The Doctor Will Be In... Eventually

This week the BBC announced that Season 8 (or "Series" 8 for you Brits) of Doctor Who won't air until sometime in Autumn 2014. Jesus Christ! For you non-math nerds, that's an entire year from now! A whole year until we get to see new Doctor Peter Capaldi in his first full episode.

There will of course be a 50th Anniversary Special airing in November, and of course the Christmas Special on December 25th (in which the Eleventh Doctor will regenerate into the Twelfth). So they are throwing viewers a couple of bones, but still…

The Name Of The Doctor, the final episode of Season 7, aired in May 2013. Season 8 will begin in Autumn 2014, which presumably means September. That's sixteen months between seasons! SIXTEEN! If you got pregnant the day Season 7 ended you could carry the child to term and it would be crawling, maybe even walking by the time Season 8 begins. That's just too damn long.

It seems dangerous to me to wait so long between seasons. There's a very real risk that the audience will find other things to do with their time and not come back when the new episodes finally air.

The reason for the extra long delay is reportedly due to the BBC's perpetual budget woes. I don't believe that for a second. Doctor Who is a massive revenue stream for the BBC. There's a huge amount of Who-related merchandise available in England, far more than we ever see here. It's as big as Star Trek is in America.

Billions are spent annually on Doctor Who crap. I should know-- thousands of those dollars are mine! I'm sure the BBC doesn't reap every dime, but surely a good amount of it must find its way into their coffers. More than enough to bankroll the twelve measly episodes they call a season. And if that money isn't going back into the show, then why not? Where the hell's it all going?

C'mon, guys! Get your act together. You gotta spend money to make money. You've got to get the product out there to the viewers. No new Doctor Who means no more gravy train!