Since the rest of the world -- and many people in the US -- have already seen what Sci-Fi will be officially debuting in the US we need to have some unique spoiler policies.

To let the people who have already seen the show talk about it we have the following rules:

• Episode threads are to be entered AT YOUR OWN RISK! If you go into one before the episode airs in the US you will get spoiled. We are NOT requiring spoiler tags in the episode threads for info about that episode.
• If you are in the episode thread for 1-1 and you post something about 1-2 or another episode after 1-1 you should spoiler tag that info (remember, virgin US viewers will enter the thread after first airing and they shouldn't be spoiled for future episodes).
• For spoilery info and talk outside of the episode threads you must use spoiler tags or the general spoilers thread. If it hasn't aired in the US yet it is a spoiler.

That's it!

A couple of things.

1) On The Fact That I Know Nothing.

The most exciting thing about this assignment, beyond getting to write about, and moderate discussions of, such a good show, is learning about all the rich history and legacy of the show. I wanna know it all. All I know is that Peter Davison (?) is on At Home With The Braithwaites, which rocks. (The first season -- er, series -- anyway, and I love the second due to it being on crack.)

The other side of it, though, is that I'm seeing an intersection of geek culture and ex-US culture happening already, which gives me pause. Geeks the world over are very, very excited about knowing the things that they know, and we can't wait to share that with the less informed. Sometimes we're harsh, or dismissive, or manage to answer the question while implying the asker is a moron. Or, we debate the hell out of it and completely lose track of the point.

As a moderator, I can't afford for that to happen. There is always the option of opening another thread, if you want. Email me if you're not sure. But turning the "Rose" thread into an "everything I ever hated about Peri" thread is not the answer, and if one person answers, it spirals out of control fairly quickly.

So I ask that you think twice before posting about whether or not you're simply responding, or going off-topic altogether to prove that you know more than the other guy. What that will do, if abused, is drive me nuts, and I'll probably freak out and start warning and banning indiscriminately like some kind of suicide bomber Cylon.

...Er, Dalek.

I am sure that there will be gray areas, and that's what I'm here for. I don't want you to be afraid of expressing your opinion. All opinions are equally valid. But you've got to keep in mind where you're posting. If somebody in the "End Of The World" thread says something that contradicts a minor point in an episode that aired in 1976, priving that they're a moron, I just ask that you please think twice about the tone in your reply, and make sure that it at least includes topical content.

2) On The Fact That I'm American, And So Is This Website.

I'm so very American. Lots of posters here are, too. I was raised Anglophile, which means I saw Charles and Di get married, I know who the princesses are, and I know nothing else beyond what I've picked up from Iris Murdoch, Grant Morrison, EF Benson, Martin Amis, Garth Ennis, and fucking Neil Gaiman.

Meaning, of course, that I know nothing.

I'm counting on you guys, in the episode threads and wherever, to help me out. I could write the recaps right now, because I have the episodes available, but I'm going to hold off because I don't want to miss anything, obvious or not.

I'm also counting on the British posters to hold off on the dry sardonic stuff with each other. I have to moderate from an American standpoint, and I know from experience that there are differences. I'm not talking linguistics, I'm talking about things you'd say to a friend in a pub being things you don't say to Americans on message boards. What comes across as gentle ribbing to you may well come across to your fellow posters as incredibly withering rudeness.

Not because it's bad, or wrong -- my friends and I are probably a lot harder with each other -- but because if you offend an American, they're going to speak up about it, and it quickly spins out of control and starts being about self-justification and "How dare you" and all that stuff. And vice versa, this isn't an indictment of anybody. The entire global community got to see this shit before the US. Easier for everybody if we're just nice. We're all here for the same reason, after all.

3) On My Humps.

So here's my cred, at the time of writing. I know as much about Dr. Who as a person who's seen zero episodes ... but is a total dork. It's true: read the Serenity recap. It doesn't get more queer than that. Which is to say, I know a lot about the show, but I also don't know much. I know the premise, I know the actors who played 6/10 of the Doctor on sight, Daleks and Cyphermen and "Enlightenment" (Peter again), I know many of the Companions and what their issues are. That's the history of the show that I know.

I have a ten-foot scarf.

The first episode -- you're going to laugh -- the first episode I ever saw was "The Christmas Invasion." So when I went back and watched the "Empty Child" two-parter, I was the opposite of everybody else in the world!

"I don't know about this Chris Eccleston. Is he going to do it right?" I was calmed within five seconds, of course. His Doctor is as heartbreakingly sweet and wise as Tennant's is invigorating and "Why are you doing this when I love you and you're breaking my heart" rageful.

I think it might have been the perfect initiation.

I think that Billie Piper is way too posh to play Rose, but she's a great actor nonetheless.

I like what I've seen of "Rose," and I like the changes brought to the Companion/Doctor relationship.

I'm not sold on Captain Jack, but I think I might love him.

I've seen the two-parter and special episode referenced above, part of the "Weakest Link" episode (watch me dance around the spoilers), and the rest? I'm not watching them until they come on, because I want to be there with you. You who have seen them before, and you who have not. They're sitting on the shelf, waiting for the world (the world is not America, I know) to catch up.

I hope that those among us who have experience with the new series -- and especially those who have taken part in the history, the audios, the books, the comics -- will come with us, the last stragglers, and enjoy the show as though they were seeing it the first time. And I thank you for any help you can offer.

Ask questions in this thread about the forums, if you're new to the site or just paranoid, and email me questions about the show so I can post them on the sister thread. And thanks.

That was a wonderfully self-effacing post, Jacob.

What's your ruling on posting threads for individual stories in the Legacy forum? As many episodes as there are, I imagine it would have the potential to become a bit of a space/traffic problem, plus the thread naming conventions would be stretched to an unseemly degree (14-21-26: "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" 1977.02.26-1977.04.02).

I like how IMDB did it - - which translates nicely as 14-6: "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" 1977.02.26. That is, treat each serial/story as a single episode, rather than specify the separate parts.

I agree. Wouldn't most people with much to say have seen them altogether like that anyway? At least recently enough to remember?

Umm stupid question how do we email a Network Executive?!!!

Second question I really want to talk about Bad Wolf and generally when people spotted it and that kind of stuff. Should I post a separate thread - but what title?????

Click on his name, then when you're looking at his profile, click "Send an Email".

Ellycat -- Ongoing mentions of that particular thing (which I have noticed but don't know what it means) can go in the Spoilers thread.

Nuallain: I'm OK with the above, but where does one get the official BBC production codes? And should anything that doesn't fit in or affect the continuity, like AotG (an interactive adventure broadcast on digital cable), be placed in general gabbery or in DIY Daleks?

Amateur.

Judging only from that post, at the very least this will be lots of fun.

He also thinks Billie Piper is posh :)

That aside - there's a "Britspeak" topic for non-Brit Doctor Who newcomers to seek help with the Brit slang etc. I didn't notice that much, but then I'm a North American-ised Brit.

It was mentioned in Doctor Who Magazine in passing that, although TCI was the first episode from the second series to be shown it would be known as "Episode X" (for Xmas), while from New Earth on would be "Episode One", "Episode Two" and so on.

The Children in Need special had no name onscreen but, again, RTD helpfully dropped into DWM to say that it was called Pudsey Cutaway. Attack of the Graske doesn't have any code that I know of since it's not officially an episode at all. I think 2.i makes the most sense though, since it's a special BBCi episode.

Compared to Posh Spice she's well classy. ;)

The Billie Piper thing. I realize that posh is not the right word. But something I've noticed in the later episodes that I've seen, which I watched first, was that her lines are very, very cockney on the page, but she seems to be reaching for the intonation, so it comes off like someone doing a bad impression. Once I saw her mom, I realized she was being written that way on purpose [EFC: as an estate kid], but I still think the accent is a little off. Am I completely wrong?

And on the recaplets: they were written as one long recaplet, with an average grade. So it was like, "'Rose' is great and I'm really excited about this show, but on the other hand the second episode (compared to the ones I've seen, which number four total) really bugged me."

Wing split them for me when I submitted them, and it was the second one only on the homepage because of the way that scroll works, so I'm sure it freaked out a bunch of people looking to see how my first recaplet would go.

Sorry about that. Allow me to reiterate that I do like the show, and I'm very excited about recapping it, but I have a very low tolerance for Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett kinds of humor, which I understand is a glitch completely personal to me, and that's the entire reason I hated the second episode. Which I found to be full of it, but which -- the recap will bear out -- also had a lot of things to love in it. Including a distinct lack of farting aliens.

We cool?

I hope that does is pointed out in the recaps -- that sort of humor is certainly a part of the Doctor Who format, and while that part isn't for everyone, it's also something that is part of the appeal of the series to other viewers.

(I think one of the strengths of the series is that different episodes will appeal to different people -- some people enjoy Rose more than The End of the World, and other people that like the reverse..)

Perhaps the word you're looking for is 'drama-schooled'? In that I think she can do Sarf Landen pretty well, but those years of learning clear diction just won't leave her. The character and her mum are meant to be from an estate in Kennington, so I don't think they're written to be posh, but they're doing "Sarf Landen clear enough for Beeb family viewing/international sales".

Exactly what I was thinking, La G -- that her "finks" and "fings" clashed with her vowels.

Also, I'm doing the notes for the full recaps, just finished the second episode, and don't get mad? But I think I actually like it better than the first one, on second run-through.

It's not even really a Douglas Adams problem, I think I was just confused by how irritating Cassandra was, and that colored everybody else. It's actually such a bummer of an episode that I feel completely idiotic for not paying attention on Friday.

michaellorg: Of course, but ... shouldn't that go without saying?

I don't think there's a person alive who actually considers me an authority on anything in particular, and there's not really a way to write a recap based on someone else's opinions, so I don't know that I necessarily ought to qualify every opinion I have as my opinion, if you see what I'm saying. My inbox is always open, if someone needs to express disagreement, in any case.

Jacob, yeah the farting aliens aren't the best introduction to Doctor Who - I liked much of that ep, but the farting bit was a bit lame. We cool :)

La Guardianista I was just about to say that about Billie, but you put it best :) She still has the sheen of Sylvia Young (her drama school) on her. I was originally very worried about her being cast in Doctor Who but IMO she is doing a bang up job.*

*See 'Every Planet has an Atlantic: The Brit-Speak Thread'

I was wondering if content from the BBC's supplementary books, like Monsters and Villains and Doctor Who Annual 2006 would count as spoilers. It occured to me because Monsters and Villains contains biographies of Cassandra and the Face of Boe which, theoretically, could contain information from episodes not yet broadcast in the UK (I don't know) but which has certainly been put 'out there' by the Production team on purpose. If not, I thought I'd mention RTD's notes on how Cassandra became the person she is in the EotW thread.

Supplementary materials aren't spoilers, it's fine.

Can threads for recurring baddies in Doctor Who history go in General Gabbery, or do they go in Legacy? There's quite a few of them from the original series, plus the possibility of recurring baddies, which doesn't quite seem right for Legacy. Maybe a Rogues Gallery or Black Hats?

There's already a general thread for that in Legacy, but I take your meaning.

Start them in Legacy -- having them in General would/could be spoily. (And please keep the site spoiler rules in mind, even in those threads.)

Whoever moves forward on this: please make sure that you actually have something to say about the characters in question, and aren't just starting threads to start them.

Nothing the mods hate more than a thread consisting of six words and a flourishing "...discuss." Interest and discussion should influence the creation of threads, not the other way around.

With the second-season premiere fast approaching, will threads for the new episodes be permitted once they've aired in the UK?

Oh Gods.

...Yes. Same rules to apply. I won't be reading them, so I expect -- as with the Spoilers thread -- to be emailed directly if any trouble crops up.

I noticed there's no episode thread for either The Empty Child or The Doctor Dances (the two-parter you've seen). I was thinking of starting one for both of them, together, since they're more of a single continued plotline than Aliens of London/WWIII. If I did this, would the threads be split since they're technically two episodes? If they would, I would just go ahead and make it two seperate threads.

Thank you. :)

Two threads, please.

On the series two threads, should we leave the dates blank? I was thinking we should, since the runs overlap and you'd have dates for the same weekend - which might confuse some people.

And the BBC are creating "TARDISodes" this year - 60 second scenes that work a bit like the 24 mobisodes, but which act as prequels to each new episode (so a TARDISode might feature a murder, and then the episode itself has the Doctor discover the body). Does a new TARDISode justify starting the episode thread, or should there be a separate thread for discussing all the TARDISodes?

The TARDISode for 2-1: New Earth is up, which was what made me wonder.

American dates for the new threads, so blank for now.

No need to spoiler or segregate the TARDISodes.

Please only open a new episode thread if you actually have something to say.

Last year the BBC set up lots of websites to accompany the series. Much enjoyable www sleuthing and speculation ensued. It's starting up again for series 2. Could we have a website thread?

Nuallain, I'm just concerned that last year it got pretty spoilery, even at UK pace. Perhaps it should just stay in the Spoilers thread?

Started one, if anyone can think of a less lame name, please suggest!

Most of the viral websites are either dedicated to specific episodes, or else have different pages for each episode. The appropriate page could probably just be linked in the main episode thread.

I don't mind a website thread -- the one for LOST is always fascinating to read.

My other concern is that speculation about it would take over the given threads. I'll add SPOILERS OKAY to the thread title if someone starts it, because it's outwith the general media definition -- and because by the time the episodes air here, they most likely won't be updated.

Since it seems to be a fun topic, can we start a Bad Wolf thread? Something to talk about the occurences so far and speculate as to the meaning? I swear I have missed every single one and would like to discuss them.

Or should that just be kept to the speculations thread?

The speculation thread is fine.

I opened a thread for 1-12 "Bad Wolf" but realized too late that it may have been delayed for the Memorial Day Weekend movie marathons. Should eps 12 and 13 be broadcast together, will the threads be merged?

Nope, they won't. I learned my lesson with the first week.

If the date changes, I'll take care of it. No worries.

Okay, there's been an outbreak on "Just you wait!" posts in both DW and BSG forums, so I would reiterate that you need to avoid doing that. Obviously there are people who used means to get ahold of them (including living in the UK and/or Canada), so it's not like it's privileged info.

Please just respect that there's going to be a lot of balls-out speculation in the threads, and most of it will be wrong, and that's ... part of the beauty of watching a given television show for the first time. It increases enjoyment for some, but not all. Ultimately, though, it's not your job to contradict outright or act coy about it. Thanks.

It's fine that you started the thread, but I am sort of balking at the other thing. I'm guessing that this is "New Earth"-related exuberance and it won't seem like such a big deal a week from now, so let's make a deal. We leave the rules the way they are for now, and meet back here in a week. If the urgency hasn't abated after that week, we'll discuss it again.

Jacob I want to start a thread about things we don't ever want to see in Doctor Who but a) don't know how to manage spoilery-ness what with S2 running around now and b) am terrified of it turning into a ship versus non-ship war. Any thoughts are appreciated.
I keep seeing how different people react so differently to the same thing in the various epi threads and am curious to explore further - eg some have said enough with earth stories.
Over on House it was quite hilarious for a while so wouldn't mind seeing what is in people's head about Who.

In Creative, please.

I'm merging the Spoiler-Free Reading into the Merch thread, BTW. It's a good post but not really a thread.

And I've added SPOILERS OKAY to the Face of Boe thread, so run with it.

Jacob, there's a question someone asked in the New Earth thread that I think I know the answer to but which I wanted to double check. If you're posting in an episode specific thread, then events in earlier episodes aren't spoilers for that thread, even if the earlier episode hasn't aired in the US yet. For instance, if someone in the New Earth thread wants to say "Of course! That follows on from that bit where X did Y in The Christmas Invasion", they don't need to spoiler tag it, do they?

That's right. I think Glark explains that at the top of each forum, but yes -- each episode thread is spoiled up to that episode. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Would it be acceptable to start a thread specifically to discuss the recaps? It seems a little odd for it to be completely out of bounds for discussion.

Oh no, sorry. The forums are about the show, not the site.

But feel free to email me about them any time. I'm hands-on.

Jacob, is it premature or overkill to start a (Y2!) K-9 thread in the Companions area?

Do you really have anything to say about K-9? Feel free, if you do.


ETA: Duh, sorry.

but it would presumably be ok to mention that there's a lively thread under Season 1 General Discussion over at Outpost Gallifrey which does exactly that? "Television Without Pity Adds Doctor Who to their Lineup" (not a lot of room for ambiguity there)

Jacob, do you think there's justification for a general nitpicking thread?

Oh, Lord. Scared of that. This is the Doctor Who fandom we're talking about, you realize?

Poster A: Minor quibble.
Poster B: Fanwank response, with additional backup from 1972.
Poster C: "Actually..." with quibble on the response and/or backup information.
Poster D: "Well, Poster A, you're not a real fan."
Poster E: "I take issue with Poster B's response, because ..."
Poster F: Completely separate fanwank that really has nothing at all to do with Poster A's question.
Poster G: "Poster C, you are a dickhead..." Followed by alternate fanwank and additional backup info from 1974.
Poster H: Attempts to respond to Poster A, accidentally insults everyone in the universe.
Posters I through AAA: Freak out on Poster H.

Thread gets locked. Jacob is discussed widely in the fandom as a draconian tyrant. Mean emails that have nothing to do with anything but making Jacob cry arrive by the truckload. Jacob goes insane, gets a passport and a ticket to the UK, and shoots David Tennant whilst wearing a clownsuit. Meanwhile, five more quibbles start comparable domino avalanches on the thread, all of which are happening simultaneously. The recapper/mod who replaced Jacob wonders why the hell he allowed the thread in the first place, sends mean email to Jacob in jail for doing so. Jacob gets out on good behavior.

... And that's Eccleston down as well. So sad.

Ah, well, start it up, we'll see how it goes. Maybe it will siphon the crazy off other threads.

Actually, Jacob, I have a minor quibble with your response to Mr. Excitement's question. He asked if there was justification for the thread whereas you went off-topic and came up with several arguments against said hypothetical thread. So really...

...Just kidding! Don't ban me. And please don't kill David Tennant or Eccleston because I would cry.

Oh man, I'd just like you know to I just almost choked to death laughing at that.