It’s been less than two weeks since the first shoot for AXANAR wrapped, and ALEC PETERS just released the first teaser-trailer for what will be called THE GATHERING STORM. PRELUDE TO AXANAR was episode III of “The “Four Year War” multi-part documentary series from the 23rd century. The first two episodes will need to remain left up to fans’ imagination. But the two Axanar sequels will be episodes IV and V, completing the series. It has not yet been revealed what the title of the final episode will be.
The 1-minute YouTube video quickly went viral, with thousands of views in the first hour alone. You can check it out below…
Prior to the release of the above video, nearly 1,400 Axanar supporters gathered for a live premiere party at 9:00pm Eastern time. Then they waited about 5 minutes while Alec dealt with a technical glitch. But once the clip debuted, the reactions were very positive…judging by the 841 likes and only a handful of dislikes (less than 10 while it was still live). The only complaint was that fan wanted more-more-MORE!
Indeed, the actual amount of Axanar footage was only 25 seconds, but it was enough to give a tantalizing first taste of the quality of the video production, lighting, camera tracking, make-up, costumes, VFX, and look and feel of the sets and actors. Alec assured everyone that more and longer trailers would be coming soon.
Believe it or not, this was actually a lot of footage considering that editor BING BAILEY has a day job that exploded with a crisis this past week and took up most of his time. Remember, folks, that the Axanar team is made up of volunteers with real-life commitments along with their love of Star Trek and fan films (one fan film in particular!).
A question that came up was whether the superchat donations that came in during the livestream could be considered public crowd-funding (a no-no under the legal settlement with CBS and Paramount). Alec assured all viewers that any money collected through YouTube would be applied to Ares Studios (a separate legal entity) and NOT to Axanar Productions in any way.
Speaking of crowd-funding, Alec and his girlfriend CRYSSTAL HUBBARD were very careful during the 75-minute discussion following the premiere NOT to discuss Axanar crowd-funding in any way. The closest they got was suggesting that people sign up for the Axanar newsletter or go to Ares Digital…which is not the same as soliciting donations. Alec and Crysstal made certain not to say, “If you want to help crowd-fund, then go to Ares Digital where you can make a donation.”
For anyone curious, however, the total donated thus far (behind the Ares Digital firewall) is nearly $20,000 in just over two weeks…or more than a quarter of the way to the final goal of $70,000 to fund the first two shoots.
Alec and Crysstal did reveal a few tantalizing tidbits during the discussion following the premiere of the teaser-trailer…among them hints about the possible appearance of a certain Enterprise captain or two. But why not take a look for yourself? The video already has more than 16,000 views in less than 6 hours)…
” The first two episodes will need to remain left up to fans’ imagination”
But not entirely so since the scripts/story will be available.
This might be not appropriate for this topic, but I wanted to get it off my chest:
And, by the way, I assume you saw this report or a similar one? https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/10/04/cbs-sends-breach-of-notice-to-star-trek-fan-film-axanar/ – Internet etiquette prevents me from using the words that ran through my mind when I read it.
I did note that the reference was immediately removed but that CBS is pursuing an extremely nit-picking hyper-critical stance about Ares Studios and any tiny reference at all to fund raising.
I had started to put this behind me and started looking forward to Star Trek: Picard. But this pile of animal waste products brought all my negative feelings about CBS/P right back to the surface. If this continues I’m going to refuse to support CBS financially in spite of how much I want to see Picard. It won’t bother them one bit, of course, given that one person’s subscription is not even a blip financially to them, but I don’t care – it’s a matter of principle now.
CBS did, in fact, send Alec a Notice of Breach letter a few weeks ago. It contained two concerns. The first was easily and quickly remedied: Axanar’s new PR guy had accidentally referred to the project in a press release as an independent Star Trek production. That’s a no-no according to the terms of the settlement, and Alec acknowledged the error, fixed it, and assured CBS’s attorney that it would not happen again. And that’s exactly what a Notice of Breach letter is supposed to do: advise one party that the other party has an issue and then allows ten days to do something to address the issue and correct it.
The second concern that CBS (and Paramount) allegedly had was Alec publicly crowd-funding using Patreon. The settlement allows Alec only to privately fund Axanar and not use public services like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, or Patreon. However, the agreement only covers fundraising for Axanar Productions to make Axanar. Ares Studios didn’t exist when the settlement was signed, and it remains a completely separate legal entity from Axanar Productions. While Axanar will be filmed at Ares Studios, it is only one of many projects using the facility. Another is my fan film Interlude. There have also been nearly a half-dozen student projects filmed there, and Ares Studios has a partnership with the Gwinette County Public School District.
The Patreon is for Ares Studios, not Axanar Productions. Therefore, there is no restriction on publicly crowd-funding the studio. Yes, Axanar will be filmed there. But Axanar will also be filmed in Los Angeles at a different studio, and on location, as well. Just because a fan film shoots at a specific location doesn’t mean that location is part of the project.
Anyway. that e-mail to Alec came and sent weeks ago…much more than 10 days, which is the amount of time Alec had to address the issue. Alec addressed it by explaining essentially what I just explained to you, and it seems that was sufficient, as no other communication has been sent (according to Alec) since that last one. And as I said, it’s been more than 10 days.