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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Ryan Thomas Riddle said:
It's just putrid. Now I don't know if successive drafts were better. The one I read was an early version, potentially the first draft or one after.
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Since I wound up with versions with dates, if you PM me, we can pick a page number or two and I can give you where on the timeline your version lies.

Beyond that, yes. I was disappointed at just how terrible they were. Garth isn't a character; he's a cypher. A stereotype. He's as perfect when the story starts as when the story ends. It's a rookie mistake, but then the main author is a rookie. While co-writers and later drafts do make versions a bit better, there's no theme, arc, or challenge in any of the pieces. Not even a message, which Trek is legendary for.

Ryan Thomas Riddle said:
I asked them both, what is it that Axanar is trying to tell us about the horrors of war,....But neither one had a satisfactory answer beyond "it's about the characters and does what any good STAR TREK story does."
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Exactly. And props to you for asking them that question. The answer fits with all the versions of the script. Writing is tough. Some people make it look effortless, but that's usually because they've spent decades making an effort to learn their craft. I know I have. And I'm only "good." Plenty of writers I stand in awe of.

Ryan Thomas Riddle said:
For all the lip service to "Real STAR TREK," Axanar has always smelled like generic space action movie in TOS drag.
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Yes. The story is pretty generic. There are some good space battle scenes, but then many a crappy B-movie has enjoyable space ship battles.

Here's the thing: A first time writer with a first (or second) time director creating a generic space action movie would not have been able to crowd-fund $1.4m without "Star Trek" attached to it. Check out Tommy Kraft's Trek follow-up, which topped out at $50k of a $250k ask.

Celebrities can change that equation, but it's got to be the right celebrities. Robbie and Stephen Amell can get you $1.7m for a robot movie based on a good short. Richard Hatch and Tim Russ are probably going to pull in $100k plus for their Blade of Honor series. More than they're asking for, but not in the same league as the Amell cousins.

The notion that Axanar is going to be better than anything Paramount or CBS puts out is really a faith statement, one motivated by slick marketing, great talking points, and animus from a section of fandom towards JJ Abrams.
 
Sgt_G said:
In the time I've been here, some 235 pages of postings, NOBODY mentioned having read any leaked script. Indeed, there was talk that nobody has seen proof of the "locked script".

So, no, I didn't get the bloody memo.
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Lukas Kendall mentioned reading it in this thread.

Lukas Kendall said:
The best way to help donors get over their disappointment that they will never see Axanar is to give them the script. I’ve read it (the final draft) and sorry…it’s not very good. It’s basically a fan film, servicing fan ideas, repetitive and shallow on any real level. But that’s beside the point. Axanar successfully made their donors think they were getting the best thing since sliced bread. When they eventually read the script, some people will still believe that. But most will go, “Oh…Okay.”!
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Neil
 
Screenwriting is HARD work. To do it well requires a sort of brutal economizing that is alien to most fiction writers, and an understanding that visuals tell more of the story than the words, requiring all kinds of visual subtext that most non-filmmaking readers wouldn't even realize it was there. A first-timer like AP certainly wasn't going to grok any of this.
 
Warped9 said:
So Prelude might actually better than the proposed complete film? Figures.
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Prelude is actually a fun way to do a fan film. If they'd borrowed some tropes from Ken Burns to stretch the pseudo-doc out, between that and the actors, VFX, and graphics, they might have even been able to get an original feature out of it. They'd have turned a weakness of fan films -- difficulties in writing, producing, and directing drama -- into a strength by making it a fake talking head doc.

Narrative is different beast altogether.
 
Jody Wheeler said:
Prelude is actually a fun way to do a fan film. If they'd borrowed some tropes from Ken Burns to stretch the pseudo-doc out, between that and the actors, VFX, and graphics, they might have even been able to get an original feature out of it. They'd have turned a weakness of fan films -- difficulties in writing, producing, and directing drama -- into a strength by making it a fake talking head doc.

Narrative is different beast altogether.
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No, no ,no! Don't give them any ideas. Don't tell them about Ken Burns! :ack: Is nothing sacred?
 
RCAM said:
"Garth, you care too much about your crew. Don't worry; that's irrelevant to your upcoming battle. Just thought you should know."
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Don't forget in the last 15 minutes of the movie to have Garth run into a ensign-who-really-wants-to-be-a-writer. Don't forget to kill the ensign in the last 10 minutes of the movie so in the last 5 minutes of the movie, Garth can find journal, feel bad, and cue her voice over as he flips the pages and reads. After, some close friend, a subordinate officer, will need to ask Garth if he's okay, to which he'll softly reply and then walk heroically, but sadly, down the corridor, burdened by The Accomplishment of Great Things. Cue Music.
 
Jody Wheeler said:
Prelude is actually a fun way to do a fan film. If they'd borrowed some tropes from Ken Burns to stretch the pseudo-doc out, between that and the actors, VFX, and graphics, they might have even been able to get an original feature out of it. They'd have turned a weakness of fan films -- difficulties in writing, producing, and directing drama -- into a strength by making it a fake talking head doc.

Narrative is different beast altogether.
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I agree on this point that Prelude, as a format, was interesting due to its unique concept. I liked the pseudo-documentary/drama and was actually hoping the film would be a little more of the same. I think its a style that is difficult to do, but also would be fun to explore.

I wish more fan films would do this style.
 
Jody Wheeler said:
Don't forget in the last 15 minutes of the movie to have Garth run into a ensign-who-really-wants-to-be-a-writer. Don't forget to kill the ensign in the last 10 minutes of the movie so in the last 5 minutes of the movie, Garth can find journal, feel bad, and cue her voice over as he flips the pages and reads. After, some close friend, a subordinate officer, will need to ask Garth if he's okay, before he mutters a reply and walks heroically, but sadly, down the corridor, burdened by The Accomplishment of Great Things.
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Oh, wow. I didn't remember that part. Any choice lines from said voice over?
 
Ryan Thomas Riddle said:
Apparently J.J. Abrams at the Beyond Fan Event announced that the lawsuit would be dropped against Axanar: https://twitter.com/TrekCore/status/733852156126597120
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TrekCore ‏@TrekCore 7m7 minutes ago
JJ on #Axanar: "So we pushed the studio on that I can tell you tonight that in a couple of weeks the lawsuit will be going away."

Wow. I have to imagine that, even if that turns out to be true, it takes the form of a settlement that stipulates AP can't make his movie. It's pretty sad to see the current brain trust of the Star Trek franchise demand that CBS/Paramount validate Alec's narcissism and greed.
 
If AP gets away with this, who will be the next "Exec" to do a $3 million crowd funding and build their own for profit studio in the name of Star Trek?
There has to be conditions that go along with "drop the lawsuit"
 
dmac said:
If AP gets away with this, who will be the next "Exec" to do a $3 million crowd funding and build their own for profit studio in the name of Star Trek?
There has to be conditions that go along with "drop the lawsuit"
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I've said before that I don't think CBS/P cares so much about the studio, they just want to stop the Axanar film/merchandising, I'd bet Peters would accept those terms.
 
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