Talk:Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)

Season format

This season is described as having a unique format because the entire season consisted of a single story. However, in spite of being titled as a single story in 14 parts, there are clearly 4 distinct stories and an overarching story for the entire season. This means the season actually bears more similarity to Season 16 and even Season 8 than it does to Children of Earth and Miracle Day; as the two Torchwood seasons did not have "sub-stories". Craigysa ☎ 19:03, January 1, 2014 (UTC)

• It may have been filmed as four distinctive tales, but the story of the trial is so overarching that I would call it a single one. Season 16 doesn't even mention the Key much in some of its tales - The Androids of Tara (TV story) for example. --Silent Hunter UK ☎ 17:38, January 2, 2014 (UTC)

• In Androids, the the desired segment of the key is found very early but is confiscated. One of the major themes of the story how the Doctor and Romana will escape without leaving the segment behind. Craigysa ☎ 10:44, January 5, 2014 (UTC)

• Every single sub-story in Season 16 involves retrieval of a segment and the difficulties retrieving them. In some cases character decisions are specifically guided by the goal of obtaining the segment. By contrast, The Trial of a Time Lord is in fact less overarching, with the Trial simply tacked-on... In the first 3 stories, you could simply delete the court-room scenes, and each story would be a self-contained, standalone adventure. So there are clearly distinct stories within the season; whereas the aforementioned Torchwood seasons have absolutely no distinct sub-stories. Craigysa ☎ 10:44, January 5, 2014 (UTC)

"Four separate stories"?

The Bluray box set for Season 23 only lists one story - "The Trial of a Time Lord". Fan and production consensus has listed the season as one complete serial since 8,000 BC. Why has this changed? BigRockCola ☎ 07:02, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

I must have missed that memo. I've always treated it as a "Key to Time" situation. LauraBatham ☎ 07:13, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Ongoing discussion at User talk:Scrooge MacDuck, User talk:NateBumber and User talk:Jack "BtR" Saxon. Jack made some edits, such as at Joan Sims, with the edit summary saying "We don't consider The Mysterious Planet to be a story". Scrooge told him we do consider it a story, and then there's been a kerfuffle ever since. Najawin ☎ 09:07, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Problem is that Jack has hugely misunderstood it all. Season 23 is a single story and should be treated as such, contrary to Jack's recent edits. Individual parts of a multi-part story are still a story. Season 23 is a convoluted and complicated instance, and we can’t just treat it as one or the other. The entirety of Season 23 is one huge serial, but it has 4 individual stories in it, but these stories are all part of one storyline, namely the Trial of a Time Lord. Danniesen ☎ 09:24, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

The same could be said about Flux. And just to be clear as to why I undid your edit, I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but it is something that requires a discussion, I think. Or at least admin approval. LauraBatham ☎ 09:34, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Yeah. Flux is the same, although that instance is a lot more obvious as it has "Chapter" attached to each… meaning that it is blatantly obvious that that series is one big story, with individual parts, which are still, individual stories, but needs to be treated as part of the whole Flux event. Danniesen ☎ 09:40, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

As for Season 23, the titles of each of these parts were never actually broadcast on television, which was meant to imply that it was to be seen as one whole serial under 1 title; The Trial of a Time Lord. That we afterwards were treated to 4 individual titles just means that we are able to divide them up, it does not mean they are seperate on the timeline of televised stories, because they are still part of one single story, which is the trial itself. The 4-parts, which themselves are divided into several episodes, are clip shows, if you will. Danniesen ☎ 09:54, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

This page previously said that The Trial of a Time Lord was one story with twelve episodes. The List of Doctor Who television stories said that "It is considered a single story by this wiki". When Scrooge said that we do consider The Mysterious Planet to be its own story and "have since forever", I amended these statements which are clearly irreconcilable with considering The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe to be individual stories. Jack "BtR" Saxon ☎ 10:04, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Quite honestly, I would have asked for clarification. Measure twice cut once, etc. Especially given how, uh, bizarre it would be for us to overlook something this major. Najawin ☎ 10:17, 10 January 2023 (UTC)