CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[Campe]

This bit from JJ does -- <snip>

I'm going to stop you right there. JJ does not speak for Paramount and CBS' legal team. Nor does he speak for upper management. There are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration here. It may not go 100% to Alec's plans. Time will tell.

 

[Trekkin]

I think the reason people don't have mos confidence, is because Alec has had that particular ball before. Yet here we are.

I do wonder if Alec could even make Axanar now. Im guessing the money isn't exactly flowing, and he's burned so many of the bridges that were involved in Prelude.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I hope Mr. Peters realizes what a lucky break he's getting. However, I've seen people who are on the defensive end of a lawsuit who don't have a hope of winning turn down a generous settlement. It's possible Mr. Peters may be stupid.

 

[CaptGrumpy]

This bit from JJ does:

The only thing you can really hinge your hopes on is "within the next few weeks". The ball is going to be in AP's court and he'd be an idiot to reject the olive-branch. So to me it's a foregone conclusion he will accept whatever terms are given to him and proceed to at least try to finish Axanar under some reasonable constraints (no more Axanar coffee, no more for-profit studio, no more $38K salary, whatever.)


So Alec still gets the core of what he wants, which is to finish Axanar.

You mistake me. I have no hopes or desires in this. I actually liked Prelude. Personally I could care less what happens to Alec. I think he was wrong in how he proceeded in setting up the film. I think he crossed several lines. From all I've read about him, I think he is dishonest and a thief.

My comments about the statement don't go beyond the fact that I don't think the statement is official and I'm dissapointed in JJ and Justin Lin for sticking their noses in it. I believe in the rights of the rights holders and I believe that Alec has trampled on the rights of the legitimate owners of Star Trek.
Would I like to see Alec be held accountable? Yes.Will it make a difference in my life? Not at all. Am I interested in the outcome of this case? As a fan of Star Trek for over 40 year, you betcha.

 

[Warped9]

Listening to JJ it makes it sound as if CBS/P was bullying AP and fans.

Bullshit.

AP was probably initially told quietly to C&D and this after he had been badmouthing CBS/P. AP keeps doing what he does and the lawsuit is brought forth.

Also CBS/P did not resort to going after any other productions except Horizon. And there they were simply advised not to proceed with their next project in lieu of the ongoing lawsuit.

CBS/P was rightfully defending their IP against an individual illegally profiting from CBS/P's IP.

That is not bullying. That is asserting their right of ownership.

To me it looks like JJ trying to look like a hero to fans.

Really?

Seems as fans we were already winning before AP's bullshit becaue fan productions made stuff fans enjoyed seeing and the productions didn't make any money from it. And CBS/P basically went by live-and-let-live since no harm was being done and everyone was happy. If anyone "profited" it was...

- devoted fans who got to play act in their favourite sandbox
- interested fans who enjoyed seeing more of the stuff they like
- and CBS/P who benefitted from fans keeping interested and somewhat retained between official productions, and all without spending a dime.


Then AP comes along and everyone starts losing.

Now we await the fallout and who knows if anyone will really feel they have won anything.

 

[Jedi_Master]

It is impossible to underestimate Alec's stupidity.
I also find the victory laps amusing. Even the Axanar PR guy's best spin is " we will be examining whatever settlement offer that will presented by Paramount" but "we will continue to prepare our defense."
The answer is due the 31st kiddies.

 

[Warped9]

CBS/P have all the cards. AP has no defence.

Settlement is whatever CBS/P says it will be.

 

[muCephi]

I also find the victory laps amusing. Even the Axanar PR guy's best spin is " we will be examining whatever settlement offer that will presented by Paramount" but "we will continue to prepare our defense."
The answer is due the 31st kiddies.

If they won't accept an offer pushed through by Mr.s Abrams and Lin, Axanar may get thrown under the bus.

 

[BigJake]

CBS/P have all the cards. AP has no defence.

Settlement is whatever CBS/P says it will be.

Pretty much.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Yep. Alec just hit his high note posing in a selfie with Justin Lin.

 

[Warped9]

CBS/P's settlement offer: total and unconditional surrender on AP's part. As a concession they let AP keep the clothes on his back.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Meh. They might let him make Axanar under the new guidelines. Alec won't though because
1) He can't develop his side businesses using the new funding stipulations
2) He got his studio already
3) The talent in the fan film community won't work with him again - they learned their lesson.

 

[Trekkin]

I'm going to stop you right there. JJ does not speak for Paramount and CBS' legal team.

Also CBS/P did not resort to going after any other productions except Horizon. And there they were simply advised not to proceed with their next project in lieu of the ongoing lawsuit.

*Backstage*

Stagehand #1: Er, JJ? Horizon, not Axanar.

JJ: What?

Stagehand #1: The movie that the lawyers were going to contact and give the okay? It was Horizon. Axanar's that group that managed to piss off Tony Todd.

JJ: I didn't even know it was physically possible to piss off...wait, I mixed up the names?! Shit.

 

[gazomg]

I find it amazing that almost all the anti peters brigade are the same people who dont care for Axanar or claim they do not care.

You would think the people most annoyed at Peters would be the people who want to see Axanar produced.
They should be the ones annoyed that he nearly ruined the project, and still might, but hoping he wont ruin it.

Strange why those who claim to not care about the movie and peters are the ones who tend to be more vocal contradicts what they are saying.

 

[Mr. Nova]

Since the beginning I've found this entire boondoggle and all its characters the most entertaining display produced in years by anything to do with Star Trek, and the laughs don't look likely to diminish any in the next several months.

I'm still in.

This may be the most entertaining "episode" of Star Trek in eleven years...

 

[CaptGrumpy]

I find it amazing that almost all the anti peters brigade are the same people who dont care for Axanar or claim they do not care.

You would think the people most annoyed at Peters would be the people who want to see Axanar produced.
They should be the ones annoyed that he nearly ruined the project, and still might, but hoping he wont ruin it.

Strange why those who claim to not care about the movie and peters are the ones who tend to be more vocal contradicts what they are saying.

I Liked Prelude. Was looking forward to the movie. Then I heard how dicey AP was. Did my own research and found that the more I read, the less I liked him. Sadly, it was mostly his own words, couched in a certain arrogance, that turned me away from him. I also think he will bear the credit (or, more likely, the blame) for any changes to fan films, He has not served himself, fandom, or Star Trek well. I think the people most annoyed are the ones who watched the promise of Axanar turn to crap, wheter it ever gets made or not.

We don't have to care about Axanar to be annoyed with AP. We just have to care about Star Trek and how disrespectfully he's treated this property.

 

[mos6507]

Remember that plenty of fan-film projects don't get finished even without a lawsuit to impede them. (For instance, PII/NV has a few--hopefully some of that will still find its way to completion.) So there are plenty of scenarios in which Axanar is given a green-light and it still is never finished. That's kind of where this project left off before the lawsuit, right? Donors were already questioning how long it was taking to shoot the thing. So if people really want to see AP face-plant, he may very well do it anyway after his victory-lap. But the upside is that we'll get the new fan-film guidelines which is something we weren't likely going to get with CBS/P's previous all-stick approach to reigning in fan-films.

 

[muCephi]

I find it amazing that almost all the anti peters brigade are the same people who dont care for Axanar or claim they do not care.

You would think the people most annoyed at Peters would be the people who want to see Axanar produced.
They should be the ones annoyed that he nearly ruined the project, and still might, but hoping he wont ruin it.

Strange why those who claim to not care about the movie and peters are the ones who tend to be more vocal contradicts what they are saying.

My suggestion to see beyond this is to ask if there are people who could care about Trek, but not about Axanar.

If you allow that such people exist, indeed perhaps 9999 out of every 10000 people who are Trek fans but not Axanar fans, and therefore not in the Axanar facebook group, then you have your answer why this non Axanar site appears as it is to you.

Axanar's business conduct is harming Trek fandom as a whole -- It gives a black eye to the reputation of fans as being greedy and contemptuous of law, and surely turns some fans off enough to distance themselves from any fan conduct. It makes a variety of public statements which seem untrue upon examination of publicly available information, which could further hurt Trek fans and Trek. It has discouraged donors from supporting other fan films. It appears to be designed to divert fan donations to private profit, with whom anyone can have sympathy for stiffed donors. And on the purely irritating side, it asserts that a certain type of simplistic, militaristic storyline is "true Trek". It treats its questioning donors with contempt. It treats legitimate basic business status questions from very experienced professionals outside the Axanar camp with contempt. I'm sure a variety of things could be cited by others too.

Point is, its totally valid to be a Trek fan, but not an Axanar fan, and still legitimately be unhappy about these things. The concept that if you aren't supporting Axanar that the conduct of Axanar could only be of concern to a lookie-loo hater is propaganda spread by Axanar management to cloud the discussion and jam the Axanar fan reception of well considered thought from outside the Axanar official statements.

 

[Mr. Nova]

I can't speak to the point of knowing JJ's mind, that wasn't my point. AP went well out of his way looking down his nose at JJ & CBS/P so he could drum up support for donor money bringing the world Tru-Trek. AP has also sneered and scoffed at fan films trying to throw them under the bus. Now he's doing a 180 grasping for straws reaching out to anyone that will listen to his carefully orchestrated narrative. That's just about the most two-faced b.s. I've ever seen.

Agreed, neither of us have access to JJ's mindset. My point was that none of this will affect him personally, and for the moment, he can ignore a little a little fan backlash in favor of supporting "The little Guy". Hypocritical? Yes! But, hey, that's business.

 

[mos6507]

Their previous approach to reining in fan films, at least in this universe, was not to[o bad?]. At least until AP twisted their tail once too often.

IMHO, CBS/P saying they will issue guidelines is a concession that their hands-off approach was partly to blame for generating this crowdfunding free-for-all. It's also part of AP's defense, the "everybody else is doing the same thing" card.

Seriously, if Axanar hadn't stepped on this land-mine, odds are Renegades would have, the way they were going. (Renegades really pushed the envelope with its whole "backdoor pilot" hubris.) All this was a symptom of a phenomenon. CBS/P didn't see it coming because it was really the crowdfunding that changed the dynamic from something people used to do mostly out-of-pocket through sheer ingenuity and persistence (old days, think Exeter) to the quasi-pro stuff funded in large part through fan donors.