I have a question about episode titles (for use in episode dividers). First, let's look at what the rules say on the matter:

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Take the episode title from the episode itself, or from elsewhere on the DVD or DVD packaging, exactly as shown. If all episode titles are entirely capitalized, use standard capitalization rules instead. If the episodes are listed with quotes around each title, exclude the quotes.

Now, here's my question. In surprisingly many cases, there are differences (some subtle, some not so subtle) in how the episode title is listed on-screen, in the DVD menu and on the packaging. Think along the lines of titles that are abbreviated on the cover (and/or in the menu) while the full title is shown on-screen, or small differences like a missing comma, exclamation mark or even the word "The". The issue also often arises with double-episodes that have suffixes like "Part One" and "Part Two", which are handled differently on the cover than they are on-screen. I've encountered several cases where the episode itself, the packaging and the DVD menu each use a slightly different version of an episode title, so that we're actually faced with *three* alternatives to choose from. You can see where this is going: which of those three sources (title as shown on-screen within the episode itself, title as shown in the DVD menu, title as shown on packaging) has preference?

Personally, I've interpreted the rule "Take the episode title from the episode itself, or from elsewhere on the DVD or DVD packaging" to mean that the title from the episode itself - if available - takes precedence. Only if no title appears on-screen, I look to the other sources. How does the community feel about that?

IMHO from episode credits.
If there are none, take them from the menu.
If there are none in the menu, take them from the package.

It depends. In my opinion this would be the best way to handle episode titles:

- If the language of the release matches the original language of the series then the on screen title should be used if available
- If the language of the release does not match the original language of the series , then the title from the credits should only be used if it is translated by using a translated master or forced subtitles
- Otherwise, the translated title from the menu should be used
- If the menu does not feature translated titles, the bookled should be used as source for it
- If there are no translated titles available, the title from the credits should be used

The same method should be used for short film collections but I would suggest one exception: Some releases, like the Looney Tunes Platinum Collections, only have subtitled translations of the titles for some of the shorts. In this case the languages should not be mixed but only the original titles from the credits should be used.

Reading the rules as written I would take from the episode itself if available (not often any more in my experience)... if none there I would fall back on the discs/packaging.

Quoting TheMadMartian:

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Quoting T!M:

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Personally, I've interpreted the rule "Take the episode title from the episode itself, or from elsewhere on the DVD or DVD packaging" to mean that the title from the episode itself - if available - takes precedence. Only if no title appears on-screen, I look to the other sources. How does the community feel about that?

This.  Exactly this.

For you Americans it's all the same anyway.

But there's many a show that is sold on identical discs throughout Europe (same master) and only the disc menu, booklet and cover are localized.

It makes very little sense to use the title X from the onscreen when everything else tells you this episode is called Y.

Funny thing is, on original airing these episodes even used to have localized episode titles in the credits but these aren't used for a "one size fits all" DVD master.

That's - for example - why Germany ended up with cut versions of some DS9 episodes because the Brits insisted on these cuts for rating reasons.

I'd go with the title from the episode itself, then I'd consider the menus/packaging.

I corrected all the titles for a popular '90s animated superhero television series to match the on-screen titles from the episodes themselves, but someone else changed them to be more uniform.