So no to fan films but basically a clone of TNG is ok
News Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville
- Thread starter Kai "the spy"
- Start date
The fact that
a tree
Well they're not using TNG characters, sets or stories. So it's not the same thing. Anyway, fan films are a "yes" if you follow the IP owners guidelines.
Remember in Datalore, Lore wanted to beam a
tree
trees
It's about as close you can get on an equation that approaches 1 as you can get, though.
Parody is given lots of latitude by the courts. In fact, I can imagine lawyers leaning over the writers' shoulders:
"Er, this is getting awful close to Trek. Better throw in some more jokes, just to be safe."
Doing the show straight would be . . . problematic. But playing it for laughs transforms it into something that is legally NOT Trek.
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Show wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it's not amazing, but I see some potential in it.
The humor wasn't quite a "bro"ish as I thought it would be, but nothing terribly original, it felt really safe and easy, kinda like a dreamworks animated film, I've heard all the jokes before sort of thing.
Story was "eh" It quickly falls apart if you apply any sort of logic to it.
MacFarlands Captain Mercer seemed like an Okay Guy, like the sort you wouldn't mind having a beer with and chatting up for 20 or so minutes. Other characters were decent, Standouts were Mr. "Not Worf" and the Security Chief Girl with superhuman abilities.
I'll definitly give this a few more episodes, but something tells me this might only make it half a season.
The humor wasn't quite a "bro"ish as I thought it would be, but nothing terribly original, it felt really safe and easy, kinda like a dreamworks animated film, I've heard all the jokes before sort of thing.
Story was "eh" It quickly falls apart if you apply any sort of logic to it.
MacFarlands Captain Mercer seemed like an Okay Guy, like the sort you wouldn't mind having a beer with and chatting up for 20 or so minutes. Other characters were decent, Standouts were Mr. "Not Worf" and the Security Chief Girl with superhuman abilities.
I'll definitly give this a few more episodes, but something tells me this might only make it half a season.
I did enjoy seeing the captain use trickery to escape a situation rather than pew pew pew, I will absolutely give it credit for that, except yeah, it's pretty questionable that whatever the ship is made of is not a much stronger material than that.
If Orville is going to be successful it needs to accept that it's a comedy and just move forward as one, that way it could be the same kind of thematic character driven fun as Brooklyn Nine Nine.
If Orville is going to be successful it needs to accept that it's a comedy and just move forward as one, that way it could be the same kind of thematic character driven fun as Brooklyn Nine Nine.
As long as it's horribly done, as this show was.
There is a difference between doing a show that is like another show and doing a show with the same names and characters. It's the same difference between building a car and building a car and putting the Chevy logo on it. I have the right to build my own car but I don't have the right to claim it is a Chevy. It's the names and characters that are protected by IP laws. That is why the fan films got into trouble. They were actually using the same names and characters which they did not own the rights to.
Fan films were doing just fine until one douchebag ruined it for everyone else.
True. Axanar ruined it for other fan films because it tried to make a profit from the Star Trek label without permission.
My son and I watched the show and enjoyed it, he more than I. I think that there is a lot of potential, but so far, it has been squandered by bad direction. There were moments when I felt that could have been better framed or acted better with a more discerning director.
That said, I feel that Orville is not meant to be a parody. It is meant to be a comedy set in space, and that down the road, Seth McFarland intends the overall stories to be serious in nature, with jokes interspersed. I'm concerned that his approach will seem to pull into to many directions. In order for it to succeed, I think it should do more to look like TNG's comedy episodes.
That said, I feel that Orville is not meant to be a parody. It is meant to be a comedy set in space, and that down the road, Seth McFarland intends the overall stories to be serious in nature, with jokes interspersed. I'm concerned that his approach will seem to pull into to many directions. In order for it to succeed, I think it should do more to look like TNG's comedy episodes.
No, that's not why the fan films got into trouble.
There was no trouble as long as fan films were content to be mere labors of love, made by fans as recreational projects for the recreation of fans, with no infringement intended. The trouble came when a certain high-profile production attempted to monetize their fan film for both financial and commercial gain to the tune of over a million dollars in an effort that included selling many different kinds of unlicensed and infringing merchandise. CBS/Paramount put their collective foot down in court, the case was settled, and one result was a clarification to the community of the sorts of fan films that are allowed, who can work on them, their content, how they are financed, how they are distributed, etc, as summarized at http://www.startrek.com/fan-films. Note that the use of Star Trek names and characters is allowed.
As a commercial production, aired on commercial TV, that will eventually be marketed on home media, The Orville is not a fan film, and so there's really no parallel between it and the Star Trek fan films, which are still allowed.
Right. That's it in a nutshell.
Saw it, liked it, chuckled a few times, enjoyed the starship porn of the Orville leaving space-dock. Will be back next week.
Yeah, the context was unexpected though - it's part of a stall.
They've got a balance that works fine now.