Battlestar Wiki talk:Think Tank/Episode Transcripts

Leverage Existing Resources

Is there any way we could leverage the existing transcripts? I'd hate to redo all that work if we could work something out with some of the people/groups that are already doing that to allow us to import them. I'd love to be able to have transcripts be citable, searchable, and linkified, but I'm not sure it's worth doing it ourselves. --Steelviper 13:25, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Just have to ask them. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 13:25, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Yes, if we could repost Galacticastation's transcripts: well, these transcripts are actually from another site, SadGeezer's Cult TV Guide, which they reprint with permission. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 13:29, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Everybody seems to get them from Sadgeezer's. Perhaps somebody could open negotations for allowing us to import them? (Links to the transcripts would be ok, but it'd be even cooler if we could provide in-line links where appropriate). --Steelviper 13:31, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

/me is looking for e-mail address... --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 13:32, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

I actually use them to research quotes. From my experience just working on the "teaser", if we have to do them ourselves it will be a ton of work. --FrankieG 13:36, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Copyright issues

I have to voice my strong opposition here. I see nothing wrong with doing Podcast transcripts, since the original audio files are freely available at SciFi.com; but we have explicitly avoided transcribing DVD-only commentary tracks precisely because they are only available for a fee. We should have the explicit permission of NBC/Universal before posting transcripts of such material. --Peter Farago 13:57, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Who could we contact to obtain written permission? I definitely want everything to be on the up and up, and even if we had written permission we'd want a template at the top like the podcasts indicating that we have permission and acknowledging the appropriate copyright holders.--Steelviper 14:01, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Is the synopses at Lurker's Guide legit? I like the synopsis form better than transcripts. Or are they different words for the same thing? --FrankieG 14:56, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

A transcript is usually word for word what is said on the show, as well as descriptive text for the action that occurs. I'd call our episode summaries decent synopses (is that a word?)... --Steelviper 15:30, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Google said it was. So the synopses at Lurkers's are actually transcripts? Sorry, answered my own question. They don't include all the dialogue. --FrankieG 15:47, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

Bradley could probably at least tell us who to ask. --Peter Farago 17:41, 3 August 2006 (CDT)

I agree that there is a serious copyright issue here. If we could gather permission to transcribe episodes, then that'd be great; otherwise, we shouldn't do it. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 19:55, 4 August 2006 (CDT)

I notice that Bradley had sent contact info to SV, Shane, Peter. Just wondering about status. --FrankieG 16:08, 25 September 2006 (CDT)

Peter's got point on this, and that's about it for now. I'll try to remember to update here if anything develops. --Steelviper 20:56, 25 September 2006 (CDT)

Proposal Failed

On 19 September 2006, Steelviper received the following message from Bradley Thompson:

Steelviper --

I asked our office manager, the inimitable Maril Davis, to look into the transcript question and here's what she came up with:

"You might want to have them contact Lana Kim at Sci Fi publicity ([Contact Information Withheld]) or Shara Zoll ([Contact Information Withheld]) who deals with SciFi.com."

I also suspect you're going to have to contact the WGA if you get clearance from SF, but one step at a time. -B

We subsequently agreed on the wording of a request for legal clearance, which I sent to Lana Kim:

Dear Ms. Kim,

Greetings. I am Peter Farago, and I am a representative of the website www.battlestarwiki.org. We were referred to you by Battlestar Galactica co-producer Bradley Thompson.

Our website is interested in hosting transcripts of Battlestar Galactica episodes for reference purposes. In order to do this, we would like to obtain legal permission to do so from the SciFi channel and/or other copyright holders. Obviously, we will not proceed without an official go-ahead.

I am not a lawyer, but you may feel free to use me or site administrator Joe Beaudoin (joebeaudoin@joebeaudoin.net) as our website's contact person for copyright-related matters.

-Peter Farago

On 9 October 2006, we received the following response:

Hi Peter,

Unfortunately, we cannot grant permission for you to do this.

Lana
Lana Kim
Director, Publicity
SCI FI Channel
[Contact Information Withheld]

Consequently, the current line of inquiry is now closed. --Peter Farago 00:04, 10 October 2006 (CDT)