AXANAR DETRACTOR changes his mind about ALEC PETERS!

On Saturday, GABE KOERNER, a well-known detractor of Axanar and ALEC PETERS, sent me the following e-mail out of the blue:

I’ve given up on the Idea that the guy is some kind of willful criminal. He isn’t. He’s just a mix of Massively Egotistical and Massively Incompetent which can LOOK “criminal” but it really isn’t.

Yeah, it’s obvious that Gabe isn’t ready to finally stop trying to disparage Alec (frankly, I doubt that Gabe will ever be able to completely let this go).  But this was a HUGE revelation and step forward for someone who, like many detractors, had been calling Alec all kinds of synonyms for crook, thief, criminal, liar, embezzler…the list goes on and on!

At the heart of the most extreme detractor arguments has been a contention that Alec had willfully taken money from Axanar donors to fund a lavish lifestyle of things like jet-setting around the world, eating sushi, paying for health insurance, and buying new tires for his car.  I’ve seen the full Axanar financials—endless pages of spreadsheets!—and I’ve tried to explain about a million times here and elsewhere how this wasn’t the case at all.  It was like trying to reason with jello!

And even if you’re one of those people who thinks the Axanar books were somehow cooked, the fact remains that the goal of embezzling is to come out with MORE money, NOT less.  And yet, Alec Peters has put in close to a quarter of a million dollars of HIS OWN money (generated from the sale of screen-used props from his extensive collection) to fund this project.  Of course, you can argue whether or not a studio should have been leased/built or simply rented, But even Alec himself now agrees that he should have filmed Axanar on James Cawley’s TOS sets in upstate New York as originally envisioned.  So that’s not the point today.

Now personally, I have no idea if any other of the detractors on their various public and secret Facebook groups are now in agreement with what Gabe has just acknowledged…and frankly, I don’t feel like checking those crass and vitriolic places to confirm.  And I don’t really have to.

The story today is simple.  I received an e-mail on Saturday, unsolicited, from someone who is a good friend of, and has been conversing with, former Axanar director ROBERT MEYER BURNETT.  And in this e-mail, Gabe Koerner finally gives up on a long-standing claim that he has clung to that Alec Peters is some kind of willful criminal.  That’s a BIG step forward.

And if Gabe can finally move past such a deeply-held belief—despite the other digs that he still feels he must make—then maybe there is some hope for other Axanar detractors out there.  Maybe…

56 thoughts on “AXANAR DETRACTOR changes his mind about ALEC PETERS!”

  1. It’s not important what other people believe. I don’t know Alec personally and I don’t like the idea of speculating about his intentions with such finality. He probably made mistakes but having communicated with Alec before, to me it seems he’s just like most of us. He can be riled, has an ego like we all do but if I had to guess his heart was in the right place with Axanar. He’s also very reasonable and conciliatory. I think there were some mis-steps and it happens. Perhaps CBS let him off the hook. But I do believe he should accept that responsibility.

    Yes, reputation can be important but when it becomes so important that people like Gabe are on your radar you’ve fallen. From there you are capable of lying for that reputation or being emotionally destroyed by a reputation that has been written by those that know you perhaps the least. Put them in their proper place, ignore the noise. Do what’s right. Everything else falls into place.

    1. Hey, if you’re online impression of that person has been favorable, great. Its those that get materially involved enough to do business with him that seem to have degrees of Varying Mileage, often skewing toward colorful metaphor.

  2. Maybe, but it would still appear that Gabe’s got a HUGE chip on his shoulder, and should probably switch to decaf.

    Or, we’ve slipped into the Mirror Universe 😉

    Doug

    2. But only with panoramic lens !! LMBO It’s the down-side of having ‘420 Mornings’, I’m ….. ahem ….. told !! Now, I need my 3 ‘Kolotchie’s & 4 ‘Bear Claws’; btw, did ya get me a Diet Soda to drink, cause I watch my intake as so not to gain weight. I was told eating such, one should watch his figure ….. always thought round WAS a figure !!

      1. And a Giant Kudo to Jonathan Lane, for doing his best @ keeping us afloat with information about anything Trek-ish, Axanar, our Cap’n Alec or simply space-stuff ! We ‘Axanarians’, thinks he always does a great job !! We’d hate to send ‘Garth of Izar’ after him !! (JK Jonathan !)

        2. No, but he strongly asserts that they would let him if he did because he’s The Lorca.

      2. Looking forward to it, I can’t understand the people who love Lorca! I hope that Lorca will fall from grace and in a pretty spectacular way that makes people go “what the heck, why were we supporting this person, I think I need to re-evaluate something in our decision making paradigm”.

        P.S. On an aside note going back to your previous blog post that I can’t reply on, I do know how to code and I work freelance :).

          1. Damn you Kira, knocking out Lancelot! 😉

            Unfortunately “time is money”, and I don’t have a lot of either :(.

      3. Please say a Trump issue is a joke. Can’t we keep politics away from some thing? I’ve seen several of those arrempted and it never works out well as well as meant and Hardlysnyone laughs

  5. So, you’re saying that Gabe is back on his prescribed medication?

    Good for him. I hope he finds some peace for his many issues.

        1. Glad to hear the news about Gabe, both about getting his getting his life on track, and about season 2 of The Orville! I can’t wait!

  7. The rest of the detractors will probably take a lot longer to come around, if at all, but hope alwsys springs eternal, Jonathan.

    1. Actually few of us have become friends with some from the Axanar side, Steven Mayhew and Jon Tessler along with myself Charles Baxter we all run each other groups and I will be helping Steven out with Maquis when it gets time to get going on it.
      There is one thing we all SHARE in common….. We are Star Trek fans and giant asshats when we have points to prove at the end of the day I find myself like many others still questioning how things went down so wrong at Axanar.. Why you ask?
      Did Alec make some bad business choices? Yep! I think he might of been talked in to a few of them and did some of the rest on the own but at the end of the day it is his fault he could have stopped things from going as far as they did at any time. He got that money and his eyeballs went to dollar signs and went overboard WHO hasn’t splurged here and there? The thing is although the rest of us admit it..
      People would not of questioned him had he not put out a fake report at first but that aside his tempers and outbursts on such stupid things did not give him any credit durning anything. We all have those moments but come on last thing you want to do is alienate your donor and fanbase because you got to be asshole when someone says something you do not like Just shut up block em and do not give people the fuel to burn you that simple.

      Ok there is my 25$ worth :Next up on Fan Film Factor Donald Trump Ate the real Lorca

        1. More arbitrary rules Jonathan?
          Was it really necessary to put “I told you so” in so many words? This ‘article’ is teetering on the line of trolling Gabe Koerner.

  8. Dont hold your breath. I was friends with Gabe for years and on several occasions stepped in to try and be a buffer between Alec (also a friend) and Gabe. Gabe has periodic episodes and during his last one he went full 5150 on me out of the blue and instead of backtracking went in to a full downward psycho episode. Gabe has always been his own worst enemy and his erratic behavior makes him very difficult to deal with personally or professionally. No good deed goes unpunished and its a shame somebody so talented has let his own demons hold the reigns on his life.

    1. I’m doing fine man, you worry about you. You’re retired from this town and this industry anyways, so what I do, say, or think doesn’t and won’t ever materially concern or involve you.

  10. I do think a slight clarification of my sentiment is in order. I did not have some cathartic “Coming to Jesus” moment about Alec.

    I simply admit its going WAY out on a limb to call him an outright “Criminal” when if he had truly criminal plans and motivations, they would’ve yielded more criminal FRUITS, and he certainly would’ve bailed to some island by now instead of maintaining a pretense that This Axanar is Still a Thing Going On. Unless he’s *exceptionally that bad* at it, which is never impossible…

    Are a great many things he’s done, in many eyes, HIGHLY unethical? Most definitely. Could some of his past or present deeds be civilly actionable, though? Quite possibly, in some arenas…

    But cuffs n’ shackles black and white striped prison suit Criminal Mastermind, nah.

    1. Say what you want, Gabe. I’ve had way too many arguments with you arguing until I was blue in the face (or rather, fingers) that Alec Peters didn’t steal anything. You were even the very first person to whom I explained that many of the bills were paid from a single bank account. But in the end, Alec wound up with nearly $250K less than what he started with. That’s the OPPOSITE of embezzling. And yet, you’d never let it go. Every month or so, another e-mail or PM from you accusing Alec of this or that…and usually being sure to include stealing money from the donors in your musings and protestations.

      So Saturday’s declaration by you that Alec is NOT a “willful criminal” really was a huge revelation for you. Had the Gabe from a year ago been able to PM with today’s Gabe, I can’t imagine all the nasty things you’d call yourself. So yeah, this is big news, dude.

  11. You can’t believe anything that Gabby says….. That he would willfully create Sock-Puppet accounts to follow & harass the supporters of Axanar, that he would call & stalk me on the Telephone not once, but 3 times proves he has serious Mental Issues….. I have the proof & other friends of mine & supporters of Axanar have seen that Gabby not only called me but didn’t even have the sense to hide his name & phone #!!!!!

    1. Here’s a prime example of the point I was going for…

      Let’s take the wayback machine to that Shipping Service thing (many at the time called it “scam”) he pulled on his buyers at Propworx and did his best to backpedal from (many at the time said “lie about”).

      Was it unethical? Oh yeah. Shady and sleazy? For sure. Illegal and criminally actionable? NOPE!

    2. Barney, be careful with talk like that. I say this from a place of love, there’s a reason I don’t drunk post anymore. Your proclivity for the bottle doesn’t make you more credible than it used to make me. You doxxing my phone number (with the wrong last name no less) and posting it in wide view just got you booted out of 3 FB Trek groups. Don’t go down that road, its not productive.

        1. There’s some lines you just don’t cross.

          Somebody should have told Alec and David Gerrold that.

  12. Sorry, I have trust issues about people who need to sling to mud about others.
    Until they come clean about what their actual beef with Alec was about (not necessarily to me but at least to Alec) and attempt to come to an amicable resolution, I will maintain a ‘wait and see’ position on whether to make nice or not.

  13. Wow Jonny, you must be desperate for copy.

    The vast majority of “haters” have never intimidated Peters was a crook. completely incompetent and wilfully negligent sure, but not a crook. You’re crowing like this is some sort of victory but in reality it’s just sad.

    1. Oh, I just love throwing people’s own words back at them. 🙂

      Here’s a link to a blog post of Sandy’s from just about a year ago (there’s more…pretty much anything demanding Alec publish his full financials):

      https://fanfilmfactor.com/2017/01/13/alec-peters-discusses-axanars-financials-and-his-review-committee-interview/#comment-4402

      “It’s very simple Alec. You seem to want people to think you’ve done nothing wrong but everything you do makes it look the opposite. If you truly want to be transparent, RELEASE ALL OF THE FINANCIALS! Release both sets of books you supplied to the court, your notes, donor income, convention income, etc. EVERYTHING. If you truly want people to see your transparency then just do it. Anything else just makes it look like you’re hiding which makes you look guilty.”

      “Guilty” is a strong word, Sandy, and implies “crook.” Guilty doesn’t imply completely incompetent.

      It might be a little late to try to rewrite history, dude…especially when I’ve got nearly 200 posts from you on this blog site.

      1. I have never accused him of doing anything criminal and I can’t think of one person that has. It’s that simple Jonny. He’s guilty of incompetence and guilty of mismanagement. He may even be guilty of violating civil law, but nothing criminal.

        1. “I have never accused him of doing anything criminal and I can’t think of one person that has.”

          Oh, Sandy, Sandy, Sandy…you are making this WAY too easy for me:

          Jo Moine – “Does it bother you at all that Alec the lawyer does not appear to follow the law? Wage theft is a crime.”

          Anthony Shuh – “Remember without the court discovery uncovering these inconsistencies in the transparent (joke) accountably of this failed mismanaged fan film scamming, nothing would have ever been uncovered about these missing funds – a perfect crime!”

          Big Bird of the Galaxy – “One has to wonder how many companies is he going to get over on before they file criminal charges against him. (Yes there are criminal charges that can be filed in an IP case)”

          Charles Emerson – “But because he was associated with a production that became corrupted when Alec Peters broke the law and Peters’ criminal actions damaged Star Trek fandom, itself.”

          I also seem to recall Shawn O’Halloran posting in Facebook that Alec had falsely claimed to be a non-profit, which was a criminal offense (it’s not; falsely claiming 501c(3) status is, but Alec never did that).

          Then, of course, there’s Gabe himself. He opened his e-mail to me with the sentence “I’ve given up on the Idea that the guy is some kind of willful criminal.” That pretty much establishes that, prior to giving up on the idea, Gabe believed it. He also e-mailed/PM’d me often making that claim.

          Okay, I’m done wasting time on this.

          1. Well I don’t read the comments here or every one on Facebook and obviously didn’t read Gabe’s email, so my statement is accurate but I guess I stand corrected.

            My first statement is still accurate as well, that the vast majority of “haters” have never accused Peters of criminality. It’s a pretty sad day when this is all there is that’s worth posting about Axanar. I realise your job would be easier if Peters was as actually doing something productive.

          4. What issue, Sandy? You said that couldn’t think of anyone who had accused Alec of being a criminal. I provided six examples. Then you said the majority of haters never posted about Alec’s criminality. I never said that, though. My actual quote was, “At the heart of the most extreme detractor arguments…”

            And if you have a problem with not enough news coming from Axanar, then I’m guessing you’re equally bothered about Starship Farragut, Pacific 201, Captain Pike, First Frontier, and Renegades: The Series…to name a few. When there’s news about any of the above, I’ll report on it. Until then, there’s LOTS of other stuff to keep my blogs full. So not really an “issue.”

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