Discussing next year's series seven in Doctor Who Magazine, Steven Moffat drops the bombshell that they're not planning to make any two-parters, with every episode being a standalone:
"The big thing is, nothing in the next run is starting out as a two-parter," he confirms in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. "At this stage, everything is a single episode, and the only reason anything will become a two-parter is if we think it needs to be; not so much that the story is too long for 45 minutes, because nothing is too long for 45 minutes, but if it feels as though there are two distinct stages to the story.... I want to be able to say, every week, we've got a big standalone blockbuster, and then a trailer that makes it look like nothing compared to what's going to happen next week! That's the form for next year."
He also explains that the longstanding assumption that two-parters save money is a fallacy, and that interest both from fans and the press always dips for the second episode of a two-parter, regardless of its quality.
Moffat continues by suggesting you don't need a big cliffhanger or an action-packed trailer to get people excited for the next episode, pointing to simply revealing a title like "Let's Kill Hitler" at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War" as more than punch enough on its own. And it seems that he wants to make titles like that the norm next year:
"This year, we used a lot of cliffhangers and mysteries to pull people through, but then I remember the moment, at the end of A Good Man Goes to War, when we put up the title Let's Kill Hitler. That was so exciting. I'm thinking, ‘Can we do that every week?' You can sod off with poetic understatement. I want slutty titles and movie-poster plots. I want big pictures and straplines. The first episode I'm writing is called {Spoiler} of the {Spoilers}. And it'll feel a bit like Die Hard, that first episode. Everyone is expecting us to do another year like 2011. You're not going to get that at all. You're going to get the biggest, maddest set of episodes ever."
Beyond his kind of amazing "slutty titles" quote, the big reveal here is that the opening episode will be like Die Hard, and judging by the "{Blank} of the {Blank}" construction might feature the return of some well-known monster, be it Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, the Silence, or whatever else.
At a press screening for the show's Christmas special, Moffat revealed that Amy and Rory Pond would be leaving the show for good sometime next season. Said Moffat:
The final days of the Ponds are coming. I'm not telling you when or how, but that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end.
But Moffat said the Doctor would be getting a new friend, who hasn't been cast yet.
Added Matt Smith:
We had the most incredible journey. We took over the show and we've really had to hold hands and help each other through it. So it's very disappointing, but one has to remember that this show is about change and regeneration, and that's what galvanizes it and pushes it forwards.
Sources:
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http://io9.com/5868294/steven-moffat-reveals-the-bold-new-direction-of-doctor-whos-next-season
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http://io9.com/5868583/more-changes-coming-to-doctor-who-next-year
