You might have anticipated a minor riot on Saturday night at the Ziegfeld Theater on West 54th Street, where BBC America screened the premiere episode from the forthcoming season of “Doctor Who†for a select audience of lucky fans. BBC America had mounted similar events in New York for previous seasons of this long-running science-fiction franchise, filling an East Village theater with hard-core fans who had queued for hours in hopes of being among the chosen few.
In keeping with the ever-expanding pull of “Doctor Who,†which in July became the first British television series to be featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, BBC America opted for the Ziegfeld, Manhattan's largest single-screen theater. Advance tickets priced at 11 cents, in honor of the current 11th Doctor, played by Matt Smith, were teased on a variety of Web sites earlier this month, with sales touched off by a Twitter post on Aug. 16.
Minor pandemonium ensued. While many purchasers had no problem acquiring tickets on MovieTickets.com, which handles Internet sales for Ziegfeld screenings, the barrage of would-be buyers crashed the system. Users waited in limbo for long minutes before learning they had been shut out. Some reported seeing the credit-card details of strangers on their purported receipts.
Even after BBC America apologized, you half-expected protest to manifest at the Ziegfeld with the cold efficiency of the Judoon, the mercenary police force introduced to “Doctor Who†viewers in 2007, such was the rage and indignation expressed on Twitter by some fans. Instead, an eager throng dotted with bow ties and fezzes, in honor of Mr. Smith's geek-chic Doctor, congregated with downright civil enthusiasm and scoured a BBC America pop-up shop in the Ziegfeld lobby.
As the screening time approached, the audience cheered explosively when Chris Hardwick, the nerd -icon comic who hosted the event, introduced the guests of honor: Mr. Smith; Karen Gillan, who portrays the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond; and Caroline Skinner, who became an executive producer for the show last year. (Mixing media, if not time-travel metaphors, Mr. Smith and Ms. Gillan had arrived at the Ziegfeld in a DeLorean sports car.)
That “Doctor Who†has outgrown its cult-classic status since its 2005 reboot has been increasingly evident, not least in post-broadcast sales: According to a BBC America spokeswoman, the show was the most-downloaded series on iTunes in 2011, eclipsing popular favorites like “Mad Men†and “Glee.†Its devoted fandom was evident in the delighted shrieks that greeted the sight of David Tennant, Mr. Smith's predecessor as the Doctor, and Burn Gorman, a star of the “Doctor Who†spinoff series “Torchwood,†in a preview trailer for the BBC mini-series “Spies of Warsaw.â€
And it was surely a sign of the fidelity â €œDoctor Who†has inspired to learn while watching the premiere of “Asylum of the Daleks†that several substantial revelations had not leaked after previous screenings in London and Edinburgh.
True to its title, the episode brings back the Doctor's most durable and tenacious alien foe. Actually, all of them: Steven Moffat, the show's head writer and an executive producer, reportedly rounded up every one of the pestilential pepper-pots in existence for the episode.
Vast in ambition and cinematic in scope, the episode properly sets up what stands to be a tumultuous season: one that will see the departure of Ms. Gillan and Arthur Darvill (Amy Pond's husband, Rory Williams) during an episode filmed in New York City in April; and the arrival of Jenna-Louise Coleman, the Doctor's next companion, in this year's Christmas special.
A question-and-answer session after the screening yielded no further revelations, though it did prompt a daffy impromptu Lady Macbe th spin-and-dash enactment from Ms. Gillan. Mostly, the chat rewarded a theater full of devotees for their faith and perseverance, and then tasked them with the responsibility of keeping the show's secrets safe until the new season commences on BBC America on Saturday night.
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