Board Thread:The Panopticon/@comment-1293767-20151029072618

I would like to address two issues recently raised in Thread:164173 concerning TARDIS policies that need community attention:

1. Should we view episodes that end with "to be continued" cards as automatic multi-part episodes that must be linked to the episode that follows it?

2. Should we view return cards ("Doctor Who will return in..." / "Coming..." / "the Doctor will be back..." / "Coming Soon" / "The Doctor and Clara will return..." / variations) as the same thing as "to be continued" cards and therefore hold them to the same standards?

While trying to determine whether or not A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler are a two-parter in Thread:164173, User:Shambala108 asked if AGMGTW ends with "to be continued" and whether that could determine its status as a two-parter. This question led to discussion that "to be continued" is inconsistently applied: every story we recognize in Series 1 as a two-parter, for example, does not end with "to be continued." Conversely, The Almost People and The Name of the Doctor do end with "to be continued," but we currently do not recognize them as multi-part stories with AGMGTW and The Day of the Doctor, respectively.

User:CzechOut stated that it has been established since 2010 that "to be continued" automatically links a story with the story that succeeds it, citing the following Panopticon archived discussions:
 * Numbering stories (Turn Left and Planet of the Dead problems)
 * Story Numbering

Additionally:

CzechOut wrote: So, as far as this thread is concerned, we are left with only one question: is "the Doctor will return" truly, materially different than "to be continued"? Personally, I think you'd be splitting truly fine semantic hairs to think so. After all, "to be continued" on Doctor Who necessarily means that "the Doctor will return".

If we accepted that the return cards mean the same thing as "to be continued" cards that would mean not only would we have to count AGMGTW and LKH as a two-parter, but we would have to amend numerous other stories into multi-parters as well, since many series finales and specials end with return cards. Multi-part episodes would look like this:

2-parters
 * The Runaway Bride / Smith and Jones
 * The Wedding of River Song / The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe
 * The Name of the Doctor / The Day of the Doctor

3-parters
 * A Christmas Carol / The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon
 * Last Christmas / The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar

4-parters
 * Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways / The Christmas Invasion / New Earth
 * The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People / A Good Man Goes to War / Let's Kill Hitler

5-parter
 * Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords / Voyage of the Damned / Partners in Crime

6-parter
 * The Stolen Earth / Journey's End / The Next Doctor / Planet of the Dead / The Waters of Mars / The End of Time

Extensive story re-numbering on individual pages and appearance page reorganizing would be involved by choosing to count "to be continued" and return cards as the same thing.

CzechOut wrote: And remember another truism of proposals on wikis. If it's agreed to, someone has to make the change. This isn't something that can be done by bot. So if you argue in favour of splitting these two episodes, please think realistically about how much time you personally can commit to making the change.

To reiterate the questions posed at the top of this thread:

1. Should we view episodes that end with "to be continued" cards as automatic multi-part episodes that must be linked to the episode that follows it?

2. Should we view return cards ("Doctor Who will return in..." / "Coming..." / "the Doctor will be back..." / "Coming Soon" / "The Doctor and Clara will return..." / variations) as the same thing as to be continued" cards and therefore hold them to the same standards?

Taking CzechOut's reminder from Thread:164173 into serious account, I am firmly against Point 2. Keeping AGMGTW and LKH linked and therefore setting a precedent that return cards count as "to be continued" cards would require an insane amount of confusing and needless editing. Stories upon stories that frankly have no business being considered mutli-parters would have to be linked. There is far less work involved in separating AGMGTW and LKH and recognizing that return cards are distinct from "to be continued" cards.

Point 1 doesn't cause as much havoc as Point 2, but I don't think we should count AGMGTW as the end of a three-parter with TRF and TAP or TNOTD as the first half of TDOTD. "To be continued" is so inconsistently applied (sometimes two-parters get "to be continued" cards, sometimes they don't, sometimes random episodes like TAP/TNOTD get them when the episodes that follow them have nothing in common except for basic continuity) that I don't believe it should be accepted as a strict rule. 