Usually on New Years Eve I drop a post looking forward to the best of Star Trek in 2016 but the last 24 hours have left something of a bitter taste.
If you've been strolling around the corridors of Twitter and Facebook in particular then the news that CBS/Paramount are suing Axanar will come as no surprise. What is a surprise is that it's happening in the first place.
To fill in some gaps quickly, Axanar is a fan funded production that tells the story of Garth of Izar and the battle which changed the course of war with the Klingons. The stunning and award-winning Prelude to Axanar arrived early in 2015 but with the exception of a teaser scene in the summer we've been presented with very little else. Now it seems that CBS aren't too happy with the production, noting that it appears to infringe on (and I quote from the Hollywood Reporter article that broke the news) "The Axanar Works infringe Plaintiffs’ works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes...", which doesn't make them too happy. Not only that but suspiciously Renegades has vanished from YouTube in the last day or so which could mean bigger things are in motion.
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Fans are, understandably enraged that the much-touted movie could now never see the light of day and that almost certainly production will come to a grinding halt while legal proceedings take place. A lot of fans including myself have donated to Axanar and this shutting down of the production will most likely mean that those funds will account for nothing except a warehouse and some half-built sets. The #istandwithaxanar tag (used here as the article header but not an endorsement) has been lashed across social media as fans turn to back the project and attempt to dissuade CBS from continuing on its mission to seemingly kill off the "original vibe" of Star Trek if you will. While there was no Star Trek on TV fan films flourished and kept the dream and the vision of Gene Roddenberry alive - but at the smell of a new series the claws are apparently being sharpened.
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Now I totally get why fans are rising to support Axanar but do we truly know the whole story? Was permission asked and/or granted in relation to using the Star Trek moniker (apparently yes)? Where has all the money gone exactly? Have donors been kept truly and honestly informed?
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But what does this all really mean? Are series such as Continues and Phase II now in serious danger? What of Anthology or Farragut as in all four cases I would say they are even closer to the original ethos and even the look of The Original Series. Are these going to be told to cease and desist? What of fan blogs, resource sites, YouTube pages and the like? And why are they not heading after the fake merchandisers and those making revenue from the franchise with no link to CBS or permission? Why now is Axanar being made the scapegoat that is to be brought to its knees?
It definitely has an incredible vision and the Prelude took fan films to another level so that might be making CBS hot under the collar but this action as we are just days from the start of the 50th anniversary year may well threaten the release and profits of a certain Star Trek Beyond with fans boycotting the film and turning 2016 into a terrible year for Star Trek. BUT as the article notes, Paramount and CBS have encouraged fan productions over the years but Axanar did something very different, it proclaimed itself as the first independent Star Trek movie. Certainly a bold statement and CBS/Paramount commented further stating: "Star Trek is a treasured franchise in which CBS and Paramount continue to produce new original content for its large universe of fans. The producers of Axanar are making a Star Trek picture they describe themselves as a fully professional independent Star Trek film. Their activity clearly violates our Star Trek copyrights, which, of course, we will continue to vigorously protect."
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However, saying all that and defending Axanar is all well and good but what about looking at this from the perspective of CBS/Paramount? For years, yes, fan films have flown the flag and kept the franchise alive on a shoestring budget but have Alec Peters and co gone that step too far from critiquing, honouring and commenting on Star Trek to effectively making Star Trek itself. Y'see this has always been hyped as an independent movie rather than a fan film with the team promoting the fact that this is as close to Star Trek as they could get without it actually being the real thing. Maybe there's a sense of Icarus here and Axanar and potentially Renegades have flown a little too close to that sun and have now been burnt.
I tend to think that other fan series, blogs and the like will be OK since they are not set up as the commercial business model that Axanar appears to be (heck it even had an annual report) but this may well be a warning to other productions in the future not to get too cocky and remain firmly in the fan-film circle rather than starting to play games with the "big boys". As friend of SKoST, Rob Clements noted there have been a lot of "fair use" films such as Of Gods and Men and two early episodes of Phase II which critiqued Star Trek but Axanar actually wanted to BE Star Trek. Indeed their very production was a group of fans and some camera equipment whereas Axanar went all out and even has its own Ares Studios.
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The scary thing is that CBS and Paramount may actually be in the right here because of the way in which Axanar has been marketed and produced. Alec Peters has also stated in the last 24 hours that he and the team were prepared for this possibility even though he met with CBS to cover what they were doing and they seemed to be happy at that time.
It seems therefore unlikely that we'll be seeing much of Axanar in 2016 as this battle rages. Are there two sides? Is one of these parties obviously in the wrong? I think there are points that either combatant can make to justify their position but it'll be lawyers rather than starships which will be battling it out. Personally I would love to see Axanar completed and I genuinely hope that the mud-slinging and sniping can be pushed aside so that it can be made. Is there a middle ground so that, as Alec hopes, the matter can be resolved in a "fair and amicable manner". After writing this my initial thought that the studios see this as a threat has dissipated and now I believe it is more to do with the use of intellectual property and the like. I would like to think so although there may have to be concessions and I would think those will have to come from the Axanar camp rather than the studio behemoth of Paramount and CBS.
Thanks also to @robclements for his help and input with this article.
What are your thoughts on this delicate new twist to the franchise? Who is right? Is there a correct perspective or are Paramount and CBS totally within their rights to go after Axanar?
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