I'm not sure it's a case of targeting that demographic as I see it as more of a nod to that cover. (I'm not even sure if the similarity was intentional.) How many of the millions of viewers - many of whom won't be comic book fans - will be aware of that COIE cover?

What is with people going on and on about two parters as if it was the norm until now? Until this season they had a couple of two parters per season. And those episodes were often criticized for being drawn out and boring. People need to get off this particular bandwagon because it's not big or clever.

The OP does make a valid point though - the hype does put a lot of funny, untrue ideas into people's heads that they simply wouldn't have thought about otherwise.

Examples:

Season 5 - all of the Doctor Who cast & crew trot out the party-line that the season would have a 'fairytale' approach. Suddenly fans are up in arms: Doctor Who is about science! We hate fairytales! We're grown-ups! Albeit a children's show is our favourite programme and we watch the Sarah Jane adventures religiously... but we're grown-ups! Moffatt is destroying the show! Except... content-wise it's no different than it ever was. It was always a bloody fairytale with the Doctor as a magical guardian wizard... hardly Asimov before was it? It was HYPE, a buzzword to talk about the season... and anyone who used it as criticism fell for it. People were criticizing for something that wasn't even their own observation.

Season 6 - Moffatt says the season will be more interlocked than ever before. Everyone else trots out the agreed upon party-line. Suddenly fans are up in arms: Doctor Who is getting too complicated! The storylines are impossible for the average viewer to follow now! You used to be able to tune in ever week and just watch without needing to know what was going on! Moffat is destroying the show! Except.. content-wise it's no different than it ever was. It's still mostly standalone episodes with a tacked on subplot scene, just like the crack in the wall, Bad Wolf, Harold Saxon... this time it is the 'Eyepatch Lady' and the Doctor's 'death' (something that happened in the first episode and had no further relevance until the last two). And it doesn't even have the extra cast members to keep up with like they used to have in the RTD era: Rose's family, Martha's family, Donna's family etc, or a character popping in and out because he's variously dead or alive from week to week (Rory in Season 5). The extra complexity was HYPE, a buzzword to talk about the season... and anyone who used it as a criticism fell for it. People were criticizing for something that wasn't even their own observation, but was an element they were TOLD was going to be in it.

Season 7 - Moffat says that every episode will be like a 'mini movie'. The rest of the cast and crew trot out the agreed party-line.Suddenly fans are up in arms: Doctor Who is getting too dumbed down! There's no room to develop the storylines anymore! There's no complexity, it's just standalone episodes every week! And movies! Bleeuugh! Doctor Who isn't a movie, it's better than that! You used to be able to really sink your teeth into the sophisticated storylines this Saturday teatime, light family entertainment drama provided! Moffat is destroying the show! Except... nothing has really changed, except none of the stories drag on too long now. It's all HYPE and people keep falling for it.

I tell you what: next series (whenever the Hell that will be) don't read any interviews, don't listen to any promo material just sit back, tune in, and expect to see Doctor Who just as it's been for the past 8 years... and you know what: YOU WILL, because it really hasn't changed. Jaded people's perceptions however... they change. People outgrowing the show, moving onto other things... that happens.

People thought series six was complicated purely because "hype" brainwashed them into imagining it? No.

The first two episodes told a story about Aliens being defeated by their own powers. Nixon and the moon landing was involved. Fairly simple. But wait....what was all that other stuff? The Doctor is murdered, a little girl is involved, she regenerates at the end of the story, Amy is involved, Amy might be pregnant and there is an eye patch lady. That's two episodes out of thirteen already peppered with arc stuff. These mysteries were woven into all the episodes until Let's Kill Hitler. While this was going on we didn't know the solutions so people were hunting for clues. The opening story made the series appear more complicated than it actually was. The series, not the hype.

Take a look at just one element of the mystery. In the picnic scene we have a robot Doctor containing a miniature Doctor, while in a nearby cafe a younger Doctor has just arrived. A Goo facsimile of Amy with a psychic link to real Amy who is pregnant in another solar system in the far future. The baby is going to be River Song who is at the picnic watching her younger self kill the robot Doctor. They are all about to go hunting for what will turn out to be River Song as a child.

That's three Doctors, two Amys, four versions of River and Rory - still remembering his time as an auton replicant of himself. By Let's Kill Hitler we will have had six versions of River Song involved. Seven if you count the Goo facsimile of the baby.

I don't think the complexity was simply "hype".

But that's Fridge Complexity - consequences you would only think about when you step away from the show. It's not necessary to know in order to follow the plot, it's not elements you're expected to keep in your head as you're watching, like remembering the history and motivation of each character in a whodunnit, which is a much more complex proposition.

If anything, the fact that all this is going on and you only think about it later is a testament to the writing. I think it's brilliant when a show gives you something to think about once it's finished.

Well, maybe. But as these things were revealed while people were watching the show it struck many of them as complicated. I'm not saying the picnc scene itself was complicated. But it did deliver a whole heap of mystery. Including What was the monster and who is Canton.

My main point is that thinking back on that scene puts the series in a nutshell. There was complexity. Or convolutedness. Whereas Mr Tit thought there was none.

edit: I agree about nice to pick up on these things during rewatch. And I'm not criticising complexity etc. Although I don't like the particular storyline of series six.

edit again: The point of my original post wasn't clear. sorry for confusion.

Surely the Tenth Doctor was presented far more the superhero? He literally flew in one episode while delivering magic zaps to the enemy. In another he fell a hundred feet through a glass roof onto a hard floor with hardly a scratch. And he wore a cape.

The current Doctor wobbles around in tweed and waistcoats.

What this man said!

Stop watching then.

Hell, never mind superhero - the man was presented as a god.

Sounds absolutely amazingly brilliant when you start thinking about it, don't it ?

PLUS the episode works just watching it. You don't need to know every single thing either to make other episodes make sense later in the series.

It's like it was great first time round, then when you go back and think or watch again it was even more brilliant how it was all done.



BIB: exactly this High five

Yes, in hindsight I realise that I was speaking at cross purposes with you. You're completely right.

I agree with you that on average it's mostly good stuff. But I also agree with the posters who feel that the promotion is overhyped with what the series is actually delivering in regards to us getting excited at what happens in the next episode.

Nothing that wrong with the episodes in themselves. Nice little one-off stories. Especially the haunted house one. But I too don't get the sense of urgency that you'd associate with a big epic story spanning across the series which we're supposed to get whipped up about.

I do like Clara, but I did feel more of a driving story arc across the series with the series which involved Amy. Even though I much prefer Clara to Amy as a character to warm to.
As I say, nothing that wrong with the individual episodes. But the hype promises something different to what we appear to be getting. The stories are perfectly fine if you treat them as episodic Twilight Zone type individual stories, but I think that the promotion should have been a bit more honest in reflecting that to some degree.

I hadn't intended to make it sound like a criticism. Just pointing out that series six was actually different to other series, not just hyped as such.

(As it happens I didn't like the series six arc, but don't knock Moffat for trying it. As you say - lots of people want major prominent arcs to run through a series.)

I think we probably do agree on almost everything then

I don't really watch most of the trailers and just see the next time stuff and I've forgotten most of that before the next week arrives, so I suppose it depends on whether you are a trailer person or not?



Yeah- I was just saying what you described sounded excellent to me hehe

Actually I do agree that sometimes over selling is the problem. For example it probably wasn't a good idea for Moffat to say that there would be "every kind of Dalek" in Asylum, which lead people to believe that every kind of Dalek would be in it, where as, from what I could tell, what we actually saw were the old 2005 style Daleks that most people were happy with, the new teletubby Daleks that a lot of people didn't like, fortunately mostly consigned to the background and a Special Weapons Dalek. This sort of thing can lead to disappointment, whereas if the Moff hadn't have said that then people would have been pleasantly surprised to see the Special Weapons Dalek back. Still, it didn't spoil a cracking episode for me.

Even though I have rewatched numerous times and know what was going on the way Nebo describes that opening episode really makes you realize how insane it is!

You know what? If you find yourself constantly disappointed by the trailers, then perhaps you should adjust your expectations. Perhaps it's not the series' fault that it's not solely made up of the most incredible whizz-bangs bits of dialogue and special effects, and that it has to actually insert some form of plot in between.

The job of the trailer is to be exciting, not representative.

As for 'every Dalek', they were all there. The publicity didn't promise anything that it didn't deliver. Expect to see all the Daleks, but don't expect to know what part they play in the story.

I agree about the daleks thing. I was happy enough. Certainly didn't think there was a huge difference between the hype and the episode. I could have done with them lingering for longer on the various classic Who daleks, but at least they were there. If they had just managed one or two more passing shots of classic daleks in the foreground it would have been perfect.

I've seen the trailers and don't think they oversold the episodes. Pretty much accurate of what we got.

I think the James Bond and "urban thriller" language used about Bells was not quite what we got. But we did get that brilliant rescue of the aeroplane and motorbike rides.

Were they the ones decaying in the asylum? Seems like I just missed them then *doh* still I do seem to miss most things...

In the Amy hallucination bit, I think. Must admit I was expecting the bit where the Doctor walked through the "spiridon....etc" combatants to be a beauty parade of classic props. But never mind. I can see how people were expecting more, but it was still ok to me.

Also with Asylum - that wonderful visit to Skaro. Beautifully done. They really did a lot of lovely things for fans in that story. Whilst not bogging anything down with crusty continuity.

Oh yeah that was lovely. It's odd that some people complain about the CGI looking cheap. I guess it looks cheap in some places but then there are other scenes that just look stunning.

I know I tend to rip into Moffat every chance I get but I must concede that he's probably under a ton of pressure from the BBC, especially regarding budget and scheduling. The show felt more free in the series 5 days.

I don't think it has anything to do with the publicity. I don't tend to read most of it and I still find the stories hollow, shallow and very poorly written.

Indeed. That entire opening scene is so masterfully shot and the effects are almost flawless. Some beautiful detail as well...the birds flying overhead...and that incredible pan up the giant Dalek and in through the eye stalk. For the budget they have its often remarkable what they pull off. In fact that whole episode just has an epic scope and class. Even the smaller touches like Amys hallucination are fantastic (that scene was pure David Lynch). As far as movie scale goes I think this is possibly the shows all time highlight. Majestic!