User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Help!/@comment-2129131-20140623073254/@comment-2129131-20160115175158

Czechout's post earlier previously went in-depth on what we should do. The real problem seems to be that the television story navigation follows release order instead of narrative order, but when a story has no discernible release date, or is released out of chronological narrative order, it becomes hard to figure out where they should all go. It makes sense to stick them in chronological narrative order when stories clearly take place before or after another. But if it is unclear where a story falls, it seems best just to stick it where it least disrupts the narrative flow (Ex: The Infinite Quest takes place in Series 3 but has no clear placement. If it is slotted in right before Utopia, the latest it can take place, it does not interrupt the Series 3 story arc progression).

As for The Night of the Doctor, that one seems to be fine placed as is because it coincides with the smooth transition of the narrative from the surprise reveal of the War Doctor to how he originated. It's technically before Rose, but because there's a huge gap between the TV movie and 2005 revival, it becomes hard to follow without the narratives revealed in The Name of the Doctor.

Something similar happened with Batman: the Animated Series. The episodes were aired out of order but the production order is generally viewed to be the correct narrative order- but Doctor Who does the opposite. And Doctor Who, of course, is far from linear.