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| {{real world}}{{cleanup|This article needs so much work, it almost would be better to torch it and start again. I don't agree with it in any way. It's like it started to be about the concept of canon in DW, then, after the lead, decided it was just going to reiterate our canon policy. There's a big, big, big, HUGE difference between the TARDIS Index File canon policy and the word "canon" as it applies to the DWU. Worse, I see no citations at all in this article. And there are plenty of people important to the production of DW who have opined on this subject. Seriously, this article is simply not factually accurate.}} | | {{real world}} |
| '''Canon''' is the body of works which any given Doctor Who fan considers to have "really happened" within [[Doctor Who Universe]], and differs from fan to fan.
| | :''For policy information for how we deal with canon on this wiki see [[Tardis:Canon policy]].'' |
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| The BBC and the various production teams have never attempted to define an official canon, unlike with some other television shows -- most notably the [[Star Trek]] franchise -- which has left fans free to hold their own opinions over what constitutes the canon of Doctor Who.
| | '''Canon''' is a fan-based idea that exists in a unique way within ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fandom. In ''theory'' it means a body of work that is an established body of literature that can draw upon<ref name="Eruditorum">{{cite web |url=http://tardiseruditorum.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-were-expecting-someone-else-ii-1966.html |title=You Were Expecting Someone Else II (1966 Annual, The Dalek Book, Dalek World) |author=Philip Sandifer |date of source=Wednesday, March 16, 2011 |website name=TARDIS Eruditorum: A Psychochronography in Blue |accessdate=22nd October 2011}}</ref>, but is more commonly thought as what a fan considers what forms part of the ''Doctor Who'' universe or what "really happened", this is a personal choice, one which is ''endlessly'' discussed and argued about in just about every ''Doctor Who''-related forum or message board that has existed on the internet. |
| :''See also [[Tardis:Canon policy]] for information relating specifically to this wiki.''
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| ==Specific media==
| | Unlike the ''Star Trek'' and ''Star Wars'' universes, the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] has never made a pronouncement about what is or is not canon for ''Doctor Who''. <ref name="PC Canon in DW">{{cite web |url=http://www.paulcornell.com/2007/02/canonicity-in-doctor-who.html |title=Canonicity in Doctor Who |author=Paul Cornell |date of source= Feb 10 2007 |website name=PaulCornell.com |accessdate=22nd October 2011}}</ref> |
| :''The following statements are based on assumptions based on fan community.''
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| ===Television===
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| *Fans almost universally regard both the original and new television series and the 1996 TV Movie in their entirety, as canonical, despite many continuity contradictions both between and within different eras of the programme. Most would accept ''[[K9 and Company]]'', ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]'', ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', ''[[The Infinite Quest]]'' and [[Dreamland (TV story)|''Dreamland'']] as occurring in the same universe. The two Children in Need Appeal mini-episodes from 2005 and 2007, ''[[Children in Need Special]]'' and ''[[Time Crash]]'', and the two-part [[Comic Relief]] 2011 special ''[[Space (TV story)|Space]]'' and ''[[Time (TV story)|Time]]'' are also considered canonical (with writer [[Steven Moffat]] confirming the canonicity of ''Time Crash'' and the Comic Relief two-parter in various ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' interviews). When the series returned in 2005, many fans debated whether it should be considered canonical, given uncertainty as to whether it would maintain links to the original series; this debate dissolved following the advent of episodes such as [[DW]]: ''[[School Reunion]]'' which made explicit links to the original series. Similarly, the canonicity of the 1996 TV movie was finally confirmed with an on-screen flashback appearance of the [[Eighth Doctor]] in [[DW]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]''.
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| *The majority of fans regard ''[[Shada (TV story)|Shada]]'' as canonical, even though it never reached completion, let alone aired on television. Exactly which version of the story is canonical is not well settled as two versions exist: [[Shada (TV story)]], which was the incomplete version, and a later adaptation featuring another Doctor produced for webcast and audio release (see [[Shada (webcast)]]/[[Shada (audio release)]] which are basically the same productions). Confusing matters even more is the fact that [[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors]]'' incorporated footage from ''Shada'' into its narrative (and which footage differs between the original broadcast version of ''The Five Doctors'', and the later remastered version created for home video.
| | In August 2010 however, the BBC did make a fleeting reference to canon, in relation to their ''[[Doctor Who: The Adventure Games]]'' stating in their press release that ''"Players will encounter new and original monsters, in stories which form part of the overall Doctor Who canon"''. <ref>[{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/04_april/08/doctor_who.shtml |title=BBC unveils Doctor Who – The Adventure Games |date of source=08.04.2010 |website name=BBC - Press Office |accessdate=22nd October 2011}}</ref> |
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| *[[The Pilot Episode]] is not usually considered to be part of the canon because it is an alternative version of [[An Unearthly Child]] and contradicts the broadcast version in several areas.
| | A large issue when attempting to construct a definition of canon for Doctor Who is that it is never ''finished'', ''Doctor Who'' has been in more or less constant production in one way or another since [[1963]], with TV stories, novelisations, novels, radio dramas, audio stories, toys, comic stories etc. Some fans want a complete narrative, they want to collect and arbitrate in hefty canonical debates, but ''Doctor Who'' is never complete. <ref>Magrs, Paul, (2007), "Afterword - My Adventures", ''[[Time And Relative Dissertations In Space]]'', Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK, &, Room 400, New York, USA, p.302</ref> |
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| *Extended and remade versions of episodes released on video and DVD, such as the [[The Five Doctors (Special Edition)]], the movie-format version of [[The Curse of Fenric]], and various other alternate versions, are considered canonical by some fans, while other fans accept only the original broadcast version. The exception is the four-part version of [[Resurrection of the Daleks]], which is widely accepted as the "canonical version", even though a slightly cut-down two-part version was the broadcast original. Most of the extensions are tiny and do not make significant changes in continuity, but there are some controversial changes in the [[The Five Doctors (Special Edition)]].
| | ==Narrative history== |
| | Canon can be defined as the body of cultural/narrative history of ''Doctor Who'' that everything narratively ''Doctor Who'' related is canon, from the annuals to the audio stories, their ideas, their history filters down through their stories becomes part of the larger ''Doctor Who'' universe. With writers being influenced or referencing this body of work as they create new stories. <ref name="Eruditorum"/> This can also be seen as [[continuity]], which is roughly the interconnectedness of stories and how they're referenced in each story. |
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| *Several DVD releases in recent years have given viewers the option of watching the original broadcast version of an episode, or a version with some effects replaced by modern CGI (example, ''[[The Ark in Space]]''). There has been no definitive word as to whether one version should be considered canon over the other. (A similar debate currently exists in ''[[Star Trek]]'' fandom over whether the original broadcast episodes should still be considered canon now that they are being replaced by high-definition versions with new special effects that often include changes to characters and objects.)
| | As a narrative history, that it exists is enough to consider it canon, the ideas and themes, forms and designs filter down through the stories, with elements making their way into future productions. The Dalek space craft of ''[[The Dalek Chronicles]]'' were worked into CGI replacement shots on the DVD of ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'' and then further into television stories such as ''[[The Parting of the Ways]]''. Again this can merely be an example of [[continuity]] within the show rather than as an established canon. |
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| *Deleted scenes exist for many episodes of both the original and revived series and have been released to DVD. The canonicity of these scenes is a matter of debate, though some deleted scenes contribute to the storyline or to character backstory. For example, a deleted scene from ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'' established that the Doctor assisted in writing the US Declaration of Independence and possesses the first draft. Other deleted scenes cannot be considered canonical due to their narrative being replaced by others: for example, scenes involving [[Howard Attfield]] as [[Geoff Noble]] in [[DW]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'' were refilmed with [[Bernard Cribbins]] as [[Wilfred Mott]] when Attfield became too ill to continue filming. Both scenes contain virtually identical dialogue and situations, but the Cribbins version is continued canonical. The original ending of [[DW]]: ''[[Journey's End]]'' included a last-moment appearance by a [[Cybus Cybermen|Cyberman]] inside the TARDIS as a cliffhanger, but this ending was abandoned and rendered non-canon when writer [[Russell T Davies]] chose not to incorporate any elements of it into the introduction of the following episode, [[DW]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]''.
| | ==Competing narratives== |
| | Throughout ''Doctor Who's'' production there have always been 'competing narratives'; stories produced across several mediums that used the TV-created characters, in the 1960s and 70s these took the form of short stories and comic stories produced in annuals and comic strips. In the 1980s ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' joined the fray with their own comic strip based stories and as the annuals did and continued to do short fiction was also produced for the magazine. |
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| *Contrary to recent Children in Need and Comic Relief specials, the mini-episodes, ''[[A Fix with Sontarans]]'' and ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'' (the latter produced for Children in Need), despite being produced by one of the series' original producers, [[John Nathan-Turner]] (who also co-wrote the latter), are nevertheless generally not considered a part of the original series or as canon by most fans, even though the latter featured all the (at that time) surviving Doctors and a number of returning companions. John Nathan-Turner apparently considered ''Dimensions in Time'' a "real" episode and believed it should have its own official production code. Likewise, ''[[The Curse of Fatal Death]]'', produced for Comic Relief in the late 1990s and written by Moffat years before his professional association with the series began, is also not considered to be canon, as it was a parody of the series.
| | During the 1990s ''Doctor Who'' as a brand shifted and fragmented with the end of television production, with multiple [[Doctor Who spin-offs]] being produced by fans and novel series published by [[Virgin Books]] continuing the Doctor's travels beyond its TV realm. Concurrently, the TV series was analysed in detail, academics unearthing long undiscovered materials about the genesis of the show, and the official history of the ''Doctor Who'' series was greatly expanded upon within a postmodern context. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/doctor_who.htm |title=DOCTOR WHO The Transmedia Experience |author=Frank Collins |date of source= |website name=Television Heaven |accessdate=22nd October 2011}}</ref> |
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| *There are also some additional televised appearances by the Doctor in educational programs that are generally not considered canon either, such as ''[[Search Out Space]]''.
| | ==Other universes== |
| | There have been deliberate moves to create separate canons of ''Doctor Who'', the earliest example of this are the two movies of the [[1960s]], staring [[Peter Cushing]] ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' and ''[[Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.]]'' make no effort to be a part of what even at that point was "established", with none of the ''Doctor Who'' elements, aside from the police box and the Daleks appearing in their accepted form. These stories however still "exist" and have not been ignored by even the BBC with a short story appearing in the [[BBC Books]] short story anthology ''[[Short Trips and Side Steps]]'' featuring a story featuring Dr Who.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv61/rev-shorttrips.html |title=Short Trips and Side Steps: A Collection of Short Stories - Book review |author=Jon Preddle |date of source=December 2000 |website name=NZDWFC |accessdate=22nd October 2011}}</ref> |
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| *Two recent mini-episodes have sparked debates over canonicity: ''[[Attack of the Graske]]'', which was an interactive game in which the Doctor engaged the viewer, and ''[[Music of the Spheres]]'', in which the Doctor interacted with the real-life audience of the 2008 Doctor Who Proms concert. Another 2009 mini-episode, dubbed ''[[Tonight's the Night]]'', was a fourth wall-breaking skit produced for a BBC talent show competition and makes no attempt to fit within continuity. More recently, an online game entitled ''[[Amy's History Hunt]]'' featured [[Amy Pond]] interacting with the viewer in much the same way as ''Attack of the Graske''; it too is of debatable canonicity.
| | Other examples are evidenced with an official shift in definition, [[2003]]'s ''[[Scream of the Shalka]]'' '''was''' to have been the continuation of ''Doctor Who'', with [[Richard E. Grant]] promoted as the "new" Ninth Doctor.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2003/07/09/5660.shtml |title=BBCi's Ninth Doctor |accessdate=22nd October 2011 |date of source=11 July 2003 |website name=BBC - News |publisher=bbc.co.uk |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060815015720/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2003/07/09/5660.shtml |archivedate=August 15 2006}}</ref> The BBC's first edition of ''[[Doctor Who: The Legend]]'' even has several pages which details the "Ninth Doctor". But this detail was changed and the [[Ninth Doctor (Scream of the Shalka)|"Shalka Doctor"]] shifted away from what was considered to be part of the ''Doctor Who'' history with the arrival of [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|the new BBC Wales series]]. |
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| *The status of the Australian-made spin-off series ''[[K-9 (TV series)|K-9]]'', which debuted in 2010, is unclear. Unlike one-off productions such as ''Search Out Space'', ''K-9'' is a full series, with a 26-episode first season completed and now being broadcast. However, the fact it is not a BBC production leaves its canonical status unclear. Points in its favour as canon include backstory elements that connect the series to the aftermath of [[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion of Time]]'', and the use of K9's original voice actor, [[John Leeson]], as well as a setting that places the series some decades into the future and thus unlikely to interfere with the "present-day" events of the three BBC series. | | ==See also== |
| | *[[Fanon]] |
| | *[[Continuity]] |
| | *[[Tardis:Canon policy]] |
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| ===Movies=== | | ==Footnotes== |
| Fans almost universally do not consider the two films starring [[Peter Cushing]], ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' or ''[[Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.]]'' as taking place in the mainstream Doctor Who Universe. These have their own canon and their own continuity. These portray established characters in different ways, envisioning for example, the [[First Doctor]] as a [[human]] scientist actually named Dr. Who and re-tell the television stories ''[[The Daleks]]'' and ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'', respectively, in a different way. There have been a handful of attempts in various ''Doctor Who'' novels and anthologies, however, to reconcile the films with the tv series universe.
| | {{reflist}} |
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| Beginning in 1988 and the release of ''[[Wartime]]'' independent companies such as [[Reeltime Pictures]] and [[BBV Productions]] have produced a number of made-for-video productions featuring characters and races from ''Doctor Who'' licensed from their creators (but not the Doctor himself). Productions such as ''[[Shakedown]]'', ''[[Downtime]]'', ''[[P.R.O.B.E.]]'' and the Auton series (to name a few) exist in a similar grey area of canon as other spin-offs, with some fans accepting them as canon and others dismissing them as they aren't BBC productions. Some independent productions, such as the ''The Stranger'' series by BBV and the parody ''[[Do You Have a Licence to Save this Planet?]]'' in which [[Sylvester McCoy]] lampoons the [[Seventh Doctor]], are not generally considered canonical, even though it includes appearances from alien races from the TV series featured in the spin-offs such as the [[Sontaran]]s and [[Auton]]s.
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| ===Books===
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| There is endless debate among fans over the canonicity of the various series of original novels. Some accept the [[Virgin New Adventures]] and [[Virgin Missing Adventures]], some accept the [[BBC Books]] ([[Eighth Doctor Adventures]], [[Past Doctor Adventures]] etc), some accept both, and some accept neither.
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| Russell T. Davies has written in DWM ([[Doctor Who Magazine]]), clarifying that the destruction of Gallifrey in the TV series was not related to the BBC Books ([[EDA]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell]]''), that he cannot put in the TV series any reference to a licensed product which might be taken as requiring BBC viewers to purchase something in order to know the whole story. But in the same article went out of his way to say that there could have been multiple destructions of Gallifrey. He has been consistently careful to make it clear that he wants to make it possible for fans to consider the books canonical, or not, as they prefer; the same attitude has been taken by most of the current series writers.
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| The potential canoncity of the novels has been made more complex by the fact one novel, ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'', featuring the [[Seventh Doctor]], was later adapted as a television episode [[Human Nature (TV story)|of the same title]], featuring the [[Tenth Doctor]], and that another novel, ''[[The Monsters Inside]]'', is referenced on screen in ''[[Boom Town]]''.
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| Some of the novels have made profound expansions to the backstories of the Doctor and other characters, little of which has been related in the TV series (which may or may not contradict the information). Examples include [[the Master]]'s origins (including revealing his "real name"), the [[Cartmel Masterplan]] which attempted to establish an origin for the Doctor and his family (most notably in the novel ''[[Lungbarrow]]''). Some novels have directly contradicted the TV series, such as several Cartmel Masterplan-related novels that established that [[Susan Foreman]] was not the Doctor's real granddaughter. In some cases continuity established in the novels has carried over into other media, such as having [[Romana II]] returning from [[E-Space]] and becoming Lord President of Gallifrey, which is also featured in various [[Big Finish Productions]] audio dramas and the ''Shada'' webcast.
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| Still other novels have attempted to chronicle the ultimate fates of companions, such as [[Peri Brown]] in [[Bad Therapy|''Bad Therapy'']]. [[Romana]] has regenerated into a less-friendly [[Romana III|third incarnation]] in the [[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures]] line. Most boldly, several novels have killed off companions: such as [[Liz Shaw]] (''[[Eternity Weeps]]'') and [[Dodo Chaplet]] (''[[Who Killed Kennedy]]'').
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| All but a half-dozen of the original series episodes, plus the TV movie, have been adapted as novels. These novelisations often diverge considerably from their source material, sometimes contradicting what is shown on screen (in one case, the novelisation of ''[[The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve]]'' told almost a completely different story than the TV original), and as such are generally considered non-canonical.
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| ===Comics===
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| Most fans consider the early comics stories printed by ''[[TV Comic]]'', ''[[Countdown]]'' ''[[TV Action]]'', created for a juvenile audience and featuring many differences from the TV series including radically different characterisation of the Doctor, as not taking place in "real continuity".
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| The comics printed in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' have varied wildly in their approach to continuity, depending on editorial policy. During one period, it was policy to tie them into Marvel Universe continuity, which is very difficult to reconcile with Doctor Who television continuity (example: '[[The Crossroads of Time]]'). During another period, it was policy to closely tie them to [[Virgin New Adventures]] continuity, and some of the [[Virgin New Adventures]] refer to these. During another period they deliberately contradicted the [[Virgin New Adventures]] (in ''[[Ground Zero]]''). Because of this, almost no fan accepts all of them as canon, but many fans accept '''some''' of them as canon, depending on their tastes. On at least one occasion a concept from the comic strips has appeared in a canonical episode: [[kronkburger]]s, introduced in the comic strip ''[[The Iron Legion]]'', are referenced in the 2005 episodes ''[[The Long Game]]''.
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| As with the novels, on rare occasions the comics have chronicled the fates of TV companions, most significantly the death of [[Jamie McCrimmon]] in [[DWM]]: ''[[The World Shapers]]''.
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| Since the return of Doctor Who to television in 2005, the publishers of ''Doctor Who'' comic strips (primarily ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'', ''[[Doctor Who Adventures]]'', the various storybooks and annuals, and full-length comics published in the US by [[IDW Publishing]], have made a concerted effort to tie their stories into televised continuity, making them (usually) easier to roll into one continuity.
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| ===Audio and radio===
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| Dozens of professionally made audio dramas have been produced since [[1976]] when ''[[Doctor Who and the Pescatons]]'' was first issued. Several adventures have been produced by and broadcast by [[BBC Radio]], while [[Big Finish Productions]] has produced an extensive series of audio dramas featuring the [[Fifth Doctor|Fifth]], [[Sixth Doctor|Sixth]], [[Seventh Doctor|Seventh]] and [[Eighth Doctor]]s since [[1999]], along with numerous spin-off audio series focusing on races such as the [[Dalek]]s and individual characters such as [[Sarah Jane Smith]]. As with the novels, acceptance in canon depends upon the fan, although there is at least one example of a Big Finish audio drama (''[[Jubilee]]'') being adapted as a television episode (''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]''). One spin-off Big Finish series, [[Doctor Who Unbound]] is not considered canonical as it focuses on "what if?"-style stories featuring alternate interpretations of the Doctor and his (or her) companions.
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| Generally, the BBC Radio-produced dramas featuring Colin Baker (''[[Slipback]]'') and [[Jon Pertwee]] (''[[The Paradise of Death]]'' and ''[[The Ghosts of N-Space]]'') are considered canon as they were produced by the BBC, along with the [[Tom Baker]] recording, ''The Pescatons''. Unconfirmed is the canonicity of a series of Big Finish-produced ''but'' [[BBC 7]]-commissioned and broadcast adventures featuring [[Paul McGann]] that debuted in [[2007]].
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| ===Videogames===
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| In 2010, the BBC launched a series of online videogames entitled [[Doctor Who: The Adventure Games]]. The first series of four games (additional games are planned for 2011) feature cast members from the series, were overseen by Moffat and the production team, and include elements from Series 5. As such, Moffat and others have indicated that the basic storylines of the four games are considered canon.
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| Additional videogames have been produced off and on since the 1980s. The only games with a viable claim to being canonical include [[VG]]: ''[[Destiny of the Doctors]]'' (featuring newly shot footage of [[Anthony Ainley]] as [[the Master]]), and a pair of console games released in 2010: ''[[Evacuation Earth]]'' and ''[[Return to Earth]]'', both of which, as with the ''Adventure Games'', were overseen by the TV production team and featured cast members providing voices.
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| ===Webcasts===
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| Prior to the return of ''Doctor Who'' to television, the BBC commissioned several original webcast productions for its official Doctor Who website. Of these only one, 2003's ''[[Scream of the Shalka]]'', has been definitively removed from canon by the BBC due to the Ninth Doctor as played by [[Richard E. Grant]] being supplanted by the [[Ninth Doctor]] of [[Christopher Eccleston]] (even so, there have been attempts to reconcile this story with canon in some of the spin-off works). Another webcast, ''[[Death Comes to Time]]'' is also problematic to reconcile with canon as it features the death of a major ongoing character. ''[[Real Time]]'' is related to the [[Big Finish Productions]] audio series and as such is subject to the same canon considerations. The fourth webcast, ''Shada'', is discussed under "Television", above.
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| During the 2006 season, the BBC produced "webisodes" for each episode of the season. These were short prologues that helped set the scene or introduce a concept featured in an upcoming episode. It is unclear whether these short scenes are considered canonical; none were included in the later DVD release of Series 2. At least one (for ''[[School Reunion]]'') serves as a direct prologue to the episode.
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| Since the series revival in 2005, the BBC has also made extensive use of viral marketing online, creating real websites based upon fictional concepts such as [[UNIT]] and the [[Torchwood Institute]]. Many of these websites feature pieces of information that have been treated as official by some fans, but like everything else the BBC hasn't definitively stated whether any of the websites are canonical. (However, some of the background information seen on UNIT's website did later make it on screen during an episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', confirming it as canon, at least in part.)
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| A 2009 webcast mini-episode [[WC]]: ''[[A Ghost Story for Christmas]]'', chronicles a woman's encounter with the [[Weeping Angels]]; as it incorporates footage from [[DW]]: ''[[Blink]]'' alongside newly filmed material, it's unclear whether this story is canonical, or takes place concurrently with ''Blink''.
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| In 2011, the BBC has announced it will be uploading several web-exclusive prequel scenes for select Series 6 episodes. The first of these, for [[DW]]: ''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]'', was posted just prior to its broadcast and a second, for [[DW]]: ''[[The Curse of the Black Spot]]'', was released on 30 April 2011. As these are direct extensions to the episodes, featuring characters and actors from the episodes, these are likely to be considered canonical, though it's not yet known whether they will be released to DVD.
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| ===Stage plays===
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| Three stage plays have been produced based upon the series: Neither ''[[Doctor Who and the Daleks in The Seven Keys to Doomsday]]'' and ''[[Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure]]'', despite both being written by [[Terrance Dicks]], and the latter featuring (at various times) [[Jon Pertwee]] and [[Colin Baker]] as their respective Doctors, is considered canon. A third play, ''[[Curse of the Daleks]]'' by [[Terry Nation]], debuted in the 1960s and did not feature the Doctor; it is also not considered canon.
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| ==Fanon==
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| : ''Main article: [[Fanon]]''
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| A combination of the words "fan" and "canon", these are facts that have been made up by fans over the years to fill gaps in existing continuity/canon, and which become accepted as canon by the fanbase, despite not being supported in on-screen continuity.
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| ==External links== | | ==External links== |
- For policy information for how we deal with canon on this wiki see Tardis:Canon policy.
Canon is a fan-based idea that exists in a unique way within Doctor Who fandom. In theory it means a body of work that is an established body of literature that can draw upon[1], but is more commonly thought as what a fan considers what forms part of the Doctor Who universe or what "really happened", this is a personal choice, one which is endlessly discussed and argued about in just about every Doctor Who-related forum or message board that has existed on the internet.
Unlike the Star Trek and Star Wars universes, the British Broadcasting Corporation has never made a pronouncement about what is or is not canon for Doctor Who. [2]
In August 2010 however, the BBC did make a fleeting reference to canon, in relation to their Doctor Who: The Adventure Games stating in their press release that "Players will encounter new and original monsters, in stories which form part of the overall Doctor Who canon". [3]
A large issue when attempting to construct a definition of canon for Doctor Who is that it is never finished, Doctor Who has been in more or less constant production in one way or another since 1963, with TV stories, novelisations, novels, radio dramas, audio stories, toys, comic stories etc. Some fans want a complete narrative, they want to collect and arbitrate in hefty canonical debates, but Doctor Who is never complete. [4]
Narrative history
Canon can be defined as the body of cultural/narrative history of Doctor Who that everything narratively Doctor Who related is canon, from the annuals to the audio stories, their ideas, their history filters down through their stories becomes part of the larger Doctor Who universe. With writers being influenced or referencing this body of work as they create new stories. [1] This can also be seen as continuity, which is roughly the interconnectedness of stories and how they're referenced in each story.
As a narrative history, that it exists is enough to consider it canon, the ideas and themes, forms and designs filter down through the stories, with elements making their way into future productions. The Dalek space craft of The Dalek Chronicles were worked into CGI replacement shots on the DVD of The Dalek Invasion of Earth and then further into television stories such as The Parting of the Ways. Again this can merely be an example of continuity within the show rather than as an established canon.
Competing narratives
Throughout Doctor Who's production there have always been 'competing narratives'; stories produced across several mediums that used the TV-created characters, in the 1960s and 70s these took the form of short stories and comic stories produced in annuals and comic strips. In the 1980s Doctor Who Magazine joined the fray with their own comic strip based stories and as the annuals did and continued to do short fiction was also produced for the magazine.
During the 1990s Doctor Who as a brand shifted and fragmented with the end of television production, with multiple Doctor Who spin-offs being produced by fans and novel series published by Virgin Books continuing the Doctor's travels beyond its TV realm. Concurrently, the TV series was analysed in detail, academics unearthing long undiscovered materials about the genesis of the show, and the official history of the Doctor Who series was greatly expanded upon within a postmodern context. [5]
Other universes
There have been deliberate moves to create separate canons of Doctor Who, the earliest example of this are the two movies of the 1960s, staring Peter Cushing Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. make no effort to be a part of what even at that point was "established", with none of the Doctor Who elements, aside from the police box and the Daleks appearing in their accepted form. These stories however still "exist" and have not been ignored by even the BBC with a short story appearing in the BBC Books short story anthology Short Trips and Side Steps featuring a story featuring Dr Who.[6]
Other examples are evidenced with an official shift in definition, 2003's Scream of the Shalka was to have been the continuation of Doctor Who, with Richard E. Grant promoted as the "new" Ninth Doctor.[7] The BBC's first edition of Doctor Who: The Legend even has several pages which details the "Ninth Doctor". But this detail was changed and the "Shalka Doctor" shifted away from what was considered to be part of the Doctor Who history with the arrival of the new BBC Wales series.
See also
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Philip Sandifer (Wednesday, March 16, 2011). You Were Expecting Someone Else II (1966 Annual, The Dalek Book, Dalek World). TARDIS Eruditorum: A Psychochronography in Blue. Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
- ↑ Paul Cornell (Feb 10 2007). Canonicity in Doctor Who. PaulCornell.com. Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
- ↑ [BBC unveils Doctor Who – The Adventure Games. BBC - Press Office (08.04.2010). Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
- ↑ Magrs, Paul, (2007), "Afterword - My Adventures", Time And Relative Dissertations In Space, Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK, &, Room 400, New York, USA, p.302
- ↑ Frank Collins. DOCTOR WHO The Transmedia Experience. Television Heaven. Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
- ↑ Jon Preddle (December 2000). Short Trips and Side Steps: A Collection of Short Stories - Book review. NZDWFC. Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
- ↑ BBCi's Ninth Doctor. BBC - News. bbc.co.uk (11 July 2003). Archived from the original on August 15 2006. Retrieved on 22nd October 2011.
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