is the dr who series becoming unpopular

dr who series 7 only 5 episoded
no figures from these episoded
only 1 figure - rory & bbc variant
a christmas special ?
is the dr who starting to wain
what do you all think

therealdrwho wrote:

dr who series 7 only 5 episoded
no figures from these episoded
only 1 figure - rory & bbc variant
a christmas special ?
is the dr who starting to wain
what do you all think

No.

No it is not becoming unpopular, to be honest I see it gaining popularity in my local area. I can meet people and bring up Doctor who and they say "Oh I love that show" or "I've heard of that" where as normally they would look at me like I was from another planet. Its becoming very cool at the high schools and university.

I thing the wind down is due to everything that is going on in 2013 and with the relaunch of the newwho figures/sets in this new scale they are making a change over. I bet money its going to be like a tsunami the wave (no pun intended) recedes before the flood lol

davro wrote:

No it is not becoming unpopular, to be honest I see it gaining popularity in my local area. I can meet people and bring up Doctor who and they say "Oh I love that show" or "I've heard of that" where as normally they would look at me like I was from another planet. Its becoming very cool at the high schools and university.

I thing the wind down is due to everything that is going on in 2013 and with the relaunch of the newwho figures/sets in this new scale they are making a change over. I bet money its going to be like a tsunami the wave (no pun intended) recedes before the flood lol

I have experienced this as well and agree with davros' assessment.

Heck, Doctor Who even made the cover of TV Guide for the first time ever...

SeaDevil wrote:

davro wrote:

No it is not becoming unpopular, to be honest I see it gaining popularity in my local area. I can meet people and bring up Doctor who and they say "Oh I love that show" or "I've heard of that" where as normally they would look at me like I was from another planet. Its becoming very cool at the high schools and university.

I thing the wind down is due to everything that is going on in 2013 and with the relaunch of the newwho figures/sets in this new scale they are making a change over. I bet money its going to be like a tsunami the wave (no pun intended) recedes before the flood lol

I have experienced this as well and agree with davros' assessment.

Heck, Doctor Who even made the cover of TV Guide for the first time ever...

Yes its taking time but it is starting to become very very popular, just because the action figure range has slowed down dose not mean anything else has... look at all the other merchandise available, its crazy!

Indeed. There's tons more product of all types for all eras of the program.

therealdrwho wrote:

dr who series 7 only 5 episoded

No, Series 7 PART ONE is five episodes, then there's a Christmas special, then PART TWO is seven episodes in the spring. Then Series 8 starts in the fall so there can be more Who for the 50th Anniversary year. This has all been well-announced on just about every Doctor Who news site out there.

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no figures from these episoded

Because CO is rebooting the Doctor Who toy line in a new 3.75" scale in the spring.

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only 1 figure - rory & bbc variant

Which was a final love letter from CO to all the fans who lobbied for him AFTER they had essentially cancelled the 5" toy line.

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a christmas special ?

Yes, there is a Christmas special. It's called "The Snowmen." The news has been all over the internet and BBC TV.

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is the dr who starting to wain

Do you mean "wane?" I think the answer is no. See above.

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what do you all think

I think you should look into two links:
1. http://www.doctorwhonews.net/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofreading

Now shafty, spelling and sentence structure has always been a little loose around here...

SeaDevil wrote:

Now shafty, spelling and sentence structure has always been a little loose around here...

Yeah... Fair 'nuff.

I don't think it's becoming unpopular, no, but I personally have very little interest in it at the moment and I'm not in the slightest excited for this year's Christmas special and I think a few others might agree. However, that's a different thing to it being unpopular or not. As said above, the show is perhaps at its peak right now.

I thought Series 7 Part 2 had 8 episodes.

Ted47 wrote:

I thought Series 7 Part 2 had 8 episodes.

I stand corrected.

I agree with the others above - the show is more than likely at it's peak currently; definitely not seeing it becoming unpopular for the time being...especially when I've seen Matt Smith's mug on the covers of TVGuide, Entertainment Weekly, and various other magazines over the last few months.

I realized just a few days ago, that Doctor Who is no longer just a little "cult" tv show that I used to watch on PBS. It has become mainstream now. So, no, it has grown in popularity.
Now, action figures of everything have lost popularity while it seams construction toys, like Lego have grown. So, it is no wonder that the Character Building line seams to be thriving and the 5" action figure line is gone, except for us old classic lovers.

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It has become mainstream now

I grow a little worried hearing that.

I lost my passion for the New Series when CO took away the 5 inch range, and I know others who agree, but, mostly, I think that's more a personal feeling, and doesn't reflect the masses. The majority seems to be embracing New Series Doctor Who, and especially in America, BECAUSE it's become more mainstream. The reason that we've gotten less figures from the New Series is that CO betrayed the line, and opted for the Dapol sized figures. They've given up on it more or less for some time, and essentially caused it to die. It is NOT the fault of the show, but of Toy execs.

I think the problem that CO had was the choice of some ofs the figures in the 5 inch range for the last series. So many good figures were not made and so many usless ones were mass produced. . .

Usless in my opinon other may disagree of course.

I am sure CO will find a way to get some figures from Series 7 out in the classic line sooner or later. . .

A LOT of Series 6 figures were really dire. An exciting first few waves and then mostly tweaks and variants. But if that's all they were really willing to give us, then maybe it's a good thing they ended that scale.

I find myself not as interested in the series and I have been a fan since the 70s. However, I felt that way about David Tennant's era during 2007 and then the show was totally revitalized for me by the inclusion of Donna, a companion that really worked, so I remain hopeful. The show has always had its ups and downs.

Everyone has their own opinions about Doctor Who at any given point in time. I know Matt Smith is popular, but I don't really care for him. To be fair, I think that they are not giving him the dramatic opportunities that they gave DT, and the show has been all about the Ponds for his entire tenure, so maybe he'll get more to do now that they are (finally) gone.

Overall, I think the Moffat era has been a letdown for me - all I see is a lot of the same monsters being re-used, over and over, and to reduced effect (Daleks/Silurians/Cybermen/Ood, anyone?). That is my favorite thing about the Silents - they were cool and they were new. I pray that this is because they are going to throw some money at it next year and they have been saving up.

Back to action figures - I think the toy line followed suit. Which monsters did you want to see made into figures from the MS era? I remember while watching the MS seasons thinking - in 2005, the controller would say to RTD, "it needs more monsters", (which is how we got the Reapers, for example), and I found myself thinking the same thing. Bring on the monsters.

Action figure-wise, I think this is where the classic range has it over the new range. We have so many cool old classic monsters, it is hard to choose, where the new series, we pretty much had covered, until the line ground to a halt, because there wasn't much to cover - Silurians, Vampires, Smilers, repeats - done.

I really would like to have seen the minotaur from the God Complex or some handbots, or even more spooky dolls, and when we didn't see them, I knew we were done.

I think with all the balking that has been going on over the new scale, the real test will be, does the new series provide monsters and aliens kids and adults want to see made into figures? Or are they going to go backwards and make figures from previous seasons of the new series in the new scale?

As with everything, it all depends on the show, so I hope the upcoming series are good. Apart form the rumors, I think a new Doctor is in order for a breath of fresh air, someone a little older this time. And impress me with better scripts and cooler monsters instead of wasting your budget remodeling the TARDIS interior every three years, please. The "neato" factor is only gonna get the show so far. I want a gripping program and then everything else, including the action figures, will fall into place.

FUNCHOMCLALA wrote:

To be fair, I think that they are not giving him the dramatic opportunities that they gave DT, and the show has been all about the Ponds for his entire tenure, so maybe he'll get more to do now that they are (finally) gone.

COULDN'T. AGREE. MORE.

Your entire post is pretty much in line with my opinions, but that above all has hampered Smith's run. I really got tired of watching The Amy Show.

I remember how dull I thought Matt Smiths first series was. And still honestly have been I to the series less than any New Series time, BUT I truly think Matt Smith is a fantastic actor and easily my favorite Doctor portrayal since Tom Baker. He absolutely nails that otherworldly alien-but-likes/been-around-humans-for-loooong-time persona that makes the Doctor odd but relatable at the same time. So yes, I agree with the above that Matt Smith hasn't really been given much to test his acting chops. Because he makes even the dire drive that has been all too common during the Moffat era watchable and even enjoyable at times, imagine if he had some truly awesome stories?

I was watching a repeat online of Doomsday and was absolutely gripped, I couldn't stop watching even tho had seen it may times, just not in a long time. Absolutely entertaining, exciting, emotional, did I say Entertaining? :-) I know some people slam RTD but his era was absolutely top notch Who and he understood what makes any story interesting and what makes Doctor Who magical.

That said, I have enjoyed some 11th Doctor stories and on the whole Series 7 part 1 was good more often than not. I hope Clara brings us the other side of the Doctormthat companions always do, and most of all I hope the Anniversary Series lives up to the "we've been planning it for 2 years" promise, even tho I did read a disturbing article the other day that implied Series 8 would not be a whole Series and very possibly just s7 part 2 and perhaps a couple anniversary episodes ala David Tennamts disappointing not-very-specials (didnt say all RTD era was golden, def was running outmofmsteam by the end). But yes, LOVED Donna, loved SarahmJane and K9 visiting and the ties to her own series, and even really liked Jack on Who and Children of Earth was fantastic, but now that Golden Age has definitely passed and we're in a less Golden but still very good age for Who.

Here's hoping the Anniversary Year brings a burst if regenerative energy to the series and that it continues in top form for another decade or more. If done right, an absolute doubling of the fan base could easily occur, heck, even without any more new Who, with so many tv series getting cancelled before their first season finishes, having 30+ Series and worthy spin offs to dive into would be a welcome respite from the short lived and fizzled out desert of usual tvdom, ESP so called genre offerings!! :-)

The show is quite popular now; it might not be as popular with certain segments of the hardcore fanbase, but those segments are vastly outnumbered by the audience that's replacing them.

I have a couple Doctor Who tattoos, and I literally can't go anywhere in public without people asking me about them, and I live in the middle of nowhere! There's a huge audience out there.

I live in a small town, and for the first time ever in march we are having a Dr. Who convention. So if anything, it's getting BIGGER in my neighborhood.

The Doctor Who audience is huge and very diverse. Some who grew up on classics do not like the new series, or just like Tennant and not Smith. It is impossible to say the show the show is dying because "I" don't enjoy it as much. It clearly is not. I have never in my life known so many people who watch the show. I actually feel rather proud that I have been a fan since 1982 and I love telling the new fans about the huge history of the show. Many do not realize that it began in 1963, in fact, some do not even know Matt Smith is not the 11th Doctor. If the BBC does thing right next year, with the 50th specials, it can gain even more, and be even bigger in the future.

CO needs to do the same if the toy line will survive. They MUST get the figures in the store in a timely manner. Months after the episodes air will just doom this line as it did the 5" line. Kids have short attention spans. And they need to work more closely with the production staff to understand what characters need to be made and will be popular. And they need to communicate better with the fans, criptic tweets don't cut it.

mysterylad wrote:

The show is quite popular now; it might not be as popular with certain segments of the hardcore fanbase, but those segments are vastly outnumbered by the audience that's replacing them.

I think that's very true. Whatever the quality of the current show, it built a momentum in the US during the later end of Tennant's run, and that wave's been rolling ever since.

I do wonder when that wave'll break though. It seems like the show's already peaked ratings-wise in the UK with the last year or two of Tennant. The ratings now aren't bad at all, but they don't seem to quite hit those crazy highs of "Journey's End" where it could actually manage to be the #1 show of the week. I think it's also significant that while the average ratings are steady, the debuts and especially finales have fallen off- the UK audience has stabilized. It's different in the US, where BBC America only started pushing the show properly in 2009 (plus there's still endless people who haven't been exposed to it yet and are one recommendation away from giving it a look).

Personally, FUNCHOMCLALA's comments mostly nailed it for me. I still watch the show, but I had trouble relating to the very covoluted Plight of the Ponds. They were put through the emotional blender in so many ways that by the end it was hard to believe in them (not that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill didn't do their darndest with what they had to work with). Smith's an incredible actor, but Moff writes an awful lot of "shtick" that undercuts what he does, I think. It kinda reminds me of how Davison got a lot of lightweight material for most of his run, then got "The Caves of Androzani" and suddenly turned in one of the finest Doctor performances ever.

I'm sure it'll all turn around for me eventually though. I've been watching since 1985, and it always does. This is just one long "Season 24" moment.