Bread & Circuses - giving the buyer what they want
Jan 19, 2024 16:23:44 GMT
GC and Future-Diver like this
Post by markhev1966 on Jan 19, 2024 16:23:44 GMT
Like many of you from reading threads, I think that the "reimagined" range of animations is a joke. When people have the audacity to stand up and state "What were they thinking?" regarding casting white actors in other roles - in the 60s - you know that they are not looking for historical perspective that there probably were not that many Tibetans in the UK let alone those acting, rather that they are virtue signaling and spreading "the message". OK you can say that some portrayals of other ethnicities are some what suspect now in more enlightened times, (Benny Hill's Chinese character for example) but in those days people knew no different. It was a world where foreign travel was in its infancy and the only foreign people that most folks knew were from the TV or films. Jumping on a plane to do an audition in New York is common today - then it was reserved for big film roles. So yes, if we look at old films there will be things that might make us shudder today - in fact the racist attitude of shows like Love Thy Neighbour probably lives on in many "of a certain age" today as that is what they grew up with. They also grew up with puppets smoking and getting crushed to death in Gerry Anderson Shows, Women being the tea maker or the eye candy and so on. The world changes, attitudes change but good TV remains good TV
So after that here is my point. Are the BBC and RTD giving the people what they really want? There is an argument that the 5 million overnight for the Christmas Special is a good thing in the days of reduced viewing figures on multi platforms but I would argue that the viewers have not gone away, they are simply not tuning in.
When Who came back in 2005 it was remembered fondly by the core audience, and vaguely as that crappy old show with wobbly walls and rubber monsters by everyone else. Yet in just a few months it became a massive hit and the figures were pretty good. They took a half forgotten show and made it a success.
And that brings me to the merchandise. It was EVERYWHERE. The new stuff was in every shop - I remember going into my local corner shop and seeing a rack of action figures where the last time they had had toys was when I was a kid in the 70s and there was a small selection of Airfix kits and Matchbox Cars. Since the mid Capadi era it seems to have died and I think this is due to the age of the viewers. I don't see kids asking for these anymore. Its middle aged fans buying the stuff and a glance at the DVD/blu ray range seems to bear this out.
I am using Amazon UK as of 19th January for figures:
60th Anniversary Specials (DVD) released 18/12 1000+ sold
60th Anniversary Specials (blu) released 18/12 1000+ sold
60th Anniversary Specials (steelbook) released 18/12 sold out no data on Amazon so let us assume the normal run of 3000
The Daleks in Colour (DVD) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Daleks in Colour (blu) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Daleks in Colour (Steelbook) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (DVD) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (blu) (pre release sales started 08/12) 100+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (steelbook) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Church on Ruby Road (DVD) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Church on Ruby Road (blu) (pre release sales started 08/12) 600+ last month
The Collection Season 15 (box set) (pre release sales started 11/01) 6000+
These figures suggest a few things.
1) The new stuff is not selling that well. The steelbooks are always a sell out before transmission and so these are expected to sell fast (usually in 2 - 8 weeks going by past releases). The 60th specials feature a popular Doctor and Companion returning duo.
2) The animations don't seem to be generating pre sales enthusiasm beyond "the core". See below.
4) The Colourisation seems to be a bit of a dud and complaints about losing 100 minutes and the overloud music may have something to do with this? (speculating here)
5) A new Doctor in a much heralded return gets about 1000 sales preorder in a month. Other older stand alone discs (Power of the Doctor 100+, The Specials 100+, Twice Upon a Time 50+) are still ticking over some of them 15 years after release.
6) a middling Tom Baker season gets 6000+ in a week.
So just theorising here, why are we told that we have to like it or lump it with the piss poor never the same style twice animations, when figures suggest its a niche market and that possibly (probably) only the core fans are buying them? I am with Ian Levine all the way when he states that the animation should set out to replicate the missing episode as closely as possible. Look at the first releases; The Invasion, The Tenth Planet 4 and the Moonbase all look and feel like an organic part of the 1960s tale they represent. By the time we reach Fury from the Deep, we have posters of current villains, brightly lit massive "sets" (robbing the story of the claustrophobic unseen terror for which it was famous, and waving weed fronds that look like they are out of the 1967 Spider-man cartoon! Massive changes - erasing British Actors and the creature inhabiting the Monk for "PC" faces and the Ghost of Christmas past, in Abominable, A complete reworking of The Underwater Menace and the frankly disastrous Web 3 do not make fans happy. Yet we are told "Old white man babies are crying again"
It seems to me that its the custodians of the legacy and history of this (and other properties) - the crying man babies, like me - that are being canceled and that the general viewing public is brainwashed into thinking that the low standard of film/TV production and rewriting of history is the norm. Whilst it looked crap, Ian Levine's Massacre at least attempted to look like the thing it was replacing. By the time we get to that we will probably have Mr Blobby as the Abbot!
So after that here is my point. Are the BBC and RTD giving the people what they really want? There is an argument that the 5 million overnight for the Christmas Special is a good thing in the days of reduced viewing figures on multi platforms but I would argue that the viewers have not gone away, they are simply not tuning in.
When Who came back in 2005 it was remembered fondly by the core audience, and vaguely as that crappy old show with wobbly walls and rubber monsters by everyone else. Yet in just a few months it became a massive hit and the figures were pretty good. They took a half forgotten show and made it a success.
And that brings me to the merchandise. It was EVERYWHERE. The new stuff was in every shop - I remember going into my local corner shop and seeing a rack of action figures where the last time they had had toys was when I was a kid in the 70s and there was a small selection of Airfix kits and Matchbox Cars. Since the mid Capadi era it seems to have died and I think this is due to the age of the viewers. I don't see kids asking for these anymore. Its middle aged fans buying the stuff and a glance at the DVD/blu ray range seems to bear this out.
I am using Amazon UK as of 19th January for figures:
60th Anniversary Specials (DVD) released 18/12 1000+ sold
60th Anniversary Specials (blu) released 18/12 1000+ sold
60th Anniversary Specials (steelbook) released 18/12 sold out no data on Amazon so let us assume the normal run of 3000
The Daleks in Colour (DVD) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Daleks in Colour (blu) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Daleks in Colour (Steelbook) (pre release sales started 10/11) 100+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (DVD) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (blu) (pre release sales started 08/12) 100+ last month
The Celestial Toymaker (steelbook) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Church on Ruby Road (DVD) (pre release sales started 08/12) 300+ last month
The Church on Ruby Road (blu) (pre release sales started 08/12) 600+ last month
The Collection Season 15 (box set) (pre release sales started 11/01) 6000+
These figures suggest a few things.
1) The new stuff is not selling that well. The steelbooks are always a sell out before transmission and so these are expected to sell fast (usually in 2 - 8 weeks going by past releases). The 60th specials feature a popular Doctor and Companion returning duo.
2) The animations don't seem to be generating pre sales enthusiasm beyond "the core". See below.
4) The Colourisation seems to be a bit of a dud and complaints about losing 100 minutes and the overloud music may have something to do with this? (speculating here)
5) A new Doctor in a much heralded return gets about 1000 sales preorder in a month. Other older stand alone discs (Power of the Doctor 100+, The Specials 100+, Twice Upon a Time 50+) are still ticking over some of them 15 years after release.
6) a middling Tom Baker season gets 6000+ in a week.
So just theorising here, why are we told that we have to like it or lump it with the piss poor never the same style twice animations, when figures suggest its a niche market and that possibly (probably) only the core fans are buying them? I am with Ian Levine all the way when he states that the animation should set out to replicate the missing episode as closely as possible. Look at the first releases; The Invasion, The Tenth Planet 4 and the Moonbase all look and feel like an organic part of the 1960s tale they represent. By the time we reach Fury from the Deep, we have posters of current villains, brightly lit massive "sets" (robbing the story of the claustrophobic unseen terror for which it was famous, and waving weed fronds that look like they are out of the 1967 Spider-man cartoon! Massive changes - erasing British Actors and the creature inhabiting the Monk for "PC" faces and the Ghost of Christmas past, in Abominable, A complete reworking of The Underwater Menace and the frankly disastrous Web 3 do not make fans happy. Yet we are told "Old white man babies are crying again"
It seems to me that its the custodians of the legacy and history of this (and other properties) - the crying man babies, like me - that are being canceled and that the general viewing public is brainwashed into thinking that the low standard of film/TV production and rewriting of history is the norm. Whilst it looked crap, Ian Levine's Massacre at least attempted to look like the thing it was replacing. By the time we get to that we will probably have Mr Blobby as the Abbot!