect is that the show has NOT taken anything like enough of the fanbase with it.
If viewing figures were healthy and growing and there was lots of positive buzz and goodwill about the show, then that would show the changes to canon decisions have worked and the show is a success: but the reality is so obviously the opposite, its simply denial of reality to pretend “canon doesn’t matter”, no matter how much Steven Moffat will say anything munching a BBC buffet sandwich. After all, the decline of the show has massively accelerated under Chibnall, but it started on Moffat’s watch!
Franchises are delicate things, especially sci-fi fantasies, because no matter how fantastical the ideas and the visuals, that means little to nothing without emotional investment and connection and a sense of being able to suspend disbelief and consider the story “real”. Those who trash the past to push their desire for the future that validates their modern day hang ups alienate fanbases by losing that sense of reality, and then find people simply go find better products to invest themselves in.
Star Trek, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Terminator, and now Doctor Who, the same mistakes leading to the same failures and that is a key part of what we have tried to push back against: because we do love the show and do want it to survive the bad decisions and bad mistakes of the last couple years.
SO WHAT NEXT?
Now is the time to share share share share and share the petition again, to get it back out in front of people and give them the simple choice: shut up and accept this, or sign up and take a stand with us. Thousands know about the campaign but chose to wait and see before: give them the choice again many WILL sign.
Press releases have gone out, any press support we manage to get next couple of weeks also needs to get in front of people.
There will be further updates when we know the true state of play with the next two episodes including detailed critique of the problems we see.
After episode 10 airs we will put out a sample letter of complaint to the BBC as another action everyone can take to get our views heard recognised and acted upon.
The petition will stay open until all the numbers are in for series 12, so there is at least another couple of weeks before we submit the petition. Every effort will count!
Once the dust has settled, when the campaign closes, we will produce an after-action report detailing all our observations and key events.
AS a reminder, #NotMyDoctorWho is NOT intending to keep on banging the same drum across the 18 months minimum before the next series. We are running this campaign NOW to try to encourage course correction for series 13 before its finally too late. But with the BBC clearly planning big unearned changes to canon, its anyone's guess as to whether that is already a forlorn hope. Our love for the show has kept us determined and motivated and at least we ALL can have the satisfaction of knowing we took a stand.
On behalf of everyone engaged with the campaign on every level, we thank you, and we ask you to join us for one big push while the window is still open.
Love to all,
John White @JohnTheWhite1
THIS IS AN UPDATE FOR THE #NotMyDoctorWho CAMPAIGN: SIGN N SHARE HERE:
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-director-general-bbc-fix-doctor-who-now-either-change-it-or-end-it-but-this-cant-go-on-add