What other episodes do you see as connon, that other people don't
for example I see dimensions in time as cannon
Thanks

Breaching this subject is opening a potential can of worms. Can't remember seeing it discussed without some sort of argument breaking out on the thread in question because opinions differ so much and most feel passionate about their opinions. The best answer is to just say that everyone has their own personal cannon and that what you believe or don't believe to be official is just as valid as the opinion of the next.

I see the 'episode main' as canon...that is, the full-length episodes we see on screen. Mini episodes are canon too, though if they end up contradicting an 'episode main' later on then it doesn't get priority. Same with novels and audios - happy to accept as canon, but the main show will always be the overriding element if there is conflict in the plot.

To me, canon shouldn't be defined as something set in stone. It should be a personal opinion that is worthy of interesting discussion. Of course there is a limit - I've heard ridiculous comments about specific episodes not being canon, simply because people don't like them. If you consider one episode of Doctor Who as canon, you should ideally accept another. Beyond that though, it becomes a real mess when you have 50 years of media to consider.

As far as I'm concerned there is no absolute canon. Even if you restrict yourself to just main series TV episodes then they contradict themselves often enough. I view it as a patchwork of continuity, with most stories aligning reasonably well to those produced roughly nearby or by similar people and increasingly poorly versus everything else.

Furthermore, strict conformance to a canon and a division of everything else into canonical and non-canonical is an unmanageable obstacle to put in front of the creative team. E.g. should every future adventure be checked against every preceding name drop?

Deja Vu senses tingling.

Well, I see the Paul McGann 'Big Finish' audios as being canon, plus the books featuring the Eighth Doctor. The Paul McGann 'BF' audios and books must be canon, cos in 'The Night of the Doctor', the Eighth Doctor mentions Lucie Miller, and she was in the Audios. Other than them, I don't see anything as canon, other than the TV episodes.

There really is no point in trying to get anyone to discuss this. As someone else said earlier, it will only cause arguments to happen, and you dont want that, do you?

Anything in the Daily Star

Generally, any large artillery driven by gunpowder - but I'd be willing to hear anyone out who described a futuristic non-gunpowder-driven large gun as a cannon. I might not ultimately agree, but I'm open enough in my beliefs to listen to and assess the position. I'm not sure I'd be willing to accept any episode of a television show being described as a cannon, though. But I guess if you loaded the DVDs into a large metal tube and used them as a gunpowder-driven ballistic projectile, I might be willing to accept it.

LOVE this !!

OP - I think you mean 'canon' as in a body of work, rather than 'cannon' as in a very large field gun .....

Well, what else do I see as Canon, other than what I've already said?

A long tube thing, on a stand, that you put bombs into, and set off with a string bit, that you pull. Then you hear a bang, and see a bit of smoke.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I was laughing a lot writing that above. I couldn't contain myself!

Sometimes it is hard to keep track. 11 faked his death at Utah but then it turns out he wiped all his records so he never exsisted at all !. Doctor was suppose to die at Trenzalore but he didn't . Clara said a few nice things to his timelord buddies through the crack and he gets a brand new shiny set of regenerations. Suppsoe biggest was the time war. Doctor went though 3 lives thinking he had commited a terrible act to end the suffering and madness of the"endless bitter" war. Turns out he didn't and his planet,family freinds are all safely tucked away somewhere in a "pocket universe". Whatever that is. Leaving a chance for him to one day "go hiome". and find Gallifrey. Sure he will get round to it eventually.

Everything in classic Who, all the Big Finish productions and seasons 1-4 of new Who (including the specials).

I personally discount everything else

There is no official canon. Any canon that could be established flatly contradicts itself in a hundred thousand different ways, so even that can't possibly describe a 'true history' of the Doctor's adventures.

Nothing can describe a 'true history' of the Doctor's adventures because e's a fictional character. Canon is just what the producers decide is what is part of the continuity of Doctor Who.

Anything with a BBC logo on I consider canon in some shape or form as I don't like to discredit anything someone has put time and effort making as not being part of the show. However, I don't necessarily consider it all to have happened in the whoniverse, but possibly in some other timey-wimey parallel universe.

Dimensions in Time is a tricky one, but I like to think of it as some kind of physic pollen induced dream that the Seventh Doctor had.

William Conrad.

Edit. Oh, sorry, *What* do you see as....do apologise.

I don't see any cannons unfortunately.

Thank you, Mr. Pedantic!

Which is something they've deliberately stayed away from doing.

By ending / rebooting / rewriting the universe countless times since 2005, the head writers have given themselves the ideal (if rather lumpy) canvas to do what the hell they like.

Doctor Who is a TV series, therefore any episode of the TV series Doctor Who is "canon". The rest is just merchandise (books, audios, comics) or spoof (Dimensions in Time). Very nice for the fans who want it, but not part of the ongoing Doctor Who story.

I suspect EastEnders fans don't lose sleep over the "continuity error" of Pauline Fowler and Kathy Beale meeting the Doctor in 2013, some years after both characters had died in the soap. They probably just accept Dimensions in Time as a rather amusing / embarrassing (depending on your point of view) bit of nonsense for charity.

Going forward, yes, but the various versions of the Doctor's past also conflict.

MY VERSION OF CANON IS SIMPLE:-

Whatever episodes seen on TV is Doctor Who!

Whatever happens in novels, other media is irrelevant - I don't read them anyway or listen to them. I've listened to the odd CD (free in a magazine) - so false! (IMO)

I believe what happens to the Doctor is 'on-screen' only!

Except that the McGann Movie isn't an episode of the TV Series and neither are the webisodes but I would hazard a guess that the current production team consider them canon (half-human Doctors, not withstanding )

Plus the Sarah Jane Adventures, K9 & Company and Torchwood are probably considered Canon.

I think there are two types of Canon. Canon to the production team (which is all the classic and new Doctor Who episodes along with the webisodes, the McGann Movie and the spin-offs) and then there's the rest which is too varied and contradictory to all belong to the same Canon but which is fair game for anyone who wants to view them as such.

Personally I view the Big Finish audios as Canon but not the books since I've heard all the audios and read none of the books! It was nice to hear a link to the audios in Night of the Doctor but I wouldn't read it as confirmation that all the audios are now the first type of Canon. That would just be wishful thinking on my part

There is no canon. There is, perhaps, a mainstream continuity, but that's a different thing entirely.

This is the thing that makes the most sense- canon is entirely subjective. However, I think that was the reason this thread was created- to discuss what you consider canon not what everyone else should.

Also, this is a tad hypercritical of what you said earlier

The Doctor Who "canon" consists of the TV series and nothing else, because there is no widespread consensus as to what else should be in it. The word "canon" implies universal agreement, which is why I consider the idea of a "personal canon" to be nonsensical. I'm hardly likely to disagree with myself about what Doctor Who consists of and what it doesn't. My opinion, though, is that if a character, setting or storyline forms a significant part of a TV serial, and isn't just fleetingly referred to as in the case of the 8th Doctor's BF companions in The Night of the Doctor, then he, she or it can be considered "canon." I suspect that the TV writers will never use anything from books, comics or audios in any significant way, so they'll never be canon.