Tardis:Format for television stories

''This is a tutorial for writing entries for television stories. If you have any comments or suggestions, please put them on the discussion page. Please do not make changes to this page! Instead, tell us what changes you think should be made on the discussion page. Thank you.''

This is a general outline and tutorial on the style for adding entries to the Doctor Who Wiki TARDIS Index File's television stories of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Note that this is only a guideline, and you should only attempt to enter information that you know, and not feel obligated to fill in every section.

Basic requirements
At the very least, an article should have a basic behind-the-scenes description of the story and basic synopsis (see below), the correct templates (see below), an image from the story and a cast list. Please do not attempt to do a television story article if you are unable to provide these. Please also, if you do not have the necessary information or time to complete any of the other headings or sub-headings listed below, it is far better to simply leave them out all together than to leave them empty or place such phrases as, "To be added" underneath. Just do the basics mentioned above if you can, then make a note on the discussion page of what other things need to be added. By the very nature of a wiki, someone will eventually come along to complete those parts. No one here is expected to go it alone.

A good example of how a television story article should look can be found here. Yet another can be found here.

Article intro

 * First comes the infobox. The infobox summarizes the most basic information on each story for quick and easy reference. Simply insert the template for this item in the page, then fill in the information.


 * The infobox is followed by a basic behind-the-scenes description of the story, i.e. it was the nth story of Season N. This is the first item of actual text in the article, and will appear to the left of the infobox:

The Tenth Planet was the second story in the fourth season of Doctor Who. It was the first story to feature the Cybermen and the last to star William Hartnell as the Doctor. The adventure would conclude with the the Doctor transforming in to a new, younger body.

Note:There is no need for section headers for either the infobox or the opening description.

Synopsis

 * The Synopsis should be a one or two paragraph summation of the story, the sort one might find in a television guide or catalogue listing. An example can be found here.

Plot

 * The Plot is a more detailed summary of the story, ideally illustrated with images from the story, if available. (Please review our Plagiarism, copyright and image policies before uploading and inserting images or any summaries) For stories in the original 1963-1989 series, these should be divided up into the individual episodes, with sub-headings for each. Stories from the new 2005- series do not need this division. For two-part stories in the new series, i.e. "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" each part has its own page and so should be summarised separately. For an example of how a completed plot should look, click here."

Cast

 * The Cast is a list of the actors who appeared in the story. Preferably these should be listed in the format of "Character - Actor," as this is the way the credits in the actual television programme list them. They should be listed in two columns for easier reading. The actor playing the Doctor should always be listed first, followed by the actor(s) playing the Doctor's companion(s), the actor(s) playing the Doctor's formally named or titled enemy(ies), and finally the supporting characters.

Characters should be listed according to the credits in the transmitted version of the story. However, if a character is referred to by name in the dialogue of the story, but is given no name in the credits, or they are referred to with a first name when only a surname is given in the credits, they may still be listed according to the originally transmitted credits, but the article the character role links to will have the name given in dialogue. For example, the character played by Beatrix Lehmann in "The Stones of Blood" would be listed in the credits as "Professor Rumford," but clicking on "Professor Rumford" would direct you to the article titled, "Amelia Rumford," as this was the character's full name given in the story's dialogue. This is in keeping with naming principles.

Uncredited performers, if known, should be listed last, with "uncredited" placed in parentheses (round brackets) next to their name. If several actors played the same unnamed role, such as "Dalek," "Cyberman," or "Thal," it is enough to simply list that part once and list all the performers who played that role beside it, separated by commas. Again, this makes for easier reading.

Production crew

 * The Production Crew should be listed in the format of "Crew Position - Name." They should also be listed in two columns for easier reading. Traditionally, the script editor, director, and series producer have been listed last in the series' credits and ideally this convention should be followed in the articles. As with the cast, uncredited persons should be listed with "uncredited" in parentheses next to their name, and if several persons filled the same role, that role should be listed only once, with the persons' names listed beside it, separated by commas.

Story notes

 * The Story Notes section contains general behind-the-scenes items of interest about the story, such as production problems and cast or script changes, or ways in which the story was a major landmark in the history of the series. Other, more specific information falls under the following sub-sections:

Ratings

 * A listing of ratings, per episode, for the original transmission of the story. This can be found at the A Brief History of Time (Travel)website, a link to which should be included in the External Links section (see below).

Myths

 * Behind-the-scenes reports and stories which have developed about certain stories but which have been proven to be untrue. An example would be the claim that Jacqueline Hill was working as a model in Paris when she was cast as Barbara Wright for "The Pilot Episode" and "An Unearthly Child."

Filming Locations

 * Towns, villages, buildings, estates, and all those wonderful quarries and sandpits where the stories were filmed. This information can also be found at the A Brief History of Time (Travel) site or The Locations Guide to Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
 * Or which studio(s) the stories were filmed in.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Plot holes, continuity conflicts with other stories, and bloopers which got past the editing process all go here.
 * These may be explained and placed in round brackets and italics. (This is not a necessity, some statements or questions can just be left as is without answers.)
 * This area should not be used as a discussion forum for elements of disagreement of the story.

Continuity

 * Links between this story and other stories, whether previous or later.
 * These should be listed (in the same manner to any other story) with the prefix of the story's group followed by the story's title in italics, it does not need to be in brackets.

Timeline

 * Timeline refers to all Doctor Who media and attempts to place this story within the overall timeline
 * Timeline should only be included if there is a story (in any media) the occurs before or after it (this can be an audio, prose, comic, etc). If there are none, or none that can be placed in timeline does not need to be included. You also do not need to repeat information contained within the infobox (ie if it a TV story comes before or after it then they do not need to be included).

The timeline should be written something like this:


 * (page story title) occurs after: (prefix): (story title)
 * (page story title) occurs before: (prefix): (story title)

DVD, Video and Other releases

 * If a story has been commercially released in VHS, DVD, LP record, audio cassette, Laserdisc, or CD format, the information will go here, with date(s) of release and notes on any special features, such as commentary or behind-the-scenes narration. Releases by the Reconstruction Team would also go here. This information can be found at the Brief History of Time (Travel) site, and at a few other sites.

Novelisations

 * Information on novelisations by Target Books of stories in the original series goes here. It should go without saying that this heading should not be included in articles for any stories produced after 1989. For articles on "The Pirate Planet," "City of Death" "Shada," "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks," this heading should contain not just the fact that no Target novelisations of these stories were published, but also why.
 * For stories produced post 2005 this section can be omitted.
 * This section should be included for The Sarah Jane Adventures television stories published as novelisations by BBC Books.