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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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dmac said:
Not really because it is about the draw at the box office. My first reaction in 2009 walking out of the theater was "wow this would have been even more awesome if it wasn't called Star Trek" It was a good space adventure but it wasn't exactly the Star Trek.we expected.
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Spectacle has always drawn crowds, that doesn't mean people look at a good storyline and go "ewwwww!". If nuTrek had a storyline that was as strong as the spectacle, I doubt it would have turned off more moviegoers.
 
Firebird said:
Experience shows some people just can't be won over, c.f. the new Ghostbusters. It's naive to think everyone is that easy to negotiate with.
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It's pessimistic to believe otherwise. Guess we're at an impasse.

As for the new Ghostbusters, I can't blame anyone for being turned off. Looks awful, and I was looking forward to it.
 
dmac said:
Like J.J.s version of Trek or not, it was made for the next generation of viewers who don't require a strong storyline to enjoy a lot of pretty pretty pictures.
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That's a bit condescending - essentially Abrams fans are lowest-common-denominator stupid people who only tune in for the CGI and can't appreciate a decent script???!

Look, I like a lot of different stuff. Shakespeare, Chaucer, modern hard sci-fi stuff like Primer and Predestination. But every now and then I like to unwind by watching a popcorn flick. A Transformers movie, or a Fast and Furious film. A Marvel film or -yes- even a JJ Trek film.

I know they're not exactly highbrow cinema but I DON'T CARE. Sometimes I want to just relax with a fun film - that is, until the Fun Police arrest me for liking something that's apparently too populist and has CGI in it.
 
MakeshiftPython said:
Because there's always a chance to win people over. You don't just give up on fans unless you don't believe in them.
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Unfortunately, you don't want to look at the business side of this. We are fans. We have certain expectations. CBS/P is a business, we are not their priority. We are a small percentage of the audience they want to reach. The fan base alone only accounts for a small percentage of the money they make.

They are only beholden to their shareholders. If we are happy with it, great. If not, oh, well. It may be cynical but it is business.

And holy crap! We're at 900 pages!
 
MakeshiftPython said:
It's pessimistic to believe otherwise. Guess we're at an impasse.

As for the new Ghostbusters, I can't blame anyone for being turned off. Looks awful, and I was looking forward to it.
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It's realistic to think otherwise. Look at public opinion for any of the new movies coming out this year. The gild is off that lily.

You contradicted yourself with your opinion on Ghostbusters. By saying you don't blame anyone for being turned off, I take that to mean a tacit acknowledgement that some people just can't have their opinions changed, after all.
 
Jody Wheeler said:
CBS pretty much let every fan film do what they wanted.
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Right, but this set an environment that was ripe for abuse. I'm not saying AP isn't at fault for gaming the system, but the playing-field allowed gaming the system. CBS/P was asleep at the wheel while crowdfunding broke the 6 and then 7 figure barriers. Each successful campaign bred copycat behavior. This is, basically, Axanar's defense, isn't it? That somehow CBS/P singled-out Axanar when other high profile projects were doing similar things. Since nobody really knew where the red-lines were, it was only a matter of time before things escalated. Even in Axanar's case, project creep is what pushed things over that unknown line. This would not have happened if there were formal guidelines, guidelines that people here (like Patty Wright) claimed CBS/P could NOT issue as they would be interpreted as a carte blanche license to produce derivative Star Trek works. Well, it looks like we're going to get those guidelines anyway, because not having them creates more problems than having them. If that's the price to be paid for Axanar saving face, that's fine with me.

Jody Wheeler said:
I think it just makes it more difficult for the rest of us.
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How so? Being denied the schadenfreude of seeing AP face-plant?
 
Firebird said:
It's realistic to think otherwise. Look at public opinion for any of the new movies coming out this year. The gild is off that lily.

You contradicted yourself with your opinion on Ghostbusters. By saying you don't blame anyone for being turned off, I take that to mean a tacit acknowledgement that some people just can't have their opinions changed, after all.
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Not quite. Just because it doesn't look promising doesn't mean you can't ever be won over.
 
CaptGrumpy said:
Unfortunately, you don't want to look at the business side of this. We are fans. We have certain expectations. CBS/P is a business, we are not their priority. We are a small percentage of the audience they want to reach. The fan base alone only accounts for a small percentage of the money they make.

They are only beholden to their shareholders. If we are happy with it, great. If not, oh, well. It may be cynical but it is business.
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So, you think they should keep preventing this AXANAR fan film from happening?
 
Two thoughts, which may already have been covered, as I don't have the time or interest to read thirty-odd pages. :)

First, just because CBS/P and Axanar are in settlement negotiations doesn't mean that a settlement will be reached nor that the case will never reach trial. CBS/P has to be willing to accept what Peters is offering and vice versa. If the two parties don't have common ground and can't reach an agreement, the lawsuit will go on. Peters may have, for the moment, a PR victory, but nothing meaningful may come of it. I would not be surprised at all if the settlement talks fail to produce an agreeable solution to both parties.

Second, the settlement is a wholly separate thing from "fan film guidelines"; the litigation may have spurred the studios to develop such a thing, but they're not really part of the potential settlement.
 
MikeH92467 said:
Nothing has been settled yet. We have two people who may or may not (I would say most likely 'not') have any direct knowledge of what is happening behind the scenes with the lawsuit saying it will be settled or being dropped.
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Abrams is easily high enough up the food chain that he could easily (and probably does) have knowledge of what's going on. That said, there's a chance that he doesn't. People in positions like his in Hollywood have a reputation for having egos the size of... well, of the one Alec Peters so often displays... Not sure where Abrams is on that score; don't know anything about the guy other than the movies he makes.

I'm in the "wait and see" camp, in any event. It ain't over 'til CBS and Paramount (or the court) says it's over.

As far as Abrams' message "undermining support for the lawsuit" goes (forget who said it), I wouldn't count on that. Executives of any stripe are notoriously hard-headed. If they didn't approve the message, it could easily cause them to dig their heels in on principle (and even have negative repercussions on Abrams' career, no matter how good he is) -- and the only support they need for the lawsuit is... the law.

All of that said, I suspect that Abrams is far too savvy to say something like that without the approval of The Powers That Be.

The next few weeks should be interesting.
 
MakeshiftPython said:
So, you think they should keep preventing this AXANAR fan film from happening?
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At this point I'm not sure Axanar can happen even if CBS/P says they can proceed, at least not how it was originally conceived. So much bad blood and fractional fighting has sprouted up around this that even Justin Lin and JJ giving it their blessing probably can't make it go away.
 
mos6507 said:
At this point I'm not sure Axanar can happen even if CBS/P says they can proceed, at least not how it was originally conceived. So much bad blood and fractional fighting has sprouted up around this that even Justin Lin and JJ giving it their blessing probably can't make it go away.
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Among the actual production crew?
 
Maurice said:
Please...most of the Star Trek movies didn't have strong stories. Let's take off the rose-tinted glasses already.
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I think this holds true for a lot of space adventures..... except for Ice Pirates which bordered so close to campy it was fun to watch.
 
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