Interesting news snippet.
No Daleks for Dr Who revival
The Dr Who revival may have to go ahead without the Timelord's most notorious enemies - the Daleks.
The wheeled would-be galactic tyrants may have to sit out the new series of the cult sci-fi TV show, because of a dispute between the BBC and the Daleks' creator's estate.
The rights to the Daleks are jointly owned by the BBC and Terry Nation, who died in 1997 - and Mr Nation's estate is refusing the BBC permission to use the shrill-voiced aliens.
Ananova quotes an insider, who explained, 'He told the executors never to let the BBC use the Daleks again. Fans want to see the Daleks return, but they may be disappointed.'
The BBC has acknowledged that talks are continuing.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cac...dispute+&hl=en
>> Just out of interest - what was this dispute about Daleks? Are we
talking about a
>> similarity to the one suggestion for Star One - that the Andromedans be
replaced by
>> Daleks?
>
>I don't know if this is the specific reason but there has always been a
hazy area
>about who actually owns the rights to the Daleks.
There's never been any haze - Terry Nation has always been the guy with the
rights! Because he was not a member of BBC staff when he created the concept
of the Daleks he was able to copyright them, just in time for the Dalekmania
merchandising boom of the 1960s. Raymond Cusick, the BBC staff designer who
actually came up with the visual form of the Dalek we all know and love, was
paid something like 100 pounds (quite a lot of money at the time) as a
goodwill gesture, but has since received nothing, because it's BBC policy
that all work created by staff members automatically becomes the property of
the Corporation.
>If Nation was supprised by the end of Blakes 7, then he may not have been
that
>cooperative with the Beeb over future Dalek stories. Back in the mid 80's
there were
>rumours rattling around that Nation intended to produce American shows
based on the
>seven and/or the Daleks after some bust up with the Beeb.
There was never a bust-up as such. Back in the late 60s, with Dalekmania
apparently beginning to wane in the UK, Nation decided that there was
potential to exploit the Daleks in their own series on the American market.
The BBC agreed that they'd reached the end of their shelf-life and seemed
happy to lose them from Dr.Who, so they were seen to be killed off once and
for all in a Patrick Troughton story (I think it was Evil of the Daleks) and
Nation took himself off to Los Angeles, where he singularly failed to sell
the idea to the Americans!
Obviously, when the BBC asked to use them in Dr.Who again in the 70s he
agreed, and everything carried on as before. Nation still needs to give
permission for any use of the Daleks, and is required to be given first
refusal as scriptwriter for Dalek stories.
And I'm *so* glad they never turned up in B7... =;-)
Gareth
http://b7.cyberpomo.com/id/14027