It’s my party, and I’ll reply if I want to…

If you tend to read the comments sections of my blogs, you know that I get quite a lot of posts from Axanar detractors looking to accuse Alec Peters or Axanar of this or that crime or incompetence or atrocity.  Seldom do I trash any of these comments, and I usually provide some kind of response because, well, isn’t that what a blogger is supposed to do?

But lately, it just seems like I’m spending hours and hours each week just reading and responding to all of these angry and challenging posts, leaving me less time to focus on fan films and even my family.  Granted, I still prioritize the latter two over doing any kind of response writing, but that just means I write most of my responses really, really late at night.  Or sometimes I have a little time during the day and try to sneak a few responses in.

This happened yesterday afternoon as I was having a marathon session of dealing with detractors like Rand Johnson saying things like this:

Let me remind you that it was you who FIRST started being a condescending, egotistical, pompous, self-righteous, conceited, ego maniac, holier-than-thou, hotshot, puffed-up, self-centered, snobbish and stuck-up blogger who defends a man who made outlandish claims he was going to make a fan film then spent all the money on crap he did not need to make a fan film. Then you attacked anyone who criticized that man and your hero worship of that man. Or criticized you for promoting and defending that man who took donor money and used it as personal income to financially benefit himself and his associates.

Man, just reading that again exhausted me!  And that’s just one comment, folks.  I get so many.

But then I received a call that has changed everything…

Continue reading “It’s my party, and I’ll reply if I want to…”

The CONTINUING MISSION podcast is back…with special guest: ME!

These days, there seem to be an almost infinite number of Star Trek-themed podcasts….and many of them fall under the branded umbrella of TREK.FM, including “Mission Log,” “Star Trek Rewatch,” “Literary Treks,” “Standard Orbit,” “To the Journey,” “Meta Treks,” and so many others.

Up until recently, however, one of my personal favorite of the Trek.fm podcasts was missing in action: “Continuing Mission.”  This particular blog focused on the ever-expanding world of Star Trek fan films, interviewing a different creator or creative team each week.  Throughout 2014, Trek.fm founder and overachiever, CHRISTOPHER JONES, would host every episode, twenty-five in total during that year.  He also hosted a bunch of other Trek.fm podcasts at the same time.  So it’s probably not surprising that “Continuing Mission” dropped from twenty-five episodes in 2014 to only two (yes, two) total podcasts in all of 2015.

In the first half of 2016, “Continuing Mission” had a brief, six-episode resurrection under the hosting guidance of my friend DENNIS CASTELLO.  In fact, I recorded a podcast for Dennis along with co-guest TOMMY KRAFT (of Star Trek: Horizon) shortly after the fan film guidelines came out.  Alas, that two-hour and twenty minute impassioned discussion never made it to upload, as Dennis found himself unable to keep producing quality episodes consistently.

And so, “Continuing Mission” had been languishing in podcast limbo for ten months until a few weeks ago when new host TONY ROBINSON was talked into resurrecting it yet again by the ever-convincing and always-charming Christopher Jones.  Tony still isn’t quite sure how he got roped into it, but he’s an ardent Trekkie from the U.K. currently living in Ireland, and he was willing to give it his best shot.

Tony’s first podcast debuted on February 25, featuring show-runner RAY TESI of Starship Republic (click here to donate to their Indiegogo).  And to follow that up, well, Tony’s latest guest has the initials J.L. and he just typed the words “Tony’s latest guest has the initials J.L.”  Yep, I was podcast guest number two (I’ve been called worse) on the new “Continuing Mission,” and my episode just went live yesterday!

So if you just can’t get enough of me rambling on and on here in print, feel free to listen to me ramble on and on through your speakers!  Discover the not-so-secret origin of Fan Film Factor, learn how I got a job working for Paramount licensing, and find out where I go to get all the latest news on Star Trek fan films to feature here on this blog.

This link will take you directly to my podcast interview.  Enjoy!

Listen to JONATHAN’s radio interview discussing the AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Last Saturday, your sometimes-humble blogger, Jonathan Lane, appeared live on the SHANE PLAYS geek talk radio show to discuss the AXANAR lawsuit and surprising last-minute legal settlement.  Since then, folks who weren’t able to listen when it first  aired have asked me when and how they can listen to the entire broadcast online.

Wonder no more!

The recording was just posted to  iTunesGoogle Play Music and Stitcher.

There’s also a direct MP3 download:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/shaneplays/Shane_Plays_1-28-17_podcast.mp3

The Axanar discussion begins at 15:50 point.

REMINDER: Jonathan discusses AXANAR and FAN FILMS live Saturday at 2pm Eastern Time (11am Pacific)!

I’l be doing a live interview on the SHANE PLAYS radio program tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm Eastern Time (that’s 11am Pacific Time for me).  Shane will be talking to me about the AXANAR lawsuit and settlement–was there a clear winner and/or loser?–and about what this all might mean for the future of Star Trek fan films.

The show broadcasts live in the Little Rock area on 96.5 FM the Answer, and people can listen online at http://965fmtheanswer.com.  You can also call in.  The show will be archived afterwards for anyone to listen to who wants to.


Oh, and for anyone who is curious about my computer situation, a new MacBook Pro has been ordered and is now on its way from Brooklyn, NY to Los Angeles, CA (I order most of my expensive gadgets from &B&H Photo). As I feared, the culprit was indeed the logic board on my five and a half year old Mac laptop.  I will miss the 17″ screen (not made anymore), but time marches on.

My old computer will works at ultra-slow speed (it’s taken me 25-minutes to type this blog so far), so Fan Film Factor will likely remain “in hibernation” until mid-to-late next week.  My apologies.

JONATHAN’S computer being fixed

Hey, folks.  My trusty ol’ Macintosh is gettin’ a little too ol’, so while I contemplate spending thousands on a new one (sorry, PC people, I’m never going back to Windows), the current contraption is going into the shop for at least a day or two.

This means a delay on any new blog posts (including my interview with Alec Peters), as well as approving and/or responding to any comments.  As soon as I’m back at full power, I’ll make those two tasks my priority (after my family, of course).

In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to do on an otherwise pleasant Saturday, think about tuning in for my Axanar lawsuit update on the Shane Plays radio broadcast this Saturday at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific).  The show broadcasts live in the Little Rock area on 96.5 FM the Answer, and people can listen online at http://965fmtheanswer.com.  You can also call in!

TODAY IS JONATHAN’S 50th BIRTHDAY!

Yeah, totally self-indulgent, but it is my blog and my birthday, so please cut me a little slack.

Earlier this morning, I got one of my first birthday wishes e-mailed from a friend of mine in the U.K.  Apparently, in the European style, today’s date would be written as 17/01.  THAT EXPLAINS SO MUCH!!!  (And the embarrassing part: in five decades, I never noticed that before!)

So on my big FIVE-OH birthday (which CBS was nice enough to design a logo for!), I would like to thank my amazing family for putting up with me blogging all the time.  And I want to thank all of you for reading what I write.  Even if you don’t agree with me all the time, it’s still fun to know that I’m not just shouting out into an empty vacuum.

Continue reading “TODAY IS JONATHAN’S 50th BIRTHDAY!”

NEW MOTIONS filed to LIMIT EVIDENCE in the AXANAR LAWSUIT!

Axaanr splash imageJust when you thought you were out, I pull you back in!  Yes, it’s AXANAR lawsuit time again…and I really didn’t expect this part to be quite so significant.  Man, was I wrong!

As you may recall, the next major event in the Axanar case was supposed to be oral arguments for the motions for summary judgment in front of Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday morning.  But the judge canceled the in-person hearing and will be making his pre-trial rulings based solely on the documents filed by both parties.  (This is not unusual.  I’m told that Judge Klausner usually cancels oral arguments and rules based on filings.)  This means that the judge’s rulings could come at any time…and this lawsuit could possibly even be over before it begins!

But if this case does go to trial on January 31, then yesterday (Friday) was an important deadline.  It was the last chance each side had to challenge evidence and/or witnesses that the other side wants to use in court and present to the jury.  This can potentially be pretty big.  Imagine going into the big game with a few of your best players disqualified and benched.  That could happen if the judge excludes one or more pieces of potentially key or damaging evidence from being used at trial!

The plaintiffs are challenging TEN different items of evidence and potential witnesses (like little ol’ me!) while the defense team is challenging NINE.  I’ve consolidated all those separate motions into two huge PDF documents:

Defense Motions to Exclude

Plaintiff Motions to Exclude

You probably don’t want to read all 140 pages (although there’s some interesting stuff in there!), so I’m gonna help ya out and do a summary…later this week.  Assuming the judge doesn’t end the case before then, I’m gonna need at least a few days to parse through all this!

Except for the motion about me (starting on page 25).  That one I wanna tackle right now because, dammit, it’s my frickin’ blog and I should be allowed a bit of self-indulgent righteous indignation every once in a while!

So let’s take a look at why the plaintiffs don’t want me ruining their case…

Continue reading “NEW MOTIONS filed to LIMIT EVIDENCE in the AXANAR LAWSUIT!”