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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Mark R. Largent said:
Hey guys, I know the whole thing with Axanar is controversial, but since I'm the guy who did the parody, I can tell you it wasn't a conspiracy.

Jonathan featured my 2012 Stalled Trek: Amutt Time parody on his Fan Film Friday a month ago and when he emailed to tell me it was up on the blog, I jokingly suggested I was doing a parody of Axanar. I actually hesitated, since I didn't know just what Jonathan's connection to the production was and didn't want to insult the guy who'd just promoted my work. But it was funny, so I figured, what the hell. He had a strong reaction to it and I thought it was a golden opportunity to do something "relevant/current."

Doing a parody of a 50 year old TV show doesn't make you feel like you have your finger on the pulse of current culture. :-)

In two years of being on YouTube, Amutt Time only had 1,300 views before being featured on their blog. "Prelude to Ax'd-We-Are" has had over 5,000 views in the first 24 hours!

So, if you're looking for the secret motivation behind my choosing the subject matter, you might want to compare those numbers.

I insisted that Jonathan be my co-writer for a couple of reasons. I knew if left to me alone to do it, I'd just consider it too much work at some point and drop it. It's only funny to me when I first come up with the gags. After that, it's all labor. Having somebody else involved would keep it fun. I've never met Jonathan in person, but he seemed like a nice guy and he liked Amutt Time, so I figured he might have a similar sense of humor about things.

I think it was better for having him be part of it, but it is not "his" film as someone has suggested. As he would likely point out in his frustration that I wouldn't always incorporate his suggestions.

I'm not an official Axanar supporter, as I did not back the Kickstarter or Indie-Go-Go campaigns (I don't even have access to their closed Facebook group), but I did really like Prelude to Axanar. Probably the only Star Trek piece that has appealed to me in recent times. I couldn't have made a parody of something I didn't like. Can you imagine the sustained hate you would have to muster to watch something you hated over and over again, find out everything you could about it and then spend weeks toiling away at something that (at least for me) isn't easy at all to do, losing sleep and ignoring friends and family? I only just watched my blu-ray of the new Star Wars movie last night after purchasing it on the day it came out.

That's "scary" levels of hate. :-)

Alec Peters, to my knowledge was not made aware of the parody until yesterday. I'd certainly had no contact with him prior. So, to suggest that my puppet parody was a puppet of somebody else is false.

My biggest fear and what drove me to finish it as quickly as I did (33 days from concept to completion, by the way) was that the lawsuit would be settled before I could finish it. I was not and still am not "in the know" about any of the legal goings on. As a cartoonist, I'm pre-disposed not to side with the suits, but I purposely chose not to take a side on the lawsuit in the parody. Jonathan and I discussed the fact that the film could be viewed from either perspective as being on their side.

As a guy who wants to reach as big an audience as possible, that's a bonus.

I grew up reading old Mad Magazines from the '60s that I inherited from my uncles. I view parody like a roast. Yes, you are holding something up to ridicule, but if you didn't know the thing well enough, you couldn't write the jokes. I love Star Trek and Amok Time is one of my favorite episodes. The exact reason I so mercilessly skewered it in Amutt Time.

I tend to see the humor in everything. It's just how I am.

I'm well aware that there are people out there lacking in a sense of humor. Many of my grade school teachers who didn't approve of the doodles on the sides of my test papers introduced me to the concept very early on in life and getting slugged by a bully for saying, "You're sorry," after he told me to say "You're sorry," kinda' crystallized it for me. :-)

I did not know which side of the fence that Alec Peters fell on and I'm happy to say, that he does have a sense of humor and was great about it. He could have taken enormous offense, but he didn't. And I'm glad he didn't, because my intent wasn't to offend him or anyone, really.

I'm in it for the laughs.
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This has got to be the first time someone has done a parody of a Star Trek fan production.

Its a mockumentary of a mockumentary :biggrin:
 
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Mark R. Largent said:
Hey guys, I know the whole thing with Axanar is controversial, but since I'm the guy who did the parody, I can tell you it wasn't a conspiracy.

Jonathan featured my 2012 Stalled Trek: Amutt Time parody on his Fan Film Friday a month ago and when he emailed to tell me it was up on the blog, I jokingly suggested I was doing a parody of Axanar. I actually hesitated, since I didn't know just what Jonathan's connection to the production was and didn't want to insult the guy who'd just promoted my work. But it was funny, so I figured, what the hell. He had a strong reaction to it and I thought it was a golden opportunity to do something "relevant/current."

Doing a parody of a 50 year old TV show doesn't make you feel like you have your finger on the pulse of current culture. :-)

In two years of being on YouTube, Amutt Time only had 1,300 views before being featured on their blog. "Prelude to Ax'd-We-Are" has had over 5,000 views in the first 24 hours!

So, if you're looking for the secret motivation behind my choosing the subject matter, you might want to compare those numbers.

I insisted that Jonathan be my co-writer for a couple of reasons. I knew if left to me alone to do it, I'd just consider it too much work at some point and drop it. It's only funny to me when I first come up with the gags. After that, it's all labor. Having somebody else involved would keep it fun. I've never met Jonathan in person, but he seemed like a nice guy and he liked Amutt Time, so I figured he might have a similar sense of humor about things.

I think it was better for having him be part of it, but it is not "his" film as someone has suggested. As he would likely point out in his frustration that I wouldn't always incorporate his suggestions.

I'm not an official Axanar supporter, as I did not back the Kickstarter or Indie-Go-Go campaigns (I don't even have access to their closed Facebook group), but I did really like Prelude to Axanar. Probably the only Star Trek piece that has appealed to me in recent times. I couldn't have made a parody of something I didn't like. Can you imagine the sustained hate you would have to muster to watch something you hated over and over again, find out everything you could about it and then spend weeks toiling away at something that (at least for me) isn't easy at all to do, losing sleep and ignoring friends and family? I only just watched my blu-ray of the new Star Wars movie last night after purchasing it on the day it came out.

That's "scary" levels of hate. :-)

Alec Peters, to my knowledge was not made aware of the parody until yesterday. I'd certainly had no contact with him prior. So, to suggest that my puppet parody was a puppet of somebody else is false.

My biggest fear and what drove me to finish it as quickly as I did (33 days from concept to completion, by the way) was that the lawsuit would be settled before I could finish it. I was not and still am not "in the know" about any of the legal goings on. As a cartoonist, I'm pre-disposed not to side with the suits, but I purposely chose not to take a side on the lawsuit in the parody. Jonathan and I discussed the fact that the film could be viewed from either perspective as being on their side.

As a guy who wants to reach as big an audience as possible, that's a bonus.

I grew up reading old Mad Magazines from the '60s that I inherited from my uncles. I view parody like a roast. Yes, you are holding something up to ridicule, but if you didn't know the thing well enough, you couldn't write the jokes. I love Star Trek and Amok Time is one of my favorite episodes. The exact reason I so mercilessly skewered it in Amutt Time.

I tend to see the humor in everything. It's just how I am.

I'm well aware that there are people out there lacking in a sense of humor. Many of my grade school teachers who didn't approve of the doodles on the sides of my test papers introduced me to the concept very early on in life and getting slugged by a bully for saying, "You're sorry," after he told me to say "You're sorry," kinda' crystallized it for me. :-)

I did not know which side of the fence that Alec Peters fell on and I'm happy to say, that he does have a sense of humor and was great about it. He could have taken enormous offense, but he didn't. And I'm glad he didn't, because my intent wasn't to offend him or anyone, really.

I'm in it for the laughs.
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As I said before, classic satire. It reminds me of an earlier time, when Bob Hope was still a thing and everything wasn't viciously partisan.
 
BillJ said:
If you don't watch, how do you know they make TOS look like a joke?

Huge TOS fan here and I've never thought they made the show look like a joke. It looks like people having fun with something they love.
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Well it looks like those times may be ending after the Axanar debacle. Paramount and CBS will probably put a halt to all fan productions. I don't blame them one bit.
 
Pubert said:
e times may be ending after the Axanar debacle. Paramount and CBS will probably put a halt to all fan productions. I don't blame them one bit.
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Which is their right. As Star Trek: New Voyages and Star Trek Continues have both stated.

Just a shame a know it all dick is going to get them shut down because he thought he found a way to make a living without having to work.
 
BillJ said:
Which is their right. As Star Trek: New Voyages and Star Trek Continues have both stated.

Just a shame a know it all dick is going to get them shut down because he thought he found a way to make a living without having to work.
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Well we all know Alec is just the first and others who wanted to make money off of star trek would have just followed him. It was bound to happened because there are a lot of egotistical creative people that want to make it big in Hollywood and they will do anything to get noticed.
 
trynda1701 said:
You know, since watching the video last night, I hadn't realised this was actually shown on the Axanar Indiegogo page. I thought Philip had found the video and was making a joke!

Still like it, and thanks to @mark R Largent for posting his thoughts too :cool::cool:
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I thought it was very well done, skewering both Trek tropes and Axanar bits. Lots of fun; I laughed several times! I love a fun parody, and followed up by watching "Amutt Time". I wish you great success with future productions!

I was also surprised it was on the official Axanar feed. Previous parody items had been reported here as being straight from the horse's mouth but were obviously send-ups. I assumed this was another. Tricksy hobbitses!
 
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Ah, Pubert, once again throwing a wet blanket over anything that doesn't fit your idea of how things should be in Star Trek.

Fanfilms, like most things, follow Sturgeon's Law. Of course most of them suck.

As to "Of course that doesn't stop these productions from making TOS look like a joke":
  1. Not all of them are TOS
  2. Only hardcore fans watch these things in the first place so the larger casual audience never sees them
  3. In our modern era of endless remixes and sendups it's rather preposterous to think some fan made homages are going to taint that which inspired them
It's a 50 year old TV show that's burned into the culture. No one need defend its reputation.
 
Captain Atkin said:
Most fans that I know enjoy fan films. If you don't like them, you don't have to watch them. Simple as that.
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Most fans I know are pretty casual fans, who, if they know about fan films at all, probably heard about them from me and that was the last they heard about them. Whether you're for or against them, or indifferent, fan films are a small and obscure corner of the world of Star Trek fandom.
 
Mark R. Largent said:
Hey guys, I know the whole thing with Axanar is controversial, but since I'm the guy who did the parody, I can tell you it wasn't a conspiracy.
.
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Glad you had fun making it, enjoyed your wit. If things become even more ridiculous with the Axanar defense, hope you will consider a similar treatment of their upcoming behind-the-scenes film.
 
That moment when you are just trying to get away from the whole Axanonsense by revisiting your TWOK Blu-ray. You decide to visit the extras section, find "Collecting the Relics of the Star Trek Universe" and are greeted by Alec Peters, CEO of Propworx discussing his Star Trek collection...

star-trek-william-shatner.jpg


Thanks Alec... now I can't even enjoy THIS?!?!
 
Steve Roby said:
Most fans I know are pretty casual fans, who, if they know about fan films at all, probably heard about them from me and that was the last they heard about them. Whether you're for or against them, or indifferent, fan films are a small and obscure corner of the world of Star Trek fandom.
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I agree, and which is where to me this all begins to go sideways.

This being vocally adamant about not being a fan film (small, obscure, watched by a small hard core subset of the large overall fandom), stating the goal to lead the way into "bridging the gap" between fan film & studio production quality of Star Trek, and put Star Trek into the hands of the 'fans' to get the content they want, by funding it themselves. To create & independently market this bridged gap studio quality Star Trek that can now be confused with, is as good as, indistinguishable from CBS's own Star Trek productions. Using their product to enter into direct competition with CBS with Netflix/Hulu/Amazon-Like streaming services. (and which I perceive Ares digital as having been designed to move into) - Which reasonably and logically also goes sideways with CBS.

Add to that the production has long claimed itself to be an Independent Star Trek FILM with the bridged gap high quality as good as movie studio productions own by Paramount. Which then begins to impact the large overall demographic of Star Trek watchers. leading the way to put Star Trek into the hands of the 'fans' to -also- create and independently market these bridged gap movie studio quality Star Trek Films & Movies that can now be confused with, are as good as, and indistinguishable from Paramount's own Star Trek productions. Using their product to enter into direct competition with Paramount using Netflix/Hulu/Amazon-like streaming services. (even Ares Digital itself) - Which reasonably and logically goes sideways with Paramount too.



fan films, ignored by all but a sub-set of a sub-set of the Star Trek watching demographic, causing no commercial impact on CBS or Paramount
vs
Independently Produced & Marketed Star Trek That Is Indistinguishable From CBS And Paramount's Owned Product, Standing In Direct Competition With Them, creating Large Demographic Commercial Impact On Them, Using Their Owned Product To Do So


That does 'not' confuse me.
 
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The Transformed Man said:
That moment when you are just trying to get away from the whole Axanonsense by revisiting your TWOK Blu-ray. You decide to visit the extras section, find "Collecting the Relics of the Star Trek Universe" and are greeted by Alec Peters, CEO of Propworx discussing his Star Trek collection...

star-trek-william-shatner.jpg


Thanks Alec... now I can't even enjoy THIS?!?!
Click to expand...
What watching Monkees reruns would be like if Charlie Manson had passed the audition.
 
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