h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: What it Means to be an Assistant on Doctor Who - A6247145
Author: lf2871 - U1781133

We'll here i go again, yet another Doctor Who entry! This one is on the function of assistants in Doctor Who.

I would highly appreciate any constructive critisism you have and will take any sugestions into account. Oh and if you spot any spelling or gramour errors please point them out!

Interesting article!


Forth Doctor-> Fourth Doctor

The show really does...->sorry, I can't make heads or tails of this sentence. Can you restate it?

Doctors Assistants, Doctors Assistant's, Doctor's Assistants, etc. ->Doctor's Assistants you've got a lot of these and need to check each and every single one. Ask yourself, who belongs to whom.

assistants are all girls, -> assistants are all girls;

assistants rounded -> assistant's rounded or assistants' rounded, depending on what you mean here

concious-> concience

cringe worthy? I OBJECT! I, for one, really *like* the previous assistants and don't cringe at all. I believe they are worthy of mention in your article, unless you wish to change the title of your article to "Assistants for Doctor Who from the 1970s on" or some such.

programs history->program's history By this point you might notice that you are having a hard time deciding just what an ' (apostrophe) might mean. There are so many errors like this, it is unlikely that I have caught them all. You might find it useful in order to clean up your article to go through it once and simply spell out all contractions, and then go through it again to see if all the remaining ' marks do indeed show some kind of posession. If you wish, after you have done this, put all the contractions back. But especially puzzling is the sentence where you have both it's (meaning it has) and it's (meaning it is).

It's->it's (capitalization error)

Thank you very much for your input, you see my gramour is'nt up to much. I will change it as soon as possible!

"The show really does depend on the Doctor (The show is called Doctor Who after all), but for him to function the Assistants are integral and that’s why the assistants on Doctor Who do actually serve an important function." - I;'m sorry to appear dumb but i don't understand whats wrong with this sentence, if you would kindly point me in the right direction?

Long sentences like that really are easier to understand if you use punctuation:

The show really does depend on the Doctor (the show is called 'Doctor Who', after all), but for him to function, the Assistants are integral; that’s why the assistants on 'Doctor Who' do actually serve an important function.

"Before we begin on assesing the qualities of the Doctors Assistant's it would be wise to point out that for the record not all of the Doctor's assistants are girls, Aldric, Terlough, and Fitz are but a few of the guys that have traveled with the Doctor."

Doctors ==> Doctor's

Assistants doesn't need capitalising,

Aldric ==> Adric
Terlough ==> Turlough

Thank's very much, i lothe the fact i can't spell. It's the Bane of my existance.

Yeh i seem to like capataliseing stuff i shouldn't..weird.

How about putting some stuff in about the stereotyped behaviour that all assistants are supposed to show - screaming, twisting ankles, that kind of thing. Then you can mention the assistants such as Leela, Ace and Rose who definitely don't conform to that stereotype!

I know that it's possibly a bit of an epic suggestion, but how about doing a list (at least) or maybe a short sentence or two about each of the assistants over the years? If you're doing an article about assistants, it seems sensible to list them, the actors and the dates they were on the air...

Paully

Ok wow! Thank's for your comments.

I considered that, but i thought it might be easier for me to deal with specific names only when the're needed. I'll give it all due consideration.

I don't understand what you mean by the sterotype thing...

I agree with Paully about info on the assistants. You don't mention many by name but I also think there are too many mentions of Rose, when perhaps you could have used other examples?

Also, I'd call the male assistants just that, or men, rather than "guys" - it sounds a bit slangy for the EG.

I think you seem to be disporportionally focusing on the later assistants. If you don't know much about the earlier ones, there are loads of people who could help you out.

I aslo think the title needs to change, perhaps to "The Role of Assistants in 'Doctor Who' - the TV Programme".

My

I am kinda disadvantaged in that sence. I've only recently got into Doctor Who that's why the refrences to Rose!

Your right about the guys comment i'll change that.

People seem to be devided on the list thing, i've had several people - Jimster included - telling me it's not nessesery. I'm waiting to see what wins out! And your right that title is better.

The older series were before my time, so I know how you feel!

I don't think that it would ruin the entry or anything not to have a list, or preferably some basic info on the assistants; but I do think it would be useful.

It could be done as a seperate entry though.

I think that would possibly be a good idea, i'm a little worryed.

WOW when did Peer Review become so tough>? LOL

By the way, I posted a couple of comments on your entry about the ninth doctor which you should look at before it goes in the EG.

Umm it is in sub edit so i can't actually do anything. Thank you for your comment's though.

I don't know if the BBC ever repeats Doctor Who episodes, or if DVDs of them are readily available or even affordable in the United Kingdom, but it's quite common for PBS in the United States to show the old episodes repeatedly, if the stations can get their hands on them. John Pertwee is a lot of fun!

This might be why I like the old episodes as much or more as the new ones, and why I've only seen a few episodes of Eighth Doctor Who (they have the very explosive Ace on them as an 'assistant') and none of the Ninth Doctor at all.



I really didn't know what you meant, which is why it didn't occur to me it was a punctuation thing, but now that it's been added it is clear. Sorry I couldn't help.

Hmmm the BBC don't really do repeats, i guess i could get a hand on the few other episodes.

PR became quite tough indeed after Petunia-it used to accept 5 articles a day and this changed to only 2.

When I first joined, not long before Rupert PR was a casual thing and it was more important who you knew than anything. Things were uncertain and there was much invective and personal stakes. Hoovooloo pretty much wrote the introduction to Peer Review you see now, and this codification made things much easier. Not too long after the BBCi takeover, PR became more regularized and sedate the then italics ejected and premodded some folks. With this, and when BBC set up the DNA hub PR again became more regularized.

I have noticed, not too long after the italic Paully got added, the standards have become a bit more loose, especially within the last 4 months or so.



Since I am not a Scout, I do not know what prompted this. I am a little more 'old-fashioned' so I am perhaps more severe than most. The good side of this (for a beleaguered writer) is that I am not a Scout and can't pick your article no matter what I say, so you can fully choose to ignore me if you like. I've even seen unsuitable articles that many people (after the fact) besides me remarked upon as unsuitable for the Guide get picked and edited simply because I said the article wasn't suitable for Editing.

No worries, lf2871.

It's just this is my second article for peer review you see? Peer review can be so daunting for a new writer. You try to consider what everyone thinks because i think it's better for the article but you do have to keep a little bit of my own counsel so to speak. In the end it's the writer that suffers for the stuff they do and Don't do. This may sound a little strange but i think you get what I'm trying to say?

(In other words i'm very nervious)

I wouldn't worry, I think as long as you take on board the changes you agree with or that most people want, you should be ok. I'm pretty certian this will get in the EG, because it's good. It'll help that some of the Italics are big Doctor Who fans, though.

Thank you very much!