Actually RocketworxFilms.com was just bought the day Alec launched his new company by someone other than him. Even though he set up the company months ago he failed to register the domain or Twitter account which is why a few days later they rebranded to "The Rocketworx".
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
- Start date
- Status
Actually RocketworxFilms.com was just bought the day Alec launched his new company by someone other than him. Even though he set up the company months ago he failed to register the domain or Twitter account which is why a few days later they rebranded to "The Rocketworx".
I had no idea, I just thought prelude was just that... a prelude.
If I am honest the whole thing is pretty sad as I really thought prelude was superb and the movie promised much regardless of where the blame lies, and now like you i have my doubts if these 2 x 15 min episodes will ever be made and if so whats the point of them when the prelude and build up was better and longer.
I'm not sure if I ever had faith in what he said. Certainly not since he got sued.
Maybe to some, I think they acted within their rights AND they showed mercy by settling.
Well, I can't agree with that. It is their right to defend their copyright. Axanar was calling themselves an independent Star Trek production. They sold merchandise based on the Trek IP. They attempted to build a for-profit studio on the back of that IP. CBS warned Alec. He kept going. They sued him. He continued to publicly badmouth them, the people who would have been willing to let it go if he made some changes. They went through about 2/3rds of the process of a lawsuit, during the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, where Alec didn't have the slightest chance at all of winning, costing both sides money and time, finally settled when it finally hit Alec, "Shit! I'm gonna lose this thing!" Now he continues to badmouth them! What the hell?
Personally, if it was my IP, I would have done the exact same thing. I don't find it petty in the slightest.
I would have kept going, but then they may have looked petty.
Well it makes sense he would prefer a Star Trek knock-off to the genuine article.Passive Aggressive much LFIM??
As was noted above, it wasn't CBS/Paramount suing a "fan film". This is Axanar's alternative facts version sold inside their "no dissenters" PR/discussion group bubble, where they excuse the detail that they were diverting most of the money into building a business for themselves personally "which after it is finished, we can get back to the fan film", and violating or attempting to violate the IP's licensing rights with non-licensed models, book deals, etc. too. "We do it all because we care about quality Trek and are doing what the fans want."
This is like saying I borrowed your wallet to show a friend pictures you have of us together back in summer camp, but when you got the wallet back, the credit cards were gone and there's a significant activity on them that's not yours. What really happened? What's the excuse?
You have every right to stop the cards, and even to get the money back. What Axanar did was not a friendly no harm borrowing.
The guidelines are in essence saying "ok, from now on, I am going to pull out one picture at a time and only let you take that; I can't trust you even to walk across the room with my cards". CBS/P were extraordinarily trusting to let friends (its really the level of trust you would give to a family member or old friend) handle something that could grant access to their financials, and someone figured this out and went for it. Most people would never even consider taking such a risk start with.
Last edited:
Why not count all the simple fan films CBS didn't sue and see if they still look cunty.
He IS at fault. You don't start selling merchandise of intellectual property that's not yours.
You don't start a FOR profit movie studio using someone else's property to raise money.
How is it NOT his fault?
CBS and Paramount come out looking good. They could've shut down fan films ALL together. Hell, the fact they still allow raising tens of thousands of dollars to make a fan film amazes me.
Not only that, but the rewriting of history by Axanar amazes me.
I believe CBD did look a little petty and I am not defending the actions of Peters, however claiming he "stole" the money is a bit of a stretch.
If Peters did not upset them with his actions I still think the quality of the film they were making, and also the timing might have started cbs off anyway,The fact that peters fucked it up with his actions just a coincidence.
If Peters did not upset them with his actions I still think the quality of the film they were making, and also the timing might have started cbs off anyway,The fact that peters fucked it up with his actions just a coincidence.
It's gone............there's no film. Where did it go?
If Peters makes the movie after the first Kickstarter, there would've been no conflict. But, he decided he needed a studio, and to sell coffee with CBS IP on it and sell model spaceships.
He had a chance and he blew it in an epic way. Since there is no movie, and most folks never received their prizes for donating, I chalk it up to stealing. No one forced him to spend the money.
Who is really to say whether the quality of the work would have produced a shutdown or a hiring. Certainly Alec and RMB spoke openly in their podcasts of using the work as a calling card to be hired into the industry, so their later contentions that hostile action must be jealousy are really more of a continuation of their way of seeing things than a fact based analysis.
Personally I think if the money had been handled with grace and care (what would Leonard McCoy do?), then the quality of the work (with an improved script) could have elicited a positive reaction in general. But that's just my view.
As for 'stealing' the money, to me it is a matter of knowingly crossing thresholds.
At some point Axanar became committed to having a completed studio *before* making Axanar, and this is using donor money for something other than what the donors really intended. They may have been willing to support *some* investment in infrastructure, but at some point a threshold was crossed where Axanar was back-seated relative to full acquisition of a studio.
At some point Axanar also appears to have decided it was ok to willfully and repeatedly violate copyright in support of ultimately arriving at future personal profit (the payoff of a for profit studio business). Was it the models? Was it telling the chess piece maker not to ask about whether they had licenses because a fan film doesnt need them? Was it encouraging a writer (documented by the writer) to write under a pseudonym if they really are worried about licensing issues? Was it putting over $700k of the money raised on the Trek IP marketability into physical infrastructure for a for profit studio instead of admitting much of it really should go to creating the film? Was it buying personal perks and trying to say that Trek IP monies should pay them as "business expenses", like tires? Somewhere in the mess, a threshold was knowingly crossed where Axanar knew it was not respecting the intent of the studios wrt/ the use of their IP for fan films.
After a point which they certainly reached and flew by, it turned from good faith to something like stealing from both donors and studios, imo. Ymmv.
Last edited:
- Status