(no subject)

[scarfman]

So Steven Moffat is leaving the showrunning of Doctor Who to Chris Chibnall, writer of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship et al. and showrunner of Broadchurch and Starz's Camelot et al., after a year hiatus in 2016 and one last season in 2017. Cool. I didn't have a horse in the race for his replacement, but I did start saying a year or so ago that Moffat needed to leave like Davies did before he'd stayed too long, so sounds like he listened.

I've also been saying for about a year that I believe Moffat wants to outlast Capaldi and cast the first female Doctor, but I find I hope I'm wrong and Capaldi stays on (even if he doesn't and his successor is a woman, now it'll be Chibnall casting her rather than Moffat anyway, unless Capaldi were to quit even before 2017). Like others, I want - and have wanted at least since Davies announced his departure - to see a Doctor serve more'n one showrunner. That hasn't happened in realtime since 1980, the year before I started watching (unless you count McCoy cameoing for Segal, or McGann cameoing for Moffat, or any return appearances for anniversary teamups, none of which I count because cameos and because The Two Doctors was the only teamup when any of'em weren't written as sendups of the characters they played when they were the lead). I hope Capaldi stays for at least a year under Chibnall and then Chibnall casts a woman. If I had thought about having a favorite in the speculation about Moffat's successor, it would have been which would be most likely to cast a woman, and even if I now recalled the list of possibilities I don't know the answer to that.

It would also be interesting if the Season 2017 companion stays for Chibnall, not least because the standard of Davies' companions was staying only a year but the Ponds and Clara lasted more'n two seasons each like the most popular 20th century companions.

I dislike the prospect of going between Christmas specials without a proper season, or even half one like 2012 and 2013 each had, as much as the next fan who dislikes it. But my reason is, "Dammit, now I have to jigger that one formula in my cartoons' crossover chronology spreadsheet, like I had to do in 2012, except entirely differently because it's an off year instead of half a season each of two years." And if the next season of Sherlock is going to air next January then that's another one, dammit.