Just as the BBC had promised, a special ‘Doctor Who’ video was released as a special thank you to fans for not spoiling the season finale that aired Saturday, May 18th. The video featuring Matt Smith and David Tennant was released soon after the episode had ended and we have it here for you to see below!
If you recall, last week, BBC America had inadvertently shipped out the ‘Doctor Who’ Season 7.5 Blu-ray set to those who had pre-ordered it 2 weeks early. After discovering the mistake, both BBC and BBC America implored those who received it to not post spoilers. In addition, several sites all over social media refused to post any spoilers and even shut down comments sections to preserve the secrets.
While it may seem like a lot of work, it was well worth it! The jaw dropping season finale delivered an unbelievably entertaining and riveting episode to a season that was riddled with highs and lows.
The devotion to the show did not go unnoticed to showrunner Steven Moffat who wrote a blog entry in The Guardian thanking fans for keeping the episode contents safe:
Well that was all a bit Keystone Cops, wasn’t it? Our biggest surprise, our most secret episode, a revelation about the Doctor that changes everything …
… and we’d have got away with it too, if we hadn’t accidentally sent Blu-ray copies of Name Of The Doctor to 210 Doctor Who fans in America. Security-wise, that’s not GOOD, is it? I mean, it’s not top-notch; it’s hard to defend as professional-level, hard-line secrecy.
My favourite fact is that they’re Blu-Rays. Listen, we don’t just leak any old rubbish, we leak in high-def – 1080p or nothing, that’s us. Every last pixel in beautifully rendered detail. It’s like getting caught extra naked.
But here’s the thing. Never mind us blundering fools, check out the fans. Two hundred and ten of them, with the top-secret episode within their grasp – and because we asked nicely, they didn’t breathe a word. Not one. Even Doctor Who websites have been closing their comments sections, just in case anyone blurts. I’m gobsmacked. I’m impressed. Actually, I’m humbled. And we are all very grateful.
Now you might be thinking, what does all this matter? It’s a plot development in the mad old fantasy world of Doctor Who, why is that important? Well of course, it’s not important, and in the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter at all. Just as it doesn’t matter when you’re telling a joke, and some idiot shouts out the punchline before you finish. It’s irritating, that’s all. It’s bad manners.
Well, no bad manners here! Two hundred and ten Doctor Who fans kept the secret, and many, many more fans helped. I wish I could send you all flowers, but I don’t know where you live (and, given our record, you really shouldn’t be sharing private information with us). So instead, if we can get our act together – and I forgive you for thinking that’s a big if – there will be a little video treat released on the Doctor Who site later tonight.
And here’s the “little video treat” that Moffat had spoke about:
It’s not surprising to learn that the BBC has officially announced that ‘Doctor Who’ has been renewed for an 8th season. While it has been already known for several months that Jenna-Louise Coleman would be sticking around as the Doctor’s companion, after much speculation as to whether we’d see a regeneration anytime soon, fans won’t have to worry, as Matt Smith stated in an interview he would continue in the role as the Doctor for another year. It’s also been announced that Moffat would continue on as executive producer and showrunner and Brian Minchin would begin taking the role as executive producer replacing Carolyn Skinner. If Minchin’s name seems familiar, that’s because he’s spent a lot of time in the ‘Doctor Who’ world starting off as a script editor for ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Torchwood’ then promoting to producer for ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’, ‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’, ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ and most recently Russell T. Davis’ ‘Wizards vs. Aliens’.
Currently, Smith is in Detroit filming ‘How to Catch a Monster’, but will return to film the Christmas episode of ‘Doctor Who’ in the summer with production on Season 8 begin sometime at the end of the year or the beginning of 2014.