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Jan. 28th, 2015 06:10 pmI love when fandom knowledge applies to work. (There have been a couple of similar incidents in the past when discussing exactly how to attribute authorship of Beedle the Bard.) Had this exchange today on a cataloging list I subscribe to:
On 1/28/2015 4:40 PM [redacted] wrote:
> This can't be right! The (subject) authority entry
>
> 400 0 Doctor Who (Fictitious character)
> controls to
> 100 0 Doctor (Fictitious character)*
>
> If you read all the 670s in the record, you find that "The Doctor" is
> his alias and that his true name is the answer to the most dangerous
> question in the universe. But for those of us living in _this_
> universe, what value is there in such an entry? Do devotees of this
> series really refer to him consistently as just "The Doctor" (no
> nonfiling characters, please)?
Actually, yes, and that is the way the character is currently named in the show credits. Pickier fans will insist it's the most (or only) correct way to name him, though there were times in the show history the character was called "Doctor Who" in the credits, and usage has been inconsistent among media and even cast members. There are some running jokes about it within the show, but in dialogue it's fairly consistent that his name is simply "the Doctor".
See http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor#.22Doctor_Who.22 for some general background and http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_%22Doctor_Who%3F%22_running_joke if you really want to know details about when the phrase "Doctor Who" comes up as distinct from "the Doctor".
--------------
* This means that if you search for "Doctor Who" in the subject file you will be forwarded to "Doctor"; the initial article is dropped. Also, I don't know why he's referring to this as a "(subject) authority", because the field numbers 400 and 100 (instead of 450 and 150) are for personal name entries. (Maybe he's objecting to the conversion of subject authorities for fictional characters into name authorities that's happening with RDA.)
If you are interested in the full glory of the LC subject authority record, which also includes see-from aliases for John Smith and Theta Sigma, lists his "Field of activity" as "Time travel", where I think one might normally expect something more mundane like "Biology", and includes recent citations from the BBC website and TARDIS Wikia, see here.
On 1/28/2015 4:40 PM [redacted] wrote:
> This can't be right! The (subject) authority entry
>
> 400 0 Doctor Who (Fictitious character)
> controls to
> 100 0 Doctor (Fictitious character)*
>
> If you read all the 670s in the record, you find that "The Doctor" is
> his alias and that his true name is the answer to the most dangerous
> question in the universe. But for those of us living in _this_
> universe, what value is there in such an entry? Do devotees of this
> series really refer to him consistently as just "The Doctor" (no
> nonfiling characters, please)?
Actually, yes, and that is the way the character is currently named in the show credits. Pickier fans will insist it's the most (or only) correct way to name him, though there were times in the show history the character was called "Doctor Who" in the credits, and usage has been inconsistent among media and even cast members. There are some running jokes about it within the show, but in dialogue it's fairly consistent that his name is simply "the Doctor".
See http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor#.22Doctor_Who.22 for some general background and http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_%22Doctor_Who%3F%22_running_joke if you really want to know details about when the phrase "Doctor Who" comes up as distinct from "the Doctor".
--------------
* This means that if you search for "Doctor Who" in the subject file you will be forwarded to "Doctor"; the initial article is dropped. Also, I don't know why he's referring to this as a "(subject) authority", because the field numbers 400 and 100 (instead of 450 and 150) are for personal name entries. (Maybe he's objecting to the conversion of subject authorities for fictional characters into name authorities that's happening with RDA.)
If you are interested in the full glory of the LC subject authority record, which also includes see-from aliases for John Smith and Theta Sigma, lists his "Field of activity" as "Time travel", where I think one might normally expect something more mundane like "Biology", and includes recent citations from the BBC website and TARDIS Wikia, see here.
