And something ends

[Nealithi]

he Daleks?

I don't know the fine details of British copyright law, either - but I've never heard of copyright that expires retroactively. I imagine the BBC wouldn't be able to make new content using the Daleks, but could still show and sell existing material.

I thought the point of Disney working to keep the rights to Steam Boat Willie is they would lose their own mascot and not be able sell related items? Hence my caution. I know British law comes of bizarrely compared to American law.

[Nealithi]

Perhaps it's time to lose the rights, then. I would have been perfectly happy if they'd never been seen after "Dalek" - that was a fitting end to their story.

I do not know British copyright law. But would that also mean they could no longer show past episodes with Daleks. And no longer sell copies of previous Doctors with the Daleks?

Perhaps. I put it to you though that you can count the amount of memorable Dalek stories on one hand (if you count the multiple episode stories as one story). I also put it to you that they all star William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Chris Eccelston, David Tennent and Matt Smith.

Although I am amenable to including Dalek: Invasion Earth 2050 AD in that solely because Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins are absolute legends.

Basically, no great loss, and I doubt it would stick anyway. What else are they going to do with the Daleks if not on Dr Who? Sell the rights to Disney for Star Wars or something...?

But I like the Tom Baker episodes, etc. Admittedly some Dalek stories are drivel. But some episodes with any villain can be bleh.

[Thebestoftherest]

Perhaps it's time to lose the rights, then. I would have been perfectly happy if they'd never been seen after "Dalek" - that was a fitting end to their story.

I do not know British copyright law. But would that also mean they could no longer show past episodes with Daleks. And no longer sell copies of previous Doctors with the Daleks?

Perhaps. I put it to you though that you can count the amount of memorable Dalek stories on one hand (if you count the multiple episode stories as one story). I also put it to you that they all star William Hartnell, Tom Baker, Chris Eccelston, David Tennent and Matt Smith.

Although I am amenable to including Dalek: Invasion Earth 2050 AD in that solely because Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins are absolute legends.

Basically, no great loss, and I doubt it would stick anyway. What else are they going to do with the Daleks if not on Dr Who? Sell the rights to Disney for Star Wars or something...?

They are too big a part of Doctor who to get rid of.

[Frustration]

I thought the point of Disney working to keep the rights to Steam Boat Willie is they would lose their own mascot and not be able sell related items? Hence my caution. I know British law comes of bizarrely compared to American law.

No, no - Disney would lose the rights to exclusively use the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse. I understand they're working to secure the copyright to later versions of Mickey Mouse for as long as possible.

[Frustration]

They are too big a part of Doctor who to get rid of.

[Dalek screech]: "IN-CORR-ECT!"

The only parts of Who that are essential are the regenerating Doctor and the TARDIS. Everything else is negotiable.

I despise the way they tried to wipe out canon, but I agree with the underlying impulse: the show will suffocate under the weight of its own accumulated stories if the old isn't allowed to pass away.

[clearspira]

They are too big a part of Doctor who to get rid of.

[Dalek screech]: "IN-CORR-ECT!"

The only parts of Who that are essential are the regenerating Doctor and the TARDIS. Everything else is negotiable.

I despise the way they tried to wipe out canon, but I agree with the underlying impulse: the show will suffocate under the weight of its own accumulated stories if the old isn't allowed to pass away.

The mistake they made with the benefit of hindsight was not rebooting the show when it came back in 2005. Even the golden age of New Who didn't really gel all that well with what we saw in the Classic series and they effectively would have had free reign to do anything they wanted to with the Doctor. Its somewhat ironic that, if this was a character with a fresh history, they could have even have gotten away with ''The Timeless Child.''

I also do not agree that there would have been all that much push-back towards a reboot. 2005 was in the infancy of the internet so the fan rage would have been 10% of what it would have been today. Pre-Youtube, pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter. Not long after the Battlestar Galactica reboot brought back a similarly dead franchise to the world. The time was ideal.

Too late now though. it would smell too much like ''torch the franchise and run.''

[Frustration]

2005, Internet infancy? The 'Net has been around since 1992, and there were fan groups for Who back in the AOL days.

[sayla0079]

2005, Internet infancy? The 'Net has been around since 1992, and there were fan groups for Who back in the AOL days.

True but they wern't as big as they are now.

[hammerofglass]

They kind of did reboot it, though? That was the whole purpose of the Time War, the old status quo was wiped away. Then the call-backs and references piled up and piled up until finally it might as well not have happened, but that took years and multiple showrunners.

[clearspira]

2005, Internet infancy? The 'Net has been around since 1992, and there were fan groups for Who back in the AOL days.

I don't know how old you are but take it from me: up until the early noughties, the Internet was for Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Geeks arguing on shitty message boards or downloading porn at a geological pace.

There was basically nothing of note on it. People mock Amazon, Facebook and YouTube, but they built the modern internet.