Ideas #011: 21304 - Doctor Who

[biking_tiger]

I think it had to do with whose sonic screwdriver was bigger than whose...

[thoroakenfelder]

I'm working on my review of this set. Hopefully I can get it finished and posted by the time this thread gets back on topic.

[thoroakenfelder]

Since I can't edit my previous post, the review is finished, it just needs to be reviewed and made live.

[emazers]

Toys R Us in store just raised the Doctor Who to $64.99

[thoroakenfelder]

Amazon has it listed now at $59.95. I don't know when it went live, sometime in the past few hours.

[I am Niko]

1 hour ago, thoroakenfelder said:

Amazon has it listed now at $59.95. I don't know when it went live, sometime in the past few hours.

It went live yesterday.  I already got my 2 delivered from AMZ today.

[TheOrcKing]

18 hours ago, brickcrazyhouse said:

I miss River Song

17 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

Me too....looking forward to Christmas!

[exciter1]

They sold one today.

[biking_tiger]

Where's that swoopy guy when we need him? 

[wceagles]

just to give an idea of the general interest in this set..was chatting to amazon agent about an adjustment to my order, and this is how the conversation ended:

"Amazon Rep: Always happy to help!

Is there anything else I could do for you right now?

Me: no i think thats it

thank you so much

Amazon Rep: By the way I didn't know that Doctor Who LEGO is already available!

Amazon Rep: yes it become avail on Dec 1st..it was only at amazon UK for a little while - was lucky to get it!

you can still get it from the official legoshop

Amazon Rep: Oh. I need it as well as me and my wife are crazy Whovians

Me: yeah i remember it from when i was a child too

im still scared of daleks

Amazon Rep: Who is not?

Great. It was nice talking to you!

I hope you have a great day!"

[feed]

In the UK, it’s available from Asda, Argos, John Lewis (551 in stock), Tesco, The Entertainer, as well as Lego.  (Their limit of 1 seems a bit silly).  Unless there is a major campaign I can’t see it being high enough on the radar for Christmas for stocks to run low enough to make it flippable.  

Long term it has serious potential and likely discounts (Asda / Argos).  I have 5 on the off chance it does become hot for Christmas, but I’ll stock piling during the discount seasons.   
 

[CNH1974]

I clicked from Asda on Tuesday. 

I collected just now. 4 sets in a outer box, lego boxes all in good condition. 

Well done Asda, much better than Tesco who gave a 42009 to me in a black bag with burst sealed. 

And Asda was selling them for a 2% discount.

email from Lego LEGO Shop at Home my limit of one is in the post.

[CNH1974]

Average price after 3 days is around £65-70 still. With a single £90. 

The parter outers are popping up. The Matt Smith figure has a bid on it, £9.99 +3.25p&p so far. 

[Sauromosis]

I am starting to wonder if this set will be way bigger in Europe than USA.

[CNH1974]

35 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

I am starting to wonder if this set will be way bigger in Europe than USA.

I suspect it may be, particularly in the UK. Probably also in Australia and NZ where there are smaller but loyal audiences. 

I've just checked with a friend what the USA ratings are. 2.3 million approx. and it's on a premium channel. In the UK, it's on a free to air channel and is getting 6-8 million including downloads. So I think it will do well in the US. 

[feed]

1 hour ago, sauromosis said:

I am starting to wonder if this set will be way bigger in Europe than USA.

The set will do exceptionally well in the EU, driven largely and obviously by the UK.  I can’t really comment on the nature of the market for the set in the US.  But I suspect there is a degree of under estimation on the size of the market globally.  I.e. there are a lot more Doctor Who fans than you think, most of them just don’t shout about it.  

But there are a couple of factors that may shorten the lifespan of the set.  Current viewing figures in the UK are down for the most recent series, fans generally like the episodes but it hasn’t really maintained the popularity of the earlier seasons.  The BBC is making far too much money from the show for them to kill it, but there are rumours that the writers want a break and Capaldi wants to work on other stuff.   So we may see a reduction in episodes next year.  Some people are saying just the Christmas special, but I personally think this is unlikely.  

If initial sales in the US are weak and the BBC decides to reduce output/ rest the show, then the set may have a short(er) life.  Personally, I doubt it, as the BBC will be looking for future sales, but obviously it has to be in Legos interest to keep producing..    Whatever the outcome and life span, I’m all in on the set, having gone to school with Doctor Who Fans, knowing Adult Doctor Who fans. This set will still be desired when we hit the 75th year anniversary in 2038… 

One little anecdote.  My girlfriend watched a new hope when she was a kid.  This is her only experience of any SW. She knows nothing about Marvel/DC, Star Trek or any of the countless SF films or TV Series from the last 30 years.  Her knowledge of pop culture is more or less none existent.  But, She watches Doctor Who.
 

[dcdfan]

27 minutes ago, CNH1974 said:

I suspect it may be, particularly in the UK. Probably also in Australia and NZ where there are smaller but loyal audiences. 

I've just checked with a friend what the USA ratings are. 2.3 million approx. and it's on a premium channel. In the UK, it's on a free to air channel and is getting 6-8 million including downloads. So I think it will do well in the US. 

I think he forgot the sarcasm sign since this plays in America on BBC America...

[CNH1974]

9 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

I think he forgot the sarcasm sign since this plays in America on BBC America...

Um no. I am told BBC America is a premium channel in the USA. BBC America is owned by the BBC (obviously) but run separately, so it also shows other UK channel's shows from ITV and Channel 4. So again, I am told that that a 2.3 million figure is very good, in fact their top show. 

[dcdfan]

5 minutes ago, CNH1974 said:

Um no. I am told BBC America is a premium channel in the USA. BBC America is owned by the BBC (obviously) but run separately, so it also shows other UK channel's shows from ITV and Channel 4. So again, I am told that that a 2.3 million figure is very good, in fact their top show. 

You're saying this plays on another channel in the States?

[CNH1974]

Not that I know of, unless you count the PBS channels that do reruns.

now shush, Big Bang Theory's on. 

 

[dcdfan]

7 minutes ago, CNH1974 said:

Not that I know of, unless you count the PBS channels that do reruns.

now shush, Big Bang Theory's on. 

 

So, they you agree with me, not disagree. OP said "I am starting to wonder if this set will be way bigger in Europe than USA." When this is clearly the case was my point since this only plays on BBC America here...

[CNH1974]

11 minutes ago, dcdfan said:

So, they you agree with me, not disagree. OP said "I am starting to wonder if this set will be way bigger in Europe than USA." When this is clearly the case was my point since this only plays on BBC America here...

And I did not disagree with that. But I was assuming a 2.3m USA audience is quite large for a program that plays on a premium package channel. 

How, audience wise, does it compare to Game of Thrones or other HBO shows?

So getting back to the set, there will be a market for it. But how well it does will depend on whether Lego floods the market and length of production. Hopefully, like the Delorean it will be quite short.

[Mindbender]

I think some folks are really underestimating the Netflix effect. I do not have BBC America and was not a fan of the show until it showed up on Netflix. Now it ranks up there with my favorites. 

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, CNH1974 said:

Um no. I am told BBC America is a premium channel in the USA. BBC America is owned by the BBC (obviously) but run separately, so it also shows other UK channel's shows from ITV and Channel 4. So again, I am told that that a 2.3 million figure is very good, in fact their top show. 

 

37 minutes ago, CNH1974 said:

Not that I know of, unless you count the PBS channels that do reruns.

Okay, I'll chime in since you Brits don't know what you're talking about

It runs on BBC America, which is not a "premium" channel.  In the US, we call HBO and Showtime a "premium channel."  BBC America is available on most cable and satellite packages.  Per Wikipedia:  "As of February 2015, BBC America is available to approximately 78,375,000 television households (67.3% of cable, satellite and telco customers) in the United States."

PBS hasn't been airing Classic Who in a long time.  A small broadcaster called RetroTV is airing it, but it's not available very widely available (I don't have viewship numbers available).  (There are only 5 stations that carry it in California, none in San Diego where I am).

The Series 9 premiere was the largest ever for BBC America, coming in at 2 Million viewers.  You can read a lot more boring stats here.

I'm not going to try to convince anyone to watch the show, or to buy this set, though.  I know what my plan is for this set, and I'm very confident about how this will do after it's done.

 

[Alpinemaps]

20 minutes ago, Mindbender said:

I think some folks are really underestimating the Netflix effect. I do not have BBC America and was not a fan of the show until it showed up on Netflix. Now it ranks up there with my favorites. 

And here's the great thing about the show - not only does it refresh itself and changes it's cast every couple of years, it doesn't fit into any specific genre from week to week.  It's a comedy, a drama, a sci-fi show, a fantasy show, a horror show.  It's time travel.  It's space.  It's historical.  It's futuristic.

For instance, last week's episode I really disliked.  But it was really well-wrtten.  I don't like horror.  It was hardcore horror.  I know it was well-written because I really didn't like it.   But, that's this week's episode.  Last week's was completely different.  As will next week's.