Star Trek Books As A Podcast

[Man of Steel]

Has anyone ever wondered why Trek books aren't turned into podcast shows? I think this would be a great idea to have the books acted out as mini episodes to listen to on iPods as you are on the go..

Thoughts?

 

[donners22]

The author would deserve royalties as it is a reproduction of their work. The voice actors and producers would need to be paid. They would obviously not be offered for free, and would there be a sufficient demand to justify the expense?

I'm not all that keen on audiobooks, unless it's something really special (eg. Robin Williams doing Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman), and there haven't been many released lately, which suggests they aren't hugely successful.

I wouldn't mind it though - it'd be nice to know how some names should be pronounced, at the very least...

 

[Smiley]

I would love it if Star Trek books simply got discussed and reviewed on a Trek podcast. If anyone knows of something like that, please share it.

 

[Karnbeln]

I would love it if Star Trek books simply got discussed and reviewed on a Trek podcast. If anyone knows of something like that, please share it.

Search for "Make it So" by Simply Syndicated. It's highly entertaining, although they do make mistakes. Recent episodes aren't very good and aren't as frequent, though, they seem to be running out of steam. I'd look through the episode list and just look for topics that sound good somewhere in the middle if you want a good first impression.

Edit: Sorry, just realized you said Star Trek BOOKS. They don't do books.

OP: For copyright reasons there aren't any audio dramas based on the books, but fans do make ones of their own scripts. Star Trek: Defiant isn't totally bad if you can get past the voice acting. Star Trek: The Section 31 Files was excellent and had terrific story and production quality, but is now over. It was followed by a post-fall-of-the-Federation rebuilding story called Star Trek: Lost Frontier, but it updates once in a blue moon.

 

[Christopher]

OP: For copyright reasons there aren't any audio dramas based on the books, but fans do make ones of their own scripts.

Heck, making any unlicensed fiction or dramatic performance based on Star Trek -- in other words, any ST fan fiction of any kind -- violates copyright. It doesn't matter whether you use someone else's story or your own; if you're using the characters and setting of Star Trek without a license from CBS/Paramount, you're violating copyright. But that doesn't stop fans from writing their own fanfiction and making their own fanfilms. So the reason why nobody's making audiobook versions of Trek novels must be lack of interest, not an inexplicably selective interpretation of copyright law.

 

[Karnbeln]

Ok, then, trying again:

OP: In order to avoid violating copyright enough that CBS will send lawyer-ninjas to them in the middle of the night to slit their throats with a billion papercuts from cease and desist notices and lawsuits, there aren't any audio dramas based on the books, but fans do make ones of their own scripts.

 

[Man of Steel]

Actually, there are sites where podcasts are done and the actors do it for free. One site that is doing a series called: Star Trek Defiant, is Pendant Audio. They do a terrific job.http://www.pendantaudio.com
And since they get no money ( I'm involved with this on and off and we all do it as a hobby), then adapting the books for podcast is just for fun and would be interesting and entertaining. Besides, isn't it the same as an audiobook? A lot of these would make for good dramatizations.

 

[Christopher]

OP: In order to avoid violating copyright enough that CBS will send lawyer-ninjas to them in the middle of the night to slit their throats with a billion papercuts from cease and desist notices and lawsuits, there aren't any audio dramas based on the books, but fans do make ones of their own scripts.

You're still missing the point. If these fan scripts are set in the Star Trek universe at all, regardless of whether they're original stories or adapted from books, they're still violating copyright. I do not own the copyright for any of my Trek novels. CBS does. It's Star Trek as a whole that's copyrighted.

And I never said anything about lawyers. The only reason fanfic is able to exist at all is that Paramount and now CBS tend to turn a blind eye to fanfic so long as no attempt is made to profit from it. It's still technically illegal in that case, but it doesn't do any harm and isn't deemed worth the expense of cracking down on.

So my point is that doing ST audio dramas based on existing novels is no different in terms of copyright law than doing ST audio dramas from original scripts, making ST fan films such as Phase II and Hidden Frontier, or writing ST fan fiction of any kind. The reasons why fans aren't making audio dramas or podcasts based on the novels therefore has nothing whatsoever to do with copyright law. Apparently it's just that nobody's ever bothered to do it.

 

[Karnbeln]

And I never said anything about lawyers. The only reason fanfic is able to exist at all is that Paramount and now CBS tend to turn a blind eye to fanfic so long as no attempt is made to profit from it. It's still technically illegal in that case, but it doesn't do any harm and isn't deemed worth the expense of cracking down on.

That's actually what I meant in my second post. I was just trying to be funny about it, saying "won't send the lawyer-ninjas" instead of "turn a blind eye". I realize they're violating copyright totally, not that there are levels of copyright to violate. As long as they don't rob CBS of a profit or profit themselves from the fan production, CBS will simply let it slide.

I understand your point, and appreciate the clarification. I just tried to work some humor out of the situation, something I'm increasingly becoming aware I'm no good at.

I do think that trying to use an existing published novel as the basis instead of your own script would be more likely to invoke ire, since people could just listen to a free podcast instead of paying for the book, and I think that's why we don't see Trek lit turned into podcasts, because those involved wouldn't want to risk pushing it more than they already do. But maybe that's way off base.

 

[James Swallow]

Besides, isn't it the same as an audiobook? A lot of these would make for good dramatizations.

Speaking as someone who has written both, audio books and audio dramas are not the same thing.
Typically, an audiobook has one reader who narrates and does all the voices, and there's maybe a few spot sound effects and music. Audio dramas are radio plays, with a larger cast, full music and effects.

Simon & Schuster audio did experiment with some original Captain Sulu audio dramas as part of their audio range a few years back. I've had some discussions with a couple of companies about an officially-licenced Trek audio drama series in various forms over the last few years, but it's yet to come to anything.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, the Sulu things weren't full-on audio dramas, sort of a hybrid between audiobooks and audio dramas. There were several characters in each, but virtually no actual dialogue between them, just successive solos presented as log entries, journals, recorded speeches, etc.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^Well, the Sulu things weren't full-on audio dramas, sort of a hybrid between audiobooks and audio dramas. There were several characters in each, but virtually no actual dialogue between them, just successive solos presented as log entries, journals, recorded speeches, etc.

I asked John Ordover about ten years ago why that was, why Pocket didn't do full-on Captain Sulu audio dramas rather than these audio books without the books, and he explained that Pocket didn't have the audio drama rights to Star Trek. Those were, if I'm remembering correctly, held by the BBC. Nothing about the audio book license prevented Pocket from producing original fiction in the audio form; it just couldn't be dramatic.

 

[William Leisner]

I asked John Ordover about ten years ago why that was, why Pocket didn't do full-on Captain Sulu audio dramas rather than these audio books without the books, and he explained that Pocket didn't have the audio drama rights to Star Trek. Those were, if I'm remembering correctly, held by the BBC.

Really? Did the BBC ever do anything, or even try to do anything with those rights?

 

[James Swallow]

^Well, the Sulu things weren't full-on audio dramas, sort of a hybrid between audiobooks and audio dramas. There were several characters in each, but virtually no actual dialogue between them, just successive solos presented as log entries, journals, recorded speeches, etc.

By my experience, the Sulu audios are a lot closer to 'dramas' than 'books', but, as they say, Your Mileage May Vary. To me, the key difference in this case is the fact that they were written specifically for the audio medium rather than being adaptations of an existing text, and that (I felt) they were more of a performance rather than a reading.

I asked John Ordover about ten years ago why that was, why Pocket didn't do full-on Captain Sulu audio dramas rather than these audio books without the books, and he explained that Pocket didn't have the audio drama rights to Star Trek. Those were, if I'm remembering correctly, held by the BBC.

Really? I've got to be honest, speaking as a Brit who has regular dealings with the Beeb and friends who work in BBC radio, that seems very odd to me. Certainly when you consider the strong program of audio & radio production the BBC had (and still has), I have to wonder why such rights, if they had them, were never exploited. And of course, "the BBC" could refer to any one of a number of departments within the organization, and there's also the question of what shows, characters and so on any rights would actually include.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"the BBC" could refer to any one of a number of departments within the organization, and there's also the question of what shows, characters and so on any rights would actually include.

I had a similar discussion with John O, asking him if there'd be an audio release for the "Starfleet Academy" CD-ROM game, like there had been for "Star Trek: Klingon" and "Star Trek: Borg" (which used dialogue from the games), and he replied that Simon & Schuster "no longer" held the rights for ST audio dramas. But that could mean they let that part of their licenses lapse, not that the BBC picked it up.

It seems a bit weird that the BBC would purchase the rights to make ST audio dramas from Paramount (or Viacom?) and then never make one, unless they were concerned that such a product might impact on their "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7" audio dramas?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Really?

I kid you not.

It's occurred to me over the years that Ordover may have been blowing smoke out of his ass.

There's another possibility, too. That either the rights held by the BBC were restrictive, or Paramount was, as they were with Activision, uncooperative in allowing the licensee to exploit the rights.

 

[Paris]

If any are ever made by either the BBC or CBS/Paramount, i'll be there. Trek radio dramas would be perfect for my ride home every day. All of us fans who want the TNG timeline to live on would be in heaven. They could probably even get some of the big actors to provide voice work...

 

[Christopher]

^Well, almost all the TNG cast has voiceover experience: Stewart, Frakes, Sirtis, Dorn, Spiner, Burton, and Wheaton. Indeed, I think Dorn has done more voice roles than on-camera roles over the course of his career. In DS9, Auberjonois had abundant voiceover experience long before he was Odo, Brooks and Meaney have done occasional voice work, and Shimerman has recently been getting into voice acting big time. In VGR, Mulgrew and Picardo have substantial voice-acting experience, Phillips has done a little video-game voice work, Dawson did a little voiceover work on Trek (doing computer voices in VGR: "Dreadnought" and ENT: "Dead Stop"), and Lien lent her gorgeous voice to several animation roles some years back, though she seems to be retired from acting these days.

 

[Paris]

^It would be a Gargoyles reunion

 

[James Swallow]

I kid you not.

This intrigues me. I'm going to ask around at the Beeb (who, oddly enough, since I posted this morning have called me today and asked me to come into the studio to talk about the new movie) and see if anyone there knows anything about this.

It seems a bit weird that the BBC would purchase the rights to make ST audio dramas from Paramount (or Viacom?) and then never make one...

To be honest, the idea of the BBC making anything like this based on a show they didn't create - especially a science-fiction franchise, and an American one at that - seems extremely unlikely to me.

...unless they were concerned that such a product might impact on their "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7" audio dramas?

Doubtful! That implies a level of joined-up thinking.