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Christmas Specials Wiki
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Movie/TV?[]

Some of the titles in this category were released theatrically, like Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Small One. Do you want to split them off from stuff that was made for TV (like the Rankin/Bass stuff), or do you want to keep them all together? -- Ken (talk) 04:59, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Those were released theatrically, just like Pluto's Christmas Tree. All three of which were short films, so they should go in category:shorts for sure. I think what you're asking is how we define what a Christmas Special is. I think that's a good question. My understanding of a Special in this context is that it was originally produced as a one-shot broadcast for TV. In which case, Mickey and Small One don't belong. What do others think? —Scott (talk) 02:04, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
Well, Mickey's Christmas Carol was repackaged slightly for its debut as a TV special (The Small One wasn't), but given the other discussions about what to include and the purpose of this Wiki, I now think Scott's right, and it should be taken out. It seems wise to maintain distinctions based on the medium where the production debuted (as a special made for TV, as a theatrical movie, as a holiday-themed episode of a series, etc.), even if it later shows up in a different format (and for that reason, I think soon we seriously need to divide Specials into TV Specials and Direct-to-Video Specials, especially since some of those pages are stubs and without the category or researcing the individual title, you can't tell one from the other). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 21:40, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
I agree about Direct-to-Video. I never liked that phrase though, even as we use it on Muppet Wiki. Is there a neater way to word that, or are we stuck with it? —Scott (talk) 22:31, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
Well, it depends. We could just use "Video Specials" as long as the category makes it clear that it's only for projects which premiered in a home video format (were you planning on covering video releases individually here, or just the productions themselves? I think that may have been part of the reason for its use on Muppet Wiki, plus by now, it is a standard industry term, used in marketing and so on, not just some random made-up phrase, replacing the even more awkward "straight to video" which was usually used by critics in a derogatory manner). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 22:36, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
"Video Specials" works for me. I don't think we should have separate home video pages for each special. Whatever can be said about their special features and reissues can be said on their pages. —Scott (talk) 23:13, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
I think that we should err on the side of putting things together. I don't think it does the reader any service to split Specials into parts. When readers come here, they want to see the Christmas Specials. That's what this wiki is for.
The reader won't necessarily know the difference between whether something was originally made for TV, or was made for theaters and then shown on TV, or made direct-to-video. They don't care. They just want to see some fun Christmas Specials.
So I think the default should be Christmas Specials. If it's 22-60 minutes, it aired on TV, and it's not an episode of a series, then it goes in Specials. -- Danny (talk) 07:16, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
The problem with that is a lot of stuff, like the Where's Waldo thing or the Dafffy Duck Christmas Carol and lots more, have *never* aired on TV as far as I know (and something like The Small One only aired on the Disney Channel piled in with a lot of stuff, if that). So in the absence of any other categorization, I'd like to strongly suggest at least that editors specify in text whether the production was direct to video, aired on TV, or debuted theatrically. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 10:19, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, I totally agree with designating it on the article page. Do you think it should be part of the info box? -- Danny (talk) 18:29, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
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