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====== For the Love of Spock: Let This be Their Last Battlefield ====== | ====== For the Love of Spock: Let This be Their Last Battlefield ====== | ||
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<wrap lo>By [[imdb> | <wrap lo>By [[imdb> | ||
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It finished 15th overall in the 2016 domestic box office and [[http:// | It finished 15th overall in the 2016 domestic box office and [[http:// | ||
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As with so many modern feature films, I feel there were perhaps 20 minutes of enriching backstory in //Star Trek Beyond// that was cut from the film that would have helped it immeasurably. If this had been a modern TV series, with naught but 10-13 episodes in its exquisitely produced season, I think we would have been all agog. Every character’s storyline could have expanded to satisfying arcs and Krall’s origin could have been a fantastic reveal in the penultimate episode. | As with so many modern feature films, I feel there were perhaps 20 minutes of enriching backstory in //Star Trek Beyond// that was cut from the film that would have helped it immeasurably. If this had been a modern TV series, with naught but 10-13 episodes in its exquisitely produced season, I think we would have been all agog. Every character’s storyline could have expanded to satisfying arcs and Krall’s origin could have been a fantastic reveal in the penultimate episode. | ||
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Ah, but we can’t stay in this pleasant nexus of Star Trek thoughts, can we? | Ah, but we can’t stay in this pleasant nexus of Star Trek thoughts, can we? | ||
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Firmly in the column of unpleasant news, is the [[http:// | Firmly in the column of unpleasant news, is the [[http:// | ||
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It isn’t settled, despite some embarrassing facts coming to light this past Fall. Remember the [[http:// | It isn’t settled, despite some embarrassing facts coming to light this past Fall. Remember the [[http:// | ||
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* Restaurant bills | * Restaurant bills | ||
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Oh, and that whole question of using the funds to lease and renovate a building for use as a commercial studio space? That was confirmed in the depositions as well. And lest one forget what a deposition is: this is evidence. Legal evidence. Testimony given under oath. Testimony given under oath, in part, by Alec Peters. | Oh, and that whole question of using the funds to lease and renovate a building for use as a commercial studio space? That was confirmed in the depositions as well. And lest one forget what a deposition is: this is evidence. Legal evidence. Testimony given under oath. Testimony given under oath, in part, by Alec Peters. | ||
- | Axanar’s reaction? We shouldn’t have seen the unpleasant things in the depositions, | + | Axanar’s reaction? We shouldn’t have seen the unpleasant things in the depositions, |
In addition to all the official documents of the case, we have all the social media and PR pronouncements from the Axanar team, most memorably from Alec Peters (and frankly, many of those are now evidence in the case). These pronouncements have… //changed// somewhat over the past year of the lawsuit. And of course there’s never an official retraction to these statements. All of Alec Peters and Axanar’s assertions are apparently still valid. | In addition to all the official documents of the case, we have all the social media and PR pronouncements from the Axanar team, most memorably from Alec Peters (and frankly, many of those are now evidence in the case). These pronouncements have… //changed// somewhat over the past year of the lawsuit. And of course there’s never an official retraction to these statements. All of Alec Peters and Axanar’s assertions are apparently still valid. | ||
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Instead, Alec Peters says that the money was spent “as promised.” | Instead, Alec Peters says that the money was spent “as promised.” | ||
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+ | Even expensive rock creatures won’t save things at this point: we’re not seeing //Axanar//. | ||
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+ | **But wait, there’s more!** \\ | ||
+ | Just this past week, U.S. District Court [[http:// | ||
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+ | //**__« The Axanar Works are not transformative. … The Axanar Works are commercial. »__**// — //Judge R. Gary Klausner// | ||
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+ | A jury trial still awaits (barring settlement) not because there’s a question of whether CBS/ | ||
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+ | (Okay, that’s my layperson take on it, you can check out [[http:// | ||
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+ | So at this point, the Axanar has decided to… [[http:// | ||
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+ | Yes, CBS/ | ||
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+ | There’s also the matter that we wouldn’t be talking about this if Axanar was some space adventure that talked about “warp drive” which somehow got CBS/ | ||
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+ | //**__« For the love of Spock, this cognitive dissonance is so overwhelming I’m surprised there haven’t been any head explosions. »__**// | ||
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+ | No matter. Axanar will win on appeal! Pay no attention to the [[http:// | ||
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+ | Half a year ago, I mused that “[[http:// | ||
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+ | Boy, did I misjudge how crazypants this case would be. | ||
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+ | The original narrative most all of us were presented with was a familiar one: wherein a big, bad corporation was picking on a little guy for the sake of flexing their control-freak muscles to squelch a little fun fan film. | ||
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+ | That turns out not to be true. $1.4 million is not a little fun fan film — and not producing the film //at all// certainly isn’t. (remember: early last year, the judge stated the lawsuit did not prevent Axanar from making their film: no injunction was in place). | ||
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+ | I suppose someone could ignore the dizzying story-changing from the Axanar camp I mentioned above (the fan film which is a professional Star Trek film that isn’t a Star Trek film, etc.). I’ve backed scores of crowdfunded projects before and a couple have crashed and burned — but I’ve never been treated to an ever-morphing story like Axanar. In fact, the creators usually go out of their way to make sure they do right by their backers — and they certainly don’t insult their backers nor the [[https:// | ||
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+ | Someone might also ignore the very [[studio_ownership|unusual web of anonymous shell corporations]] involved on the Axanar side, which appear to be set up to shroud how Axanar and Alec Peters personally may have profited. This latter part is part of court documents and so hopefully the truth of the matter will eventually come out. | ||
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+ | But seriously, you can honor the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” and still guard your wallet. And for any of us who actually backed the Axanar, you have to be suspicious — someone might have swiped some [[https:// | ||
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+ | But let’s say someone, for some reason, buys all the reasons that the production is delayed and there is no movie (despite $1.4 million being spent). And let’s say they don’t fear they are the victim of a lying, cheating grifter because that has not been unequivocally confirmed. | ||
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+ | That leaves the legal arguments: specifically the arguments to be presented at the jury trial, which may begin as soon as January 31st. | ||
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+ | Well, one can’t argue Fair Use. That defense has been neatly and completely dismissed by Judge Klausner in his ruling. Axanar may want to bring it back on appeal, but they don’t get to argue it to the jury (unless I’ve missed a central reason for the ruling). | ||
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+ | So what’s left? It really appears to be two points: | ||
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+ | - That all the elements that seem like Star Trek are really not Star Trek intellectual property. | ||
+ | - That Axanar is entitled to use Star Trek intellectual property. | ||
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+ | Now here’s where we get to the heart of the cognitive dissonance on the part of Alec Peters, the Axanar crew, and the others who are strangely still supporting Axanar. | ||
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+ | The defense team, the actual lawyers, are trying desperately to argue point #1. Somehow, this is not a Star Trek fan film or Star Trek. Good luck with that one. | ||
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+ | However, if you go on the Axanar discussion boards or have followed their blogs for the past few //years//, Axanar and its supporters are fully behind point #2. | ||
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+ | A year ago, six months ago, and even this week, I read comment after comment about how Alec Peters and company are entitled to make this film because it’s what Star Trek fans really want. In fact, he is the one person who can help lead a path out of the current morass of feature films that make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Pshaw. Those films are Denebian slime devil pus and CBS/ | ||
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+ | If there is any acknowledgement of defense point #1, it’s with a wink and a nod, as if “we know it’s Star Trek, but if it helps us get //Star Trek Axanar// made to say otherwise, then it’s not Star Trek. Oh, and did we mention we’re huge Star Trek fans? The best fans, really.” | ||
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+ | For the love of Spock, this cognitive dissonance is so overwhelming I’m surprised there haven’t been any head explosions. | ||
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+ | Author and audio dramatist Jay Smith sums up many of my feelings quite well in a post from this past November about the [[https:// | ||
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+ | The law doesn’t work like that. The law has never worked like that, and it never will. The legal case for Axanar is ultimately untenable because copyright and intellectual property matters. | ||
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+ | There has been much discussion about why the dwindling number of Axanar supporters do support Axanar with such grim prospects of winning and such disturbing revelations of financial tomfoolery. There’s the obvious “[[https:// | ||
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+ | But //why// do they support Axanar? Based on the comments in the aforementioned social media and after articles, many people have gone beyond simply wanting to see the Axanar feature to seeing “true” Star Trek. They went beyond simply disliking the new Star Trek movies to finding them a betrayal against this “true” Trek. And in Alec Peters and company, they have found someone who validates these feelings: there //is// such a thing as true Star Trek. You //have// been wronged by the blind corporate overlords. Your fandom //does// entitle you in a say to what the corporation does. | ||
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+ | Now, I would be the last one to say things can’t have a Star Trek feel. I mentioned that as a big part of my [[http:// | ||
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+ | I know it’s hard, especially as corporations have clued into the immense potential of energizing fans, making fandom seem more commercial and transactional, | ||
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+ | It’s not legally tenable and it’s not morally right. | ||
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+ | And here’s the kicker on the moral front. Star Trek is not the huge fictional universe we love because of Gene Roddenberry. It is that vast universe because of //the team// that Roddenberry assembled. Hundreds of actors, writers, designers, and other crew during and after Gene Roddenberry’s tenure have helped bring the strange, new worlds of Star Trek to life. Just like the Federation, this isn’t the work of one person alone. To my mind, this doesn’t diminish Gene Roddenberry, | ||
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+ | If you’ve watched and loved episodes and movies of Star Trek, you’ve sensed that love was put into facets here and there. If you’ve read the interviews from so many of these people, you know this wasn’t simply a paycheck. Star Trek was something to have pride in and to love. | ||
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+ | Quite simply, we have had // | ||
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+ | Alec Peters is not one of them. | ||
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+ | If he were, he might understand that CBS and Paramount –and any owner of intellectual property– doesn’t give jobs based on fan fervor, but on how someone can deliver a story. And Alec Peters has failed to deliver on the story so many of us wanted him to deliver. In fact, many of the key people who helped deliver //Prelude to Axanar// have abandoned him and Axanar because of the attitudes referenced above. | ||
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+ | Perhaps I and others who have become disillusioned by this lawsuit will be proven wrong in our suspicions. Perhaps this //isn’t// some bizarre quixotic attempt to use someone else’s IP to fund a certain lifestyle and Hollywood dreams. But I’m not holding my breath. | ||
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+ | I’m also not holding out hope that Axanar and their defense team will settle. Either because they sincerely believe some faulty legal logic that they can use Star Trek IP, or they’re hoping some long con bears fruit, they see no profit in calling it quits. Their hubris has helped decimate an entire ecosystem of fan productions — and I can guarantee you those people will not forget or forgive Axanar. The only solace is the larger federation of Star Trek fans is by and large unaware of its existence and while Axanar claims thousands of supporters for its “real” Trek, millions of fans will likely watch the new Star Trek series and other offerings and feel free to enjoy it regardless of what these self-appointed gatekeepers think. | ||
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+ | Nevertheless, | ||
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+ | **Keywords** {{tag> |