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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Zaminhon said:
I'm curious, I understand that ST:NV/P2 was nominated for the Hugo Award for World Enough and Time? I would imagine that the Hugo awards have a very high standard and the entries are vetted. Did they have special permission from CBS/Paramount?
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As I recall, a lot of people objected strongly to "World Enough and Time" being nominated, partly because it was a fan film, and partly for the reasons you cite.
 
Rewatched the Kickstarter pitch for Prelude. Advertises Michael Hogan as "Robert April."

What happened to that?
 
As I recollect, no one really had any concerns about "World Enough and Time" being nominated for a Hugo Award. But there were concerns from some people regarding the script for "World Enough and Time" being nominated for a Nebula Award. The Nebula requirements are that the script be "professionally produced," and "World Enough and Time" arguably wasn't. In the end, the committee that investigates such concerns decided to leave it as one of the official nominees and, essentially, allow members to decide if the script merited a nomination or not through their votes; ultimately, it lost to "Pan's Labyrinth."


FYI: There are no IP requirements for the Hugo Category for which "World Enough and Time" was nominated:

"Rule 3.3.8: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Any television program or other production, with a complete running time of 90 minutes or less, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year."
 
SFC3 said:
They used UFP fleet to make their announcement? That's really strange.
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"Welcome to the Alec Peters School for Public Relations. I'm your host and professor, Alec Peters. You might remember me as Garth in "Going Boldly," "Prelude to Axanar," and that one scene from "The Protracted Man" that we never finished. Not many people know this, but I'm also an attorney..."
 
Karzak said:
"Welcome to the Alec Peters School for Public Relations. I'm your host and professor, Alec Peters. You might remember me as Garth in "Going Boldly," "Prelude to Axanar," and that one scene from "The Protracted Man" that we never finished. Not many people know this, but I'm also an attorney..."
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Why does this sound like the old American Express ads... Hi you may not remember me / know me... Etc
 
Karzak said:
"Welcome to the Alec Peters School for Public Relations. I'm your host and professor, Alec Peters. You might remember me as Garth in "Going Boldly," "Prelude to Axanar," and that one scene from "The Protracted Man" that we never finished. Not many people know this, but I'm also an attorney..."
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Again, I miss the Simpsons being funny.
 
Noname Given said:
With regards to GR's vision of banging every young aspiring female actress on his casting couch during the original Star Trek's (1966-1969) run; I'd say: Yes :rommie:
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Not to forget his 'vision' of:

  1. Setting up a company to further profit from Star Trek in an underhanded manner (Lincoln Enterprises)
  2. Rewriting good scripts
  3. Gaming the Hugos to get episodes nominated for awards
  4. Underwriting female characters (Deanna Troi was to have four boobs, Tasha Yar was based on [some would say ripped off of] Vasquez from Aliens)
  5. Casting his mistress as the lead female on the pilot of his show
  6. Sleeping with one other actress on his show and promising her that he'd give her more to do when he didn't
I could go on and on, but I won't-you all know the rest.
 
Don't know who this guy is, but he nailed the Axanar situation some months ago over on Reddit:

The Case For Not Funding Axanar

As some of you may know Star Trek: Axanar is about to start up a third Kickstarter in order to fund their fan production. I'm here to tell you why you shouldn't give them another dime.

This is Axanar's third funding campaign. The first was for the short film ad, Prelude to Axanar. The second was for the actual production of the full length feature. That second Kickstarter earned them $600,000 - more than any other fan production in history and more than many indie films and single network TV episodes.

Axanar claims they need more money because the initial $600k was only used for building sets. They need more money for actual filming. The next round could conceivably shoot them up over the million dollar mark. A million dollars for a production that can't be marketed and can't make money. It's being co-written and directed by someone who's only experience is a Pit Fall video game and, despite the strength of it's supporting cast, was conceived of and stars someone with zero acting experience in the main role. Basically this is a vanity project. A very expensive vanity project.

There's even more Hollywood experience in Star Trek: Renegades and yet that film is a mess. It's mostly fan wank with thin characters, bad writing, and boring, meaningless space battles. Some people like that kind of stuff. But do you need a million bucks to make fan wank and CGI explosions? Do you need that much money to put Richard Hatch in a turtle head and make him shoot torpedoes that move at 10 miles an hour? Because between the cast saying "edgy" things like "bitch-whore" that's about all Prelude was.

But that's not even my argument for letting this ship sink. Axanar is incredibly opaque as far as their production and expenses. Where did this initial $600k go? Many of the designers, stage hands, and workers are volunteers. Their travel expenses are not even paid for. No body even bought them lunch. I know because I've spoken to some of them. So materials and rental space alone ate up all this cash? Really?

On top of this Axanar's site claims its been been taking donations in return for the same rewards offered in the Kickstarter, but outside the Kickstarter ecosystem. That means they have an unknown amount of undocumented, unaccounted for money in hand from between these two Kickstarters,

This makes me think there are only two possibilities here: Either these folks spent their money extremely poorly or they've pocketed a large chunk of this cash. Neither one of these scenarios gives me much faith in their project. Both, in fact, are horrifying. And without receipts we will never know how this money was spent. Axanar has no legal responsibility to tell us. They don't even have to finish the production. Further investment is an enormous risk with very small return.

So there you have it. There are lots of productions out there. Some are even original. I'm not against spending on any of them. I'm just asking you to consider them instead of pouring more into an already strained and bloated enterprise. Axanar got more than their chance. They need to make due with what they have and we need to move on.
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