Talk:The Stranger (novel)

Coverage/Validity
...Okay you lost me. Is the argument that because Ebury manages the rights the republished version of the book now has the rights to use 8, so this is fully licensed, and the author's intent is that it's 8? And since it's referenced elsewhere in the DWU we get coverage? Weird case, to say the least. Almost similar to Cyberon in some ways. Interesting find Nate, if this is your line of thought. But it's a can of worms. Najawin ☎  04:55, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm skeptical. I think it must surely be assumed that Ebury's license to print Who books is conditional on all sorts of things averaging out to BBC-vetting. That's how these things work, at least with large-scale franchises like this. Big Finish don't have the rights to randomly put the Doctor in a Sapphire & Steel audio when they feel like it just because they have both licenses at the same time, either! Scrooge MacDuck ⊕ 12:09, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Just because they have the rights to a character in one capacity doesn't mean they can go off and do whatever they like with a character. This page should definitely be swiftly deleted. DrWHOCorrieFan ☎  12:23, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Scrooge wrote, "Big Finish don't have the rights to randomly put the Doctor in a Sapphire & Steel audio when they feel like it just because they have both licenses at the same time, either!" … and yet that's exactly what they did in The Final Amendment and Many Happy Returns, two stories in the Bernice Summerfield range – a range which began before Big Finish's Who license and (until the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield reboot) was separate from it – which we nonetheless trust to be licensed in their appearances of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor!


 * I don't think it's fair for us to speculate so wildly about behind-the-scenes clearances and processes without any citation. From appearance and outfit to personality and apparent alien abilities, not to mention the author's own description, the "Paul Bowman" character from the book's first page to its last is clearly the Eighth Doctor in an amnesic fugue, just as confirmed in Father Time and The Gallifrey Chronicles (also intellectual properties of Ebury Publishing). I trust Big Finish to only use the Doctor character in stories where he is properly licensed. And by the same stroke, I trust Ebury Publishing. – n8 (☎) 13:03, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The difference, here, though, is that we know the book was written with the intent that it could be published without legally infringing on the copyright of the Eight Doctor, thinly-veiled implication or otherwise. If they were aware of the Doctor connection at all, Virgin originally published it with the understanding that it wasn't a legal use of the Doctor; why should we assume that Ebury, acting as mere reprinters, came to a completely different conclusion, printed it with the understanding that he was the Doctor, and then failed to advertise that fact at all? You have to admit it's rather more of a stretch. Scrooge MacDuck ⊕ 14:39, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * So, again, let's refer to Talk:Origins (comic story) and nip Corrie's concern in the bud. I think Scrooge has the right tack here. The author clearly had some intentions, but the publisher did not. And without clear statement in the text, we don't make these connections. Again, it seems to me like a Cyberon case. And when we revisit Cyberon, etc, maybe this will come up as well. But I'm not seeing precedent for it being covered until then. Najawin ☎  17:33, 15 December 2022 (UTC)