User talk:Ivthomas

Big Spike in Productivity

During 2024, the project has scored 8 GAs, 2 FLs and a GT, up from last year's 4 GAs and a GT. Several additional things are in the pipeline, with a bunch of things currently having been nominated with some mix of OlifanofmrTennant, TheDoctorWho, and Pokelego999 having their names attached to them. Allow me to look into the nominees.

1. Series 14: As of July 18th, every single episode has been sent to GAN, with "Boom", "73 Yards", and "The Devil's Chord" having made it to GA.
2. 2023 Specials: Early in the year, as part of trying to not lose the WikiCup, Ollie sent "The Star Beast" (still salty about the move) to GAN. It was reviewed by frequent collaborator (fly high) of hers, but failed. She then fixed it up and sent it back where it passed. Later "The Giggle" was expanded and sent to GA, followed shortly by "Wild Blue Yonder". WBY received help by JustAnotherCompanion, a pretty fresh user. This other companion chose not to be listed as co-nom. A page was created for "Destination: Skaro" and quickly got GA status.
3. The Daleks' Master Plan was also sent to GAN by Rhain. It passed to join Rhain's other First Doctor content, being the fourth season three article to get the green check.
4. Peter Capaldi: The filmography and newly created awards of Capaldi were both sent to FLC and passed. Capaldi's main page was sent to GA, though due to some minor incompetence on the part of the nominator it was failed.

Proposals to the WikiProject

A recent proposal at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Doctor Who suggested potential improvements and suggestions for the main page of the project, as well as discussions about the project overall. The proposals are as follows:

1. The Task Forces section should be removed due to inactivity in the Torchwood Task Force, and a lack of significant interest in creating further Task Forces.
2. The freenode channel no longer works and should be removed due to most discussion taking place on site.
3. Due to the low quality of Lungbarrow and Jubilee despite being sample articles, these articles should either be removed as samples or improved. Additionally, the "sample device" has a very small application field, and should be removed from the sample articles section.
4. An updates infobox should be included, similarly to those used by Wikipedia:VGCHAR.
5. Radio Times's Doctor Who sections should be included in the references section due to their benefits for the project sourcing wise.
6. The Deletion Discussion archive should be removed, or have work invested in updating it, due to its lack of updates.

If you feel you have any thoughts or suggestions on these matters, or on any other matters pertaining to the project and its main page, feel free to chime in the ongoing discussion.

Articles for deletion
Several articles have been nominated for deletion, such as Time War (Doctor Who), and several articles have been deleted, or merged or redirected, especially those relating to books, due to lack of WP:SIGCOV and WP:NBOOK. Editors can always help either by participating in the deletion discussions (which are noted on the project page), adding to such articles, or bringing attention to other such articles through AfD or the WikiProject talk page, to aid in clean-up.

Notice of Draft Articles
A new Doctor Who spin-off was announced at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, called The War Between the Land and the Sea, and will feature old and new Whoniverse characters working for UNIT as they battle the Sea Devils. The main space article currently redirects to Whoniverse, but collaboration is currently underway in a draft article. As filming on this miniseries has recently begun, its relocation to the mains space will presumably take place soon per the recommendations laid out at WP:NTV.

There is also a draft article in progress for the upcoming 2024 Christmas special. While this article won't be moved until the episode airs, any new contributions are welcome.

Doctor Who News
A small number of editors have recently raised questions regarding the reliability of Doctor Who News. This website is particularly used for information regarding viewing figures and the Appreciation Index of most episodes as well as some news information. If there is a better source for any information supported by this website, it should be replaced in good faith.

A full consensus on whether or not to remove the information that can't be supported by a different source has not yet been reached. Any editor who has opinions on this matter should contribute to the discussion on the WikiProject talk page.

Continued Progress Towards Good/Featured Content
There has been lots of progress made towards recognized articles in the last two months, related to such diverse categories as series, specials, lists and episodes A sub-page has also been added to the WikiProject, to list any possible goals we can aim towards.

Proposals Regarding the State of Fictional Elements Articles in the WikiProject

Several proposals have been laid out regarding fictional elements in the WikiProject, which includes fictional characters, locations, and more. Due to a concerning quality state regarding the large majority of them, several methods of tackling them in order to improve these articles' quality for the future have been proposed. The primary three proposals are as follows:

1. A priority list should be made to determine what articles are most pressing and in need of improvement in the WikiProject overall. Focus would be put onto important subjects and articles in a state of dubious notability that would make them viable for deletion processes such as AfD.

2. A group of articles is selected for improvement, which are ones deemed most relevant to the WikiProject for the future. Any lesser important subjects can be sidelined and worked on as editors see fit.

3. A long term goal is made to improve all elements. This will come at the caveat of taking significantly longer and requiring more heavy participation than the above two proposals, but would guarantee a slow and steady way to solve the issue.

If any editors are interested in chiming into the conversation and sharing their piece on how this should be handled, or if any editors wish to help with this proposal and improve fictional elements articles, then feel free to share thoughts at the discussion's section on the article's talk page.

Continued Improvement of Content

Since the last Newsletter, the articles "Eve of the Daleks", Terror of the Zygons, "The Name of the Doctor", "Silence in the Library", Doctor Who series 2, Mel Bush, Peter Capaldi, "Midnight", "Forest of the Dead", "The Church on Ruby Road", Doctor Who specials (2023), and Doctor Who series 14 have all been promoted to Good Article status. The Good Topic Doctor Who specials (2023) and the Featured Topic Peter Capaldi have also been promoted.

With the amount of articles promoted in the year, we have had our second most productive year of all time, falling just short of beating the record set by 2012. Work is continuing underway on articles Project-wide, and the Good Topic for the revived era nears completion.

Ongoing discussion and goals can be found at WP:WikiProject Doctor Who/Goals and nominees for promoted content here. Feel free to contribute in writing or in reviewing!

Reliable Sources

A discussion on the reliability of CultBox has determined that it should be phased out of use in the WikiProject. This source has been widely used across project articles, especially for information about filming. Concerns that the website is self-published and has poor editorial standards were raised. In some articles, project editors have already begun depreciating the source.

Similar concerns were raised about Doctor Who TV (doctorwho.tv.co.uk). Uses of this source have also been depreciated. This website should NOT be confused with Doctor Who TV (doctorwho.tv), a commercial website published by the Beeb, which is acceptable for use as a primary source.

As discussed in the previous issue, Doctor Who News has been widely phased out where possible. If you have any comments about these sources or any others, please contribute to the discussions on the project talk page.

Novels Being Overhauled

The scrutiny on many of the Doctor's past adventures through print over the years continues in regard to determining their individual notability. Discussions can be found on the WikiProject's talk page, with discussion still well under way in ironing out which articles pass the notability bar.

You can contribute by helping to improve articles of the novels, and other extended media, and bringing attention to the ones that might not.

Project Barnstar

In breaking news, it appears that Torchwood Three has been raided. The resurrection gauntlet has been stolen and used on the WikiProject Doctor Who Barnstar. If you notice exceptional contributions in project areas by any editor, feel free to show them some appreciation by awarding them their very own ✨barnstar✨.

Series 15

The fifteenth series of Doctor Who is set to begin this Saturday with "The Robot Revolution" on 12 April and will conclude eight weeks later after "The Reality War" airs on 31 May. It will once again be accompanied by a new series of Doctor Who: Unleashed. Draft articles for all eight episodes have already been created, the links to which can be found here. New novelisations adapting the first three episodes of the series are set to be released on 10 July.

Recent Article Regenerations

Since the last Newsletter, we've had a whole heap of quality content added to the Project. The articles Thasmin, "Joy to the World", Vislor Turlough, "Space Babies", "Legend of the Sea Devils", Weeping Angel, Doctor Who series 13, Pyramids of Mars, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday", "The Power of the Doctor", The Twin Dilemma, "The Husbands of River Song", "Demons of the Punjab", Doctor Who Live, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", and Attack of the Cybermen have all been improved to GA-level quality. List of Torchwood episodes and List of Doctor Who episodes (2005-present) have been improved to FL-level quality, while the Doctor Who specials (2022) and Doctor Who series 14 Good Topics have been successfully promoted.

An additional good topic covering the series articles from 2005–present has been nominated and is currently receiving feedback. Though content creation has slowed in recent months, content improvement should hopefully see an increase as series 15 ticks ever closer.

Future Project Goals

The WikiProject will once again be working in collaboration to complete a Good Topic encompassing the series and its related articles. Any contributions will be greatly appreciated. Several editors have planned upcoming work for Doctor Who-related character, episode, and performer articles. More information, as well as where you can find out how to help, can be found it at Wikipedia:WikiProject Doctor Who/Goals.

We Want You... To Help With The Newsletter

Due to the departure of previous newsletter contributors, the Newsletter is beaming out a message from Stonehenge requesting your help. If anyone would like to help actively contribute to the Newsletter's content updates, please let us know, as we are willing to accept anyone who is interested in helping with writing the Newsletter. We'll all stories in the end... make sure the newsletter is a chapter in yours.

Am I a good (or featured) man Wikipedia article?

Since last Newsletter, many new GAs have been added to the Project. These include every individual episode in Doctor Who series 15 and a number of fictional characters, including Belinda Chandra, the companion of Series 15. A full list of Good promoted content can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Doctor Who#Articles with Good Article status. So far, we've promoted 33 GAs this year, and we're on track to beat our previous record of GAs promoted in a year (36 in 2012).

In terms of Good Topics, Wikipedia:Featured topics/List of Doctor Who episodes (2005–present) and Wikipedia:Good topics/Doctor Who series 14 were both promoted in May.

Additionally, with the promotion of Yeti (Doctor Who) to FA status just this past month, the project has gotten its first FA status article in nearly a decade, with the last FA promotion being From The Doctor to my son Thomas in November 2015.

Congratulations to all involved with these articles, and keep up the good work!

Space-Time Telegraph Materialization Schedule

With uncertainty surrounding when production of the parent show will resume, newsletter editors have decided to shift the publication schedule from quarterly to triannually for the time being. This means that the next issue will be published in December, and then every April, August, and December thereafter. When the future of the series is more certain, the schedule may update once more at that time.

Their songs have ended... but their stories, never end 🌹

Since the previous issue was published, some people related to Doctor Who have sadly passed away:

• 29 April - Sue Stapely, 78, director's assistant (The Invasion, The Curse of Peladon)
• 4 May - Michael Allaby, 91, actor (Ice Soldier and Larn in The Keys of Marinus)
• 11 May - Michael McStay, 92, actor (Derek Moberley in The Seeds of Doom)
• 13 May - Sandra Exelby, 82, make-up artist (The Time Warrior)
• 24 May - Alan Yentob, 78, controller of BBC One (1993–1996)
• 24 May - Peter David, 68, writer (It's complicated, go on the TARDIS Wiki for details)
• 30 May - Prentis Hancock, 83, actor (Spearhead from Space, Planet of the Daleks, Planet of Evil, The Ribos Operation, and Big Finish Productions audio story Bernice Summerfield - Private Enemy No. 1)
• 5 June - Mary Husband, 91, costume designer (Day of the Daleks)
• 9 June - Pik-Sen Lim, 80, actress (Captain Chin Lee in The Mind of Evil and multiple characters in Big Finish Productions audio stories)
• 30 June - Kenneth Colley, 87, actor (Cristophe Zarodnix in Big Finish Productions' The Eighth Doctor Adventures audio stories Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius)
• 4 July - David Killick, 86 or 87, actor (Professor Cornelius Perkins in the Big Finish Productions audio story The Valley of Death)

Would you like a jelly baby Good or Featured article?

It's been several months since the last newsletter, and a number of new GAs have been added to the quality content list. In total we have promoted nearly 50 Good Articles this year, on top of one Featured Article, making this the year with the largest amount of promoted Doctor Who-related content in Wikipedia history (Beating our previous record of 2012's 36 by a significant margin).

Congratulations to all of our editors who have contributed to quality content this year, and we hope to see the number of quality articles under our project grow as time goes on.

Intelligence Bulletin from the Subwave Network

• A five-part miniseries and spin-off of Doctor Who, The War Between the Land and the Sea concluded airing this month on BBC One. The series will release on Disney+ next year. The conclusion of that series on Disney+ will officially mark the end of the co-production deal between the Beeb and the Mouse House that was first announced in 2022. While Doctor Who has been confirmed to continue with a 2026 Christmas Special written by Russell T Davies, its status in international markets has yet to be announced. CBeebies has also found an animation partner for a 52-part animated spin-off set to begin production next year and air across two series from 2027–2029.
• The War Between will also receive a DVD and Blu-ray release on 27 February. A physical release of the soundtrack album for that series from Lorne Balfe will precede it on 30 January; however, it is already available on digital platforms. On 12 December, the long-awaited and long-requested tenth series soundtrack from Murray Gold was published.
• Season 21 will receive a "Collection" release on 16 March, featuring a remastered episodes with new special features. Additionally a plethora of new audio and print stories are due for publication in early 2026.

Their songs have ended... but their stories never end 🌹

Since the previous issue was published, a number of people related to the Whoniverse have sadly passed away and some who passed away before the previous issue only had their deaths announced recently:

2019

• 19 April - Roger Minnis, 75, actor (Spearhead from Space, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death, The Claws of Axos)

2020

• 19 April - Bernard Barnsley, 86 or 87, actor (The Ark, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Time Monster)
• 11 September - Neil Sweetmore, 86, dresser (Warriors of the Deep)

2021

• 5 December - Peggy Sirr, 92, actress (Marco Polo)

2022

• 21 January - Terence Lodge, 85, actor (The Macra Terror, Carnival of Monsters, Planet of the Spiders)
• 9 May - Christopher Denham, 83, actor (The Savages)
• 1 June - Vaughan Collins, 74, actor (The Awakening)
• 17 November - Desmond McCarthy, production assistant (The Moonbase)

Their songs have ended... but their stories never end 🌹 (continued)

2023

• 30 August - Jenny Doe, 76, director's assistant (Shada) and production associate (Terror of the Vervoids)

2024

• 10 March - Conrad Monk, 87, actor (The Daleks' Master Plan)
• 25 July - Brian White, cameraman (regular from 1960s onwards, work includes the Dalek POV at the end of The Daleks - "The Dead Planet")

2025

• 27 March - Ray Lavender, 85, actor (The Androids of Tara, The Horns of Nimon, The Leisure Hive, Snakedance)
• 5 April - Peter Noel Cook, 97, actor (The Ambassadors of Death) (death only announced in November)
• 17 May - Gawn Grainger, 87, actor (The Mark of the Rani)
• 14 June - Joanna Bacon, 72, actress (The Havoc of Empires, The Man at the End of the Garden) (death only announced in July)
• 6 July - Ralph Wilton, 86, production assistant (Shada), production manager (Arc of Infinity), and lighting crew (The Crusade)
• 4 August - Richard Ireson, 78, actor (The Mind Robber, The Krotons)
• 5 August - Stanley McGeagh, 88, actor (Colony in Space, The Sea Devils)
• 6 August - Christopher H. Bidmead, 84, script editor (Season 18) and writer (Logopolis, Castrovalva, Frontios)
• 9 August - Ray Brooks, 86, actor (Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., The Trouble with Drax)
• 10 August - Biddy Baxter, 92, producer of Blue Peter (see connection to Doctor Who on the TARDIS Wiki)
• 23 August - Dave Taylor, 60 or 61, comic book artist (Terrorformer)
• 3 September - Derek Chafer, 90, actor (The Time Meddler, The Myth Makers, The Invasion, and many more (see TARDIS Wiki for details))
• 6 October - John Woodvine, 96, actor (The Armageddon Factor, The Galileo Trap, The Satanic Mill)
• 13 October - Tony Caunter, 88, actor (The Crusade, Colony in Space, Enlightenment)
• 14 October - Gregg Palmer, 84, actor (The Tenth Planet, The War Games)
• 25 October -
  • Nabil Shaban, 72, actor (Vengeance on Varos, Mindwarp, Mission to Magnus, Antidote to Oblivion, Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor)
  • Tony Adams, 84, actor (The Green Death)
• 5 November - Pauline Collins, 85, actress (The Faceless Ones, "Tooth and Claw")
• November - Steven Ismay, 76^[a], actor (The Daemons, Day of the Daleks, The Sea Devils, and many more (see TARDIS Wiki for details))
• 19 December - Amanda Brotchie, director ("Lux", "The Well")

Notes