What I Should Have Said: casting news

[scarfman]

Somehow today I was thinking of a few months ago when I asked in doctorwho about the upcoming, then-not-yet-aired reappearance of former regular character Sarah Jane Smith, and another writer objected (halfway down the page ...) that I ought to have put any allusion to the reappearance behind a spoiler cut. I replied:

I don't mean to be insensitive. On the other hand, the Doctor Who fan community has got oversensitive about spoilers since 2003, and I'm disinclined to examine any unexamined assumptions of my own on that account. Doctor Who cast lists were teasers in 1986 and I continue to treat them as teasers. Hell, Doctor Who cast lists are news.

The other person wrote:

I love when people say that: "I don't mean to be insensitive." That translates to "I don't LIKE to be insensitive, but I'm going to be."

And you can rationalize it however you want. A simple LJ cut is not a hard thing to do.

I only responded:

I stand by my comment above as my position on the issue.

but in retrospect I might have been clearer if I'd said, "I misphrased myself: I'm already as sensitive as I believe is appropriate. There's a reasonable limit to sensitivity and I say it's the same place it was twenty years ago; and cast news is on the near side of it rather than the far side." But then, that might have prolonged the argument instead of ending it, so who's to say.

Please, nobody who reads this journal object that that's a spoiler now to U.S. Sci-Fi viewers because the Doctor Who episode in question will be airing a week from today. 1) See above re: cast news. 2) If you read this journal you've already had it spoiled.

Comments

Oh my God. I'm the tin dog!

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! I was barked at in the Firefly group for mentioning Gina Torres was going to be on an ep of "Alias," which the person insisted was an "Alias" spoiler and should have been behind an LJ-cut, despite the fact that it had been both mentioned already upthread about her appearance (and not behind a cut either) and splashed all over TV besides. Please!

Just mentioning Sarah Jane & K-9 making an appearance is hardly a spoiler. I mean, if you call yourself a fan of the show here in the U.S. and yet you read the LJ doctorwho group knowing that it's full of UK viewers who see the show before we do and yet you honestly didn't hear about them being on the show before now--well, bless your heart, as they say in Alabama ;>!

SPOILER BELOW FOR "SCHOOL REUNION" EPISODE

Now mentioning Sarah Jane, K-9, and EvilGiles--that's a spoiler ;>!

My favorite line from the ep is in the subject above. My second favorite line was: "Why's he look so... 'disco?'"

[larksilver.livejournal.com]

But.. but.. it's the Doctor! Of course we would see Sarah Jane and K-9 at some point, right? That's not a spoiler, that's confirmation.

I think, if you want to avoid spoilers in situations where you know that other people have had the opportunity to find something out before you.. you probably want to avoid discussion groups that specifically target said areas of interest.

Now, if you're on an unrelated site and some dude pops in and randomly spoils it.. that's a whole different kettle of fish.