British Doctor Who fans are not pleased that a trailer for the upcoming fiftieth anniversary special was screened last weekend at Comic Con.
A vocal group of fans believe that British viewers should have been allowed to see the trailer first.
Writing to Radio Times’ twitter account, one angry fan said “I don’t understand! This is a UK show and we don’t get to look first? How is that right or justifiable?”
Another wrote “They don’t care about their UK fans any more. It’s all about making it big in the US.”
“They don’t care about their UK fans any more,” another laments, “it’s all about making it big in the US.” While over on Facebook, talk turned to the popular argument of who pays for what: “No offence to American fans, but this is a British show… The least we can get is a trailer when we are the ones who pay the license fee!”
This isn’t the first time U.S. fans have got a look at an anniversary special before the U.K. viewers did. Back in 1983, “The Five Doctors” was screened on NJN (New Jersey Network) before it aired in Great Britain.
Are the British fans right or should they just chill out?
I’m a British fan and I couldn’t care less. It’s only a trailer for God’s sake!
ComicCon is the largest genre media event in the world so you would expect something special to be shown there.
If memory serves, I think we in the UK got to see Battlestar Galactica before it aired in the US (or at least the first or last episode – my memory ain’t that good) and I don’t recall any US fans complaining.
Only us sci fi fans could obsess over such a trivial matter.
I’m with my friends across the pond on this. Plus, Moffat’s attitude about the thing has been fuckered from the start. Telling people not to share the trailer on Twitter or YouTube? Dude, promoters at ComicCon HOPE for that kind of thing! me thinks Mr. Moffat doesn’t understand how building anticipation works.
Let’s put this in perspective for a moment. Yes, the trailer for a popular Brittish T.V. show was shown in America first. However, it was shown to a very and I mean very small group of people and that was it. If anything I would be more upset that only Comic Con goers got to see it and no one else. Weather in the U.S. Or The U.K. anyone outside of Comic Con got screwed over.
I can see both sides of this. I can see that the fans who paid good money to go to ComicCon wants some value for their investment. And I can see the UK fans side.
That said, the UK fans need to quit their whining and get over it.
I understand that the U.K. viewers pay a license fee in their taxes for BBC programming. And that license fee entitles them to view BBC programming. That’s a legitimate gripe. At the same time, this isn’t programming. This is a trailer. Contrary to popular belief on YouTube, the idea is to drum up anticipation for upcoming programs. Sounds to me as if there’s plenty of anticipation, or no one would be upset.
All I can say to the whiny Brits is “get over it”! How do you think us Americans felt when the Star Trek film was released in the UK before the US? Star Trek is an American franchise and almost an American institution. JJ Abrams and Paramount insulted the US fans by releasing it in the UK first. All we got to see was a lousy little trailer. You got a whole film!
“I understand that the U.K. viewers pay a license fee in their taxes for BBC programming. ”
Showing how little you understand. UK Viewers have to pay an ADDITIONAL fee to the BBC on top of taxes, mandated and protected by law. Even if you are unemployed, if you have a TV, the opinion – wrong or right, backed by the local coppers – you must pay it. It’s like a mandated cable subscription to you in the US. It’s like paying Warner Brothers for their channel and finding out the free channel that the hippies subscribe to got the trailer for a new WB movie on their channel before it came to yours.
Additionally it doesn’t “entitle” you to watch BBC, it pays the BBC’s funding and salaries across the board.
As an old-school Dr. Who fan, I can understand the frustration but feel obligated to point out that this is exactly what happens when a true fanbase drowns in the flood of mass market popularity. You might as well be pissed that Green Day is a thing. After all, The Sex Pistols were better.
The Brits need to just chill out, We all didn’t complain and bitch about Star Trek Into Darkness Premiering in London before it came to the US premier. As the British person would say it’s just a Bloody Trailer get over it!
I don’t really have a problem with the trailer airing first at Comic Con. I DO have a problem with the idea that this trailer is “exclusive” to Comic Con and it will not be available to UK fans later. It’s quite usual for a big convention like Comic Con or Worldcon to get an “exclusive” in that they get to see something *first* but the trailer is later released to the general fan population. This time we’ve been told that it’s “exclusive” to SDCC and will not be released to the UK.
“oh, but you’ll get other trailers – stuff the US fans won’t get” – uh,no – anything we get in the UK the US fans will get access to, by hook or crook, or just by waiting long enough.
By showing a trailer that is exclusive and not widely available, they can then put it on a special release Blu-Ray as a selling point to collectors.
Let me get this straight in my own mind if I can. The world is moving at warp speed headlong into climatological chaos due to global warming and its effects on the biosphere, there is a constant barrage of wars and rumors of wars where literally hundreds of thousands of people are slaughtered each and every day somewhere on the planet, people are going totally insane about a trial in Florida that should have stayed a local news story but thanks to race-baiting 24hr news outlets has turned into what may end up being massive hate riots that could destroy lives and billions of dollars in property destruction, and quite possibly there may be a giant asteroid headed our way with Earth’s name firmly planted on its bullet. But, the the fact that those who attended a US event called San Diego Comic Con were first to see a new trailer about Doctor Who before UK fans is what has angered people to cause this kind of response. Well, good. For a moment there I was worried that we humans had gotten our priorities a bit skewed. Nice to know all is well.