User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Inclusion debates/@comment-4028641-20170222073756/@comment-188432-20170524225014

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference

Guys, this is an interesting thread. It's had a lot of time to linger in the zeitgeist of the forums.

But it's digressed from the central question.

So let's get back there. Is The Lego Batman Movie valid? No. More than that, it doesn't even deserve a page on this wiki.

I've had occasion now to actually examine the so-called Daleks in the movie, and at no point are they named "Daleks". They are called "British robots", and of course Daleks aren't robots. Also, they only very arguably employ the voice modulation common to Daleks. And, it's really a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo. Calling this an "appearance" is beyond generous.

Moreover, I've carefully examined the credits of the movie, and at no point are the BBC or the estate of Terry Nation given any sort of credit or even mention. Even the "Thanks" section goes by without a shout-out to any copyright holder that this wiki cares about. Additionally, the so-called "Daleks" go by without a word from anyone on the audio commentary.

I've further looked for some kind of behind the scenes interview or anything to substantiatiate a case for the Daleks actually appearing in any sort of licensed way, and I don't see it.

To me, it's very clear that the usage here is done in a way to carefully avoid copyright entanglements. Therefore this is not, as far as it's possible to ascertain with publicly-availalble indicators, an appearance of the Daleks, and there is no cause whatsoever for this wiki to have a page about this movie. The best place for this information is a few lines at Doctor Who parodies. This has already been done, and The Lego Batman Movie now redirects to that page.