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Talk:The Doctor and the Enterprise: Difference between revisions
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As the person who created the article, allow me to respond. First, it was published by a ''professional'' publisher, not a semi-professional one. Pioneer Press had North America-wide distribution, and I purchased my copy at the University of Calgary Bookstore. If it's good enough to be carried by a university, it's a professional publisher. Second, Jean Airey has written non-fiction for Target, making the existence of this book of additional interest. Third, it is the only example to date of a piece of DW fanfic being republished professionally (reportedly some of the early Star Trek novels were also this way). Fourth, TardisWikia has a responsibility to cover all aspects of the DW franchise, including fanfic. Most fanfic can be covered in a single article on the topic, but this one broke away from the pack by being professionally published. So I have no problem with having this book here. It's just as legitimate as having an article on John Peel's unauthorized [[I Am the Doctor]]. [[User:23skidoo|23skidoo]] 14:23, 7 May 2009 (UTC) | As the person who created the article, allow me to respond. First, it was published by a ''professional'' publisher, not a semi-professional one. Pioneer Press had North America-wide distribution, and I purchased my copy at the University of Calgary Bookstore. If it's good enough to be carried by a university, it's a professional publisher. Second, Jean Airey has written non-fiction for Target, making the existence of this book of additional interest. Third, it is the only example to date of a piece of DW fanfic being republished professionally (reportedly some of the early Star Trek novels were also this way). Fourth, TardisWikia has a responsibility to cover all aspects of the DW franchise, including fanfic. Most fanfic can be covered in a single article on the topic, but this one broke away from the pack by being professionally published. So I have no problem with having this book here. It's just as legitimate as having an article on John Peel's unauthorized [[I Am the Doctor]]. [[User:23skidoo|23skidoo]] 14:23, 7 May 2009 (UTC) | ||
::This greatly confuses me. It sounds as if you're suggesting that number of eyeballs in front of a work has something to do with whether we should take it seriously. Well, worldwide, more people have had an opportunity to see the "international cut" of ''[[Journey's End]]''. Does that mean that it's the "true" version of that episode? | |||
::No, I really do think you have to take into consideration authorial intent, especially with this work. Airey never meant for this to be considered a part of anyone's canon. She's quite clear in her internet spiel against the Pioneer edition that she only meant ''Enterprise'' as fan fiction, and that the version sold by Pioneer was mutilated beyond recognition. The Pioneer version is not, as other people are alleging, a "reprint" or a "second edition". If you actually compare the versions side-by-side, you see that they are, in many regards, works too different to be called the "same". | |||
::Which is why I'm puzzled by your logic. You want to keep this page on the basis of a version that the author herself is protesting. If we went with only what the author considers "official", I think your own definition above wouldn't be able to justify keeping this page. | |||
::I think it's mightily important at this juncture in the discussion to read Airey's own words, and consider if it's even possible to square them with the general policies of the wiki in such a way that will allow this article to be kept: | |||
:::"The story was not intended to be a satire, it was intended to be an honest representation of what might happen if these two particular universes met. '''It was intended as a fanzine in the most classic tradition of that particular genre.''' Unfortunately that popularity resulted in the ultimate "ripping off" of the story without my permission into a highly priced "book" format (in one version) and to a complete travesty of the original in yet another." — [[Jean Airey]] | |||
::What's really fascinating about this case, though, is that the "non-professional" version has almost certainly been read by more people than the Pioneer one. She's got a date on the "ebook" of 1991, and that sounds about right to me. Airey was an early adopter of Compuserve (or was it Delphi?). This old file has been around FOREVER. And this is the 30th anniversary of the story in (non-professional) print. I know I read it in 'zine format back in the 80s. So I'm not even sure your "distribution" argument works with this particular work. She's been pushin' the "correct" version for something on the order of 25 years. Given the fact that Pioneer was an extremely minor publisher, and that it failed sometime in the 1990s, her version simply must be the one that's more widely read. | |||
::Another factor to consider: MemoryAlpha does not consider this book worthy of its own page. It's on a page called [[MemoryAlpha:Fan publications|fan publications]], which seems a reasonable enough place for us to put it as well. '''[[User:CzechOut|<span style="background:blue;color:white">Czech</span><span style="background:red;color:white">Out</span>]]''' [[User talk:CzechOut|☎]] | [[Special:Contributions/CzechOut|<font size="+1">✍</font>]] 19:49, 7 May 2009 (UTC) | |||
