It’s 1986 all over again. At least superficially. The shoe finally dropped a couple days ago from the Moff himself abut the future scheduling for the series into 2012 and beyond.
“Doctor Who in the summer? All that running down tunnels, with torches, and the sunlight streaming through your windows and bleaching out the screen? All those barbecues and children playing outside, while on the telly there are green monsters seething in their CGI-enhanced lairs? It’s just not right is it? Be honest.
“For me, as a kid, when the afternoon got darker and there was a thrill of cold in the air, I knew that even though summer was over, the TARDIS was coming back! So yes, that’s part of the plan, that’s part of the reason for this little delay. But it’s not the whole story.”
Okay it may not be, and granted this appears to have everything to do with long term economics than short term ratings, but for long-term fans there just has to be a little shiver that the spectre of the 18-month hiatus (in reality more of a 9-month hiatus just like what we’re about to go through) and Michael Grade in this announcement. But here’s a more realistic appraisal.
Doctor Who has been, and IS, a fall-winter series, just as Moffat has asserted. If you don’t believe it just check out our calendar to see how seasons historically have either started in September or January. The March-April time frame is strictly a modern Who phenomenon.
It was our hope when Moffat took over that this shifting to Autumn that this would happen in 2010. The fact that it’s happening two years later means in essence that a hidden gap year (a full 12 months) has been lipped into our Who history. But we get it.
At least it’s not 1986 all over again.