User:SOTO/Forum Archive/Inclusion debates/@comment-4028641-20170222073756/@comment-5918438-20170227013914

Back to LEGO Batman, I can confirm that, having sat through the entire credits as I always do, I did not see any reference to the Daleks or to Terry Nation himself. The creators of both Batman and Superman are quite prominent in the first part of the credits, but no reference is made to Terry Nation, J.K. Rowling, or any of the others.

I think I'll give a lengthier reply later, but for now, two of my main points after having seen it:

• They're definitely the Daleks. Whether they're from the DWU, we have to get to, but they're the Daleks, whether that's spoken or not. It's made clear that the Daleks were imprisoned from another world, as villains of that world, so it's definitely a valid (and obvious) interpretation that they came from a LEGO Doctor Who world. The Phantom Zone does belong to some wider multiverse (I believe actually called "universe" specifically in the film), so it's strongly implied that the characters from the various franchises come from LEGO versions of their respective universes.
• That said, not only are none of those characters truly taken seriously, but quite specifically, they appear to be filtered through the imagination (and breadth of knowledge) of an American child. (A closeted American child who plays with ideas of homosexuality in really interesting and imaginative ways, under the radar, or so he thinks.) Voldemort doesn't really go around shouting "Wingardium leviosa!", apparently his only spell, but this kid doesn't know enough of Harry Potter lore to really grasp that. And certain directorial/script choices ("Pew pew! Pew pew!") definitely seem to go with that interpretation.

So I'd say, within the LEGO universe, the Daleks did come from a LEGO DWU, but I'm not sure they actually came from the DWU. In terms of their characterisation: sure, they kill, they know to recite the "Exterminate" catchphrase that perhaps your average American child is already familiar with, though their "robot"-ness is used for one 'laugh': "He's not worth it." I'm not getting the impression that this film treats the properties it uses as seriously as LEGO Dimensions and other LEGO games do (which is not to say that those haven't always poked fun at the characters, too). So yeah, I am getting more of a "cultural reference" impression, but at the same time, it is explained how the Daleks came to cross from their own universe to Batman's, through the Phantom Zone. There are really points on both sides.

While actually watching the movie, I should say, I was leaning more toward thinking these are simply the Daleks, and there is a case to be made for this crossover's validity. But that simply wouldn't be consistent with the general feeling I'm getting that this is set, at least in part, in a child's imagination. If that is the case, this movie most likely fails rule 4. Either way, The Lego Batman Movie absolutely deserves a page. If we go for validity, it has to be discussed which pages can be created based on this--both in-universe, and with regards to the movie's crew and cast. Remember that this is not a "DWU story" in the way that it's a "story involving the DWU in some way", if at all.