Wikipedia:WikiProject Doctor Who
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Some Wikipedians have formed a project to organize information in articles related to Doctor Who. This page and its sub-pages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list.
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[edit] Goals
- To create a consensus on what should be included and how to distinguish between the various media sources.
- To create a consistent look and style for each type of page: series, episodes, characters, places and devices, people, and so on.
[edit] Scope
This WikiProject aims primarily to improve and organize articles relating to the television series Doctor Who and its associated spin-offs. This is an attempt to establish a standard for making good articles. Such an effort endeavours to produce a reference that has value as an authority on material within the television series, is easy to read, and has a consistent style. Please discuss.
The WikiProject (and its editors) have been responsible for producing eight featured articles and two featured lists so far:
[edit] Articles with Featured Article Status
Doctor Who — featured on the Main Page on December 16, 2004.
Dalek — featured on the Main Page on May 23, 2005.
Douglas Adams — featured on the Main Page on February 13, 2006.
TARDIS — featured on the Main Page on March 8, 2006.
Doctor Who missing episodes
Sydney Newman
Doomsday (Doctor Who)
Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)
[edit] Lists with Featured List Status
List of Doctor Who serials
List of unmade Doctor Who serials and films
[edit] Articles with Good Article Status
Time Lord
Torchwood Institute
Jack Harkness
Cyberman
Invasion of the Bane
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Torchwood)
The Girl in the Fireplace
School Reunion (Doctor Who)
Army of Ghosts
Doctorin' the Tardis
Dalek (Doctor Who episode)
Astrid Peth
Planet of the Ood
[edit] Articles selected for "Did You Know?"
- Did you know... that "Rose" is the first new episode of Doctor Who to be shown since 1989? - on the Main Page on March 27, 2005.
- Did you know... that Doctor Who spoofs range from a 1964 novelty Christmas single by the Go-Go's called "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" to two sketches on Saturday Night Live? - on the Main Page on April 8, 2006.
- Did you know... that "The Unicorn and the Wasp" will be the first comedic episode in the science fiction television series Doctor Who since the 1966 serial The Gunfighters? - on the Main Page on March 28, 2008.
- Did you know... that the Adipose in the Doctor Who episode "Partners in Crime" were based on a stuffed toy that writer Russell T Davies owned? - on the Main Page on April 13, 2008.
- Did you know... that "The Fires of Pompeii" is the first Doctor Who episode since the television show's revival where the cast filmed abroad? - on the Main Page on April 18, 2008.
- Did you know... that the titular planet in the Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Ood" is in the same solar system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 serial The Sensorites? - on the Main Page on April 24, 2008.
- Did you know... that the Doctor Who episode "The Sontaran Stratagem" is the first appearance of the eponymous aliens since the 1985 serial The Two Doctors?
- Did you know... that Georgia Moffett was selected for the eponymous role in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter", but not because her father is Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor?
[edit] List of articles
A list of all Doctor Who-related articles can be found here. For a list of changes to those pages, click here.
[edit] Episode article overview
This table is intended for use within the WikiProject only, for improvement of the articles. This is not intended for the use within meta-debates to make a point.
There are sources for every article in this table. If you come across an episode which does not cite sources, the following sources are acceptable for use in asserting notability:
- A Brief History of Time (Travel)
- BBC's Doctor Who Classic episode guide
- Outpost Gallifrey's reviews, guides, and news section.
- The Doctor Who reference guide
- David Howe's books
- The Discontinuity Guide
[edit] Style guide
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This page is undergoing active discussion on its talk page. Please feel free to join in. This doesn't mean that you may not be bold in editing this page, but it can't hurt to check the discussion first. |
To keep a consistent style to the articles, these guidelines should be followed.
[edit] General
The article name, when first mentioned, should be bold, or bolded and italicised if it is a serial title.
Where mentioned in subsequent text, serial titles from the classic series should be italicised and reference should be made to the year it was broadcast (and/or which Doctor's era it belonged to). Episode titles from the new series and its spin-offs, as well as individual episodes within serials from the classic series, should be put in quotes.
British English spelling should be used, and dates should place the number first. With the exception of episode synopses and ongoing events, the past tense should be preferred in the main article text.
Names like "the Doctor" and "the Master" should not have "the" capitalised.
Articles should be categorised in the correct subcategory at Category:Doctor Who.
Quotations in general are not encyclopaedic, and are better added at wikiquote, for example at q:Doctor Who.
[edit] References
All articles should contain inline citations to reliable sources. When referring to particular episodes, the {{cite episode}} or {{cite serial}} tags can be used to format the reference. Citations may be copied and pasted from the page of Doctor Who episode citations.
[edit] Episodes
| 175 – "The Girl in the Fireplace" | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who episode | |
| Wikilinked screenshot here. The Doctor searches Madame de Pompadour's mind |
|
| Cast | |
| Doctor | David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) |
| Companions | Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) |
| Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) | |
| Guest stars | |
|
|
| Production | |
| Writer | Steven Moffat |
| Director | Euros Lyn |
| Script editor | Helen Raynor |
| Producer | Phil Collinson |
| Executive producer(s) | Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner |
| Production code | 2.4 |
| Series | Series 2 |
| Length | 1 episode, 45 mins |
| Originally broadcast | May 6, 2006 |
| Chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Followed by → |
| "School Reunion" | "Rise of the Cybermen" |
| IMDb profile | |
This infobox is an example of how Template:Doctorwhobox should be filled in. Production codes should be used where available. For the 2005 series, we should follow the production team's designation of Series and episode. If you require references to fill in the credits and transmission times, you can look in the following places on-line:
- BBC episode guide for the new series
- BBC episode guide for the classic series
- Shannon Patrick Sullivan's "A Brief History of Time Travel"
- The Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide
The cast list should have the name of the actor first, followed by an en dash (– or –) followed by the name of the character. Cast lists should adhere to the way that they are listed onscreen with the exceptions noted below.
The story numbers preceding the title are follow-ons from the story numbers assigned on the Region 1 DVD releases, the Doctor Who Reference Guide , which seem to count The Trial of a Time Lord as 4 separate stories. They are there to give an idea of where the story stands in the overall context of the series.
The general sequence of sections for episode/story articles should, but not necessarily must, be:
- Lead section: A brief general description of what the episode/serial is and when it was first broadcast. Also, include a brief one or two sentence synopsis of the plot. See Wikipedia:Lead section for more advice.
- Plot
- Synopsis: A more detailed plot, which is no larger than ten to fifteen words per minute.
- Continuity: Significant notes related to in-universe continuity, with subsections if warranted.
- Outside references: References to other notable works/events outside of the Doctor Who universe. Take care to only cite observations that have been made by other sources (such as the BBC's fact-file or episode guides), to avoid original research.
- Production: Production and out-of-universe notes. Possible sub-sections may include:
- Writing: Notes about the writing of the episode, including outside references that have been specifically noted by reliable sources.
- Casting: Notes relating to the cast's casting or their performance, for example, Freema Agyeman's performance in "Army of Ghosts" influenced the producers to consider her in the lead companion role.
- Filming: Notes about how, where, and when the episode was filmed.
- Music: Notes about music specifically composed for the episode.
- Missing episodes: Notes about episodes that are missing; see Doctor Who missing episodes
- Pre-broadcast publicity: If an episode has not aired yet, list notable media reports that directly reference the specific episode. After broadcast, consider merging the section.
- Broadcast, reception, and release: Notes on broadcasting, ratings, reviews, and any releases in either form (e.g. DVD, audio, novelisation)
- References: For the purposes of footnotes created with the <ref> and <references/> tags.
- External links: Various external links, including links to the various reference sites and reviews from Outpost Gallifrey and the Doctor Who Ratings Guide. See Wikipedia:External links for more advice.
Subsections can be added to any main section to organise specific points, if warranted (for example, "Susan's telepathy" or "Parallel universes in Doctor Who"). Other main sections may be added if no appropriate sections exist (for example, Music may be a main section if there are no other Production notes).
Although most of the classic series was serial in nature, it is not necessary to summarise the stories episode by episode. Generally, plot summaries deal with the story in its entirety. If you wish to split it up, you can divide the individual episodes with <hr> tags, or end cliffhanger paragraphs with ellipses (...), but this is purely optional. Please don't introduce subheaders as this will clutter up the TOC box and lead to an inconsistent look to the story articles.
Screenshots for episode/serial articles should be placed in the infobox. They should preferably be 275 pixels wide for widescreen (16:9) images, and 250 pixels wide for 4:3 images. We should generally limit ourselves to one screenshot per page, to safely stay within the bounds of fair use.
For an example from the new series, see "Doomsday." For an example from the classic series, see An Unearthly Child.
^ If either one actor plays two roles, or two actors play the same role, it may be prudent to clarify this for the reader. For example, in The Keeper of Traken, both Geoffrey Beevers and Anthony Ainley have two roles, and both actors play the same role (The Master) at some part in the story.
[edit] Episode Terminology
Below is a brief guide to the use of terms relating to episodes and groups of episodes. These terms should be used consistently across Doctor Who entries as appropriate.
- Episode: A single television broadcast, generally falling within the normal season schedule. So far, with a few rare exceptions, all episodes have been either 25 or 45 minutes long. In the classic series, an episode would usually only constitute part of a story, while in the new series many stories are single episodes, with others spreading out the story over 2 or 3 episodes. Example from the new series: "Rose."
- Special: A broadcast that falls outside the normal season schedule, and may be of any length. Examples: The Five Doctors, "The Christmas Invasion."
- Serial: A group of episodes from the classic series which together form a single story. Example: Logopolis.
- Arc: A group of serials or new series episodes which have some loose story connection. See Story arcs in Doctor Who for examples.
- Season: A year's worth of episode broadcasts from the classic series. Although against UK convention, the term "season" is accepted usage for the classic series. Its first usage in an "official" tie-in appears to have been in the first Programme Guide in 1981; prior to that there appears to have been no particular convention. In the new series, they changed to use "series" and reset the numbering.
- Series: A year's worth of episode broadcasts from the new series. Note that this can also be used to refer to the show as a whole, though this may occasionally be confusing to readers. In these cases, use instead either "show" or "programme."
- Classic series: The original broadcast run of Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1989.
- New series: The current broadcast run of Doctor Who, from 2005 to present.
[edit] What do we include?
The main criteria for inclusion should be notability. That being said, to avoid clutter, confusion, we should note the following.
[edit] Images
Illustrations for Doctor Who-related articles are typically taken from screen captures, publicity materials. magazine articles and websites. As such they're nearly all non-free and must only be used in conformance with the Non-free content criteria. Exceptions include pictures of people involved in the writing or production of Doctor Who and its spin-offs, taken by Wikipedians and uploaded by them under a license conforming with our site's GFDL license.
Most non-free images currently in Doctor Who-related articles lack detailed fair use rationales justifying their use in the articles. They may be deleted if this is not remedied. You can help this project by writing rationales.
[edit] Canon or not?
To avoid the tricky issue of canonicity, we should identify the source of the information if it comes from anywhere else besides the television series.
The only thing that fandom seems to agree on is that the televised episodes, barring specials or spoofs like Dimensions in Time and Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, are unquestionably canon (this includes the 1996 television movie, though some fans dispute this). The two Peter Cushing films of the 1960s are not considered canon. Everything else is up for grabs. We should not take a firm stand on what is "canon" and what is "non-canon" apart from this, but simply source where the material comes from and let the reader decide for themselves how it fits in.
In practice, what this means is that anything from the televised stories need not be sourced or distinguished, although the relevant episodes should be referenced. These can be stated as fact. Any material outside the television series needs to be sourced.
We should also limit the non-television series material, where possible, to officially licensed BBC material. This will leave out the fan videos, but will include the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, the Big Finish Productions audio plays and story collections, the Telos novellas and the Target Books, Virgin New Adventures and BBC Books novels and short stories. Story titles, like the television stories, should be italicised and author credit given.
The one exception to "officially licensed" would be material from BBV. It is of a more professional standard and known to a wider audience than the typical fan video or audio productions. While the character of the Doctor himself is not licensed by BBV, many related properties, such as the Autons, Sontarans, and Faction Paradox, have been licensed. Similarly, any production (such as the videos from Reeltime Pictures) which licenses characters or aliens from Doctor Who from their creators may be mentioned, with an appropriate citation.
This is of course inclusive. If something else - from a fan video or other reference - is actually notable, we should not exclude it because it falls outside of these categories. We just need to make it clear where it comes from.
[edit] Minor topics
Some articles on what might be termed minor topics, e,g. monsters, villains, planets or devices which only appear in a single episode are better placed in a list. These are some of the lists available:
- List of Doctor Who supporting characters
- List of Doctor Who spin-off companions
- List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens
- List of Doctor Who villains
- List of Doctor Who robots
- List of Doctor Who planets
- List of Doctor Who items
- List of UNIT personnel in Doctor Who
Articles can be demerged if they grow very large. Some very minor characters are probably not worth writing about, and it would be preferable to write the plot synopsis of the episode in which they appear. An example is Doctor Constantine from the episode "The Empty Child," when this article was created it was sent to Wikipedia: Votes for Deletion and was deleted. A redirect
#REDIRECT [[The Empty Child]]
is a solution to any minor articles that are created, and you may wish to consider adding the content to the main article.
[edit] Project organization
[edit] Committees
[edit] Task forces
There is presently one task force, Torchwood. Possibilities for others are:
- Doctor Who audio plays
- Doctor Who novels
- The Sarah Jane Adventures
- K-9
[edit] Participants
If you wish to join this project or show your support, please feel free to add your name to our Participants page!
[edit] Parentage
[edit] Related projects
[edit] Similar projects
- WikiProject Buffy
- WikiProject Firefly
- WikiProject Monty Python
- WikiProject Star Trek
- WikiProject Stargate
[edit] IRC channel
[edit] To-do list
 To-do list for Wikipedia:WikiProject Doctor Who: |
edit · history · watch · refresh |
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[edit] Sample articles
- Sample episode articles: An Unearthly Child (classic series), "Rose" (new series)
- Sample book article: Lungbarrow
- Sample audio play article: Jubilee
- Sample character article: Ace
- Sample race article: Dalek
- Sample device article: Hand of Omega
- Sample Wikiquote article: wikiquote:Tenth Doctor
[edit] Templates
| What to type | What it makes | What it's for | ||||
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| {{DoctorWho-stub}} Talk |
The official stub for Doctor Who-related articles. | |||||
| {{WikiProject Doctor Who}} Talk |
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The project notice, designed to be placed in the talk page of any article that has been edited as part of this Wikiproject. | ||||
| {{DoctorWhoWikiProject-Member}} Talk |
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This can be placed on your user page to show that you are a part of this Wikiproject. | ||||
| {{user WPDoctorWho}} Talk |
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This can be placed on your user page to show that you are a part of this Wikiproject. | ||||
| {{User:UBX/Doctor Who}} Talk |
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This can be placed on your user page to show that you are a fan of Doctor Who. | ||||
| {{User:UBX/Doctor Who Doctor}} Talk |
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This can be placed on your user page to show your first Doctor. To change Doctor insert the number as the variable, as in {{User:UBX/Doctor Who Doctor|1}}, etc. | ||||
| {{User:Danbarnesdavies/Userboxes/Drama/User Who}} {{User:Danbarnesdavies/Userboxes/Drama/User Who|smith}} Talk |
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A new variant inspired by "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" |
[edit] Barnstar
This Barnstar can be awarded to users who make excellent contributions to Doctor Who-related content on Wikipedia.
| Image | What to type | Description |
|---|---|---|
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{{subst:WikiProject Doctor Who Award|message ~~~~}} | The WikiProject Doctor Who Award for the improvement or creation of Doctor Who articles. Introduced by Josiah Rowe and designed by Smomo. |
[edit] Sandbox
You can experiment with edits and put them up on discussion prior to them going "live" at the Project Sandbox.
