With news that the BBC are celebrating Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary with a 3D special later this year, some fans are beginning to ask “is this it” for the world’s longest running science-fiction television show?

Indeed the BBC, in the UK at any rate, don’t seem as keen to start the celebrations as some of our cousins abroad. Just check out Australia and New Zealand where they are already enjoying Sunday afternoon screenings of classic Who episodes each week.

Across the pond, BBC America have started ‘The Doctors Revisited’, where they take a monthly look at each regeneration and then screen a related episode. Hats off to these territories, but we can’t help but wonder why we’re not getting classic repeats on the BBC in Blighty.

But let’s return to the 3D aspect. A brief perusal online will show that people are underwhelmed, to say the least, about the prospect. The word “gimmick” is being bandied about as most don’t buy into the 3D experience and wonder just what it will add (and, indeed, what it will take away as the costs for 3D filming are a tad more expensive than the norm).

Curiously, speaking after the recent tech fest CES, BBC North controller of production Mark Harrison told trade publication ‘Broadcast’, “3D TV is dead,” after the presence of 3D televisions was scarce – the industry is already moving on. Moffat’s statement of, “Technology has finally caught up with Doctor Who,” seems oddly redundant in this context.

But is the 3D event all there is? Returning to the BBC press release from their 2013 Drama showcase earlier this week, there’s a sentence which seems to have escaped many fans’ attention. The 3D special will be “part of the BBC’s blockbuster celebrations to mark the show turning 50.” Two crucial points there are “part” and “blockbuster celebrations”.

So there’s more.

The latter expression, in keeping with how Moffat and co. branded the Series 7 episodes, heavily suggests something grand and big whilst the former would indicate that the BBC are indeed going to be doing more. We already know about the Mark Gatiss “genesis of Doctor Who” drama, An Adventure in Space and Time (currently filming), and the 2013 Christmas special, but what else?

Well, there’s a whole batch of eight new episodes starting in March for starters – though including these as part of the 50th celebrations might be a bit galling for some who see them as a delayed 2012 series. Of course, there’ll undoubtedly be a documentary (hopefully more than just one), a live stage event or concert of some kind, and various other specials (Pointless and The Culture Show, for example) but, officially, we’ll have to wait and suffer the hyperbole and blockbuster hype from Steven Moffat, Caroline Skinner and the BBC.

Are we being a bit impatient? Okay, yes, we are. But, as the Eleventh Doctor says: “Patience is for wimps.”

How would you like the BBC to celebrate the 50th anniversary? Let us know below…

> Buy Series 7 Part 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Watch the Series 7 Part 2 trailer…