Okay, folks, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! (Well, maybe not ALL of you…but at least a few hundred, I’m sure.) Earlier this week, I revealed the “origin story” of this two-way interview where blogger MATTHEW MILLER from Trekzone.org and I discuss and debate all things AXANAR. Now it’s time to put our money where our mouths are (Australia and Los Angeles, respectively).
Today in Part 1, after a friendly introduction and a brief discussion of some of what we both feel are the inherent strengths of the 2014 fan film Prelude to Axanar, we jump right into some of the most controversial questions regarding this polarizing fan production, starting with the creation of Ares Studios with donor money…
- Did “most” of the principal cast and crew abandon the project after ALEC PETERS decided to use crowd-funded money to build a “for profit” studio? Or is that just a rumor-turned-urban-myth?
- What exactly is a “for profit” studio anyway? Is someone gonna go out and buy a 60-foot yacht with all the cash that comes in?
- Was the decision to try to turn a Valencia warehouse into a soundstage a mistake in the first place?
- Did CBS ever tell Alec (before the lawsuit) not to create a studio or not to make more Axanar?
- Did the Axanar donors know (back in 2014) that they were donating to build a soundstage, or were they misled to believe they were donating only to produce a fan film?
And we finish up Part 1 with a couple of other hotly-debated topics…
- Was Alec Peter sued by CBS and Paramount because Axanar was “too good?”
- Were there “unpublished” guidelines for fan films before June of 2016?
- Were the guidelines, once they were announced, intended to stop Axanar…or were they targeted on Renegades and the other “arms race” fan productions?
Sound intriguing? Well, strap in for Part 1 of the Blogger-Battle of Axanar…
Come back for Part 2 on Monday and Part 3 next Wednesday.
I still remember coming to this very site all those many moons ago to read the legal filings that had been released to the public regarding the lawsuit against Axanar. I did so so that I could form my own educated opinion on the matter since there was so much misinformation/rumor/out and out lies spreading throughout the internet at the time and I sorely wanted to cut through it all to better understand what was really going on.
That said, I was really struggling to decide if I wanted to listen to this debate or not. While back then I was eager even hungry to consume all the information there was — today I no longer have that same appetite. Much of the reason being that I can no longer stomach listing to the same old tired arguments detractors present (almost verbatim) that I already know to be verifiably false based on facts and evidence I have already digested.
In the end though my curiosity around what would be discussed and how you would respond won out and I’m rather glad it did. Jonathan you really conducted yourself well in this first session. You presented facts and you supported them. I feel you really owned this discussion and I now look forward to listening to the rest. Good on you sir and well done.
Thank you, Keith. One of the complaints I seem to be getting from the detractors (based on early responses I’ve glanced at) it that I “hogged” the conversation and came across as a know-it-all…which, I’m not sure they realize, makes them look like they know nothing. 🙂
But the fact of the matter is that it’s easy to misstate the truth. All you have to do is say it. You don’t need to back it up (since there isn’t anything to back it up anyway). And a good example of this is the oft-repeated “MOST of the main cast and crew left after Prelude.” Nothing to back it up…just a “truthiness” of the statement repeated over and over again with confidence (and yet still not true). But much like cancer, the treatment is not nearly as quick or immediate. Oh, sure, I could say, “No, you’re wrong–most of the main cast and crew STAYED with Alec after Prelude.” But then it’s just a he said/he said impasse, and both sides just go right on believing whatever they want to, regardless of the truth.
In order to actually FIX the problem and establish the truth, you need to do what I did…and that takes more time. So yes, I spoke at greater length than Matt did, but that was in large part because I was trying to dispel the misinformation and rumor and instead explain correctly what was actually true. And that process, unfortunately, cannot be rushed.
Hey, Jon, just wanted to make a couple comments on the interview posted today.
I was (and am) an Axanar backer who contributed a substantial amount (although that kind of thing is extremely relative). And as a backer, I supported the idea of building the sound stage, and, in fact, I FIRMLY believe that Alec Peters’ decision to make a fan-film-friendly professional sound stage, was exactly the right thing to do.
Why? Two main reasons:
1) Because I knew that when the credits rolled on the Axanar feature film, I would want more. More Axanar, more Star Trek, more fan films, more of all of it.
2) Because that sound stage, with all it’s quality and amenities, located right here in LA, and being available for fans to use, was the best way to get more.
I was very much looking forward to having that sound stage in my “backyard” which meant that I could make regular treks to Valencia to help fan filmmakers with their projects. Heck, I was even making tentative plans to shoot a project of my own there.
As someone who has priced and shopped around for green screen stages (I shot a project on a green screen stage here in Hollywood just last week, I can send you the photos if you like), I knew that Alec would have been able to get paying customers to use that stage and that the revenue from those customers would help keep the doors open for fan filmmakers.
The green screen stage I used last week was located right in the heart of Hollywood (Santa Monica and Gower) and charged my production $3200/day. If we could have saved a substantial portion of that by driving to Valencia we would have done it in a heartbeat.
I loved the idea that revenue from commercial productions would help allay the costs of fan film productions. Everyone in the fan community would have benefited.
Big things are accomplished by people with big ideas — and this was a big idea that I was fully behind and voted for with my hard-earned dollars.
I was right there with ya, Dennis! In fact, it’s one of the reasons I’m doing this blog today. I started out as an Axanar groupie and thought that driving to visit that studio-to-be was the coolest thing in the world. I set myself up as a local volunteer, helping to roll posters, stuff envelopes, carry carpet rolls, assemble desks, and later to write blogs…all for Axanar. Now look at me…almost famous! 😉
So….. is this podcast in any danger of being sued because it “Looks too good”?
I think I can state unequivocally that the answer to your question, George, is a resounding no. 🙂
I can actually see Matthew’s point. You have the money, make Axanar, then set up the studio for fan films to use. I think if this course of action had been taken there may not have been as much of a hoopla about the film or its direction. But as they always say hindsight is 20/20. Alec had a vision of a place where normal people can come together and create something that would look at home on a big screen, and it is a vision I hope he does not loose.
With all that said, you know I would have loved it just as more if Alec had kept with the documentary style of film making. That I think would have been a novel approach to telling the story of the Federation and Klingon war.
Well, Chase, you’ll get your wish. The next two Axanar films (15 minutes each) will both be in documentary format.
Will listen to the whole thing at once.
That said, your title of “blogger battle” feels incomplete without a “gulch” in it for some reason. 🙂
Seriously, it feels so Western I expect you and Matthew to do a shot standing in the dusty street, facing each other like gunslingers, while a tumbleweed rolls across the screen in true Sergio Leone fashion.
The Battle of Axanar needed something, and “Blogger Battle” just had a lot of amazingly awesome alliteration!
Well one last hurried hurrah for this aged, moldy discussion. It is already wearing very thin, and running out of gas, with the building of the Bridge of the Ares nearing completion and production once more in progress! Soon, all this quickly rotting discussion will be a moot point!
As Axanar is filmed and post production is completed and the two films are released to YouTube, Then, all of this old crap, will be just that! Old crap, soon to be dark, forgotten and unseeable in the shadows of the shining new Axanar episodes!
Once that happens, Axamonitor and all the naysayers and controversy stirrers will have no more wind to flap through their lips!
Then the story will be Axanar: Mission Accomplished!
Oh, there will be those who will continue to shake their fists and post the same old screencaps and make the same tired complaints long after it’s all said and done because it’s all they’ve got to feel relevant…
They’ll continue to claim to be “looking out for fans” well after everyone sees all they are in it for is either for their own entertainment or because they are incapable of letting it go and moving on.
The saddest thing is that although perhaps there have been errors of assessment
communication or production strategies as I said Alec during the our meeting in Italy in February, there is an almost pathological pity for these players.
Of course, a discussion is always useful when you really want to understand the problems
between sincere people but with different points of view. We in Europe are not like that
I took these discussions thanks to God. I think that 2 years have passed and we are still talking about the sex of angels !!! Alec is trying to put it back in place, point by point, all the mistakes made and he does it from his own pocket. This is because it is that’s right, because he’s a fighter and because he’s in love with Star Trek.
It would be time, I say it for everyone, to focus on the future there are beautiful projects
of upcoming movie fans and we should be grateful to these producers of the happiness they give us by making us dream !