Forum:Children of Earth: serial or series?

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I have realized and been disturbed by the fact that there are five pages concerning episodes of Children of Earth. This wiki seems to put episodes of one story into one page, why isn't the same being done here? I believe that Children of Earth: Day One, Children of Earth: Day Two, Children of Earth: Day Three, Children of Earth: Day Four and Children of Earth: Day Five should be merged into a single page, Children of Earth. I'm A Hydroponic Tomato! Bigredrabbit 00:02, December 19, 2009 (UTC)

@Sulfer: The End of Time is one story, two episodes, but is still merged into one page for both. ;) Delton Menace 11:10, December 20, 2009 (UTC)

Thats because The End of Time has not aired yet Bigshowbower 11:44, December 20, 2009 (UTC)

Is it going to be split when it airs, then? I bet it would have been split if the first part had the name of Nightmare's Reign like I hoped it would be called. :P Delton Menace 15:15, December 20, 2009 (UTC)

TEoT should be in two segements, since one is airing on/about Xmas and the other on/about NYD. My big problem with merging them is that we become inconsistent with two part stories that happen to have different names for part 1 vs part 2. Sure, they have different names, but it's one story, if we merge TEoT and CoE, then we should merge all of those too. -- sulfur 16:51, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

I just think every TV story ever made is merged into one article, regardless of how many episodes it is made up of. CoE should be no acception. I'm A Hydroponic Tomato! Bigredrabbit 02:08, December 22, 2009 (UTC)

Actually Children of Earth is the exception as it is considered to be a full Series, it is Series 3, with 5 interconnecting stories. --Bigshowbower 05:30, December 22, 2009 (UTC)

The five Doctor Who specials are four different stories all together with a few connections to each other, then why are they not considered a mini series? Children of Earth was the same amount of episodes with it being simply one, bigger story. Yet, the one big story made of five episodes is considered a series (or mini series), while five episodes of Doctor Who that are four completely different stories with some connections are NOT considered a series/mini-series? I don't get it. You might as well class them both as a mini series, or class them both as not a mini series. Delton Menace 13:24, December 23, 2009 (UTC)

Children of Earth is Series 3, with 5 episodes. I know the connection between The Waters of Mars to The End of Time but what connects The Next Doctor to Planet of the Dead, and what connects Planet of Dead to The Waters of Mars?. --Bigshowbower 04:50, December 24, 2009 (UTC)

They all prepare the begining of the end for the Tenth Doctor, the three specaisl before the End of Time (The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, and the Waters of Mars) all begin to foreshadow Tenth's final story- they're like an arc, as Russel T. Davies put it. The Next Doctor brought up the something about having bad dreams, then Planet of the Dead brought of 'knock four times', then the Waters of Mars saw Ood Sigma call to the Doctor from across time and the episode also saw him become pefectly aware of his impending doom. In The End of Time: everyone has bad dreams (the Next Doctor vaugely foreshadowed this), there will be four knocks (as mentioned in Planet of the Dead), and the Tenth Doctor will die and the Ood will appear (as noted in the Waters of Mars). This makes them all four stories that form an arc and in themselves are five episodes. If a five-parter can be considered a series, then why can four different stories that form an arc of five episodes not be considered a series, too? Delton Menace 14:15, December 24, 2009 (UTC)

I genuinely see where you're coming from but, personaly I feel that they should stay separate because it's one story/adventure but in five segments( Best I can word it). Excalibur-117 14:35, December 24, 2009 (UTC)

Children of Earth is a series of its own. The DW specials aren't. It isn't the wiki making this classification decision, it's the BBC. There's also the fact that it's Torchwood, not Doctor Who, and the Torchwood televised format treats each hour-long episode individually even when the plotlines are connected. Even within this wiki, each of the New Who episodes that are part of an arc is treated as an individual episode with its own page. If the Children of Earth episodes were merged with this justification, then all the Ninth and Tenth Doctor two-parters and finale arcs would have to be merged as well, which I don't think would help anyone. I'd say, if the BBC thought it was important enough to give it a name of its own, then it deserves a page of its own. If they didn't, then whether it's treated as an individual episode or merged as a serial should depend solely on whether there's enough useful content to fill more than one page. Bedawyn 20:11, December 24, 2009 (UTC)

Whether Doctor Who or Torchwood, the shows are sistser shows, and made by the same people. You would think that they would have the same format, that both Children of Earth and the Doctor Who specials would be classed as sort of mini-series (well, Children of Earth was refered to as a mini-seires), but the BBC like to be comploacted. That aside, will The End of Time be split into two formats on the wiki: one for part 1 and one for part 2? I mean, same name but called part q and part 2 is like Children of Earth: same episode title split into parts. Delton Menace 13:40, December 25, 2009 (UTC)

Children of Earth doesn't have one episode title split into parts. Children of Earth is the name of the story, which consists of episodes with individual titles ("Day One", "Day Four", etc.). --Bedawyn 19:48, December 25, 2009 (UTC)

How is "Day One", "Day Four", ect., any different to "Part 1" and "Part Four". They even called it a five part story. The name of Day One" more goes with the fact that each episode chronicled one day over the period of five days in the story, so they would have said, "Heck, why not? Let's called them 'Day' as an alternate way or saying 'apart' because they'e each going to chronicle a day." Delton Menace 23:41, December 25, 2009 (UTC)

Part, chapter, volume, etc. are established standard conventions for naming segments of a text work. Days are not. Works of text like a script can not be divided into units of time measurement. Works on film can, but those units are minutes and hours; it could only divided into days if each segment actually took 24 hours to watch. Yes, it's a five-part story, but they chose to give each of those parts its own episode title -- which like any episode title, contributes in its own way to the story in a way that part numbers can not. Calling them part 1, part 3, and so on would not contribute to the dramatic tension and pacing the way calling them "Day One" and "Day Three" does, and so those names are an integral part of the storytelling like any other episode title. "Part 1" is just a convenience measurement and not integral to the storytelling. --Bedawyn 01:21, December 26, 2009 (UTC)

Okay Delton and Bigredrabbit, I'll try to make this easy for you, so it does not confuse you, Children of Earth is Series 3, and Day One, Day Two etc are the episodes. It does not need to be merged together.

Ok, I'll try one more time and then give up. We've even done it with The End of Time. You can't disagree that Parts 1 and 2 of that are going to be put on the same page. Children of Earth is one TV story, The Torchwood Encyclopedia even confirms this. So Day One, Two, Three, Four and Five are the episodes, put Inferno consists of eight episodes, yet they're all in one article because they all belong to one story. Mona Lisa's Revenge does, Survival does, The End of Time does, so Children of Earth should. The series is 3, the story is Children of Earth and the episodes, the individual little things that make up the story that should not have their own pages, are Days 1,2,3,4 and 5. Children of Earth is one story, so what it consists of five episodes. Splitting them up is like saying that Chapter Five of, let's say The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Chapter Twelve are two separate stories, when really they just make up one story. I'm A Hydroponic Tomato! Bigredrabbit 23:27, December 27, 2009 (UTC) !!!!

Also, whoever wrote that entry above mine, no need to be patronizing, we get what you're talking about, we just don't agree with it. I'm A Hydroponic Tomato! Bigredrabbit 23:27, December 27, 2009 (UTC)

For

• I'm A Hydroponic Tomato! Bigredrabbit 00:02, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Delton Menace 00:42, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Tardis1963 11:02, December 20, 2009 (UTC)
• We need a consistent serial policy, and either we go back and make it so all DW and SJA serials get separate episode pages or go the easier route of merging CoE like we are TEoT. --Golden Monkey 16:18, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

Against

• One story, five episodes. -- sulfur 00:54, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Tangerineduel 01:51, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Doug86 02:01, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Azes13 04:26, December 19, 2009 (UTC)
• Bigshowbower 11:44, December 20, 2009 (UTC)
• Mini Mitch 14:45, December 20, 2009 (UTC)
• The evil dude . 14:35, December 23, 2009 (UTC)
• Excalibur-11714:27, December 24, 2009 (UTC)
• Bedawyn 20:11, December 24, 2009 (UTC)
• Lewody1 18:23, December 31, 2009 (UTC)