Forum:Temporary forums/Inclusion debates speedround

Introduction
As our website is currently set up, T:TF allows for six temporary forum posts at any given time. Posts last three weeks typically, meaning that it's been a priority to put site-changing posts ahead of anything more minor. Because of this, there are several stories which are controversially still invalid, yet remain too obscure and minor to ever have a full slot at T:TF.

My basic idea is that we dedicate one forum post to discussing several of these smaller stories, to get them out of the way. This OP is a work-in-progress, so if you would like anything added please leave a message on my talk page.

Friend from the Future
TV: Friend from the Future is a 2016 mini-episode which directly ties in to TV: The Pilot (TV story). It introduces two important characters: Bill Potts and (retroactively) Heather.

Ages ago, in our Thread:###### system, we had a short debate about this which ended with the story being called NOT-VALID for multiple reasons. As the Thread system has never been archived in any way, I'll now recap the issues I recall either being discussed, or being the deciding factors:


 * 1) When Steven Moffat first wrote Friend from the Future, he presumed the episode was going to be a promotional mini-episode that did not actually tie-into the plot of The Pilot. He changed his mind later, and wrote The Pilot to explicitly explain where this story takes place. Because we only recently codified "Rule 4 By Proxy", this meant the story did not pass Rule 4 of T:VS in 2017.
 * 2) Friend from the Future could be considered an advertisement, as it was meant to promote series 10.
 * 3) Friend from the Future is a deleted scene, as the entire script for the short was copied directly into The Pilot's script, then deleted for time.

Now, Friend from the Future obviously is a great contender for being revisited, simply because the recently implemented Rule 4 by proxy makes the first thing a complete non-issue.

I would like to also say that I disagree with the final two points. Is The Night of the Doctor an advertisement? It's much the same circumstance. A mini-episode that really only exists to promote The Day of the Doctor. If we don't consider Night an ad, then Friend isn't one either.

And finally, Friend from the Future can not be a deleted scene in The Pilot because it never was going to BE in The Pilot. The script was going to be entirely copied, but was then only partially mirrored. There was never going to be a single frame from FrtF in The Pilot, because it was a separate production.

The best source on this topic is, of course, Steven Moffat. Here is his entire quote about the episode:

"I wasn’t sure at all [if Friend was going to fit]. Because I’m such a Doctor Who fan and I need everything to fit in continuity and I stay awake at night trying to figure out UNIT dating - that’s an obscure one and I have fixed it – I knew it had to be right at the beginning because of the way she was talking and then we edited the whole [scripted] scene in, and it didn’t work because suddenly you were being introduced to her again. You knew she was like that, the whole point of the scene… so we just had the very beginning of it so you know where it fits and for die hard, slightly strange obsessives and let’s be honest, there’s at least 7 or 8 of them in the audience of Doctor Who, like myself, that’s where it fits. You can all sleep at night now."

- Steven Moffat, The Fan Show, Apr 15, 2017

I don't think we can get more direct than that with authorial intent. "That's where it fits. You can all sleep at night now." This is a very obvious example of a story that would be valid through Rule 4 by Proxy. OS25🤙☎️ 22:36, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Friend from the Future discussion
to be added

Doctor Who and the Fangs of Time
to be added

Dermot and the Doctor
to be added

Doctor Who Adventures back-up comics
to be added