Well, if "Phase II" is a continuation of James' first fanfilm at age 8...okay, Vic is almost 10 years older than James so he still beats him with the year....
No. That one and ones he did in his teens are on 8mm sound film and they haven't been converted to upload to the web.
Well, I actually prefer to be the change in the fan film business. Phase II's release of Kitumba, the new P2 facility, the new director and the P2 Kickstarter are all things I have been responsible for. So rather than coming on here and being just one more lame Internet a critic, I choose to actually DO something. Would be nice if the admins chose to do something about the nonsense on this board since it is, frankly their responsibility.
^ I appreciate all those who can bring us more Trek. ETA: Fans, Pros etc. ADD: Aurora is the best fan production! <3 AND: Cross it over! PII & Aurora in live action!!! DIES! MORE: Kara meets Kirk!
These are all things I am delighted to see. . Way to go, Phase II and all who moved Phase II in these directions! Horray! For anyone interested, I added a link to the Phase II kickstarter at the top of the Phase II page (Blog 20) at Star Trek Reviewed.
Wait, if I'm understanding this right, they're selling DVD and Blu-Ray copies of the show?? I thought they couldn't do that?
Perhaps a fine distinction. but they are giving them as perks for pledges. I don't think you'd pay $50 for a DVD or $65 for a blu-ray of one show.
Damn, I'd love to have copies of all their past episodes on Blu-Ray. Now, I have to scrape up $65 for their next episode.
They could and who knows, they might even win. But I think there is already a distinction between Kickstarter rewards and prizes. You aren't technically paying for the prize you receive. You're donating you money as a backer to see a project you like get developed. Surprisingly, CBS has been generally pleasant and permissive regarding fan projects. Fandom is the core, heart soul of Star Trek. Moreso than probably any other fiction or IP. Attacking their life's blood would only hurt them. And you can tell, they're trying to milk money out of Trek right now, for everything it's worth. $15/yr Starfleet email services, Enterprise shaped Pizza cutters. Big Bang Theory/Star Trek themed bobbleheads...
I think the key here is 'intent'. CBS is not stupid, they can see who is trying to raise money for production vs. trying to sell DVD's to directly profit. They have a threshold of what they allow and don't allow. CBS legal knows all about the bigger fan film production groups and gives some of them a little bit of latitude in this area.
Yes, I'm a lawyer. Yes, I could argue that (or the reverse). But either would cost money. Given the Kickstarters CBS has already permitted, and the amount of back-and-forth they've had with the group at Phase II, I'd bet that they won't spend legal resources stopping Phase II from doing this. In fact, I'd be surprised if they hadn't seen this in advance. There might have been a proposed $1000 perk of all the episodes in Blu-Ray that they killed. We don't know. What we do know is that CBS watches Phase II like a hawk. If we know about it, so do they. So, we sit like Jonah outside of Nineveh and see what happens. And also much cattle...
I keep hearing that CBS watches Phase II so closely, but no other fanfilm group seems to merit this level of scrutiny.
It makes sense that would have someone monitoring fan film productions and making at least a token effort to be sure that no one is profiting. But I have no proof of such monitoring. I also have no proof other than hints from the production team that Phase II is in contact with CBS/Paramount and works within limits set by them. It makes sense that they would, but that's certainly not proof. AS for the DVD issue I like the disclaimer that the director of the LOTR fan film "Born of Hope" put on their You Tube. "You are about to watch a FREE streamed version of Born of Hope. The film will NOT be available in any other form or format, so please do not pay for pirated copies." Pretty clear and to the point.