Talk:I Am the Doctor: The Unauthorised Diaries of a Timelord

non-canonical because...

Though it may deal with canon material, no one involved in the current production of Doctor Who approved this in any way. This has the same status as The Doctor is A Big Gay Panda, a fan fiction work from Zone Publshing purporting to reveal the Doctor as, not a Time Lord but a big gay panda. --Stardizzy2 19:16, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

However, Amazon hasn't carried "Doctor Who is a Big Gay Panda" (is that a real book?) worldwide. Peel's book has worldwide distribution and is written by John Peel. All that said, if "Big Gay Panda" has indeed been distributed widely, then we need to create an article on it. 23skidoo 14:26, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

I absolutely believe that this is an unofficial work, and on that basis should be ignored. The argument that it's on Amazon is hardly decisive. Fanzines can be bought on Amazon as easily as corn cob holders. Amazon is in many ways just a middleman, not that different from eBay. Don't be fooled just because a book has an ISBN number and decent printing; these days it's entirely possible to have an amateur book look professional. I'm also not sure I see the particular relevance of John Peel's authorship. Is the argument that because Peel wrote it, it must be canonical? No, there's no doubt in my own mind that this book should never be referenced in any other article, and so should be deleted, or at least merged onto a page that lists other works of unofficial fiction.

There's only one tiny problem with that stance. TARDIS:Canon policy lets in tons of material that is really no more or less offensive than this work. For some reason, we let in BBV material and Faction Paradox, both of which are created in such a way as to skirt the need for BBC approval. This, it seems to me, isn't that much different. Nevertheless it is a bit different. After all, I think you'd have to say that it wholly violates the copyright of the BBC. I mean, it's actually kinda ballsy, really. Peel is using actual characters that are owned by the BBC, not quite skirting the issue like BBV and FP. So although you have to thread a bit of a needle here, it is just on the other side of the foul line.

What I think this book does usefully point out, though, is a need to make that foul line a little brighter. I really don't understand why BBV and FP material sits alongside licensed material. If we were to ban BBV and FP material, cases like this book would be a heck of a lot easier to adjudicate. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 20:09, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

'Doctor Who is a big Gay Panda' sounds like a delightfully subversive book...maybe we can bring in the so called 'gay agenda' that was a hot topic in the GallifreyOne forums...or not. Moving onto the other issue.

The FP, BBV and Realtime Pictures releases are licensed, just by their original creators and what not. Their characters are linked to the Doctor Who universe, making them part of the whole general mishmash.

This book is a whole other kettle of fish, it really does seem a pretty ballsy move to do something like this. The BBC often turns a blind eye to books published for charity, but this seems like a commercial product (does anyone have the book? does it have anything that indicates it's not a commercial product?).

I'm in favour of just deleting the article and chucking the info on John Peel's author page. (Possibly tieing in his 'ignoring of continuity and other things' such as his massive retcon in War of the Daleks.

Or I suppose we could have an 'Unofficial fiction' page, but defining 'unofficial' leads us into very murky waters. --Tangerineduel 15:32, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

There is also another wiki, Doctor Who Expanded, that deal specifically with the fan fiction of Doctor Who. Unauthorized fiction such as this might fit best in that wiki as opposed to this one. --Raukodraug 15:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

deleted page revisited

Ok revisiting this page to find it has been deleted as unoficial AND putting aside the whole gay panda issue because...well just because, I would argue for its re-instatement on the following points;

• The exclusion of 'unofficial' titles would exclude most of the titles on the reference books page
• This title was included in the reference section of the wiki - which includes both illustrated and non-illustrated titles I would argue that this title offers a visual record.
• With the standard 100% disclaimer included, the small print generally states that credit where credit is due to the image copyright holders, (where known) and that all images are approved and sourced internationally.
• There is the notable inclusion in this title of artwork from well known and established 'Who' artist Pete Wallbank. Likewise the writer John Peel is another well established 'Who' figure (having adapted a number of missing television stories for novelisations amongst others). The fact that both of these individuals and their 'Who-related' work is covered throughout I believe supports its inclusion on this page.
• A further overlooked fact is that this title was not sold as a single item but was included along with a 2008 exclusive and limited edition art calendar as a 2in1 Calendarmag pack, thereby worthy of inclusion in the merchandise pages itself.

The Librarian ☎ 02:08, March 28, 2013 (UTC)