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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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In the beginning, I thought it a neat concept. The longer time drug on, combined with the lack of progress made me a bit suspicious and that's where I started questioning things.

Now, that combined with the behavior of Lord Alec and his croneys has completely soured me on it - it's nothing more than grossly over-polished fan wank.
Same here. Alec & Co were supposedly going to have Axanar completed in 2015. Instead, Alec ratcheted up his us vs them rhetoric, attended Conventions, and spewed his overly hyped propaganda milking more money from people. Axanar is a for profit business poorly masked as a fan endeavor.
 
A theoretical question for posters: What will you do if Paramount/CBS settles the lawsuit, and gave support towards the production of Axanar? Either by just allowing the project to continue, or actually getting involved with the project, and releasing it as a sanctioned project.

I know this is a largely anti Axanar thread, and I myself have mixed feelings about it. I am a supporter of many fan projects though, and still want to see this project, and others continue to be made. Without delving into the "fan film politics" and issues with members of the team. How would you feel if Paramount changes their tune? Also how would you feel if Paramount, decided to start going after all fan productions.



And another very important question if you have the time and logic.... Who would win in a footrace; A Klingon or a Vulcan???:vulcan::klingon::beer:

I would wait to see whether CBS, having put their name on it, would impose certain quality standards, and thereby replace certain leadership and rewrite certain fannish excess.

If not, I would "fair use" create "The March of the PewdeePews" for toy phasers, set to G&S or the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies and featuring Axanar's cultural landmark status and intellectual depth material.

Logically, a Vulcan cannot "win", only achieve the logical outcome.
 
I was the one who posted it the other day.

I wanted to go, and ask Peters a few questions:

"Excuse me, what are you even doing here?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Peters, do you own Star Trek?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Peters, what is your position on doxxing other people?"

Alas, unlike Peters I have a real job that requires my presence to do work in exchange for the pay I earn. I realize this is an advanced concept and one which Peters seems to have difficulty processing but it is what it is.

As we say on Earth, c'est la-vie.

I'm going to the con. But, sadly, Im going to a different panel at that time. I don't have the interest to confront someone on the bullshit they will not readily admit to.
 
Yeah?...but I have got the perfect script! I really do! It is all about this "Fan Film", see, and about a couple of Big Corporations that are evilly against it and stuff...and there's these people that are trying to get it made with donations from their friends and family, and getting cast to work for free. But the Big Bad Corporation, I'm gonna call the bad guys Paramountians...or maybe Anaxnanarians...yeah, but, anyway, the bad guys are like bugging the filmmakers at every turn, with lawyers and judges and not letting them have coffee or anything...this script is IT!...:bolian:

That sounds amazingly like a description of the feature-length version of Mike Jittlov's The Wizard of Speed and Time :)
 
Yeah?...but I have got the perfect script! I really do! It is all about this "Fan Film", see, and about a couple of Big Corporations that are evilly against it and stuff...and there's these people that are trying to get it made with donations from their friends and family, and getting cast to work for free. But the Big Bad Corporation, I'm gonna call the bad guys Paramountians...or maybe Anaxnanarians...yeah, but, anyway, the bad guys are like bugging the filmmakers at every turn, with lawyers and judges and not letting them have coffee or anything...this script is IT!...:bolian:

they are making a documentary already about their valiant efforts, so you are pitching an IP violation :rofl:
 
That doesn't change the fact that Alec Peters and Bill Hunt, the two people writing the new script have no prior credits to their name, or any screenwriting experience. That's not to say the revised Axanar script would therefore HAVE to be terrible, but the likelihood that it was just going to be more of the same fan film tropes and schlock is still pretty high, especially if Peters was having final say on the draft revisions.
I'm going to the con. But, sadly, Im going to a different panel at that time. I don't have the interest to confront someone on the bullshit they will not readily admit to.

I'll be there Saturday myself. I'm bringing a printout of the Lawsuit and Amended Complaint with me, in case I see Alec. I'm going ask him to sign it for me. ;)
 
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That doesn't change the fact that Alec Peters and Bill Hunt, the two people writing the new script have no prior credits to their name, or any screenwriting experience. That's not to say the revised Axanar script would therefore HAVE to be terrible, but the likelihood that it wasn't just going to be more of the same fan film tropes and schlock is still pretty high, especially if Peters was having final say on the draft revisions.

I wonder why they hate the JJ Star Trek films so much. Axanar's script sounds like it's a lot closer to those screenplays than to original Trek.
 
A theoretical question for posters: What will you do if Paramount/CBS settles the lawsuit, and gave support towards the production of Axanar? Either by just allowing the project to continue, or actually getting involved with the project, and releasing it as a sanctioned project.

Though I think such a move would be unlikely -- I can't see any reason for C/P to settle -- and would be surprised by such a move, a sanctioned production wouldn't make me any more likely to watch Axanar than I was before. And since I didn't intend to watch Axanar -- I don't generally watch fan films -- no change there, then. :)
 
jespah and Albinator seem to make some good points. What I'm hoping is that Axanar just crossed some lines, but that they'll allow other fan productions to go forward. I do like the bits of Axanar that have been released, and would like to see the rest of it.

Honestly I just wish the execs and lawyers at Paramount/CBS would watch Galaxy Quest, take a chill pill, and relax....But at this point that doesn't seem realistic.

Once the lawyers have been released on this production, what are the odds that others might be targeted?

I would say the execs have been extremely chill over fan films for the past decade or so. This is the first lawsuit, and one with good reasons.

You think Disney would have allowed fan films?
 
tl;dr: a group of people raised a TON of money, saying they were going to make a Trek fan film called Axanar. Then they took that money and spent it to build a studio, which will (presumably) be used to turn a profit from other productions once Axanar’s production is completed. They also sold unlicensed coffee, using copyrighted Star Trek names, and have generally been epic douchecanoes about the whole thing.

Most fan films, even the really polished ones, have very small budgets that rarely break USD10,000, but these people were effectively making a commercially-viable low budget (by Hollywood Standards) film, having raised over USD600,000. And they were going to invest that money into an unlicensed, copyright infringing film using Star Trek intellectual property that is owned by CBS.

They’ve put all fan films at risk, because they exploited the passion and love that Trekkies have for Star Trek to get money, and now they’re acting like they’re innocent victims of big bad CBS. These people are not innocent victims. They are morally and ethically and legally in the wrong, and while I have a lot of problems with copyright and IP law, these guys are not the people I want to be the poster children for reforming those laws.

I love fan fiction and fan films and headcanon and everything fans do to create their own extended universes (ST Online is a great example), and these jerks may have put all of that at risk, because they acted in bad faith from the beginning.

They are not on your side, they are not on Star Trek’s side, they are not good people.

http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/141057730914/do-you-know-what-the-deal-with-this-st-fan-film
 
Wil Wheaton's Tumblr calls out Axanar as "epic douchecanoes" and:
They are morally and ethically and legally in the wrong, and while I have a lot of problems with copyright and IP law, these guys are not the people I want to be the poster children for reforming those laws.
 
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Ah Wil, bucking for a another guest spot on TBBT. Nah just kidding, great post Wil. Direct and to the point. :) "douchecanoes" LOL
 
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