"Doctor Who" is one of the United Kingdom's longest running television programs in history, with over 50 years of existence under its belt. The story focuses on the title character, who is able to regenerate into different bodies with different personalities. When the body is changed for the Doctor, obviously the actors change as well. These are highly anticipated television events, with comparisons being made to the anticipation of royal weddings that come around every generation or so. Even the next Doctor, who hasn't even debuted yet, played by Peter Capaldi, is receiving a lot of media attention around the globe. But, how does the show maintain a level of surprise for the viewer in this day and age of the spread of information globally through social media spoilers?
The show's highly awaited 50th anniversary episode has got fans on the edge of their seats with the expectations of a regeneration. This was revealed through an online mini-episode which depicts every living actor that ever portrayed the Doctor. Fans were kept in the dark about this, until showrunner Steven Moffat revealed the 5-minute scene to hype the upcoming episode.
Moffat mislead fans through comments made by former Doctor, Paul McGann, who hasn't starred in the show since 1996, stating that he would not appear in the milestone episode. During the online clip, McGann is seen transforming into another former Doctor, played by John Hurt. Moffat is delighted to be throwing the fans "curve-balls" in this social media age of "spoiler alerts." With leadership like this, perhaps this is a reason why the show has sustained for over half a century.
The 50th anniversary episode will be a "movie length special" that will also be simulcasted worldwide and shown in theaters in 3-D. It will be a couple years until the episode's release, so it will be interesting to see what efforts Moffat takes to generate more interest, and at the same time, keep the surprises to a minimal.
DOCTOR WHO IS SO AWESOME !!!! people just love this show!! I have only seen about a few episodes because a patient of mine introduced me to this show but I loved it. To be honest I think doctor who is going to be around for many more years - at least I hope.
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