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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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In the posts where they say Don exaggerates or it is "personal", Don is telling the truth.

Don Hillenbrand is prone to vent his frustrations about Alec Peters by adding statements in blog topics that are not necessarily relevant to the specific title/stated purpose of his post. Don is also likely to get a bit carried away with his snark.

Don is, however, extremely accurate in his factual statements that are critical of Alec Peters (whether they are on topic or not). As a close observer of the actions of Alec Peters I can attest that the most honest one-stop clearing house for historical highlights of Alec's bad deeds is Don Hillenbrand's blog.
 
The problem for Burnett now is that Axanar has become toxic in Hollywood. It's likely that Axanar will never be made, which means he'll never have his "calling card." In defending the project, he's chained himself to a public lawsuit, and he could easily be one of the 20 John Does. Burnett, imho, should have walked away when the lawsuit was served; instead, by staying with it he's almost certainly giving the studios many reasons to close their doors to him; you don't screw with the studios and their properties.

That's the issue I see as well. When I made my initial post on the topic, this is what I was talking about; not that he was doing a fan film. Making a film that TPTB said, in a public statement, was not supported by them, nor approved, by them, makes him look bad.
 
Story Editors Dave Galanter Christian Gossett Creative Consultant David Gerrold
But Gossett left and Galanter said here he just gave some advice and was never paid and didn't do much and Gerrold may be defending it but is he there other than in name?
Much as I don't like Gerrold as a person (personal meeting many years ago), I have to say that I'd hate him to be one of the Does. His contributions to Trek are many.
 
maybe I'm naive on the subject but did they go straight to suing? What happened to cease and desist letters to 'stop' people instead of going for money?
 
maybe I'm naive on the subject but did they go straight to suing? What happened to cease and desist letters to 'stop' people instead of going for money?
My understanding is that they don't have to issue a c&d. In fact, there was a public statement made about Axanar : "Star Trek is a treasured franchise in which CBS and Paramount continue to produce new original content for its large universe of fans. The producers of Axanar are making a Star Trek picture they describe themselves as a fully professional independent Star Trek film. Their activity clearly violates our Star Trek copyrights, which, of course, we will continue to vigorously protect." Also:
“CBS has not authorized, sanctioned or licensed this project in any way, and this has been communicated to those involved,” a representative from the network told TheWrap. “We continue to object to professional commercial ventures trading off our property rights and are considering further options to protect these rights.”
. Yet AP and Co went on their merry way. Not only did they continue, they spit in TPTB's eye by deriding their product (the Star Trek movies) and saying that Axanar is the Star Trek that fans want, setting him up as competition (legally speaking) with those that own the IP.
They got their warning and went on, so straight to suit.
 
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Burnett is doing the same thing, but as a director. He wants something he can show a producer that says he has the skills a director needs -- to effectively stage scenes, to evoke performances, to stay within budget, etc., etc.

Umm .. if we put this list in the priority that studios really care about ... it would be 1. Stay within budget, 2. Stay within budget, 3. Stay within budget ... and 587. Stay within budget.

This project has ballooned from a $50,000 one to a $1.2 million one, to one now that Burnett claims will take at least $2 million, if he can't get the $150 million he claims he needs.

How does this help him, even without the lawsuit? I certainly wouldn't hire someone like him on any of my projects.
 
Much as I don't like Gerrold as a person (personal meeting many years ago), I have to say that I'd hate him to be one of the Does. His contributions to Trek are many.

Many? He gave us Tribbles, and the first season of TNG. Do you remember the first season of TNG? Or have you tried to repress it like me? :D
 
. Yet AP and Co went on their merry way. Not only did they continue, they spit in TPTB's eye by deriding their product (the Star Trek movies) and saying that Axanar is the Star Trek that fans want, setting him up as competition (legally speaking) with those that own the IP.
They got their warning and went on, so straight to suit.


Thank you for helping me understand the situation.
 
Many? He gave us Tribbles, and the first season of TNG. Do you remember the first season of TNG? Or have you tried to repress it like me? :D

David Gerrold also gave us the ST:TAS episode 'More Tribbles, More Troubles' which finally supplied Kirk's middle name as Tiberius (later cemented as canon in STVI:TUC). Beyond that he has given us some very weird non-Trek things - like being the de facto show-runner for the 70's Land of the Lost.
 
David Gerrold also gave us the ST:TAS episode 'More Tribbles, More Troubles' which finally supplied Kirk's middle name as Tiberius (later cemented as canon in STVI:TUC). Beyond that he has given us some very weird non-Trek things - like being the de facto show-runner for the 70's Land of the Lost.

He also wrote the TAS episode "BEM".
 
David Gerrold also gave us the ST:TAS episode 'More Tribbles, More Troubles' which finally supplied Kirk's middle name as Tiberius (later cemented as canon in STVI:TUC). Beyond that he has given us some very weird non-Trek things - like being the de facto show-runner for the 70's Land of the Lost.

I think "Tiberius" was less a David Gerrold thing and more a Roddenberry thing. I recall that Roddenberry created the character of "Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice" (played by Gary Lockwood) in Roddenberry's pre-Trek television series "The Lieutenant." I think Roddenberry simply got to work in Kirk's middle name in Gerrold's script.
 
Umm .. if we put this list in the priority that studios really care about ... it would be 1. Stay within budget, 2. Stay within budget, 3. Stay within budget ... and 587. Stay within budget.

This project has ballooned from a $50,000 one to a $1.2 million one, to one now that Burnett claims will take at least $2 million, if he can't get the $150 million he claims he needs.

How does this help him, even without the lawsuit? I certainly wouldn't hire someone like him on any of my projects.
Many blockbuster features go over budget, some significantly more than others. Even movies that aren't filmed yet can go over initial budget projections; with rewrites, preproduction cycles, actors/agents fees, etc.
 
David Gerrold did write an interesting book "The World of Star Trek" in which he addressed some of the shortcomings or illogical things in the TOS which were taken into consideration for TNG.
One that I remember was Kirk always beaming down into the thick of things personally- if the Captain of a modern aircraft carrier insisted on coming onshore like that he would lose his command. The 'Away Teams' were created to deal with that.
 
David Gerrold did write an interesting book "The World of Star Trek" in which he addressed some of the shortcomings or illogical things in the TOS which were taken into consideration for TNG.
One that I remember was Kirk always beaming down into the thick of things personally- if the Captain of a modern aircraft carrier insisted on coming onshore like that he would lose his command. The 'Away Teams' were created to deal with that.

When I read that part of The World of Star Trek the first time (which, for me, would have been in the early 90s), my reaction was, "Oh, so this is where NextGen came from. This reads like a first draft of the series."
 
One that I remember was Kirk always beaming down into the thick of things personally- if the Captain of a modern aircraft carrier insisted on coming onshore like that he would lose his command. The 'Away Teams' were created to deal with that.

The flaw being, Star Trek is entertainment. We want to see the star of the series engaged in the action.
 
Many blockbuster features go over budget, some significantly more than others. Even movies that aren't filmed yet can go over initial budget projections; with rewrites, preproduction cycles, actors/agents fees, etc.
How many of them go 3900% over budget though?
 
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