Believe it or not, it’s been nearly three months since my last blog update on the status of the AXANAR sequels. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a TON of stuff going on!
For those folks who have been watching the regular updates by ALEC PETERS on the (usually) weekly “Axanar Confidential” YouTube podcast, you know a lot of the exciting things that have been happening lately…including the fact that the first official shoot for the two Axanar sequels is scheduled for October 4-6! This will include J.G. HERTZLER flying down to Georgia to appear as Sam Travis. Scenes will be filmed on the USS Ares bridge set along with green screen scenes and recording the audio drama version of the full Axanar script.
But for all of those recent updates, I still had a few unanswered questions for Alec—things like…
- If this production is going to cost $150K-$200K (as Alec has estimated previously), then when is he planning to start raising private donations from backers…and who has been paying for things up till now?
- Is KATE VERNON going to appear in the Axanar sequels?
- Who else has been brought onto the project and in what roles (both actors and production crew)?
- How close is the bridge to being finished—and will it be ready in time for October’s shoot?
- How many other shoots are planned, and where and when will they be happening?
So with these and other questions floating around in my head, I decided this might be a good time to interview Alec. We set up a phone call for last Friday evening, but naturally, he was late because he had to rescue a dog. And so we had to reschedule. (Yes, I’m serious.) So we chatted a couple days later, and I’ve just finished editing the sound file…which—I am certain will not surprise anyone—includes the sound of dog barks in the background.
So please enjoy the latest Axanar update with Alec Peters (woof!)…
Hi Jonathan,
Just curious, have there been no comments received on this blog or are they blocked? It not being usual for an Axanar piece to go quietly into the night.
For what it’s worth, I listened and enjoyed. $40k per day’s shoot is certainly eye watering and I can well understand the need to plan thoroughly (even for a 12 hour day that’s over $50 per minute) . Just hope it all goes ahead as planned, it won’t shut all the nay sayers up but I think it will be a positive boost.
I gather you’ve not been well? Hope you’re on the mend. But how can you catch a cold in California???? You wouldn’t last 5 minutes on this side of the pond! 🙂
Surprisingly, Alastair, yours was the first comment…although the Four Years War between the Axanar detractors and supporters is being fought actively elsewhere on the Internet at the moment. The detractors are becoming increasingly irritable lately as their “old, reliable” claims/predictions about Axanar are falling like dominoes. They predicted confidently that Axanar would never be filmed…and production now begins in less than three weeks. They predicted that Ares Digital would never be finished. It’s done and working fine. They said the perks would never be shipped out, but the patches finally began going into the mail this week. (So now they’ve changed from “It’ll never happen!” to “It’s about time!” Fun times, fun times.) They smugly predicted that the Interlude GoFundMe wouldn’t make it to $5K, and then it “might” make it to $10K but it would never hit its $19.5K goal before production began in November. It’s currently sitting at $19.6K…fully funded and then some. So now they’re saying, “Oh, it was always going to make its goal because it was tied to Axanar.” It’s like they feel pain if they ever have to admit to being wrong.
Anyway, now they’re saying things like “Alec will never finish Axanar,” and “No one who worked on Prelude will work with Alec anymore,” (which is complete malarkey as multiple people are returning and many have stuck with Alec all along) and “Did Paul Jenkins leave the project?” (nope, he was there supervising auditions last week) and “Kate Vernon isn’t going to return for the sequels” (she’s reviewing the script and hasn’t commented one way or the other).
So I’m really enjoying watching the detractors squirm and turn on their own in anger and frustration. Just a few days ago, they attacked Alec’s new PR guy and libelously suggested he was lying about having staff and associates. Interestingly, it was Carlos Pedraza himself–who was recently contacted by Alec Peters’ lawyer about publishing certain misleading information–who came to the PR guy’s defense…and a few detractors then turned on Carlos! (That was fun to watch.) A week earlier, a few detractors tried to defend not deleting a comment from the Axamonitor group page that implied someone would shoot Alec’s girlfriend because they said it was obviously a joke about breast implants and not gun violence directed toward a woman…as if making fun of the size of a woman’s chest is somehow acceptable. And of course, the week before that, they turned on their fellow Axamonitor member Shane Acree for not towing the party line, inspiring him to leave the group and personally apologize to Alec Peters and myself for his years of negativity. We welcomed him back from the Dark Side.
So yeah, the detractor cheese is definitely staring to slide off the cracker (or the biscuit), and we on the Axanerd side are just having the time of our lives watching everything come together for Alec and Axanar while everything comes apart for those who, after nearly four years, can’t seem to let go of their obsessive anger, resentment, and in some cases, hatred. I much prefer the side with all the love. 🙂
That reads like a cathartic response! Just go on proving them wrong.
Total catharsis! I actually wish I could perform an exorcism, but I don’t know how and I’m not Catholic. 🙂