BBC Studios Targets Two Twitter Accounts

BBC Studios filed a subpoena against Twitter regarding leaked Doctor Who Series 11 materials on August 3. The PDF of the court docket can be found here.

The two accounts are @VortexiaTweets and @MrWhelan101

The World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) covered the story on August 10.

"The BBC filed its subpoena against Twitter at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, August 3" 

*Source* 

(It seems the the article is now archived and only available to subscribers.

The article mentions the two Twitter accounts targeted as "Vortexia" and  "Mr Whelan 101".

"The BBC asked for any personal information held by Twitter on two of its users, including address, internet protocol location, and date of birth. The users are identified as Vortexia and Mr Whelan 101."

Both Twitter accounts have responded with statements after I tweeted them:

This is 100% bullshit but whatever, my ISP is masked anyway and i have just about every firewall you can think of protecting my privacy. Come after me all you want. You won’t get far. https://t.co/FT1yTAPuzJ

— Matt🌈 (@MrWhelan101) August 10, 2018

I'm being victimised 😂😂 https://t.co/7aBO0nKQc0

— Vortexia (@VortexiaTweets) August 10, 2018

If this is true, and they are indeed going after our Twitter accounts - then I have just have this to say:

I'd rather actually talk to someone and tell them what I know than them dox me. https://t.co/7aBO0nKQc0

— Vortexia (@VortexiaTweets) August 10, 2018

Yeah you can edit the article it's definitely me, @vortexia hasn't been active for 10 years ;)

— Vortexia (@VortexiaTweets) August 10, 2018

@VortexiaTweets Statement on this nonsense:

So you're all probably aware that @MrWhelan101 and myself are currently being investigated by the BBC because of lack of control on their leak culture.

Everything in @DoctorWhoPN 's article is correct, I'm grateful it was posted.

— Vortexia (@VortexiaTweets) August 10, 2018

Twitter has so far been very cooperative with the DMCA to the point of permanently suspending Twitter accounts for infractions as small as posting companion character portrait images from merchandisers who posted images from Doctor Who 2019 calendars too soon.

Another Leaked Photo of the TARDIS Interior

Earlier today, I saw  a photo on Facebook. The claim about the photo was it was of the TARDIS interior. I was skeptical because it was such a bad photo that I thought someone had photoshopped a fake TARDIS interior based on earlier leaked photos. It turns out the photo is genuine.

Just found out that there's a leaked photo of the Tardis interior, that alone makes me livid! The fact that it's a dreadful photo, taken by someone with no hint of artistry & unlit makes me absolutely effing incandescent with rage!

— Arwel Wyn Jones (@arwelwjones) August 9, 2018

The photo lacked interior illumination of several of the set elements. The red glow of the "ribs" and central column was missing as was the lighting under the floor which allows some of the geometry and the Gallifreyan writing to show.

This marks the forth time there has been a significant leak of Series 11 content, whether by deliberate theft, mistaken early release or a poorly ordered website.

This reminds me or a quote from Princess Leia to Governor Tarkin Star Wars: A New Hope.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

I'm not trying to compare BBC Studios or anyone who directs them to enforce extreme secrecy to the evil of the Empire nor depict anyone behind the leaks as virtuous. The deliberate leakers have patently broken the law and violated the trust of their employers.

I do think that the current atmosphere of extreme secrecy breeds this type of behavior, however. I've been frequently perplexed by the amount and kind of information which has not yet been released.

We do not even know the premiere date of the first episode two months before it delivers in October, according to a leak from an exclusive panel at the BBC Worldwide Showcase.

Doctor Who Magazine used to be a source of exclusive information about the series and now they are reduced to one photo exclusive in their last issue. The magazine used to be the source of knowledge of what writers and directors were hired for the upcoming series. None of the Series 11 writers (with the exception of Chris Chibnall) and only one of the directors were officially announced. The only reason we know the names of all four Series 11 directors is through diligent fan research.

None of the things I've mentioned contribute to spoilers for the episodes themselves so it's very perplexing that the fans aren't even allowed this information when they were in the past. All this secrecy is supposed to create a communal fan experience when Doctor Who premieres in the fall, but I've seen it cause fear and furtiveness among the fans.

It used to be fun to discover new things. Now the discovery of new material can be dangerous because the material itself is not alway what it seems. Fans do not always know when something that looks like an official publicity photo or images from a calendar offered for sale have been posted too soon or by accident. The increased vigilance of DMCA takedowns and the resulting consequences have led to the permanent loss of Twitter accounts. This creates much fear, bad will and resentment rather than a happy communal fan experience.

Another "Leak"

This web page, was deleted. It's from a merchandiser selling a calendar by Danilo, a company licenced to sell Doctor Who merchandise.

I do not know why the web page was taken down but I can venture to guess that perhaps they did not yet have permission to post the images of the calendar or offer it for sale.

Hence, we have another "leak", although it would likely be more accurate to call it an early, unauthorized posting of merchandise images.

The images on the website contained character portraits of the Doctor and her companions, Graham, Yasmin Khan and Ryan Sinclair.

Exclusive: Doctor Who News and Merchandise at the Licensing Expo

The Thirteenth Doctor is on the cover of The Bugg Report, a publication released in conjunction with the expo. Unfortunately the publication does not impart any new information about Series 11.

This is what I've been able to find so far for Doctor Who merchandise at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. I hope to have more news soon.

There is a new line with an attractive coat, a handbag and some jewelry featuring Gallifreyan symbols and, most importantly, stars. I hoped there'd be stars!

BBC Dr. Who at licensing expo #travel

A post shared by Anne Toole (@tisamely) on May 22, 2018 at 11:02am PDT

Do the stars look familiar? They should! There are stars on the Thirteenth Doctor's earring.

This is the highest resolution image I could glean from the PocketMags version of #DoctorWho Magazine of Thirteen's earring. You can now see the delineation of the fingers in the gold hand. #JodieWhittaker pic.twitter.com/C6osFJQNis

— Girly Letters (@GirlyLetters) January 11, 2018

The simplified rendition of the thirteenth Doctor's earring for comics shows only four stars. The number of stars on her upper ear seems not to matter. Note the lighter color at the (fingertips?) of one of the (shaking hands?). A gem of some kind? pic.twitter.com/4bY9FXIBsf

— Girly Letters (@GirlyLetters) May 6, 2018

It appears I was fortunate to find what little I did about BBC Studios' presence at the Licencing Expo. While other booths featured pieces of television sets, puppets, a live cat, and people dressed in character costumes including Power Rangers, a Velociraptor, Godzilla, etc., BBC Studios quietly offered space featuring several of their programs for convention goers to explore. I'm told there are two Doctor costumes in the far right of the second photo in this tweet.

Bbc booth pic.twitter.com/zRIskPS4la

— Floyd Lu (@FloydmoneyL) May 22, 2018

ITV posted a video of an accelerated walk-through of the convention which briefly included the BBC Studios booth.

It’s a busy first day here at #licensingexpo2018! Pop by stand L204 to chat to us about our licensing and merchandising opportunities. @licensingexpo pic.twitter.com/fvUrBRufZa

— ITV Studios (@itvstudios) May 22, 2018

Here is a screenshot of the video which shows the outside of the BBC Studios booth with a poster of the thirteenth Doctor.

So, with Doctor Who Series 11 premiering in October, it's too early for a huge thirteenth Doctor merchandising promotion.

Chris Chibnall's Different Kind of Relationship with Doctor Who Magazine

I received the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, #525, via my digital subscription. I contains some interesting articles on scenes and characters cut from various episodes of Doctor Who.

What it doesn't contain is Production Notes or news of any kind regarding Series 11 production.

This is a significant departure from the type of news the magazine used to report on series production during the times when Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat were the showrunners.

The editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Marcus Hearn was interviewed by Doctor Who: Panel to Panel podcast, which became available on February 3. It seems he couldn't stress enough how important Doctor Who Magazine is to Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens, the BBC and BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios). Below are a few excerpts from the podcast I've transcribed. All of it is interesting but I've highlighted the parts where Hearn is emphasizing how important Doctor Who Magazine is to the people producing it.

“I had a long meeting with Chris [Chibnall] and Matt [Stevens], I think in September were it was clear to me that both Chris and Matt are very enthusiastic about the magazine, have a very detailed knowledge of the magazine’s history and I’m please to say that both Chris and Matt and all their colleges and our colleagues a BBC television and BCC Worldwide value the magazine very highly, which is lovely to know.”

“It is the official Magazine. One thing I was delighted about was that Chris and Matt and all their colleagues at the BBC do actually recognize that we have a role to play as the official magazine and actually helping them to promote the series. We have, I hope, inside information.”

“It’s probably too early in the game to actually say. ‘How is the magazine going to help, or to work alongside of colleagues at the BBC to promote the new series because, as I’m talking to you now, we’re only in very early February and so we’re some months away from that but we have had a number of conversations about how much they value the magazine and about how they’re going to be working with us to help to promote the series when that comes around. So yes, we’re talking to Chris and Matt, we’re talking to the cast of the new series. I haven’t been on set but my deputy editor Peter Ware and as well assistant Emily Cooke have been spending some time in Cardiff. I’m planning to go next week for the first time. And so we are gathering material for when the time comes for outright transmission.”

Since issue #521, published after Jodie Whittaker's Doctor appeared on Twice Upon a Time and featuring the thirteenth Doctor on the cover with the caption “Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor", there hasn't been any production news of note. In past series, the magazine provided the names of the directors and writers, information on what block was currently being filmed and the occasional name or two of some of the actors who would appear in the series. The absence of production news is a very different approach with the new showrunner.

I look forward to seeing the material gathered by the magazine staff once they are given the go-ahead to publish it. here is another quote from the podcast which gives you an idea of the Hearn percieves the magazine's directive.

“That we will be breaking news, I hope. We the time comes later this year when the new series begins but I don’t necessarily feel that’s our primary function. I don’t think, as Series 11 approaches, I would hope we get the opportunity to do that but I think people will look to Doctor Who Magazine more for a detailed and accurate representation of what’s actually happening. I think they will look to Doctor Who Magazine for a detailed and accurate representation of actually how the show is actually coming to the air. They’ll look to Doctor Who Magazine for an accurate and detailed representation of the people who are actually making the show because that’s the sort of thing we do on Doctor Who Magazine, we talk to the people, not just the actors, who are obviously terribly important, but we talk to the people who actually the writers, the directors, the behind-the-scenes people that maybe other magazines may not be interested in but that’s what we do on Doctor Who Magazine. I see Doctor Who Magazine not just as a source of accurate news of that sort buy also as a journal of record.”

Doctor Who Magazine is available at UK Newsstands Thursday, May 3. It is also available right now via a Kindle digital edition and on Pocketmags at 12:01 a.m., May 3.