No Daleks??? There is no Doctor Who without Daleks!

Apparently Terry Nation's estate and the BBC couldn't agree on terms for using his evil creations in the planned new series.

The BBC spokeswoman said: "The BBC offered the very best deal possible but ultimately we were not able to give the level of editorial influence that the Terry Nation estate wished to have." But an agent for the Nation estate accused the BBC of ignoring copyright laws and said the corporation was trying to "ruin the brand of the Daleks".

Weirdest quote I've heard in a long time, from the same article:

[Agent Tim Hancock, who represents the Nation estate] accused the BBC of lying about the reasons a deal had not been made. He said the BBC had tried to commission a cartoon series about gay Daleks for BBC Three. [via Librarian in Black]

I can see it now: Daleks shacking up, playing footsie--well, they haven't got feet, though--and coming out to Davros.

The good news, I suppose, is the selection of Christopher Eccleston as the new Doctor. More details about the series regularly at Outpost Gallifrey. Check out July 4 for details on the Dalek controversy.

But the way the story appeared in some news pages - the robotic tyrants would not appear because of 'a disagreement over appearance fees' - made it sound as if the Daleks themselves were sulkily refusing to go on TV. The usual reasons, I suppose. They had other commitments; the timing wasn't right for this stage of their career; they weren't in a good place right now; they were scheduled to appear on Broadway, in a musical called Hello Dalek. I pictured them on the phone to their agent, shouting 'Neg-o-ti-ate! Neg-o-ti-ate!'."

Posted by Hilary at July 9, 2004 01:28 PM