My only aim was to bring up one aspect which I felt
had been neglected in the debate, namely the fact that in writing fanfiction, we are hijacking characters that other people created.<<
The frivolous answer is that they did a jolly poor job creating them in some cases, which is what gives us a lot to talk about. The serious answer is that the nature of broadcasting is that certain persons, who are considered reasonably imaginative, get paid to disseminate some of their fantasies to the public. I don't think that there's any implied contract that people who view the broadcasts view the action or characters in the same light as the writers, directors, actors, etc.--nor that the viewers refrain from having fantasies of their own.
-(Y)