Talk:Christmas Special (DW:TND short story)

validity check

Sorry for being a stickler for the rules. But with so many heated inclusion debates, it's better to be thorough.

Is it clear that this is a valid story? Given the T:VS, this translates to the question: is this story officially licensed? The reason for my hesitation is this. It's posted on a website that belongs to BBC Worldwide. Perhaps, it is sufficient for ascertaining that the story is licensed by BBC. However, the intro to the story states: "As an exclusive Christmas treat, our friends at Titan Comics have produced a very special present - a Doctor Who short story." The illustrations and some characters indeed originate from Titan stories, and the writer wrote for them before. What is missing on this page is a confirmation of Titan that they licensed it, approved it, or did anything of the sort. I checked that the website of Titan Comics does not have any mentions of "Christmas Special" in the past month. So it would seem that one relevant party, Titan Comics has not licensed this story. Amorkuz ☎ 16:46, December 28, 2016 (UTC)

An interview with the writer of the story

"Below, you read what Cavan has to say about his Ninth Doctor ‘Christmas Special’ short story, and why he wanted to give Nine his very own festive outing.

"Ever since I received the call to write the Ninth Doctor comic, I’ve wanted to give Nine the Christmas special he missed out on TV. Doctor Who’s Christmas specials started with the Tenth Doctor’s debut, The Christmas Invasion, so he never really had one. Of course, we had The Unquiet Dead, which is full of festive fear, but the idea nagged away at me so I asked Titan Comics about the possibility of writing something a little Christmassy this year as a thank you to everyone who’s supported the Ninth Doctor comic. ‘Christmas Special’ is the result." OncomingStorm12th ☎ 17:00, December 28, 2016 (UTC)

You might want to temporarily remove the link as the interview contains details on an unreleased story. But yes, I see your argument. A gentleman would not lie about another gentleman while that other gentleman is watching. Works for me. Amorkuz ☎ 17:04, December 28, 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I take it back. The story is released. I just live in the past (because I'm cheap). Amorkuz ☎ 17:09, December 28, 2016 (UTC)

Is this part of Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor?

Obviously, as it was released exclusively online, Christmas Special was not (as of this post) published by Titan in an issue of 9D. But, at the very least, it has deep connections with that series. Is it part of the same run? Is it not to be considered part of the comic story run, but still belonging to the Ninth Doctor Titan series? It is currently listed at Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor, but that series has been taken out of the infobox here.
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 23:34, January 1, 2017 (UTC)

Yes, in fact, I do not see a proof that it was published by Titan. Seems to be a publication at the website. From the interview it feels like the writer wanted to do it and was permitted by Titan, which is not the same as a Titan publication.

So, given that it is not even a comic and not obviously published by Titan, I removed the navbox even though the story has a very definite placement in the continuity of the 9D series.

The point of comparison for me were Class novels, which can be placed within the continuity of the TV series, which share all the main characters, but are a separate thing. I always thought that the navbox does not jump the media. Granted, we may go from a n episode to a minisode to a Children in Need special, but at least they're all TV. Here we go from COMIC to PROSE, and I'm not sure that's allowed.

Here's another boundary case: short stories published by BF. They switched from PROSE to AUDIO. Wait a minute, navbox there goes from one to another. It seems that I was wrong about the media homogeneity.

But at least one needs the publisher to be the same. Do you really see this story as published by Titan? Amorkuz ☎ 23:47, January 1, 2017 (UTC)

It was written under and for Titan, however not published by them, who knows, they may do in the future. Denchen ☎ 23:51, January 1, 2017 (UTC)

Mm, I see your point about the interview. Nevertheless, this web exclusive is stated to come from "Titan Comics", rather than simply Cavan Scott:

"As an exclusive Christmas treat, our friends at Titan Comics have produced a very special present - a Doctor Who short story."

Additionally:

"We'll have some more exclusive material from Titan Comics over the festive period, so do pop back each day of the holidays."

However, from this interview, it does not seem that Scott himself sees this as part of the regular run:

"We kick off [Tara's] first story as a companion next month with part one of 'Slaver's Song'." (ie. This short story does not constitute her debut as a companion.)

Thoughts?
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 00:16, January 2, 2017 (UTC)