I think it’s unfair that the people who live in America and therefore could actually attend comic con get the trailer whereas the people in England (home of Doctor Who) don’t get to watch the trailer.. It’s not fair. We should all get to watch it!

I do not object to the trailer being shown at Comic Con first – I understand the BBC wishing to give this audience something to pique their interest, and I feel it is nice that the fans at Comic Con can see something new and exciting. What I do not understand is this idea that the people at Comic Con needed something more to make them watch than the die-hard fans in the UK. I would imagine that anyone at a Doctor Who panel is a Whovian, and those 200 or so people are probably just as likely to watch the aniversary as the British. I also do not understand not putting the trailer on the BBC website after showing it at Comic Con, or at least giving some indication of when we might get to see it. I also did not like finding about the return of the Daleks as a sort of pacifier, that would have been so much more powerful coming in a trailer. We Whovians are a remarkably patient bunch, but we won’t just sit here quietly forever!

OH COME ON!
That’s just not fair!
Apart from a few episodes set in America and an American made T.V movie, why did the Americans deserve to see it and not British!
We British rarely make shows that become critically acclaimed worldwide, and most of them the Americans make an American version of. Doctor Who is the best show ever, I want everyone to watch it, but Britain should get the exclusive stuff, such as marathons, conventions, Documentaries and the trailer!
I’m starting to think the B.B.C have lost their original roots!

And Steven Moffatt asking them not to spoil it… Doesn’t he ever learn?

I’m disgusted with the BBC. I’m sorry, but I am.

At it’s most basic level, it comes down to the BBC ignoring the British fans because plain and simple, they take us for granted.

I mean, how much more of a slap in the face can you get than the BBC showing the FIRST EVER trailer for the 50th Anniversary of an iconic British show to the Americans first and THEN asking people not to tell British fans what was in it and not putting it online for us to see?

Non-fans claim we’re selfish and whiny about this, but I couldn’t disagree more. All we want is a bit of respect, not to be completely ignored and taken for granted whilst the BBC woo the American fans.

I certainly have nothing against the American fans themselves, it’s all the BBC and British fans now have to live with the fact the first trailer for the massive anniversary episode is out there and we’re not allowed to see it.

As I started this post, I’m disgusted with the BBC.

Not selfish, not ungrateful, not whiny……..We just ask for a bit of respect and appreciation.

@JC
Well Said!

Have to agree i find it disapointing but thinking about it maybie they showed it there first as a thank you for not doing spoliers when the dvd came out of the final part of the series in the states by accident. Could be wrong tho.

Personally for me its not a UK v US thing as some have said. The simple fact is in my personal opinion that the trailer should have been made world wide. Not just for those who can afford to go to SDCC. What makes those that have the money/time to go to SDCC more deserving than other fans who can’t go..
This whole affair stinks of being money money money.. and i find that abhorrent. A show funded by a public license fee should never “Price out” there core fans world wide.
Yes give SDCC something of a treat.. but respect and loyalty to those who’ve supported the show and kept it on the air for 50 years should mean a whole lot more than who’s got the biggest wallet.

@Ellen Smith
Considering we only have a 90 minute window to buy tickets, and a few thousand in travel costs to get there, not many Americans can get there either.

I’m not sure why the tradition of making everything “Comic-con exclusive” started, it seems antithetical to the spirit of the people who make it a major event – the fans paying to go, and paying for the things being advertised there.

I noticed on Facebook when arguments about this broke out it was only Americans who were defending the decision. Need I say more? >>

I’m 100% American and I think it was absolutely terrible that the BBC chose a small little dot on the Pacific coast way down at the bottom of my country near Mexico as the place to exclusively show the trailer.

I’m in the Chicago area (“Doctor Who’s Home Away From Home” Quote: John Nathan-Turner) where DW has had HUGE conventions since the 20th anniversary of the show. I would never, NEVER have expected the BBC to premiere the 50th anniversary trailer here. And I certainly wouldn’t have expected them to say, “That’s all then. No more.”

I love DW because of it’s Britishness. Right now the United States is all abuzz over the birth of William and Kate’s son. We’re going nutty over that too because of it’s unique Britishness. (Sure am glad William and Kate didn’t decide to let us Americans know about the birth first and then keep it from everyone else!)

Someone there at the BBC has got to have a brain in their head. I would think Moffat would be trying to get this decision reversed.

Oh, and no, I have not seen the trailer. I too was hoping it would show up on the BBC website, because that’s the only place I would be able to see it, too.

Fair enough that they decided to show the trailer to Comic Con, there is nothing wrong with that. But ignoring the British fans who don’t have the money or the privilege to travel to SDCC and see it, especially after all these years of us supporting the show is really wrong. I have nothing against Americans seeing it first in any way but I just feel it’s unfair that they think its acceptable to keep it from British fans. And then announcing there will be a trailer released, taking it back and replacing it with a picture of a Dalek is very annoying, even a promotional image of John Hurt and David Tennant or something would have been better! I’m all for keeping secrets so it will be better in November but if you don’t want people posting spoilers, don’t show a trailer at all!

Got to agree with most sentiments in the comments. British fans have kept this show alive for 50 years. It was British fans who campaigned, wrote, pestered the BBC to bring it back after it was cancelled, a time when American fans had barely registered it existed. Its us Brits that pay for it through the licence fee, its us Brits that make or break the show with our viewing figures. It was a slap in the face to to do this, especially as there was a convention in London only 2 weeks before SDCC.

Moffat and Co are taking us for granted and that is a dangerous move, given that if we stop watching, the Beeb will cancel it, no matter how many Americans huff and puff. Its a British show, made for a British audience. That is what has made it special and it was British fans who were there in the dark times. Its time the BBC gave us a little something in return

I mean, there are suggestions it was a teaser as opposed to a trailer, so 30, 40 or 50 seconds worth, which wouldn’t be as bad as a full trailer, but I think the point still stands an exclusive American Sci-Fi conference got equally exclusive access to 50th Anniversary footage.

As I say, I have nothing against American fans, I have a number of American friends who are Doctor Who fans, I just hate the way the BBC have treated British fans.

It’s this kind of behaviour that was responsible for Miracle Day, which pretty much brought about the fall of Torchwood.

I heard to it was only a snipet of the full trailer which is still being completed so I think the reason they aren’t releasing it is because we are going to see the same clips in the full trailer. I do agree it is unfair to show it in America first as it is a British show so I am very dissapointed in them really. They better get thier act together or us British fans will bite back

A few points for the people upset at it being “released to Americans” first:

1) It’s not released to Americans. I’m American. I haven’t seen it. 99.98% of Americans are not being allowed to see it either. I believe the room it was aired in seats 6,500 people. That is a hard limit set by the fire marshall; I could imagine it having gone slightly over, but not by much. There are 313.9 million people in America; according to the Nielsen ratings, over a million Americans are watching Doctor Who regularly, so I guess we could say that 99.35% of American Whovians aren’t getting to see it (and that’s assuming 100% of Comic Con attendees are American).

2) San Diego Comic Con is not the whole of America, or even a significant part of it, and being an American only makes it marginally easier to attend. The tickets sell out in an hour and a half, and as for proximity, well, most Americans do not live anywhere near San Diego. Our only real advantage is not having to deal with the US State Department in obtaining a visa. Driving from my home would take nearly 28 hours according to Google, assuming you didn’t have to stop to eat or sleep or pee or fill your gas tank, and having once driven to Tucson, Arizona, I believe it.

3) Like it or not, SDCC has become “the” place to offer little exclusive tidbits. This is not for you or me or even the majority of SDCC attendees. This is for marketing executives to see, and is for the sake of improving international sales.

Me, I wish they’d release the trailer to everybody. I really do. It’s just the trailer, for goodness sakes; there can’t be too massive of a spoiler in there, because you don’t put spoilers in the *trailer*. And we’ve all got Who withdrawal at this point! But really, don’t see this as a US versus UK thing. Comic Con isn’t really something that happens in America, except in the strict geographic sense. It happens in Marketing Land.

I am not surprised. The Five Doctor’s was shown in America before it was shown here. It continues to prove that at it’s heart, the BBC does not care about the UK audience. All we are is money fodder for a poorly run over reliant company on cheap reality TV, so the BBC can over-spend on expenses and sending hundreds off staff on sporting holidays!

I feel so bad now… I saw the trailer at Comic-Con and didn’t realise everyone would be so upset :(

I feel so bad now… I saw the trailer at Comic-Con and didn’t realise everyone would be so upset. :(

Sorry, don’t know why that duplicated.

@Bailey

It’s not your fault Bailey. As I said, it was the BBC’s decision to show the first trailer to an American audience and it was their decision to unequivocally demand British fans not be shown anything.

The BBC’s head is in the clouds and they’re so focused on cracking America, they’ve completely ignored British fans because what’s are British audience numbers compared to what they could get in America?