Jonathan Lane – Page 127 – Fan Film Factor

STAR TREK: ANTYLLUS (now STARSHIP ANTYLLUS) releases its latest episode: “Ripple Effect”!

George Kayaian released his first Star Trek fan film waaaaaaay back in 1994. It starred his mother as the captain and his father as the chief engineer. That series turned into a trilogy of mutli-part productions, finishing up in 2012 and spanning more than five and a half hours of screen time!

But George Kayaian wasn’t finished quite yet. In 2013, George began his next ongoing fan series, Star Trek: Antyllus, starring himself as the captain. George also writes and directs the episodes, still using family and friends to play the various roles and help with production. As fan series go, it’s quite noticeably one of the lower budget ones, but those are often the ones with the most heart and passion….and good stories.

George posted his previous episode in November of 2015, a couple of months before FAN FILM FACTOR was launched. In the interim, the new fan film guidelines were released by CBS and Paramount, which necessitated a change of title for the series to Starship Antyllus (fan films are no longer allowed to have “Star Trek” in their titles). Of course, there are other guidelines, as well, dealing with things like funding and episode length. Funding isn’t an issue, as these guys pretty much bankroll themselves. But run time for this episode is 35 minutes, way over the 15-minute limit imposed by the studios. I asked George about that, and here’s what he said:

I’m trying my best to follow the guidelines, and I’m hoping that the grandfather clause still applies since this episode and the next couple were created before the guidelines came into being. It’s just taking me a while to get things posted in this incredibly busy period of time in my life. My series is self-funded, or no budget at all for that matter! And each episode is made with my family and friends with love and no pay. We are a true fan film project. I hope the powers that be appreciate that and realize where I’m coming from. Even my YouTube channel is NOT monetized! Everything I do is for love and creativity.

You can watch Antyllus‘ latest episode, “Ripple Effect,” by clicking here.

And you can watch their first eight episodes here on their YouTube channel.

New video(s) added to FUNNY STUFF: “Make It So” and “TIE After TIE”

In late 2013, the Earth was invaded…by a song. The song would go on to win the Academy Award a few months later, but long before that, nearly every little girl on the planet (and many little boys, too) were singing it everywhere they went! And while most adults couldn’t remember the lyrics no matter how hard we tried to memorize them (frozen fractals???), we all knew the three-word name of the song from the chorus: “Let It Go!”

It took less than two months for a Star Trek parody of that infectious melody to make its appearance, compliments of a Canadian singing duo from Toronto known as Debs & Errol. Their band broke up in 2015, sadly, but not before giving the world numerous geek parody songs and music videos…most of which can be found on their YouTube channel. And of course, what better way to parody the words “Let It Go!” than with Jean-Luc Picard’s patented command catch-phrase: “Make It So!”

But aside from simply being a clever idea, the parody lyrics are amazingly fitting to the plot of the eighth Star Trek feature film First Contact, the movie clips follow those lyrics perfectly, and the singing is refreshingly on key (thank God!). Take a look:

But wait! There’s more!!!

Debs and Errol have a whole bunch of parody videos up on their YouTube channel, but my absolute FAVORITE, even more than the “Make It So!” Star Trek one, is this brilliant Star Wars parody music video, “TIE After TIE.” You’re NOT going to regret this:

Bombshells begin in discovery phase of AXANAR lawsuit! (Part 2)

Yesterday, we began discussing the two documents filed by the opposing parties in the Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit last Friday. (There’s actually three documents, but more on that later.)

Both of the new documents are significantly shorter than the 60-page Joint Stipulation document from the previous week that argued for and against the court to compel the studios to produce a boatload of documentation related tot he case.

While the plaintiffs’ supplemental memorandum was only a page and a half and repeated most of what they argued previously, the defense’s supplemental memorandum used the full five pages permitted by the court. When last we left off, we were talking about President Gerald Ford. No, seriously. Go back and read yesterday’s blog, and then come back here to see how team Axanar‘s strategy is becoming much clearer now…

Continue reading “Bombshells begin in discovery phase of AXANAR lawsuit! (Part 2)”

Bombshells begin in discovery phase of AXANAR lawsuit! (Part 1)

Did you hear the fireworks last Friday afternoon? If you were in the Central District Federal Courthouse of the 9th Circuit, you might have!

As expected, both the Axanar defense team at Winston & Strawn and the CBS/Paramount legal team at Loeb & Loeb filed their brief supplements to their recent 60-page Joint Stipulation document to compel discovery that was filed on September 29th. The deadline for adding anything to the original filing was the end of business last Friday, and things came right down to the wire!

Y’see, both sides wanted to get the last word in, so each waited as long as possible to file their supplemental memorandum. But in the end, Winston & Strawn waited just a teensy bit longer and managed to adjust their filing slightly to address a couple of the points that the plaintiffs included in their supplement.

Continue reading “Bombshells begin in discovery phase of AXANAR lawsuit! (Part 1)”

No use crying over spilled water – FFF down for a few days

Late on Thursday night, I accidentally spilled water all over my keyboard. As you can probably guess, this was not appreciated by my computer all that much, and I won’t see the trusty ol’ gal again until late Monday or Tuesday at the earliest…along with a $500 repair bill.

For those commenting on the Friday legal filings in the AXANAR case and the bombshells contained in them–like Paramount not providing ANY emails for discovery or the late news that CBS does, apparently, own Star Trek (oh, well)–yes, I’ve seen all three filings. And I plan to write up a blog on them just as soon as I have a decent keyboard again. I just can’t whip out a 2,000-word article on an iPad keyboard!

In the meantime, I’m researching what I can (what does President Gerald Ford have to do with AXANAR???) and getting ready for our next dive into the legal swimming pool.

AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 2)

I’m going to save some time and instead of summarizing Part 1, I recommend you read it, if you haven’t already. You can also link to the 60-page Joint Stipulation document that contains both Axanar‘s Motion to Compel the studios to deliver the remainder of the documentation they initially asked for, and also the studios’ responses to those requests.

When last we left off, we were up to the third category of documentation requested by the defense (and not fully provided by the plaintiff)…

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AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 1)

It’s “High Noon” in the Axanar lawsuit…and we haven’t even gotten to trial yet! But that ominous background music is playing, and the two gunfighters are facing off for a showdown in the middle of a dusty street in a western town. More specifically, the CBS and Paramount lawyers at Loeb & Loeb are facing down the Axanar lawyers at Winston & Strawn (and vice-versa!), and the entire case could be won or lost right now by either side–months before trial even begins–and both teams of lawyers know it!

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STONE TREK (interview with BRIAN MATTHEWS and WALLY FIELDS, part 2)

Last time, we featured the first part of our interview with Brian Matthews, the creator of the hilarious parody STONE TREK, and his amazing voice-over artist, Wally Fields. Stone Trek is one of the most inspired, creative, and well-executed of all the Star Trek fan film mash-ups, a series of nine cartoon shorts created by Brian Mathews and released online using Adobe’s Flash software between 2000 and 2007. Merging the two distinct television franchises into a completely fresh hybrid, Brian and his team took us where no caveman had gone before…

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STONE TREK (interview with BRIAN MATTHEWS and WALLY FIELDS, part 1)

When it comes to fan films, Star Trek is no stranger to mash-ups. Fans have taken Star Trek into the Star Wars universe and vice versa. Kirk and Spock have met the 1960s TV Batman and Robin. Heck, the Enterprise has even picked up Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz! (I’ve already done a feature on Star Trek vs. Batman. The others are coming.)

But by far (at least in my opinion) the most inspired, creative, and well-executed of all the Star Trek fan film mash-ups is Stone Trek, a series of nine cartoon shorts created by Brian Mathews and released online using Adobe’s Flash software between 2000 and 2007.

Stone Trek is NOT some silly crossover where the USS Enterprise travels back in time to Bedrock and Fred Flintstone beams up to meet Captain Kirk. Instead, it’s a complete hybrid of the two shows, an entirely new entity combining recognizable elements of both but ultimately emerging as something totally unique and original.

Continue reading “STONE TREK (interview with BRIAN MATTHEWS and WALLY FIELDS, part 1)”

TREK: ISOLATION spins off from STARSHIP FARRAGUT and releases its first series episode “Out of the Fire”!

TREK ISOLATION, the long-awaited spin-off fan series to the long-running and celebrated Starship Farragut, is finally here with its first series episode “Out of the Fire.“

Technically, Trek Isolation has been “here” for a couple of years already. The series first debuted in late 2014 with a short prelude vignette titled “Change in Command.” During the 5-minute fan film, Captain Jack Carter (played by co-writer and Starship Farragut show-runner/star John Broughton) informs his chief of security (played by co-writer Eric Moran) that the lieutenant commander will be getting a promotion and reassignment as first officer and science officer aboard the USS Babylon.

Six months later, the Trek Isolation team SHOCKED fans when it released its second prelude vignette “A Great Responsibility“ featuring none other than Marvel Comics legend STAN LEE as a Starfleet Admiral! And it wasn’t just a brief cameo, as happens in so many Marvel movies. Instead, Stan does a two and a half minute scene as part of this four and a half minute fan production as he assigns Captain Hawkins (played by co-writer Dave Turner) as the new commander of the USS Babylon.

Continue reading “TREK: ISOLATION spins off from STARSHIP FARRAGUT and releases its first series episode “Out of the Fire”!”