There was quite a bit of excited chatter online over the weekend about the various Doctor Who specials. Most of them are clearly Dramatic Presentations, but I noticed some confusion over An Adventure in Space and Time. It is very obviously a drama, but it isn’t actually science fiction (well, unless you count the brief appearance of … Spoilers! … sorry), it is just about science fiction.
So where does it belong? Well, there is precedent. In 1996 Apollo 13 received a nomination in BDP. That is also a dramatization of real events, and those real events an actual space mission, not a TV program about a time traveler. My view is that An Adventure in Space and Time can quite happily follow that example.
Of course in 1996 there was only one BDP category. We have an additional question to answer: which length? I’ve seen An Adventure in Space and Time advertised as 90 minutes, which is right on the borderline. When I recorded it, it came out as 88 minutes. Technically that would put it into Short Form, but it is well within the wiggle room allowed for a work to be nominated in either category. The Hugo Administrators will presumably move it into whichever category proves more popular with the voters.
Best Related Work, perhaps? If it gets enough votes to be considered, it’ll be interesting to see where the Administrators feel it fits most comfortably…
Hugo Administrators are not supposed to make decisions like that. They are guided by precedent and the will of the voters.
I presume you mean that in 1996 there was only one BDP category, though it was also true for 1966.
It is Monday. My brain takes a while to wake up. Fixed now though. Thanks!
Am I the only person in SFF-Land who’s gotten a little bored of all the Doctor who-ha? Enough already! Could we obsess about something else now.
I’d prefer to see An Adventure in Time and Space up for Related Work. Simply because it wasn’t SF/F but instead a tale of how the show was created.
Keep the DP categories for actual SF/F story-telling.
Personally, I agree with you; however, all of the precedent says that Dramatic Presentations need not be fictional.
This has probably been pointed out to you already, but did you notice the guest star appearance of an actual Hugo rocket in the tie-in web special, The Five(ish) Doctors? Steven Moffat had it on his window ledge while he was playing with his action figures.
Guess I’d better re-watch that then. Thank you.
I wonder if we could get an excerpt for the Hugo website…