Talk:Doctor Who universe

Spin-Offs?

The article states that:

Prior to Torchwood and later The Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who had not had a successful spin-off series.

Doesn't the Bernice Summerfield series count as a successful spin-off series? Because it pre-dates Torchwood by about a decade and is still going strong.

Expanded Universe?

I removed this entire paragraph from the article:

A related term, Expanded Universe, borrowed from Star Wars fandom, describes persons, events, and stories depicted in the various spin-off materials, as their canonicity is a matter of debate, as well as personal taste and opinion. Some elements of the Expanded Universe have made their way into the mainstream Doctor Who universe. Examples include the two-part 2007 episode Human Nature/The Family of Blood, which was adapted from the novel Human Nature, the 2005 episode Dalek which was adapted from the Big Finish audio drama Jubilee, and The Monsters Inside, a BBC Books novel the setting of which is referenced in the 2005 episode Boom Town.

This definitely needs credible citation. I have NEVER heard the term wholeheartedly applied to Doctor Who by the BBC or any major players in the fan community. "Expanded Universe", especially in the sense that the Star Wars community uses it, isn't appropriate to Doctor Who. SInce RTD, Moffat, Cornell, Tennant and other prominent Who luminaries have repeatedly asserted an all-inclusive approach to (or a distinct disinterest in) canonicity, it is exceedingly difficult to assert that there is an "Expanded" Whoniverse.

More to the point, it is impossible to define "Expanded Whoniverse" in a way that will achieve agreement amongst a majority of Doctor Who fans. Some will say that comics aren't an essential part of their core canon; others will assert that without comics you're missing the heart of the Eighth Doctor's adventures. Some will say that the New Adventures are central to understanding the Seventh Doctor, others dismiss the entire range as contradictory. Hell, some refuse to accept that Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's televised adventures don't count as "real" Doctor Who; others say that the 2005 series is utter rubbish.

One simply can't define a "mainstream" Whoniverse and an "expanded" Whoniverse. You can define the term "Whoniverse" in a broad enough way that the majority will agree, as the first paragraph does. You can even supplement this with quotations from the mainstream press, and document its history from published works. But the moment you start confusing the terms "Whoniverse" and "canon" is the moment you've descended into personal opinion. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 15:24, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

That's fine, I think it started early on in this wiki's development (when we were borrowing from various places to build up bits or act as place holders) and then others just grabbed a hold of the place holders before they could be un-defined. --Tangerineduel 15:34, 21 October 2008 (UTC)