Torchwood decimated!

[ChiliFan]

I haven't noticed this mentioned anywhere on here yet, but I read within the last 24 hours that Torchwood season 3 will now definitely have only 5 episodes!

http://www.syfyportal.com/news425090.html

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I can't help wondering what happened to the millions that were made from Doctor Who merchandising during the years when no new episodes of Doctor Who were made. Surely this money should have been ploughed back into Doctor Who, or at least some other Sci Fi series.

[jrderego]

I haven't noticed this mentioned anywhere on here yet, but I read within the last 24 hours that Torchwood season 3 will now definitely have only 5 episodes!

http://www.syfyportal.com/news425090.html

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I can't help wondering what happened to the millions that were made from Doctor Who merchandising during the years when no new episodes of Doctor Who were made. Surely this money should have been ploughed back into Doctor Who, or at least some other Sci Fi series.

I'll set myself in fire as a form of protest. Will that help?

[wintermute]

Surely this money should have been ploughed back into Doctor Who, or at least some other Sci Fi series.

Some of it would have been. Programmes like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Invasion: Earth, The Invisible Man and Moonbase 3 all probably got a boost from the profitability of Doctor Who. Other chunks of that money would have been spent on fantasies like Gormengast (which earned the BBC approximately nothing, despite being a very popular series - there just isn't much demand for Steerpike lunchboxes) or The Storyteller.

But what, exactly, does this have to do with you being upset that they will make slightly fewer episodes of your favourite TV show next year?

[ChiliFan]

I haven't noticed this mentioned anywhere on here yet, but I read within the last 24 hours that Torchwood season 3 will now definitely have only 5 episodes!

http://www.syfyportal.com/news425090.html

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I can't help wondering what happened to the millions that were made from Doctor Who merchandising during the years when no new episodes of Doctor Who were made. Surely this money should have been ploughed back into Doctor Who, or at least some other Sci Fi series.

I'll set myself in fire as a form of protest. Will that help?

Thanks! Please do this outside BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7RJ,  after watching the season 4 finale enough times to memorise it, and writing some more Union Dues stories. Obviously, you'd need to be wearing a placard mentioning Doctor Who and Torchwood to make your point.

[Heradel]

Technically, decimated would leave 11.7 episodes. And from the Wikipedia: "A third series has been confirmed, currently set to be a five-part miniseries airing over a period of a week." which makes it seem like it's tied into the Doctor Who storyline (in addition to the fact that the remains of the Torchwood team appeared in the teaser for this week's episode).

[ChiliFan]

Technically, decimated would leave 11.7 episodes. And from the Wikipedia: "A third series has been confirmed, currently set to be a five-part miniseries airing over a period of a week." which makes it seem like it's tied into the Doctor Who storyline (in addition to the fact that the remains of the Torchwood team appeared in the teaser for this week's episode).

OK then, slashed or whatever you want to call it. I think the plan has now been changed to 5 weekly episodes. I don't see how showing it during one week would tie it in with Doctor Who, which won't be having a series next year. Of course, changing the exact plan over a period of time could be a devious way of brainwashing people into accepting it.

[Heradel]

If you are not current on Doctor Who and Torchwood, do not read below.

Well, it seems pretty clear to me that whatever happens on Saturday with episodes 12 and 13 won't be self-contained, and will continue into the specials over the next year. Now, this is the culmination of RTD's run, and I can't believe he's going out with a whimper (plus he needs to explain the Time War). And from what I've seen the decision to do the episodes this way was as much a creative one as a production one, so my expectation is that something happens with the finale that is very, very large. If it isn't, the whole Donna's going to die (is  plot thread, and, well, the Bad Wolf reappearance would just be in bad taste. You don't toy with the end of the universe. Now, if we were totally missing out on The Doctor and Captain Jack I would be annoyed, but unless I'm disappointed by both in their different formats next year I'm not really going to complain. There are two current showrunners I trust not to screw up a series, and RTD is one of them (the other is RDM).

Alternatively, the five part Torchwood could be an elongated episode of the remaining team coming to grip with the deaths and integrating new team members. Also, they haven't said how long the parts would be, so at this point it's not clear that it's a five episode equivalency.

[stePH]

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I don't put much stock into conspiracy theories, and I have my doubts as to the mental stability of those who take them seriously.

[Russell Nash]

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I don't put much stock into conspiracy theories, and I have my doubts as to the mental stability of those who take them seriously.

But they are an evil bunch at the BBC.

[stePH]

Combined with the lack of a new Doctor Who series next year, this says to me that there's some kind of plot or conspiracy in the BBC against all things Doctor Who. Obviously, people in the BBC can make various claims about why this is happening and it's difficult or impossible to disprove whatever claims they make.

I don't put much stock into conspiracy theories, and I have my doubts as to the mental stability of those who take them seriously.

But they are an evil bunch at the BBC.

And at Microsoft, Apple, Fox, and any number of other companies.  But SFW?

[Loz]

I can't help wondering what happened to the millions that were made from Doctor Who merchandising during the years when no new episodes of Doctor Who were made. Surely this money should have been ploughed back into Doctor Who, or at least some other Sci Fi series.

But not Torchwood, which is terrible.

[AarrowOM]

Technically, decimated would leave 11.7 episodes.

I'll admit that this is the first of this that I'd heard of, but I too thought that by "decimated" you meant reduced by one-tenth.  And now we all thank the Master for reminding us of the original meaning of the word...