Battlestar Wiki:Think Tank/Errors Policy: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:57, 28 January 2008

This is an archive of an unsuccessful proposal that was vetted through the Think Tank, a place where ideas of all kinds are proposed and worked upon by the community prior to implementation. Please do not modify this proposal.

This is the overview. Basically, a summary of what the idea is about. You can get into the details later on.

DRAFT - not even close to finished, but I welcome discussion Eghm 01:55, 15 September 2006 (CDT)

Errors Policy

A policy proposal; started by Eghm, in reaction to the various levels of suspending disbelief discussed on continuity errors talk. The goal of this policy is to provide guidelines of what constitutes continuity errors vs Production errors or Dangling plot lines in Battlestar Galactica while assuming good faith on the part of the writers, without resorting to fanwanking. This policy would be linked to from the various (small number of) error pages.

Continuity Errors requires some understanding of the continuity goals of the show, RDM wrote the BSG Bible and has mentioned them in podcasts. There are also some wiki pages: Naturalistic science fiction, Life Forms of the Twelve Colonies.

When deriving continuity errors based on character dialogue there are two extremes (with plenty of gray area between) of believing that characters have perfect knowledge and never lie or characters do not have perfect knowledge and are capable of lieing adding to this is the personality of the character. Baltar's Cylon Detector is a good example of where an individual audience members stance can effect how they interpret possible continuity errors. When Baltar tests Boomer, the test only takes a few minutes however in Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down it is stated that one test takes 11 hours. Some people see this as an obvious continuity (writer) error. Other possible explanations have been offered such as; given Baltar's reaction to Boomers positive test, he realizes it may be a bad idea to have a possible Cylon present when the results come in. Or it could be that 11 hours is the maximum amount of time the test takes and he got "lucky" with Boomer's test, or he could be "sandbagging" so as to have time to pursue other things (such as woman, the vice presidency, etc.) or given his Cylon collaboration he could be stalling.

Microsoft mouse vs Hummer bits to go here...

Continuity sub categories:

Dialogue Errors - Continuity errors specific to things said which do not belong to the BSG universe (Jesus, world famous, etc.)

VFX Gaffes - Continuity errors specific to special effects.

Prop and Equipmnent Errors - Continuity errors specific to props and set.

Retcons - "adding of new information to "historical" material, or deliberately changing previously established facts in a work" - BSG Retcons

Plot holes - Continuity error where the plot has progressed without the audiance, beyond some certain level of suspended belief, not to be confused with dangling plot lines.

Production errors - things which involve the production of the show such as the reflection of crane raising the Raptor in the Miniseries after Helo shoots the civilian off the wing on Caprica, seeing off set, seeing cast, seeing boom mics, etc.

Dangling plot lines - Plot lines that have been started, but not continued.

Acknowledged Mistakes and fixes- The show has acknowledged a mistake and fixed it.

The above is an archive of a proposal that was vetted through the Think Tank. Please do not modify or edit this archived proposal.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{ttu}}
 This is the overview. Basically, a ''summary'' of what the idea is about. You can get into the details later on.
-=== {{{1|Insert Title Here}}} ===
+DRAFT - not even close to finished, but I welcome discussion [[User:Eghm|Eghm]] 01:55, 15 September 2006 (CDT)
+=== Errors Policy ===
+A policy proposal; started by [[User:Eghm|Eghm]], in reaction to the various levels of [[Wikipedia:Suspension of disbelief|suspending disbelief]] discussed on  [[Talk:Continuity errors (RDM)#Suspending Disbelief|continuity errors talk]]. The goal of this policy is to provide guidelines of what constitutes [[Continuity errors (RDM)|continuity errors]] vs Production errors or  [[Continuity errors (RDM)#Danglers|Dangling plot lines]] in Battlestar Galactica while [[Battlestar Wiki:Assume good faith|assuming good faith]] on the part of the writers, without resorting to [[BW:FANW|fanwanking]]. This policy would be linked to from the various (small number of) error pages.
+[[Wikipedia:Continuity (fiction)#Continuity errors|Continuity Errors]] requires some understanding of the continuity goals of the show, RDM wrote the BSG Bible and has mentioned them in podcasts. There are also some wiki pages: [[Naturalistic science fiction]], [[Life Forms of the Twelve Colonies]].
+When deriving continuity errors based on character dialogue there are two extremes (with plenty of gray area between) of believing that characters have perfect knowledge and never lie or characters do not have perfect knowledge and are capable of lieing adding to this is the personality of the character.  Baltar's Cylon Detector is a good example of where an individual audience members stance can effect how they interpret possible continuity errors.  When Baltar tests Boomer, the test only takes a few minutes however in [[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]] it is stated that one test takes 11 hours.  Some people see this as an obvious continuity (writer) error.  Other possible explanations have been offered such as; given Baltar's reaction to Boomers positive test, he realizes it may be a bad idea to have a possible Cylon present when the results come in.  Or it could be that 11 hours is the maximum amount of time the test takes and he got "lucky" with Boomer's test, or he could be "sandbagging" so as to have time to pursue other things (such as woman, the vice presidency, etc.) or given his Cylon collaboration he could be stalling.
-The details of your proposal will go here. Be as detailed as you'd like or believe necessary. It is recommended that you find that balance between ''downloading'' information and merely ''telling'' what your idea is.
+Microsoft mouse vs Hummer bits to go here...
-The proposal should strive to answer some of the common questions, such as:
+Continuity sub categories:
+:[[Continuity errors (RDM)#Dialogue Errors|Dialogue Errors]] - Continuity errors specific to things said which do not belong to the BSG universe (Jesus, world famous, etc.)
+:[[Continuity errors (RDM)#VFX Gaffes|VFX Gaffes]] - Continuity errors specific to special effects.
+:[[Continuity errors (RDM)#Prop and Equipment Errors|Prop and Equipmnent Errors]] - Continuity errors specific to props and set.
+:[[Wikipedia:Retcon|Retcons]] - "adding of new information to "historical" material, or deliberately changing previously established facts in a work" - [[Continuity errors (RDM)#Retcons|BSG Retcons]]
+:Plot holes - Continuity error where the plot has progressed without the audiance, beyond some certain level of suspended belief, not to be confused with dangling plot lines.
-# What is the benefit of this proposal to the wiki?
+Production errors - things which involve the production of the show such as the reflection of crane raising the Raptor in the Miniseries after Helo shoots the civilian off the wing on Caprica, seeing off set, seeing cast, seeing boom mics, etc.
-# What is involved in implementing this idea?
-# Who is going to do it?
-# Why should we do it at all?
-# How will we use the idea?
-# Should the proposal pass, when will work start on this idea?
-# Where will this idea be implemented? (e.g. Will it be on certain types of pages or the entire Wiki in general?)
-Do note that the answers to the above questions should be in paragraph form, particularly for proposals of a larger scale.
+[[Continuity errors (RDM)#Danglers|Dangling plot lines]] - Plot lines that have been started, but not continued.
-'''See also'''
+[[Continuity errors (RDM)#Acknowledged Mistakes|Acknowledged Mistakes and fixes]]- The show has acknowledged a mistake and fixed it.
-*You may reference any talk pages or pages from our beta-testing wiki, [http://www.battlestarwiki.org/hangarbay The "Hangar Bay"].
+{{ttf}}
 [[Category:Think Tank proposals|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]