On the sofa
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12 May 2013 at 18:06 #8755
General Warning: (as suggested by @phaseshift) It seems, due to a tremendous
F-uperror in the US, some people who ordered the Series 7 part two Bu Ray have already received it!! This means some people out there have seen the finale. Be careful of reading other forums if you want to avoid spoilers. 🙁12 May 2013 at 18:13 #8757Thanks @ardaraith
I’ve just posted it on the Guardian as well (attributed to you) as a last comment before shutting down that blog. I’m astonished that has happened.
My everlasting thanks for the prompt warning though. I’m looking nowhere but here now for the rest of the week.
12 May 2013 at 18:25 #8758Anonymous @
@phaseshift and @ardaraith — yes, thanks for the heads-up. That is truly one colossal screw-up. I’m also slightly surprised. If the final scenes of the finale were only filmed just over a week ago, I’m tending to think that having the master file released for distribution, the discs pressed, posted and in the hands of those who pre-ordered them seems a bit of a stretch — although by no means impossible.
Can’t find much on the interwebs about it yet, apart from an EXTREMELY SPOILERIFIC post on bleeding cool news. Avoid at all costs.
12 May 2013 at 18:26 #8759Likewise. Wow, what a cock-up by the U.S. distributors. The production team must be furious, especially if there are any big reveals in the last episode.
@jimthefish – I was also extremely surprised and then I looked at the release date on Amazon UK – which is the Monday after broadcast.
12 May 2013 at 19:16 #876312 May 2013 at 19:24 #8766I’ve had to install Tumblr Savior on my Tumblr, because yes…it is true. Many Americans received the 7b Blu-Ray yesterday and all social media is blowing up with spoilers. Unfortunately, I saw one spoiler before I could exit out of Tumblr, but it wasn’t something that’s ruined the watching experience for me this Saturday. (Actually, I’ll be at a Great Gatsby-themed wedding on Saturday–likely won’t get to view TNotD until Sunday.)
BUT…before anyone shakes their fist at “stupid Americans,” (not that anyone here has said this–but I’ve seen it all over Twitter) a friend in Louth just told me, via Facebook, that she’s receiving the Blu-Ray via Amazon UK on Friday. This Friday, May 17.
12 May 2013 at 19:38 #8770Are you sure she doesn’t mean ‘dispatched on Friday midnight’? Because they do sometimes send it out the postal day before official release, so that it arrives on release day. They did that with the Harry Potter books; I remember getting the book on the morning it was out.
They had a not dissimilar problem with one of the HP novels; because it had to be sent out to the bookstores in advance, one idiot bookstore decided to open the crates and put the books on sale. I ended up avoiding all social media for those few days, as well 🙁
12 May 2013 at 19:42 #8771That’s a massive f*ck up on the part of the DVD suppliers. There’s no excuse for that. Daleks in the storeroom? Timey wimey mix-up between concept of supply and demand? Heads may roll (and not just cyber ones!) Moff will be incandescant I should think, and rightly so. If it starts leaking badly the journalists he has carfully nurtured, and who have signed confidentiality clauses are going to be the only ones who can’t comment on it.
Think I will be limiting my interwebbing severely next week, and working with selective blinkers on (automatically go dark whenever they detect a Who ref, LOL)
12 May 2013 at 19:42 #8772@lula OMG that’s a timey-wimey cock up wow – thanks for the heads-up
I’m going to have to figure out how to get Tumblr Saviour too although I don’t follow a tonne of Doctor Who blogs over there as I tend to keep my Who for here 🙂
12 May 2013 at 19:47 #8774@jimthefish – are you sure they only finished filming the finale that recently, was it not the 50th? And yes, thanks @ardaraith for the prompt warning
12 May 2013 at 20:04 #8776@Bluesqueakpip –I will ask, but her exact wording was, “I’ll have it in my hands on Friday, never been so glad to have Amazon Prime!”
(For the record, Amazon (US) has their release date as May 28.)
Had I received the dvd early, of course I’d watch. Are you kidding? Who wouldn’t?!? But I’d never dream of spoiling anything, and I certainly wouldn’t upload it on the net because…seriously? You’re just asking for trouble with that mess.
12 May 2013 at 20:08 #8777If it starts leaking badly the journalists he has carfully nurtured, and who have signed confidentiality clauses are going to be the only ones who can’t comment on it.
My experience when it happened with Harry Potter was that – while the spoiler community was buzzing – most of the reporters simply reported the news part of it. That is, they reported on the book being sold, but kept silent on what was in it. I think they realised that most of the audience don’t want to find out major plot points on the Ten O’Clock news.
12 May 2013 at 20:14 #8779Weird, because their website is firmly saying ‘Monday 20th’.
Oh, yes, if they’d sent it me I’d be watching it right now. Of course I would. As you say, anyone would.
But it must be so frustrating to the production team – to have your surprise wrecked by some idiot in a warehouse. 🙁
12 May 2013 at 20:14 #8780As I replied to @lula on the Spoilers thread, though … wouldn’t it be simply delicious if The Moff had something a little bit, erm, different for all those pre-ordered sales?
He’s not a stupid man, The Moff, with respect to the internet; and it would be absolutely bonkers hilarious if something just that tiny bit different went out to everyone who wanted to tsunami the internet with ‘the real ending’ by ordering for delivery prior the broadcast date.
Sadly, also as I posited on the Spoilers thread, The Moff has enough marketing nous to never do something like this – or, be absolutely forbidden from doing something like this – in deference to The Suits. {sigh}
12 May 2013 at 20:30 #8781@Shazzbot While that’s an interesting idea, it’d piss off all the people who legitimately bought a DVD. It’s not their fault if it’s in their hands early. And then would they be supplied with a copy with the TV ending? DVD supply will be completely separate from the production team, but there will be clauses in the contracts about ensuring no copies fall into ANY hands before transmission. Given how skillfully and carefully Moff & co work the marketing esp on the internet (although interesting current debate about the trailers) I really wouldn’t like to imagine how frustrated/angry they must be feeling. There’s absolutely nothing they can do to prevent or contain internet spread. Or how bad the person who pushed the “supply now” button must be feeling (to the point of wondering if they’ll have a job on Monday)
12 May 2013 at 20:32 #8782PS Er… how do we get a copy?!!
12 May 2013 at 20:42 #8784Hmmm,
I just noticed on my profile that @gareth69 has confirmed it’s already on bit torrent sites. Thanks to him if he is lurking at all. Not going back into the thread.
@danmartin usually has a thread in the lead up to the finale on “what are your theories”. One to avoid I think.
As funny as that idea is, it would cost a fortune. I imagine that they would have to provide a “proper” disk as replacement.
12 May 2013 at 20:51 #8786@Bluesqueakpip —Just came from BBC America’s online store. Quite interesting to note that no Doctor Who DVDs–regardless of series–are available to be added to the online cart. (I even fake tried to purchase S3…nope!) Other merchandise, programs, etc. all have the “Add to Cart” button. And I got a very strange error message each time I tried to access Who DVDs for sale.
Anyway, my sleuthing was not to purchase 7b–I don’t buy the series when they’re split like that, as I prefer to have the entire S7 has a whole, so I’m waiting till Amazon makes it available later this summer or fall. I was checking to see if BBC America listed a “will be released” date on their site, much like Amazon does when an item is pre-ordered. But that information is also not available.
Basically, what we’ve learned today: for some sites/distributors, the release date is merely a suggestion. 🙂
12 May 2013 at 20:58 #8787@phaseshift I follow a couple of Who blogs on Tumblr that are run by older teenagers. They’re the quickest at uploading gifs after an episode airs, but they’re also the best at warning of torrent viruses. (I admit to watching Broadchurch via torrent–please don’t judge me too harshly. I watched before BBC America announced they would air it here–but months from now.)
Anyway, the Tumblr teens (I feel so very old) are posting that many people are attempting to download TNotD, but instead of the episode, they’re being met with viruses and “screamers.” I’ve no idea what a screamer is, but I love my MacBook Pro far too much to infect it with anything nasty.
12 May 2013 at 21:01 #8788@scaryb, @phaseshift – ‘I imagine that they would have to provide a “proper” disk as replacement.’
Oh, really? 🙂 I think ‘caveat emptor’ applies. ‘Ya wantcher Docter Hoo before it’s on the tee-vee? Gawn then, have it! (suckers!)’
But that only applies if there could be a delineation between people simply ordering what they can, when they can; and those people demanding delivery before broadcast date.
I have massive empathy with yours and @htpbdet ‘s and @jimthefish ‘s – and everyone else’s – heartfelt memories of what is was like to watch each episode brand-spanking-new, so I will be avoiding everything on the internet except my beloved Boggle game, from now until next weekend.
It’s such an amazing thing to experience, to watch a TV show / read a book / see a movie without knowing what’s going to happen. Takes me back to my childhood when every book was a complete surprise [except, of course, that with books you can physically see how close you are to the end]. I use books as an analogy because as I have posted elsewhere, my childhood TV viewing was severely restricted — but we did go to the movies fairly frequently, and you never know when a movie is going to end; so before I learnt about 1st/2nd/3rd act screenplay tropes, each movie was also a wondrous surprise.
12 May 2013 at 21:04 #8789@lula – that’s really odd, Broadchurch wasn’t made by / aired on BBC here. I don’t have a TV and only watch shows on BBC’s iPlayer. The network that Broadchurch was shown on, ITV, I once tried to access on the internet and it was seriously crap. (That was years ago, though, so perhaps I should give it another go.)
So, BBC America is showing Broadchurch to y’all? Eeenteresting.
12 May 2013 at 21:05 #8790[deleted by author]
12 May 2013 at 21:11 #8791And not to mention the hit to the show’s potential ratings next week.
Grrrr!
<resigns herself to limited speculation this week; wonders why she was so worried about prequels LOL>
12 May 2013 at 21:17 #8792Is that the BAFTA sequence over? Weird…
12 May 2013 at 21:34 #8795I think that people on this site (and @craig in particular) should, in light of the massive potential for spoliers to appear because of the dvds going out early, seriously consider avoiding even this site until next week’s episode. Why am I suggesting something so drastic?
Because it is highly likely that some troll will post the spoilers and it will be too late, particularly if it is done while the moderators are asleep.
In fact this site has not been immune already, since @shazbott revealed the end of Broadchurch, which was, frankly, unforgiveable.
There are many of us who have not yet seen that programme, and were looking forward to it. That experience has now been riuned. I can only hope that the reveal was a joke. If so, it was in poor taste, as it sets up assumptions in the mind of the viewer. If it was not a joke it was unforgiveable.
If that can happen, so can what I am suggesting about the The Name of the Doctor. Not everyone on the web have the principles, scruples and consideration for others that most of us have on this site.
I feel very sad about what is currently happening, but I am looking forward to a cracking post-episode discussion with friends next week.
12 May 2013 at 21:36 #8796@Shazzbot – BBC America isn’t the BBC. It’s BBC Worldwide – and they’ll do co-productions or buy stuff in from ITV.
12 May 2013 at 21:40 #8797@Shazzbot I am going to just admit that I have no idea what iPlayer is–always assumed it had something to do with iTunes, but now I’m guessing…no?
And yes, I am aware that Broadchurch aired on ITV. Same as Downton. But both Downton and Sherlock air on PBS here, which is the Public Broadcasting System, aka the only channel in the States supported by funds from viewers. (I also watched Sherlock via torrent, because it aired in the UK in January…for us, May. Like I’m gonna wait 5 months.) I had no problems with the Broadchurch torrents that I used. And yes, BBC America is airing it here…no date has been given, but here’s the official announcement:
http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/39945631813/bbcamerica-bbc-america-to-premiere-broadchurch
p.s. Kudos for the proper spelling of y’all. You’d think it’d be impossible to mess up, but I regularly see lifelong southerners spelling it as “Ya’ll.” It’s my pet peeve.
12 May 2013 at 21:43 #8798From the Official Twitter:
”Steven Moffat has promised if fans help keep the finale’s secrets, we’ll release a special video featuring Matt & David right after the ep!”
12 May 2013 at 21:45 #8799For what it’s worth, BBC America has officially tweeted 2 statements:
BBC AMERICA @BBCAMERICA 7m
Some US DVDs of this series have gone out early.The #DoctorWho team would be hugely grateful if fans helped keep spoilers off the net.and
BBC AMERICA @BBCAMERICA 7m
Steven Moffat has promised if fans help keep the finale’s secrets, we’ll release a special video featuring Matt & David right after the ep!12 May 2013 at 21:51 #8800@wolfweed – go for it, Mr Moffat!
Slightly different, but I was one of the ‘test audience’ for the Olympics Opening Ceremony rehearsal. We were all asked to keep any spoilers secret; by and large, it did go out unspoiled.
The trolls probably won’t have one of the pre-released DVD’s and will very likely be inventing any ‘spoilers’ – just to wind people up. That’s why they’re trolls.
12 May 2013 at 21:57 #8801Whoah right there Mr @blenkinsopthebrave ! I posted a joke about Broadchurch: ‘The butler did it.’ Hint – that’s a British detective story stereotype. If it isn’t too much of a ‘spoiler’ for you, Broadchurch takes place in the present day in a normal British seaside town, where frankly there aren’t any butlers.
And even so, I deleted my comment within 4 minutes, because I suspected someone, somewhere, wouldn’t have a sense of humour. Jeepers creepers, someone is a bit over-reactive tonight.
12 May 2013 at 22:01 #8802@blenkinsopthebrave Why me in particular? I will try to be your guardian (with a small g). Everyone can stay away if they want, but I will be here deleting posts left right and centre all week, if they appear at all. 😀
Sorry I didn’t get here sooner but was blissfully unaware of all of this until now, am half way through watching the BAFTAs. I think one of the burdens of running a forum is that you WILL see spoilers, but if you can keep them from others you’re doing your job.
Will do my best over the coming week. Promise.
12 May 2013 at 22:04 #8803@lula – I’m by birth an American, but not a Southerner. (As I understand y’all call us, I’m from ‘the left coast’.)
And I absolutely love ‘y’all’! English (whether British or Yank or Australian or Canadian yada-yada-yada) is sadly missing a differential between the singular ‘you’ and the plural ‘you’. Y’all is the perfect plural-you. Plus, it just sounds so friendly!
12 May 2013 at 22:10 #8804Mary Tamm, Geoffrey Hughes, Richard Briers all mentioned as having passed away on the BAFTAs. No Ray Cusick, though?!?
12 May 2013 at 22:14 #8805P.S. @blenkinsopthebrave – I didn’t even watch Broadchurch, which if you were reading my comments (as obviously you were) you would have seen: because I don’t have access to ITV.
I’m having a big strop, which I admit is unwarranted. I apologise for my strop to you. I understand (as I’ve said before) how important it is to come to a new piece of entertainment with an entirely blank space instead of spoilerish expectations. But (and you knew there was a ‘but’ 🙂 ) please have some perspective and acknowledge a [tired old] joke when you see it.
12 May 2013 at 22:23 #8806Been out this evening and just got back to find everyone hiding behind the sofa.
In light of the potential horror of actual spoilers, I’m not sure if Dan should do the normal speculative run up to the end of the series. Besides, they keep closing the weekly blog early and the classic episode ones have been limping along.
Room behind the sofa for another?
12 May 2013 at 22:25 #8807@lula – BBC iPlayer is the part of the BBC website where y’all can watch BBC programmes on the internet.
Here in Britain, we must pay a TV license fee (an annual tax which funds the BBC) with one’s TV. We can watch BBC programmes on the BBC website as they are broadcast – but only if one has a TV license (which presumes having a TV). If not, one has to wait until after broadcast to watch. Sometimes, this can take mere minutes, or sometimes even overnight to be available.
It appears to be related to how long or how popular a programme is – but I suspect it’s something about priorities in the iPlayer web department. For example, Doctor Who is now available mere minutes after broadcast, whilst ‘Have I Got News For You’ (a satirical look at the news via a comedy panel show) can sometimes not be available until the next morning.
12 May 2013 at 22:37 #8809@chickenelly – someone at the G said that the standard closing time for any piece is 3 days. When something is meant to be left open for longer, it requires someone to pull a lever / press a button / do a headstand or somesuch, and this vital extra exercise is often forgotten. They’ve heartily apologised many times … but then keep on forgetting to do the extra bit necessary to keep those blogs open longer which have been promised to be so.
I stopped posting on the G long ago, and have stopped even reading comments since I had to disable CifFix due to problems with my Firefox browser.
(Although I admit I had a sneaky look at the DW blogs of the last two weeks, if only because people here on this [or behind this!] lovely comfy sofa were so appalled at what they saw there. But that ‘nesting consciousness’ is horrid, and what they did to the profiles was even more unforgiveable; and more importantly the influx of rampantly rancid comments over the last year or so makes me despair of humankind.)
12 May 2013 at 22:38 #8810I’ll be with you deleting when I can @craig. Personally, I think we are a relatively small target for trolls. They can have much more fun on the newspaper sites and larger fan forums.
I’m not going to hide away as I have final runup bonkers speculation to make! (I was doing it earlier but this issue and a few others have delayed that).
I think it’s more than likely that papers like The Sun and Mail will run spoilers on this. The Sun had a load of stuff a while ago with its typical “The series is losing millions/Moff should go” line. I get the feeling he may have spoiled an exclusive with a general announcement about the 50th and it was payback.
I’ll also have some stuff for the Faces thread and promised @htpbdet I’d help with a couple of formatting issues and images on his blog pages.
On Ray Cusick I think he was named at the BAFTA Craft Awards held on the 28thApril which are more for the behind the scenes work in Television.
12 May 2013 at 22:40 #8811@phaseshift and @jimthefish – You are both very welcome. I feel for the production team. They put so much effort into keeping those last 3 minutes secret in order for the surprise to unfold for everyone more or less together. Now that has been spoiled. I’m sure those seeing it early are just as appreciative of the hard work, but having done my time on the other side of the lights…I know how disappointing it is for creatives when their clever gifts are opened early. I’m staying away from twitter and my facebook ‘entertainment’ feeds this week.
12 May 2013 at 22:40 #8812From the Dr Who Facebook page:
We understand that a small number of US fans have received in error their DVD edition of Series 7 Part 2 early. We respectfully ask those fans not to divulge information or post content publicly so that fellow fans who have yet to see the episodes do not have their viewing pleasure ruined.
If everyone keeps the secrets safe until next Saturday we will release a special new clip featuring material of the Tenth AND Eleventh Doctor!
12 May 2013 at 22:42 #8813@craig – it might be a good idea to close the site to new registrations for the time being.
12 May 2013 at 22:48 #8814@craig and @blenkinsopthebrave — I’ll also try to make sure that spoilers don’t stay on the website. I have to say though that there’s been minimal evidence of trollery on the site so far so I don’t think it’ll start to happen now. And with regards Broadchurch, can something still be counted as a spoiler several weeks after broadcast?
@scaryb — I’m pretty sure that they did only finish the last five minutes for the finale a couple of weeks ago. But it’s clear that the distribution mechanism in place was extremely efficient — some might say too bloody efficient.
One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be really hard to avoid being spoiled this week. Almost as hard as it’s going to be to avoid the temptation to torrent it before Saturday. Be strong, Jimbo….
12 May 2013 at 22:52 #8815As you point out, we are none of us perfect. But what unites us is the love of a wonderful show.
And it is that love that makes me feel I might be joining @chickenelly behind the sofa for the next week. Perhaps peeking out tentatively when I feel strong enough. For although the wonderful @craig will be there to protect us from blatant spoilers, I have a feeling that because enough bits and pieces of what is coming have already been revealed to a lot of us, it will have the inevitable effect of influencing our bonkers speculations. So that by the time it actually airs, a large part of the surprise will have gone.
I hope not, but you never know.
So, @shazzbot, for the moment, comradely greetings from behind the sofa.
12 May 2013 at 22:55 #8816@ardaraith — yep, I’ll bet Moffatt is livid. I’d imagine there’s more than a few guilty parties hiding from an irate person of Scottish extraction at the moment.
@craig and @pedant — it’s obviously @craig‘s call but not sure we’d want to stop registrations. But for the next week, I’d say that the posting of any major and obvious spoilers that are not clearly marked as such and placed in the Spoilers section should probably be met with instant expulsion.
12 May 2013 at 22:55 #8817@JimTheFish – oh for pete’s sake, I said ‘the butler did it’ !! It wasn’t a spoiler, no matter how many weeks after broadcast and no matter how violently Blenkinsop took to it. It was a hoary old joke.
Does absolutely no-one have a sense of humour anymore?
12 May 2013 at 22:59 #8818Dear all. After a very sensible suggestion from IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan ( @pedant ) I have now closed the sign up page (I’m a bit slow but it IS Sunday night). So hopefully we can remain spoiler free. Is a bit drastic, but I’d rather that than spoil your enjoyment of the show or this forum.
Of course, I can’t stop those who have already signed up posting spoilers, but we will just have to hope that they realise, as my Mum would say, it’s not big and it’s not clever. And it diminishes you in everyone’s eyes.
12 May 2013 at 23:07 #8819@jimthefish I don’t mind if we lose a few new sign ups. I’d rather keep the people who have been here from the start as free from spoilers as we can. You have all been the lifeblood of this site for the last four months. If people can’t wait till next Saturday to sign up then we don’t want them anyway 😀
I’ve said that if anyone really, desperately wants to sign up they should email me. Then I’ll interrogate them! 😀
12 May 2013 at 23:10 #882112 May 2013 at 23:20 #8824@Bluesqueakpip – re the Olympics opening ceremony – that involved several tens of thousands of people who all pulled together to keep an amazing secret intact. I’m still astonished that it didn’t get out. (And I’m very jealous that you had a part in all of that! I haven’t been much amazed by TV, nor indeed by sport, in my life; but that opening ceremony was sublime.)
How many US people received early DVDs or Blue-Ray discs of 7b? Fewer than the people – like you – who watched Danny Boyle’s efforts? Is the worry because the people who received their DW 7b discs early are more likely to trumpet their knowledge across t’interwebs than the Olympics opening ceremony people?
Is it the differences between DW and the Olympics? The difference between S Moffat and D Boyle? Or the trolls’ calculations of global audiences? (Because, with that last, I suspect the Olympics were watched by many factors of thousands/millions of people across the globe more than Doctor Who — as much as I love DW and it pains me to say that people adore sport more than DW.)
So, what benefits anyone to ‘spill the beans’ on the DW finale, more than spilling the beans on the Olympics opening ceremony? Other than being a total dick just because they can be? Because being a total dick was an option with the Olympics, and they stifled their bollocks. Was Danny Boyle that charismatic?
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