So, it
happened. The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary trailer was screened at San Diego
Comic Con, and afterwards not only did the BBC fail to comply with their
promise to upload the trailer for the rest of the world to see, but show runner
Steven Moffat told the audience present at the event that if a single one of
them 'leaked' the trailer to the rest of us, there would be no more Doctor Who
exclusives coming their way.
Now, I am
not going to discuss whether it was Moffat or the BBC behind this decision
(read: threat), nor am I going to focus on the fact that this trailer was made
event-exclusive.
What I am
going to focus on, is the fact that the BBC chose an American run event to
showcase this trailer, rather than a UK one, despite the fact that Brittish tax
payers and licence payers are the ones who actually fund the show, despite the
fact that there are several eligeble events taking place in the UK all the time
that the BBC could have chosen as their venue.
Now, I am a
fan of a lot of different television shows. A lot of them are American products.
When that is the case, the show will be aired in the US first, and the rest of the world is
forced to wait a certain amount of months before networks in other countries
can begin airing the very same episodes. Now, this worked back in the days
before the internet, when television viewers were ignorant to how far the plot
had advanced outside the viewing schedule in their own countries. But now we
have the internet, and specifically fan communities where people from all of
the world gather to discuss and share their enthusiasm for this particular
show.
This is all
fine and dandy if you happen to be privy to American television schedule (read:
live in the US or have legal access to US channels), but if you're not, you
don't stand a chance to be part of the community without having every single
piece of the plot spoiled to you before you get the chance to actually see the
episode in question (unless you resort to illegal streaming or downloading of
the content in question). Even when there are services like Hulu, where
American viewers can view the latest episodes online, foreign viewers cannot
even pay to access the service. Legally speaking, we are forced to wait no
matter what. It's an outdated and unfair system, and it needs to change, but
that is not what this particular incident is about - although it is somewhat
related to this.
Thing is,
if you're an American fan, you tend to get things served first, and now that is
beginning to come true also if the productions in question aren't an American
product. Here is where the problem lies, here is the reason so many Doctor Who
fans are downright pissed off by this latest move by Moffat and the BBC.
Because, firstly,
Doctor Who is a product of the BBC, which is funded by taxes and a special yearly
television license in the UK. To sum it up, the British
television owners pay for this show to be made (regardless on whether they
actually watch it). Secondly, Doctor Who isn't merely a television show, its 50
year long history has made it a staple within the British culture. Thirdly,
there are events taking place in the UK all the time, several of which
would have been plenty suitable for event-exclusive viewings like this one.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I personally attended London Film And Comic Con,
which was crawling with people, and there are other suitable candidates
happening in the time to come. It would have been a natural choice for a show
with such national importance as Doctor Who to have its first viewing of the
long-awaited trailer on UK soil.
Instead,
the trailer was flown halfway across the world, made exclusive to the handful
of people rich enough to follow it, or lucky enough to live near the event in
question.
I'm not
complaining that shows like Bones, Castle and other American products are
showcased at San Diego Comic Con, or that they show exclusive content for the
shows there. The event is close to where the shows are produced, so it makes
sense to showcase them there. I don't complain as a fan of both shows in
question that I don't get the chance to attend or access event-exclusive
content for these shows. Nor am I complaining that I personally don't get to
view the event-exclusive trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who special. I am not
a British citizen, it is not my television license that pays for production, so
I have no claim to this privilege.
But there
are millions of fans in the UK who have this claim, who are being cheated out
of the chance to view this event-exclusive because the BBC decided to
prioritize an American run event rather than finding a more local equivalent
which would give British citizens a fighting chance. Even with the economy, the
average UK citizen would be able to put aside
money for train/coach tickets and finding cheap lodgings for a night or two.
But only a handful would have the money or option to book enough time off at
work to fly halfway across the world for the exact same thing.
The BBC are
sending these people the message that they will prioritize fans in a whole
other country rather than the viewers back home who they can actually thank to
be able to even make this show. That is not just, and millions of UK fans have the right to be pissed
off at BBC for this decision, and millions of other fans have the right to be
pissed off on their behalf.
