I’ve been thinking about this some more and I think I do want to consolidate Characters and Monsters into one collection. It will make things easier.
Reasons people have said I should do this:
Some characters are a bit more ambiguous about where they fit in.
Some characters can be a goodie in one story and a baddie in the next
For example Missy, when she is the main character in her own box set, it feels strange to have her as a ‘monster’.
Some people have objected to called humanoid characters like the Master a ‘monster’. This was because ‘villain’ wasn’t the right word either.
A few questions / comments / discussion points, just so I can ponder it some more:
What should I call it? It needs a name. I could reuse “character” but not sure that’s the right word…?
Should I have a separate filter for “species”? Some baddies like The Daleks rarely have individual characters, so would they be included in both “characters” and “species” or just species?
Also, would species only be used if they are the main focus of the story? For example I don’t think I’d want to add Sontaran and Silurian to The Snowmen, even if Strax and Vastra are there. Equally, I wouldn’t add Time Lords to every story with the Doctor in.
Should Doctors become characters too, or keep them separate as they are a special case?
On TARDIS Wiki they have “main characters” and “main enemy” etc., on a story. That would be a lot of hard work to add that here, so I am thinking of just keeping them so the most important characters show first on the left.
I would still include quick access to several main characters - the main companions, and main recurring nemesis, as seen on the site currently.
It’s quite an annoying job to do this after we have done the bulk of the imports, but I’ve had so many comments and requests about it, the sooner I make the change the better.
(If you’re working on an import, just keep doing it the same for now, I am going to transfer and redirect everything).
I would go with Aliens rather than Monsters or species. That allows for benign ones like the Ice Warriors in Curse of Peladon.
If there is only one named representative of a race, as in Strax, Vastra or Kroton (the Cyberman with a Soul) I’d put them as a character.
Why?
I’ve always wondered why you’ve avoided a ‘villain’ category as there are a lot of human members of that and I’d say they are distinct from general characters - this could also include alien villains but I understand if this is just something else which muddies the water for characters like Missy - although, let’s face it, she’s still being ‘villainous’ in her own box sets. It’s not like she’s set out to save the universe all of a sudden.
TARDIS wiki’s choices of main enemy is often a bit odd and sometimes doesn’t even bother to put one even though there is an obvious candidate. I’d steer clear of following their lead on that.
Part of this is for future proofing and not having to go back and change things.
A couple of examples.
Let’s say Rose Noble was in “characters” because she’s not a companion, and then next year she goes in the TARDIS for 5 episodes and everyone agrees she is now a companion. If companions were completely separate things, I’d have to edit her to make her a companion.
Also let’s say next season there is a character called Bob who works at UNIT, he’s the next new scientific advisor and I add him to Characters, then it turns out he is actually evil and is the big baddie at the end of the season. I’d have to move him to Villains, and also the fact that he is a villain is a spoiler so I’d have to hide him from previous stories.
Everything is a lot easier if they are not categorised like that.
That is why I started off with everyone as a Character, and Monsters were just generic things like Daleks, then it went a bit wrong. I’m kind of just thinking of going back to that…
That’s a good point and no one I’d really thought about.
Hmmmm.
I would still go for Aliens rather than Monsters but you’re right as leaving it simply as Characters for named individual (of any species) as it negates the need to swap them round if allegiances change.
(I still like the idea of villains but I get the issue).
I’d still have a list of filterable villains, like I do companions, but they just won’t be a separate database.
Currently you can see and filter the main recurring characters, that will be the same.
So should they be “characters” (with subsets of companions and villains, but villains are only ones with names), then “aliens” for general stories featuring Daleks or Sontarans etc.
Yeah - Aliens for Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Osirians, Zarbi, Voord, Morphoton Brains etc and Characters for Strax, Vastra, Missy, Yartek, Harma (the Ice Warrior in the Abslom Daak strips) etc.
It might be a good idea to make it so that you can sort of subcategorize characters. Like all Masters are the Master, but one is Missy, one is the Tremas Master, etc. (You could probably just consider the Doctor a character for this, too…)
Companion status is something that can definitely change. Adam might be a companion one episode, and a villain later. Donna might go from being a companion to being the Doctor.
And yes, if you have Strax in an episode, it’s just Strax. If the Sontarians are invading Gallifrey, it’s the Sontarians. Might be an idea to be able to associate a race with a character, like saying Strax is a Sontarian. Not sure if we need to, though.
Doctors Companions - TV, big finish and comics Returning Characters - This can be anyone from Missy, Davros to Madam Vestra Species - when more than one of a species in the episode
If you need help sorting everything I think we are a lot that can help.
Although it’s not perfect because are robots species?
And @tian that’s how I had kinda planned it, except that companions will be a subset of characters so I can turn a character into a companion without having to move stuff around.
I gather from the discussion so far that the TARDIS guide software does not operate in that manner, so please disregard if it’s not relevant. But just in case: Adding tags and creating views would be my initial approach (akin to working with GitLab or similar platforms).
A character could start out with tags such as “human” and “enemy of the Doctor,” and would automatically appear in the corresponding views configured with those tags.
Later on, when the enemy becomes a “friend of the Doctor” or even a “companion,” these tags would be added (with no tags removed). The same character would then also be displayed in views configured in this manner. By displaying the tags associated with the character on their page, it would also become clear: ah, this is someone who has been an enemy and a friend at different times.
(On the other hand, if one wishes to view only those characters who were always enemies and never friends, a separate view could be created for that purpose, without re-tagging everything.)
Just a few thoughts, albeit with limited knowledge about the inner workings of the software.
Katura, Luvic, and/or Neman)