We follow the way the shows are released by the BBC. Consequently, all of them should be listed as special episodes. There are no discussion on this subject.

There are currently 3 specific cases to explain why some of them are duplicated in the movies part of our database.

• The ones that have been also released theatrically.
• The thematic DVD compilation of multiple episodes
• A temporary case : The ones that have been entered in our database a long time ago when the rules were different and that are currently included in a list of data that need to be merged with the TV entries. This will be done by the administrator at a later date, not yet known.

Thanks for the clarification. 'Series 0' has since been renamed to 'Specials' (perhaps by someone who saw this thread), which makes a lot more sense concerning the chronology and categorisation.

That said, there are still a couple of questions (perhaps a little broader than my initial point, which has largely been clarified). Simply because of how the classic status of Doctor Who, and how episodes can be re-released for new audiences, there are a few areas that are a little more confusing.

1) If you search 'Doctor Who' in TMDB, pretty much every classic episode has an entry as a movie, as well as a page for it in several parts as an episode on the overall TV show. Perhaps it could be argued that, as most episodes are released on DVD, they constitute "The thematic DVD compilation of multiple episodes". However, if memory serves, the Classic Doctor Who DVDs still play the show episode-by-episode. On the Doctor Who TV page, all these episodes already have entries as episodes, which seems more correct to me.

2) Sometimes episodes get re-released, but does that warrant a separate movie page? Less than a week ago, the BBC aired "The War Games in Colour", which is on TMDB here - https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1392347-doctor-who-the-war-games-in-colour. Now, this was neither released theatrically, nor on DVD, but presumably counts as a TV movie ('Doctor Who in colour' is not a TV series, after all). However, the TMDB rules on re-edits are that "We currently do not support alternative film versions—including extended editions, director cuts, 3D versions and fan cuts of previous films (e.g. a cut of all The Hobbit films as one film). Exceptions to this rule are very, very rare and DRASTIC changes are required. [...] Any alternative version added without Travis' approval will be deleted". I know that, for example, a lot of Quibi shows are only on TMDB as TV shows, even when the TV version has been long deleted and the movie edit is all that remains. Now, for "The War Games in Colour", I think there have been 'drastic' changes - significant re-edit, technological update, new scenes, etc, etc. There have been a few Doctor Who colourisations, all of which have TMDB pages as movies, so this is consistent. But I also think Quibi shows that no longer exist as shows and only as movies are very, very drastically changed - removing the TV show from existence seems a more significant change than colourisation - so perhaps my definition of "drastic" is different to yours. So, for Doctor Who (or any similar show), what are the rules in cases of colourisation, re-edits, etc?

3) That said, because of the show's cult status, some episodes get put back in cinemas. Apparently Logopolis was shown in US cinemas, but in 2019, with new scenes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logopolis) - so is this the show from the 70s (which I would argue is not a movie), the DVD rerelease (which I would also argue is not a movie), or a recut film from 2019 with enough different footage to justify being a movie? In effect, are there not potentially dozens of incorrect pages?

4) And with regards to potentially reporting these for the TV merge list (your final point), I recently came across a page with a similar problem - https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/64353-the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/discuss/5087ddbd19c29544f90001c2. This is presumably part of your last point, about TV edits being done at a later date. But the initial request was 12 years ago, and the response 5 years ago. I appreciate TMDB is a relatively small group of mods - but if some of these site problems are half-a-decade old (answering questions over a decade old), is it worth rethinking? "a later date, not yet known" is well and good, but was that date always intended to be this long in the future, and is there any way that whoever is in charge of the merger list could perhaps clarify when this "later date" will be?

Certainly, my initial question about the latest Doctor Who is largely dealt with, but given the scope of the show, and the TMDB rules, it strikes me that there must be a LOT of incorrect Who content. I'd be happy to research what has been re-edited into a movie, but if 5 years is to be expected, it's quite dispiriting to think I might put in requests for mergers and still be thinking about them as 2029 turns into 2030!

@pinkmoon1234 said:

Thanks for the clarification. 'Series 0' has since been renamed to 'Specials' (perhaps by someone who saw this thread), which makes a lot more sense concerning the chronology and categorisation.

For the original Doctor Who series from 1963, "Series 0" has been renamed to "Specials" in November 2023. For the other Doctor Who series, the "Series 0" is named "Specials" since the start.

1) If you search 'Doctor Who' in TMDB, pretty much every classic episode has an entry as a movie, as well as a page for it in several parts as an episode on the overall TV show. Perhaps it could be argued that, as most episodes are released on DVD, they constitute "The thematic DVD compilation of multiple episodes". However, if memory serves, the Classic Doctor Who DVDs still play the show episode-by-episode. On the Doctor Who TV page, all these episodes already have entries as episodes, which seems more correct to me.

You essentially find these movies page, because our search engine, unfortunately, doesn't search the episodes.

The vast majority of these movie entries are here due to the third case of my previous answer. They will be removed once the merge has been done.

2) Sometimes episodes get re-released, but does that warrant a separate movie page? Less than a week ago, the BBC aired "The War Games in Colour", which is on TMDB here - https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1392347-doctor-who-the-war-games-in-colour. Now, this was neither released theatrically, nor on DVD, but presumably counts as a TV movie ('Doctor Who in colour' is not a TV series, after all). However, the TMDB rules on re-edits are that "We currently do not support alternative film versions—including extended editions, director cuts, 3D versions and fan cuts of previous films (e.g. a cut of all The Hobbit films as one film). Exceptions to this rule are very, very rare and DRASTIC changes are required. [...] Any alternative version added without Travis' approval will be deleted". I know that, for example, a lot of Quibi shows are only on TMDB as TV shows, even when the TV version has been long deleted and the movie edit is all that remains. Now, for "The War Games in Colour", I think there have been 'drastic' changes - significant re-edit, technological update, new scenes, etc, etc. There have been a few Doctor Who colourisations, all of which have TMDB pages as movies, so this is consistent. But I also think Quibi shows that no longer exist as shows and only as movies are very, very drastically changed - removing the TV show from existence seems a more significant change than colourisation - so perhaps my definition of "drastic" is different to yours. So, for Doctor Who (or any similar show), what are the rules in cases of colourisation, re-edits, etc?

Apart from the specific case of thematic DVD compilation, only the ones that are reedited as a proper theatrical movie are allowed to be created in the movies part of our database.

3) That said, because of the show's cult status, some episodes get put back in cinemas. Apparently Logopolis was shown in US cinemas, but in 2019, with new scenes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logopolis) - so is this the show from the 70s (which I would argue is not a movie), the DVD rerelease (which I would also argue is not a movie), or a recut film from 2019 with enough different footage to justify being a movie? In effect, are there not potentially dozens of incorrect pages?

See answer above.

4) And with regards to potentially reporting these for the TV merge list (your final point), I recently came across a page with a similar problem - https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/64353-the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/discuss/5087ddbd19c29544f90001c2. This is presumably part of your last point, about TV edits being done at a later date. But the initial request was 12 years ago, and the response 5 years ago. I appreciate TMDB is a relatively small group of mods - but if some of these site problems are half-a-decade old (answering questions over a decade old), is it worth rethinking? "a later date, not yet known" is well and good, but was that date always intended to be this long in the future, and is there any way that whoever is in charge of the merger list could perhaps clarify when this "later date" will be?

Only the administrator can process the merge list. We regularly remind him that this should be done, but we can't do anything more.