What a horrible precedent to set. Might as well give Alec Peters money as well. He clearly deserves it...
Tardigrade lawsuit appealed
- Thread starter Krandor
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Well he clearly can't pay off that $94,000 debt by himselfWhat a horrible precedent to set. Might as well give Alec Peters money as well. He clearly deserves it...
At this point, I'd rather have seen Peters get it than this guy anyways - if only for the reason that we probably would have gotten a lot more full length fan films in the last couple of years.
Basically, he's a weasal and didn't deserve to win, but it would have been worth it to get those 2 extra STCs, or the Horizon sequel, and at this point, I'd have rather seen Axanar, then try to play this dude's shitty game.
Still boggles my mind that Peter's didn't realize he had captured lightning in a bottle, and proceed with a series of Historical Documentaries covering the entire history of the Petersverse, and been seen as a fanfilm god, instead of .... this.
Basically, he's a weasal and didn't deserve to win, but it would have been worth it to get those 2 extra STCs, or the Horizon sequel, and at this point, I'd have rather seen Axanar, then try to play this dude's shitty game.
Still boggles my mind that Peter's didn't realize he had captured lightning in a bottle, and proceed with a series of Historical Documentaries covering the entire history of the Petersverse, and been seen as a fanfilm god, instead of .... this.
It Boggles the mind that Peters doesn't understand "DON'T CLAIM YOUR PRODUCT IS BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE WHO CONTROL YOUR MATERIAL". He (and his sycophants) continue to do this. How do they think CBS (et al) is going to react?
You'd probably have gotten another Vulcan Scene at best. The rest would have still gone on the failed movie studio (now a bike shop), and all the perks he paid himself and his friends while running his own buisness based entirely on CBS' Star Trek.
It's because they're trufans and only they truly understand 'Gene's Vision'.
Truth is they are a bunch insecure man-children who think they own star trek because it was there for them on prom night while everyone else was actually at the prom.
Regardless of what asshat did, it would allow other fanfilm makers the peace of mind to continue making full length episodes, which was my point.
Can you imagine how many documentaries like Prelude that million bucks could have made?? Or if STC had that kind of budget??
Honestly, I have issues with fan films having large budgets. They lose their focus as amateur productions. If I was CBS, I would probably set the crowdfunding limit at $1,000 per fifteen minute film.
Regardless of the budget, they are amateur productions. If someone wants to put more money into something, or has people helping him, that is entirely their business. STC's first episodes were completely payed for out of pocket. What is $1000 going to do? Why would you want to hamstring these dedicated people further? My entire argument is *against* a fifteen minute limit, let alone a financial one. I want to watch something I can't get anywhere else, when I watch fan films, and the time limit and low budget destroys the entire concept of "lost TOS episodes" and "original 60s aesthetics" that was the major draw for me. Its probably immature of me, but I have lost almost complete interest in Fan Films once STC, NV, Farragut, Secret Voyages, Exeter, etc wrapped up. I was waiting for a true 70s style TMP series with full length episodes to hopefully appear some day, but now that will never happen.
Both need to be in place because the folks making these films don't own the IP.
And this is where fan films fall apart. In my opinion they should be short form story telling, not trying to recreate "lost episodes."
In the 80s, all of my team's fan productions (over a dozen, some performed live) were done on no budget, just donated or hand made props, existing homemade costumes and wigs, and makeup from my own makeup kit. We still had fun and everyone was entertained. Why should people crowdfund my hobby?
Crowdfunding a "hobby" is one thing.In the 80s, all of my team's fan productions (over a dozen, some performed live) were done on no budget, just donated or hand made props, existing homemade costumes and wigs, and makeup from my own makeup kit. We still had fun and everyone was entertained. Why should people crowdfund my hobby?
Getting numerous folks to pitch in thousands upon thousands of dollars so one can "pay ones bills" and make a "living" off another's trademarked/copyright material, is the point where one is more than stepping over the line and needs to be reined in by whatever means necessary.
Personally, I believe that there are several Youtubers out there that are also stepping over that line as well to the detriment of Trek fandom on the whole.
See the people who were working with Peters (i..e the ones who knew what they were doing) wanted to just move right into making Axanar after prelude and not waste any time. They knew they had a great team assembled and wanted to take advantage of that and just go make axanar.
Peters through wanted his own studio.... that is where things fell apart.
Even outside of Peters, limits had to be imposed because productions were gettings bigger and more extravagant and trying to see who can bring in the most former trek actors and the most professionals on the crew. Fan Films were quickly not being quite as "fan". Outside of Axanar, the biggest culprit in that "arms race" was renegades with multiple former trek actors playing their same roles. Something was going to have to be done.
Without Peters would the rules have been as strcict? No way to know but I think they would be less strict then what we got but some limits especially on former trek actors and crew working on fan productions was going to happen.
Exactly. It's absurd to expect crowdfunding to support what is supposed to be a hobby, and recreating "lost episodes" is not what fan films were originally created for.In the 80s, all of my team's fan productions (over a dozen, some performed live) were done on no budget, just donated or hand made props, existing homemade costumes and wigs, and makeup from my own makeup kit. We still had fun and everyone was entertained. Why should people crowdfund my hobby?
Even without Axanar, projects like STC and Phase 2 and whatnot were pushing the line. It was only a matter of time before the guidelines got handed down, and crowdfunding became more limited.
With crowdfunding; actual Star Trek actors; and professional looking sets, props and VFX, it stops being a "fan film" and becomes a producer trying to get funding for an indie film. And you CAN NOT do that with someone else's IP. It would be like me going, "Hey, you know what? I really like the Harry Potter characters. I'm going to self publish my own books with those characters." Posting text files on an internet fanfic site is one thing, but actually creating galleys, having them printed and putting them up for sale is something else. If you want to do that, make your own thing.
Exactly.
Not to mention that some folks have trouble keeping their hands out of the money, using it for personal expenses and pet business projects, then claiming that they need to live. Using up the money instead of making the movie they promise.
Yep. I remember a huge fuss in the mid 80s, where Paramount stepped in and sent a few "Cease and Desist" letters to the writer/publishers of a few fan fiction 'zines. The difference? One fan had tried to make their novel look exactly like a Pocket Books MMPB. All those hundreds of fanzines, always mentioned by Paramount in the official publicity/media packs for every Trek film, but very few Trek fanzines were stomped on. Only the really blatant ones.
Around the same time, there was a local acquaintance of mine who decided to do a multimedia "slash" zine, featuring many SF media pairings, including K/S (Kirk/Spock). She advertised the 'zine months in advance of intended publication. Like the slash zine projects from the USA, money flooded in on the strength of the names of contributors alone. Then nothing happened. The instigator had spent all the money on... eyelash tinting. Some friends, who became distressed about the years that had gone by without the paid-up audience (and all the story and art contributors) seeing bang for their buck, took the project over and got the 'zine made with their own resources.
All of my 'zines were published to be "break even". (Copies of my best 'zine sit in boxes in the garage since 1992, when opportunities to sell physical copies dried up, almost overnight, and people started to explore "free" digital publishing.)
Exactly. Fan films, of course, became the new fanzines. But the "labour of love" that becomes a "cash cow" is just wrong. As fun as it might have been to bring professional actors into fan films, some playing their actual TV roles, does take it all into a new realm. (And having performed on stage with actual Trek actors, it also makes me painfully aware how amateurish my own acting is.)
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Trek has long history of unlicensed books, novels and technical manuals. Paramount razed most of them during the 90's.
(from a 1993 Starlog, most available now digitally at www.cygnus-x1.net)
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