Ongoing Community Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Admiral_Young, Jan 21, 2011.

  1. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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  2. IndyJones

    IndyJones Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm so happy to see Community coming back!
     
  3. PsychoPere

    PsychoPere Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Travis Richey, the actor who portrayed Inspector Spacetime, is seeking to produce a 6-episode web series to be funded through Kickstarter donations.

     
  4. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Ooo. While I think it would be AWESOME to see an Inspector Spacetime web series... if I were him, I wouldn't do it. He doesn't own the property. It's different if a fan were doing it, but, he's the guy that WAS the Inspector... That might make NBC/Universal feel it would be confusing to people--ie, NOT a fan production.

    I smell a cease and desist order in his future.
     
  5. Santeria

    Santeria Lieutenant Commander

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    You're assuming he hasn't gotten permission to do it.
     
  6. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Um. The actor said, it's even in the post that I quoted, he hasn't heard back from NBC, Community or Sony. If you go to his Kickstarter page, he says THERE that it isn't an NBC thing.

    So, no. I'm not making any assumptions. He hasn't gotten permission.
     
  7. Santeria

    Santeria Lieutenant Commander

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    <shrugs> I only read the second link where all he said was "
    Really, the only thing I saw was: "To be clear; NBC, Sony, and the Community production team have nothing to do with this web series. It is entirely fan produced." Nothing about a lack of permission, just a lack of assistance in producing it. So no, you're actually wrong about that particular tidbit.

    However, going back and looking at the first link, something to that effect is stated. My mistake in that regard. However, even in that first link he doesn't say he hasn't gotten permission to do it since deciding to go through with the project on his own, just when he did originally pitch it (under the context of them producing it) he never heard back from them.

    So yeah, you are still assuming. Unless you care to link to a post where he says "I don't have permission to do this."
     
  8. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    He didn't ask for permission in the first place according to that snippet. He pitched them the idea and didn't hear back from them and stated he would be doing it anyway with fan assistance and that he was launching a fund raising campaign. They can still cease the project if they want to. If he HAD gotten permission he would have mentioned it in the snippet. I really don't see what the big deal is here. I hope he gets it off the ground.
     
  9. Chaos Descending

    Chaos Descending Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Oh for crying out loud, he said he hasn't heard anything from them one way or another. Lack of permission means lack of permission!
     
  10. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Exactly. It seems a silly thing to point out in the first place.
     
  11. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Emphasis mine.

    Imagine this: "Hey MOM, can I borrow your car?

    *no response*

    "Sounds like permission to me!"

    What do you think will happen when the car is brought home?
     
  12. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, but in the case of the car, it's not offering free promotion for mom's TV show.

    (God, I made that into a horrible analogy).

    Assuming he's not profiting from the web series, I can't see NBC/Universal or Sony doing anything to stop him.
     
  13. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    It depends. If they think he is HURTING their brand, yeah, that would give them reason. (Of course, how do you hurt a brand of a very low rated show... but, there you go.) And who knows, maybe Dan Harmon has ideas on what HE wants to do with Inspector Spacetime.

    In the end, I agree, I don't think they will do anything to stop him, I won't be surprised if they do. The actor doesn't own the character. Or the trademark. Any of it.

    And this is a little different than fan films of Star Trek. Shatner wasn't out there making fan films while Star Trek was still on. And by the time Stark Trek alumni started appearing in fan films, there were already a LOT of fan films setting a precedent of Paramount's tacit agreement on them.

    I wish the actor luck. He should tread carefully.
     
  14. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    sorry for the double post, but...

    IO9.com has the first bit of the webseries under discussion.

    I'm surprised it's a cartoon... thought it would be live action.

    Sadly... it's not as funny as I would've liked. Maybe the Inspector is only good in small snippets as an allusion to Doctor Who/Doctor Who fandom.
     
  15. shivkala

    shivkala Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Definitely not as funny, but I was impressed with the little bits of Doctor Who they integrated. Going to a future Earth (and the explanation), the Circuit-Chaps, Piper Tate, etc. I guess they're going for loving homage, instead of humorous parody.
     
  16. Santeria

    Santeria Lieutenant Commander

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    Do you know what context is?

    In context of the comment, he never heard back from them after approaching them about producing/helping with the idea that first time. He didn't say anything about his contact with them after deciding to produce it himself. And considering he's in the business and likely has an agent who'd know better, chances are he knows he'll at least need permission to do it.
     
  17. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Last edited: Feb 28, 2012
  18. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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  19. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Its pretty damn awesome, and gets me excited for the rest of season three. Damn its been a long time.
     
  20. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Ding Dong... cease and desist order.

    Not surprising... as, quite clearly, he didn't have permission.

    He hopes to continue... He writes:

    Though... as as IO9 points out, and when I read it, got my head scratching, how do you parody a parody?

    And, let's be honest... he wasn't making FUN of Inspector SpaceTime... which is what a parody is... but he was MAKING Inspector SpaceTime... which is infringement.