User:CzechOut/Sandbox8/WhatThisWikiCovers

<-- return to main canon policy discussion

Valid resources for "in-universe" articles

The following list is merely a different, simplified way of looking at out canon policy. Whereas out canon policy generally speaks in terms of things that we don't consider canon, this list examines the policy from the perspective of those things that are considered canon. Because this is the reduction of policy to list form, few explanations are given here as to why certain items are on the list. For that detail, please return to the main policy page. In the event of any discrepancies between this list and the main policy page, the policy page shall be judged correct.

Fully licensed narrative

A "fully licensed narrative" is a story which is released with the blessing of the British Broadcasting Corporation. They are fully licensed in that every detail within the narrative may be safely assumed to be what it appears to be. If it seems to be the character of the Doctor or Romana, or the TARDIS or Gallifrey, then that's what it is. This can be contrasted with semi-licensed stories, like The Choice, where the identity of some characters is obscured to avoid copyright problems, or the totally unlicensed Time Travellers series, where the characters are only approximations of Doctor Who characters.

Acceptable fully-licensed narratives are listed below, by medium.

Television

1. All televised stories of Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, K9 and Company, and K9 EXCEPT FOR:
   1. Dimensions in Time
   2. The Curse of Fatal Death
   3. the Tonight's the Night sketch
   4. the 2011 National Television Awards sketch
   5. any obviously parodic sketches in the future
   6. anything listed on the page, Doctor Who parodies.

Novels

1. 1. 1. BBC Books
         1. BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
         2. BBC Past Doctor Adventures
         3. BBC New Series Adventures
         4. The Darksmith Legacy
         5. The Sarah Jane Adventures novelisations
         6. Quick Reads
         7. Doctor Who Chapter Books
         8. BBC Torchwood novels
         9. Any other future ranges of fiction published by the BBC
      2. Sparrow Books
         1. The Adventures of K9
      3. Target Books
         1. Companions of Doctor Who
         2. Target Missing Episodes - only to the extent that they do not contradict The Lost Stories series by Big Finish Productions
         3. Target Novelisations — only to the extent that they do not contradict televised episodes.
      4. Virgin Books
         1. Virgin Missing Adventures
         2. Virgin New Adventures
         3. Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures
      5. Telos Publishing
         1. Telos Doctor Who novellas

Short stories

Often, short stories appear in books that have other, non-narrative elements to them. Therefore, the following resources are valid on this wiki only inasmuch as narrative elements are concerned.

1. 1. 1. Big Finish Productions
         1. Short Trips (series)
      2. Virgin Books
         1. Virgin Decalogs
      3. World Distributors (Manchester), Ltd
         1. Doctor Who Annual 1966 - Doctor Who Annual 1986
         2. K9 Annual 1983
         3. Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space
         4. The Amazing World of Doctor Who
         5. Adventures in Time and Space
         6. Doctor Who Special: Journey Through Time
         7. Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1976 — 1979
      4. Polystyle Publications, Ltd.
         1. Doctor Who material in TV Comic Annuals
         2. Doctor Who material in Countdown/TV Action Annuals
         3. Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973
         4. Doctor Who Holiday Special 1974
         5. Doctor Who Winter Special 1977
      5. Marvel Comics
         1. Doctor Who Yearbook 1992 - 1996
      6. Panini Comics
         1. Doctor Who Annual 2006
         2. Doctor Who Storybook 2007 - present
         3. Stories found in Doctor Who Magazine and special issues, including, the Brief Encounter range and any "one-shot" short stories.
         4. Between the Wars: A Slow Night in Paradise in Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer'
      7. Titan Books
         1. short stories appearing in Torchwood Magazine
         2. Torchwood The Official Magazine Yearbook (2008)
         3. Torchwood The Official Magazine Yearbook (2009)
      8. BBC Books
         1. Doctor Who The Official Annual 2007 - present
         2. Doctor Who Files
      9. Souvenir Press Ltd/Panther Books Ltd
         1. The Dalek Book
         2. The Dalek World
         3. The Dalek Outer Space Book

Comics

Only the original printing of a comic is viewed as fully canonical. Reprints can lose frames, or suddenly lose or add color.

1. 1. Comics published in or by:
      1. Doctor Who Magazine EXCEPT the Tales from the TARDIS series of strips, Daleks Versus the Martians, and any parodic/humour strips, such as work by Dicky Howett and Tim Quinn
      2. Doctor Who Adventures
      3. Doctor Who: Battles in Time
      4. TV Comic
      5. Countdown / TV Action
      6. Radio Times
      7. TV Century 21 (specifically, those strips later reprinted as The Dalek Chronicles)
      8. Torchwood Magazine
      9. Torchwood: The Official Comic
      10. Any narrative material original to Doctor Who Classic Comics, be it prose or comic strip
      11. any IDW Doctor Who publication
      12. any annual, yearbook, storybook, holiday special or seasonal publication — based upon any show in the Doctor Who universe — published by BBC Magazines, BBC Books, Panini Comics, IDW Publishing, Polystyle Publications, Ltd., Marvel Comics, or World Distributors (Manchester), Ltd
      13. any official BBC website, or the official K9 website.
      14. Original graphic novels, including Rift War, The Only Good Dalek, and The Age of Chaos
      15. Comic strip stories contained in Stories with unknown or disputed Doctors are primarily deemed to have happened with the Second or Third Doctors, depending on whichever was present in the original printing. However, mention may be made of the story as experienced by the Fourth Doctor if the editor is drawing attention to the differences between the original printing and the redrawn Fourth Doctor versions.

Audio

1. 1. 1. BBC Radio Dramas
         1. Torchwood radio dramas
         2. Exploration Earth
         3. Slipback
         4. The Paradise of Death
         5. The Ghosts of N-Space
      2. AudioGo/BBC Audio audio stories initially released on home audio
         1. Torchwood direct-to-CD releases
         2. Doctor Who and the Pescatons
         3. Hornets' Nest
         4. Demon Quest
         5. Any future original Fourth Doctor AudioGo series.
         6. AUDIO: The Stones of Blood, to the extent that it does not contradict the televised story. Any contradictions with PROSE: Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood shall be treated as equally possible interpretations, neither being "more correct" than the other.
         7. Any future original AudioGo dramatisations of televised stories that differ with the Target Books novelisation of the same story.
         8. Original audios in the BBC New Series Adventures range. This does not include readings of books which originally debuted in print. In such cases, the print version is deemed to be the version we prefer. For example, if there are differences between the version of The Story of Martha as read by Freema Agyeman, and the original, printed book, the book is considered superior information by this wiki. Audiobooks, because they can be abridged, are the only type of performed Doctor Who which is judged inferior to print.
         9. Original audios in the SJA audiobooks range
      3. Big Finish Productions
         1. Stories with the Doctor
            1. Big Finish special releases
            2. Companion Chronicles
            3. Doctor Who monthly audio stories
            4. Eighth Doctor Adventures audio stories
            5. Excelis Saga audio stories
            6. Lost Stories
         2. Stories without the Doctor
            1. Bernice Summerfield audio series
            2. Cyberman audio series
            3. Dalek Empire audio series
            4. Gallifrey audio series
            5. Graceless audio series
            6. I, Davros audio series
            7. Iris Wildthyme audio series
            8. Jago and Litefoot audio series
            9. Sarah Jane Smith audio series
            10. UNIT audio series

Webcasts

1. 1. 1. without proviso, Real Time
      2. The Shada webcast, featuring the Eighth Doctor, is the only other webcast we deem canonical, but in a more nuanced way. It is not apocryphal, and should never be described as such. However, it must be described as a version of events, since the home video release of Shada, featuring the Fourth Doctor, is equally valid. [In truth, however, I believe we would be better off making the arbitrary decision to deem all versions of Shada non-canonical, and just restrict info to story pages. Trying to describe the in-universe events in a way that equally handles all three versions of Shada is a long-winded affair. I think it's better just to not try. It never made it to television. Just let it go.
         czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">09:08:16 Fri 11 Mar 2011 ]

Video games

1. 1. 1. Doctor Who: The Adventure Games

Yet to be resolved

1. 1. Everything at Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure Books. Since the reader has some control over how the story unfolds, it's unclear which version of events might be "canonically correct". Thus, a general description of the characters, places, and objects in the books is indisputably canon, but going deeper may be problematic. For instance, if one of the books had a planet Zul, it would be acceptable to given a general description of Zul, but it might not be appropriate to say "the Tenth Doctor's actions ensured that the planet Zul was destroyed" — because that might not be true of every reading of the book. [Note: I'm really not comfortable with these "Find Your Destiny" type books, because their point is to offer a whole range of possible options. I'd just as soon declare them non-canon on the grounds that it simply can't be determined what their definite plot is.
      czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  <span style="">08:56:09 Fri 11 Mar 2011 ]
   2. Most videogames pose a problem, largely because of the same reason as these "Make Your Own Adventure Books". There's a not-yet-closed- discussion at Forum:We need a policy on videogames.

Semi-licensed narrative

A "semi-licensed narrative" is one in which the producers have obtained the permission of the copyright-holder of a character, but not the British Broadcasting Corporation.

1. Bernice Summerfield stories, published by Big Finish and Virgin Books
2. Kaldor City audio series, as licensed by Chris Boucher, writer of The Robots of Death
3. The Time Hunter series which resulted from the BBC-licensed, PROSE: The Cabinet of Light
4. The Miranda comic book, which arose from Lance Parkin's work on the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures
5. Faction Paradox
   1. The Eleven Day Empire
   2. The Shadow Play
   3. Sabbath Dei
   4. In the Year of the Cat
   5. Movers
   6. A Labyrinth of Histories
   7. AUDIO: Coming to Dust
   8. The Ship of a Billion Years
   9. Body Politic
   10. Words from Nine Divinities
   11. Ozymandias
   12. The Judgment of Sutekh
   13. Novels: The Book of the War
   14. This Town Will Never Let Us Go
   15. Of the City of the Saved...
   16. Warlords of Utopia
   17. Warring States
   18. Erasing Sherlock
   19. Newtons Sleep
   20. Comics: Political Animals
   21. Bêtes Noires & Dark Horses
   22. . . . and anything else which might be published with the consent of Lawrence Miles, unless it directly uses elements copyrighted by the BBC, and is published without the BBC's permission.
6. Selected parts of the BBV Productions/Reeltime Pictures back-catalogue, strictly limited to that which had the assent of the character copyright holders. Thus the following are allowed:
   1. P.R.O.B.E.
      1. The Zero Imperative
      2. The Devil of Winterborne
      3. Unnatural Selection
      4. Ghosts of Winterborne
   2. Guy de Carnac, a character who appeared in Sanctuary, a BBC-licensed product
      1. The Quality of Mercy
   3. The "Auton Trilogy"
      1. Auton
      2. Auton 2: Sentinel
      3. Auton 3: Awakening
   4. Rutans
      1. In 2 Minds
   5. The Shakedown duology
      1. Shakedown
      2. Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans
   6. The Krynoid duology
      1. The Root of All Evil
      2. The Green Man
   7. The I
      1. I Scream
   8. The Rani
      1. The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind
   9. Wirrn
      1. Race Memory
   10. Adventures in a Pocket Universe - these are complicated to assess, because the producers had the assent of the K9 copyright holders, but not the BBC, who own Romana II. Thus, although Lalla Ward was the co-star of the series, she cannot be judged to be playing Romana II. She is herein referred to only as "The Mistress". The K9 herein is not K9 Mark II, who went with Romana II into E-Space, but another model of K9 altogether. Therefore, we allow coverage of these stories, but in a careful way that never refers back to either the characters of K9 Mark II or Romana II.
       1. The Choice
       2. The Search