That's really not a good example, saladfingers. You're omitting the fact that the people in attendance at Comic Con were mostly die hard fans who will likely be excited no matter what. The purpose of a trailer isn't to please the die hard fans (who know all the little details and would tune in even if there was no trailer at all), it's primarily intended to attract the general public (people who might watch the show more or less regularly, but who aren't obsessive about it and don't spend hours talking about the internet etc.). Yes, a few die hard fans did get the trailer early as a treat, but would they have gotten to see it i the room wasn't full of more or less important media as well who created a lot of buzz around the episode without releasing the actual trailer?

No you weren't. But another poster was saying this (and was the quote that I replied to):


which, to me, does indicate a sense of entitlement - i.e. "I have paid for a TV Licence and I am entitled to see something prior to, or at the same time as someone who hasn't and is not even in the UK", and as such I think that I too am entitled to post my opinion.

But, not to worry, such a diversion (arguing the toss over what is or is not meant) is not really for this thread.

This is absolute poppycock. While I really don't mind when I do see the trailer this just doesn't make sense. You're essentially saying, the owner of a business would not get to see a new product the business had made, just because it's marketing is being paid for by the profits of the business!

Ridiculous, right?

HOWEVER, I don't believe the BBC should be run in that way. Yes we own it collectively as such, but we shouldn't demand and treat as such as others have stated, that just doesn't work practically.

Trailers are out of context action scenes designed to lure casual viewers in and filled with explosions and whizz bang cut shots and rarely give you a good flavour of the episode to come.

Personally I'm glad it isn't out yet so thread upon thread of incorrect spurious fan theorising can't take place!

I have a hunch that the first teaser will air between SCD and Atlantis on September 28th! Seems logical to me.

seems like a good shout! I am expecting a very brief teaser at first. Maybe even just the title or date with a bit of dialogue. At most a quick flash of each doctors face. But nothing more. Its easy to forget in the bubble of fandom but based on people I know very few are aware of Tennants return. At work all those who started watching with the Tennant era were oblivious. So they're going to tease and hype this to maximum effect one hopes. I think end of September is the latest to start such a campaign though.

No, not even slightly saying that. What I'm saying is: a business makes a product for consumption much later. A separate branch of that business buys the licence to use a few pieces of that product earlier than the main business. This in no way diminishes either the product, or the original intent. Perfectly normal business behaviour, and is exactly what happened. I actually can't understand what you were trying to say.

im trying to think if its legal lol ,,us uk people denied our trailer thatsbeen shown to non licence payers in another country

Oh dear ...... it goes to a new level.

Oh dear, oh dear.

You do understand that it's not our trailer, don't you? That it was an officially sanctioned and licences production from a different, separate company?

I will say this. If I had been at comic con when they showed the trailer yes I could of recorded it and uploaded it to youtube.

You mean that trailer made up of footage of the anniversary? The anniversary which is a BBC production paid for out of the license fee?

If BBC worldwide or anyone else go and film their own original footage (as they did with the 3D cinema trailer a few years ago), then it's theirs. All of the footage in that trailer is ours, and BBC worldwide can't do a thing with it without the permission of the BBC who own its content.

And unless you can cite something, it's unknown whether the trailer was edited by the BBC or Worldwide.

When this first happened, it didn't bother me at all. It's actually quite nice that the serious fans who attend these events get an exclusive and it can generate positive word of mouth PR.

However... I wasn't expecting six weeks to pass with nothing. Remember, this is after the show runner told us that Doctor Who "was going to take over TV" this year. There should have been a teaser or something a week or two after, to feed us complete silence after building up expectations is just... rude!

quite right Lii ,,well said !!!!!

...and yet the claim of a trailer two months in advance was not false as it was never made. They have only just put out the second Original British Drama trailer for upcoming series / mini-series. Any expectations were made by us - and I don't think a trailer was going to take over television.

The brand new, high-budget Atlantis series didn't get it's first teaser trailer any further in advance. Yes, it's the 50th Anniversary Special. But it's still a single episode and I have a funny feeling that a trailer will actually be shown before it airs. Call me mad. Call me optimistic. But I just can't shake it.

Then soon after that - the entire episode will be on the tellybox! Who knew a BBC commercial would cause so much fuss. Hell, they could show the trailer now and be recieving complaints that a new trailer hasn't been produced in October followed by another trailer in November.

Hope it will be shown soon. Just a little taste a teaser for the 50th.

They learned at/from the BBC of course

Hang on did somebody just suggest we should have had a trailer for the trailer... I may have to stop reading some of thse posts

I want a prequel and 12 minisodes for each trailer.......

I think what might be being said is- why can't they have a little snippet of the trailer on the TV, like a 3 second job, just to say Doctor Who is still there and we hope you haven't forgotten- then put up the words "coming soon,23rd November. Full trailer also coming soon." That should keep the folks happy, who think it's "too early" to see a full trailer. Plus it would also give a little teaser ( Teaser is actually a better word for this) to those who want to see a bloody trailer already- for something that's already made and sitting there waiting for the date it's aired.

This isn't a 'normal' series of any old TV show- this is the 50th anniversary special of a supposedly headline/flagship show for the BBC. It's a feature length TV-film type thing really, and films have trailers months in advance.

All that being said- I'm not too bothered by seeing it personally. I'll wait for it and might not even rush to see it as soon is it's available. It's just another cock-up by the BBC in failing to build any kind of suspense or intrigue or excitement for something which SHOULD be a "big thing".

I only want something sooner rather than later because it would drag out the suspense longer. We are already hurtling towards the episode itself...60 days? Which is nothing. And we have had nothing. Time they released something. It'll all be over soon enough and I would welcome something for us to discuss on here and analyze. We are well into the autumn now. Give us something!

That's perfectly normal these days. Teasers and teasers and then bam! One or two main trailers. Its not unusual at all. And the BBC should be doing it by now.

They did do it. For Atlantis.

Teaser Trailer: August 16th

Teasers: 23rd August - 29th August

Trailer: 7th September

Air Date: 28th September

Five teasers, one trailer and a clip in the 43 days before broadcast - for a thirteen episode series.

We're going to be heading in to that time period soon. But there's still 58-9 days to promote the broadcast - and over the next two weeks, there's still little precedent.

I'd be very interested to hear what law you think has been broken.

We don't own the BBC's copyright material. We don't own the BBC building. We don't own the BBC props. We don't have any rights to fire or hire BBC employees.

This whole argument seems like nonsense to me. There's no ownership going on here at all!


We provide one of, no doubt, several sources of income to the BBC which they use to produce programme content which they can show or sell overseas.

Allowing worldwide to use a trailer and show it overseas presumably results in more income for the BBC which they can then use to supplement the license fee they get from us. All for the good, I would have thought.

If showing a trailer here would help the BBC increase their viewing figures or the interest in their programmes then that would be the reason to show it and there'd be no reason not to if that was the case. Since they're not showing it, it clearly isn't the case, in their opinion.

They have probably planned a publicity campaign around the anniversary (all of which will probably cost money) and they have every right to determine when best to start that campaign.

I didn't even know about this trailer until recently but the whole sense of entitlement over this seems quite misplaced, IMO.

Personally, I think we show too many trailers these days. It's getting like we know the whole show before we even see it. I'd be happy to see no trailers at all.

BINGO!