Axanar anthology
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
Right. It's not about a seal of approval or legitimacy or worth, and it's certainly not about canon. It's simply about legal protection for the authors who participate in the forum.
Still, if pro authors are the ones actually writing these stories, that does blur the lines. After all, we sometimes talk about our non-Trek writing projects here. So I'm not really sure what to make of something like this.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Which is why, honestly, it'd be smarter to just put it in the Fan Fiction forum. Not as any sort of dig at whatever "legitimacy" the professional authors bring to the fan fiction stories, but to protect from any chance of cryptomnesia, references, or unintentional inclusion from the fan fiction stories they'll be writing for Axanar. The writers themselves, I'm sure will be promoting their work, and we know the Axanar people will be as well. I'm not really seeing why keeping the thread here "because it's where people will see it" is so important, when it'd be just as visible over in the Fan Fiction forum.
Just my two cents.
Just my two cents.
Which is why in my previous post I said that this thread is to talk about the publication, but not the content. Reviews and discussion of the actual stories needs to be held elsewhere.
IIRC, the fan fiction projects that Paramount/Viacom (now CBS) have come down hard upon, with "cease and desist" letters, in the past were those that were being sold for profit and/or those using the words "Star Trek" on the cover and/or those that were made to resemble exactly a licensed Trek novel.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Alec Peters has made plain that despite whatever legal trickery or loopholes he's taking advantage of to do this, effectively the Kickstarter for the books will solely be for the cost of producing the books, and that whatever remains will be applied to the cost of the fan film. (That's right - a third Kickstarter for this one fan film that's already netted $687,000.00 from its fans and donors.)
This leads me to two observations:
1.) Alec Peters would Kickstart his breakfast of he could find a way to get away with it.
2.) Thanks to Kickstarter, Peters has opened up his own marketplace to hock his fan film wares and associated tie in products - apparel, models, posters, etc.) to donors. This latest product, his Fifty Shades of Axanar fan fiction is just one more item on the list.
This leads me to two observations:
1.) Alec Peters would Kickstart his breakfast of he could find a way to get away with it.
2.) Thanks to Kickstarter, Peters has opened up his own marketplace to hock his fan film wares and associated tie in products - apparel, models, posters, etc.) to donors. This latest product, his Fifty Shades of Axanar fan fiction is just one more item on the list.
The best thing about fan films like this is that if you don't want to support it then you don't have to. I'm not quite sure why you are so bitter about it. The Prelude to Axanar is quite good. They have been able to attract excellent talent to the project in front of and behind the camera. Plus the story for it is well done. It's the kind of thing I'd love to have seen as a series. These guys love Trek and are just using that passion to make things they enjoy and obviously many other fans do as well. I mean, I don't think fans would have to resort to doing it themselves if CBS/Paramount was giving us a great series on TV or fantastic films. If people want to pay for this, from their own pocket, why begrudge them that? Especially if the product is as high quality and well written as this has been. Just MHO.
Is being good at fundraising an unforgivable sin?
I don't know about that. There was plenty of Trek fanfiction while Trek shows were on the air, and plenty of people make fan films about the superheroes that have successful movie series now.
After all, fanfiction isn't just about duplicating what a professional series would do. One of its primary roles has always been as an alternative or reinterpretive text, something that offered things the original version of the story did not -- like slash fiction or other forms of "shipping" fiction focusing on non-canonical romantic pairings. Or dark and gritty Power Rangers fanfic. Indeed, that's part of the incentive for all these fan films that continue the aesthetic of the original Star Trek, as an alternative to the movies' reinvention. An active franchise is more likely to encourage fanfic creators' efforts than to suppress them, because it's giving them something to respond to or deconstruct.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
...except, it's not well written. The Prelude to Axanar film looks pretty, but it's just a bunch of people sitting down in front of a green screen talking to the camera about things we never see intercut with (admittedly) very well done visual effects shots of ship flybys. I'm not bitter about it. That's not the tone that I intend behind my comments. Looking at it critically though, I see Prelude to Axanar as a well produced fan sizzle reel with a few professional actors and Alec Peters as talking heads. That it has blown up to become this big hype by fandom is slightly amusing but also not altogether puzzling.
I do find it it more than a little confusing though why one outlying opinion amid so many fans who clearly do enjoy the project seems to ruffle everyone's feathers so much.
I would also counter that Paramount has produced two slickly done, well budgeted and excellent films since 2009 that have reinvigorated the franchise as a whole. Just because a vocal minority of obistnant nerds don't like them doesn't change the fact that these films have been both successful and well-received.
I do find it it more than a little confusing though why one outlying opinion amid so many fans who clearly do enjoy the project seems to ruffle everyone's feathers so much.
I would also counter that Paramount has produced two slickly done, well budgeted and excellent films since 2009 that have reinvigorated the franchise as a whole. Just because a vocal minority of obistnant nerds don't like them doesn't change the fact that these films have been both successful and well-received.
Great point.
Okay, I am asking everyone again to stay away from the arguing about rights and wrongs of the fan production side of things - take that to the fan production forum.
If you can't keep away from it, I'll have to close this thread.
This is trolling and another infraction - I asked for no more discussion of the politics of the Axanar production and you're trying to start that argument again. Stop it.
Comments to PM on this issue please.
If you can't keep away from it, I'll have to close this thread.
This is trolling and another infraction - I asked for no more discussion of the politics of the Axanar production and you're trying to start that argument again. Stop it.
Comments to PM on this issue please.
I'm not sure that they reinvigorated the franchise as a whole. We're having this conversation in the books forum, after all. We haven't gone back to the days of two or three Star Trek novels a month and dozens of authorized and unauthorized nonfiction books a year. There's also no new RPG, no successful computer or video games except possibly Star Trek Online (how well is that doing, anyway?), and certainly no Star Trek on TV, which is where it belongs. We've got two movies that did pretty well and a few dozen comics. Looks to me like there's a lot of reinvigorating yet to be done.
(I'm leaving fanfic and fan films out of this because, pretty much by definition, they exist outside of the franchise.)
On the other hand, when the first four Trek movies came out between 1979-1986, there was no Trek no TV at all except reruns, and there were only six novels per year. It took eight years between the first movie and the first new TV series. So it's a little early to write off the new movies' impact.
STO is a computer game and it is doing well ever since the release of the Legacy of Romulus expansion. As of February 2015, there are 2.5 million accounts and the number is increasing. One new ship was released last week, with another 9 (see Command battlecruiser on Memory Beta) arriving in the next two. In Q4 2014 we had the release of a second expansion. With Delta Rising, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Philips, Garrett Wang and Kim Rhodes joined the STO cast, with Denise Crosby and Tim Russ reprising their roles for a slew of new episodes.
STO is successful.
Did the arrival of TOS movies or TNG on TV stamp out fanzines? Fanfilms are just audiovisual fanzines.
Fans make episodes, recreate uniforms, build sets, write stories and scripts, make latex foreheads and build models because they like participatory fandom.
I'm curious whether the Axanar stories will seek some kind of licensing? We have short stories in the "Star Trek Magazine" (based off "Star Trek Online" characters), the ones in "Amazing Stories" magazine (later reprinted in book form by Pocket) - and I have an early computer game manual that includes Trek short stories - albeit those are all licensed, but still being released at the same time as Pocket's "exclusive" license for Trek fiction.
Edit: Just saw Trampedamage's "I am asking everyone again to stay away from the arguing about rights and wrongs of the fan production side of thing". Serves me right for working backwards through a thread.
Anyone have news on this project?
This was announced some time ago and I can't find any updates online.
This was announced some time ago and I can't find any updates online.
The latest Axanar podcast led me to believe that this is a seperate project and not just a perk for donating to the Axanar film. Perhaps we'll one day be able to donate and get a copy of this.
Why, it's almost like they thought through the project and crafted its elements so as not to piss off CBS. That would sort of explain why the imagined scenario of "the lawyers swooping in" never seems to materialize, wouldn't it?
Meanwhile...
Sergeant: "That couldn't happen ... unless, of course, war were declared."
[Alarm goes off]
Fry: "What's that?"
Sergeant: "War were declared."
Similar threads
