whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????

@pirko
BBBBeeeeeeeeecccccccccccaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee.

Sorry, it was too tempting.

I’m not sure whether this is good, bad, or merely indifferent. It all comes down to the story and the writing of it, really. If the story needs that extra fifteen minutes, then brilliant. I look forward to it!

I dont think its justified. Everyone who watches the show now (kids mainly) know what is to be expecting from a regeneration so this could just be overkill. Does this mean that everyone episode will now be 60 mins in length? just feels odd doing it for one episode

@pirko
I think the kids will be used to it by now, given the amount of 50+ minute episodes Russell wrote for Series Four. Given that the other twelve episodes will be 45 minutes, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Also, given it’s a post-regeneration episode, I think it warrants that extra time for the sake of setting up the Doctor, setting up Amy, setting up Rory, creating the companionship between the Doctor and Amy etc. ;)

I think that it’s a great thing. That extra 15 minutes might make Matt Smith a great Doctor, and encourage people to give him a chance.

Afterthought: I wonder if after the episode there will be an extended trailer for the rest of the series (like Torchwood Series 2)

Unbelievable!!!!! HELLO!! Remember David Tennant? The Tenth Doctor!!!! –

“The Christmas Invasion” 60-minute special 25 December 2005

This can only be a good thing. If you change the format now, after 4 years with David Tennant and extended episodes, what is the point of carrying on. This will prove there is life after David Tennant and I, for one, am excited by this news!

Forgot to add: hopefully this means the return of the 7pm timeslot and rather than random times every week like Series Three and Four.

@TE
Hear hear!

I’m really looking forward to this :D

@ steve

HELLO!!! DT debuted in a christmas special. A Christmas SPECIAL!!! Which means that it is entitled to be longer than a regular episode. Christmas Invasion was a SPECIAL, ‘Eleventh Hour’ is a standard episode in a SERIES.

Do we understand each other now?

@pirko
So you think just because it was a Christmas Special, only those are allowed to be an hour long? Or maybe you are just favouring that argument because of David Tennant?
So, allow me to blow your argument out into space –

“Journey’s End” 4.13 is 65 mins long. 5 July 2008 – Which was the final episode of season 4. So what was that?

Based on your argument, 4.13 should have been a “regular episode’ and therefore only 45 minutes long!

Also “The Sound Of Drums”, another “regular episode’ was 52 minutes long. 30 June 2007.

So why is it ok for David Tennant and not Matt Smith?

Steve :
Also “The Sound Of Drums”, another “regular episode’ was 52 minutes long. 30 June 2007.

A – Last of the Time Lords, not The Sound of Drums.
B – The Sound of Drums was broadcast on the 23rd June.
C – Are you still ranting on about David Tennant?! You’ve said before, “This will prove there is life after David Tennant and I, for one, am excited by this news”", yet you keep going on and on about him like he’s still the Doctor. It’s boring.

@TE
Really? Did you follow the discussion or are you just annoyed because I am sticking up for Matt Smith and the first episode of the new season.

My mistake, I meant Last Of The Timelords, which was on 30 June 2007 and was 52 minutes long.

I noticed you have not pulled pirko up about his comments concerning these so called “regular episodes”. He brought that up and not me. I just proved he was wrong because not only “specials”, Christmas or otherwise can be an longer than these “regular episodes”.

@TE

LOTD and Journeys End were series FINALES therefore they could be justified a longer run time. BAM! Its not just I miss DT, Im very much intrigued by the new series but it does reek of desperation that they have to start a new series with a one hour special.

@pirko
I see. So what your saying is, it’s ok to have the final episode extended but not ok to have the opening episode for a brand new Doctor running to an hour. And yet, it was ok for DT opening episode to run for an hour? Not exactly fair is it? David Tennant had taken the role at the end of a series. It was just pot luck that the BBC gave permission to extend the episode to an hour. I think it is great that the BBC are giving Matt Smith the same treatment. I, also, think it is a great shame that so called “fans” think Matt should not be given the same.

@Steve
Why would I be annoyed about that? I’ve got no problem with Matt, Steven or Series Fnarg. It’s just that there’s a line between enthusiastic and ridiculous. Besides, your argument has nothing to do with “sticking up for Matt Smith”.

I, also, think it is a great shame that so called “fans” think Matt should not be given the same.

That has nothing to do with it. It’s about whether the episode’s storyline warrants those extra fifteen minutes in comparison to the other twelve episodes which will be forty-five minutes approx.

My concerns about extended running times in some of the previous episodes is that they seem to lack the panach and seem padded out, of so called regular episodes and it would be a great shame if this happened with the start of 11th Doctors run.
This is from somebody who dreaded the thought of the 9th Doctor being replaced with David Tennant, how wrong was I?

@ian cunningham
I remember when David Tennant first appeared, my mother folded her arms and said, “I don’t like him.”

Five years later, when Matt Smith appeared, my mother folded her arms and said, “I don’t like him.”

Whatever the length of their first episode, I cannot wait for the debut proper of Matt Smith and Steven Moffatt. MSSM! Or SMMS! See, small things like that make me happy.