News – Page 79 – Fan Film Factor

NINER FANS release an UNOFFICIAL TRAILER for imagined DS9 SEASON 4 Blu-Ray!

Back in late 2015, two hard-core Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans, DAVID FRANK and CHRISTIAN LERCH, created a unique fan film. They imagined what a teaser/trailer for an High Definition DS9 Blu-ray collection might look like. It had been a year since the completion of the seven-season Blu-Ray releases of Star Trek: The Next Generation in December of 2014, and like many “Niner” fans, they hoped that CBS would give the same treatment to DS9.

Talented motion designers, David and Christian used their skills to create a minute-long teaser/trailer using nothing but CGI graphics of the station consoles coming to life, with a majestic DS9 musical soundtrack. They described the sequence:

It features the Cardassian Space Station shortly before the pilot of DS9. The Cardassians just left after over 50 years of occupation, and the Bajorans are about to take over the Station. The Station kind of senses the imminent arrival of the Bajoran military forces and “wakes up.”

It ended with the words: “BRING IT TO BLU-RAY”

A few months later in March of 2016, David and Christian released a new minute-long trailer for a hypothetical DS9 Season 2 HD Blu-Ray…again ending with the words “BRING IT TO BLU-RAY.” But this time they added voice-over clips from the episodes “The Circle” and “In the Hands of the Prophets” to their CGI and haunting music track…resulting in a dramatic and chilling finished piece.

In July, the Season 3 teaser/trailer was released…this time with CGI space battle footage featuring Romulans, Cardassians, Jem’Hadar, and the USS Defiant (with ship models provided by the one-and-only TOBIAS RICHTER)—and voice-over clips from “Improbable Cause” and “The Die Is Cast.” Man, if you don’t get goosebumps from seeing this one and immediately rush out to rewatch that season of DS9, you might want to turn in your geek membership card!

Those three teaser/trailers were released within about eight months of each other, but it’s now been just over a year since their last endeavor. (Keep in mind that David and Christian do this in their spare time for no money.)

But the wait for the Season 4 teaser/trailer is over. It was released last week and looks AMAZING! Now nearly two and a half minutes long, the final message has changed to “BRING IT TO HIGH DEFINITION.” Amen to that!

If you want to see the teaser/trailers for the previous three seasons, here they are…

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JAMES CAWLEY announces the new STAR TREK FILM ACADEMY! (news and editorial)

This is what I get for going to Colorado instead of Las Vegas! I wind up taking an antique train ride through the Rocky Mountains to visit an old silver mine with my son and my brother and his family…while at the same time, JAMES CAWLEY makes a HUGE announcement about fan films and CBS licensing!

It’s amazing the kind of cell coverage you get on a train in the middle of mountain wilderness, but it seemed like everyone was coming to me for answers about Saturday morning’s big news from the creator of STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES and the officially licensed Star Trek Set Tour in the small and lovely town of Ticonderoga, New York.

Of course, I had no answers. Yes, I knew the announcement was coming a few days earlier and that it involved James Cawley and his sets—but I didn’t know the details. My news Saturday came from Carlos Pedraza’s Axamonitor blog site and TrekMovie.com. And for those that haven’t heard yet, here’s the basic info…

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TRISTAN Production Crew releases new episode: “THE VOICE OF YOUR BLOOD”!

Chalk up yet another fan film release for the folks at POTEMKIN PICTURES! This brings their total number of finished fan productions to (I think, because it’s easy to lose count) FIFTY-FIVE! Their latest offering is from the Tristan Production Crew—which is based in Georgia (the other teams are in Alabama)—and provides fans another look at the adventures of the crew of the USS Tristan in the movie-era TOS time frame.

The 14-and-a-half-minute “The Voice of Your Blood” is the ninth completed fan film from the Tristan team. It brings back WILLIAM C. SEARCY’s fan-favorite character of half-Vulcan Chief Medical Officer Skep Anderson. (William also wrote this episode.) Fans of the various Potemkin Pictures series will also enjoy an unexpected cameo by a cast member from one of their other productions.

You can watch all of the Tristan Production Crew’s episodes (along with the other four dozen or so Potemkin Picture releases) here on their website.

And here is “The Voice of Your Blood”…

STAR TREK CONTINUES releases their NINTH EPISODE: “What Ships Are For”!

Many are calling it one of STAR TREK CONTINUES’ best episodes yet! I’m sure some will complain, as someone always does, it seems. And admittedly, the first half of the episode does move more slowly than the second half…but oh, what a second half it is!

Without stepping into spoiler territory, this episode heartens back to the golden age of TOS when many of the episodes provided viewers with a mirror from which they could see and examine one or more of the complex issues of the day: the war in Vietnam, racism, the hippie movement, the ever-growing spectacle of television itself.

“What Ships Are For” does just that with one of the most controversial and divisive political dilemmas of today…told in a creative and ultimately poignant way. Unlike many fan films, this episode of STC doesn’t rely on space battles or some threat to the ship but rather focuses on a society facing a crisis of change—a change that could quite literally tear them apart. And right in the middle of it all are Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Sound familiar? If you named just about any of the original series episodes, you’d probably be right! And for me, that’s the reason “What Ships Are For” worked so well.

The episode also worked well because of the amazingly strong performances of their guest cast for this episode. Anne Lockhart will be familiar to sci-fi fans as the actress who played Lt. Sheba in the original Battlestar Galactica. (She is also the daughter of Lost in Space star June Lockhart). Elizabeth Maxwell is an accomplished voice-over actress. But most impressive was a tour de force performance by actor John de Lancie, best known to fans for his portrayal of omnipotent intergalactic troublemaker “Q” on TNG, DS9, and Voyager.

Despite this being “only” a fan film (HA!), de Lancie gives his all to this role, delivering his lines with a poignancy that makes the plight of this alien society feel real and tangible to the viewer rather than simply being some plot contrivance intended to comment on a currently charged political issue. De Lancie’s performance, I believe, elevated other performances in the episode, especially that of star Vic Mignogna, who delivered a magnificently powerful Kirk speech at the end. The two performances together actually bought a tear to my eye.

See for yourself how good the episode was, and then feel free to post comments with spoilers below. And if you don’t want spoilers, please watch first before reading the comments on this page…

STAR TREK CONTINUES revises the RELEASE DATES for its final two episodes!

Later on today, STAR TREK CONTINUES will debut its ninth full episode, “What Ships Are For” (with special guest stars John de Lancie and Anne Lockhart!) in front of a fan audience at the Florida Supercon in Ft. Lauderdale. The rest of the world will get to see the episode tomorrow! (Indiegogo donors—like me—got a special advanced screening link yesterday, so I’ve already seen it. And it was really good, folks. Definitely worth your time to check it out when it’s released…especially the second half. No spoilers, but I cried a little at the end. Very powerful performance by John de Lancie.)

Early last month, STC announced the release schedule of their final three episodes, with special previews of each episode during conventions where the STC cast would be appearing. In addition to episode XI “What Ships Are For,” the release dates for episodes X and XI were given, as well: “To Boldly Go (Part One)” would premiere at Salt Lake City Comic Con the weekend of September 21-23 and “To Boldly Go (Part Two)” would premiere two weeks later at New York City Comicon the weekend of October 5-8.

But that was before CBS announced the premiere date of Star Trek: Discovery was going to be September 24. Oh, dear. STC‘s penultimate episode would be premiering just as the world would be focused on the first new Star Trek to hit television screens in a dozen years! Obviously, the timing of the two releases within a day of each other would not be in the best interests of CBS or STC.

So VIC MIGNOGNA posted the following message to fans of STC:

When we scheduled the releases for our 2-part finale at Salt Lake Comic Con & New York Comic Con, the release date for Star Trek: Discovery had not yet been set. When it was announced that it would air on Sept 24, we decided to make some adjustments to our release dates out of respect and support for CBS and ST: Discovery. We don’t want anything to detract from the excitement and anticipation of ST: Discovery!

We will now show a sneak peek of Episode X at New York Comic Con on Sunday, October 8. and will debut it publicly on October 18. Our final episode, XI, will be released publicly on November 13, with a sneak peek of the episode to be screened at an event prior (TBD). Exclusive episode posters will be given to the first 300 fans at both events!

So a bad news/good news situation for STC fans. The bad news is that we have to a little longer for the next new episode of STC and an extra month or so for the finale. The good news is that we don’t have to face the reality of the last-ever episode of STC until November instead of October.

New fan series ENDEAVOUR releases its debut episode “The Gift”!

Okay, I know we’re not supposed to call it a “fan SERIES.” After all, the guidelines specify that there are to be no ongoing fan series. So instead, POTEMKIN PICTURES is simply producing a series of fan films, each with a different title, and each produced by a different production crew.

So the Potemkin Production Crew already finished a run of 36 fan films featuring the crew of the USS Potemkin. The Tristan Production Crew has released 8 fan films telling stories of the crew of the USS Tristan. The Deimos Production Crew has produced 5 fan films focusing on—you guessed it!—the crew of the USS Deimos. And a final team, the Kupok Prodcution Crew, has told 3 stories of the crew of the Klingon Battlecrusier Kupok.

However, for the last 15 months or so, the Potemkin Pictures website had displayed an additional production crew (for the Endeavour) with no episodes released yet. I assumed this was for a new series of fan films featuring the crew of the USS Endeavour (and it turns out I was right), but why was there such a delay?

Well, the wait finally ended last week when the Pelham, Alabama-based Endeavor Production Team released their first completed fan film, the 13-minute long “The Gift.”

I asked show-runner RANDY LANDERS about the long production schedule:

We filmed last June, and it took two extra months because of the extensive green screen work, some camera choices that had to be corrected in post, and because we were looking for fans who had an infant, who live nearby, and who would be willing to have their child on camera. Our longer productions take 9-12 months.

Still having struggles with the green screen. But getting better.

I hope y’all enjoy it. It is good family fare.

You care judge for yourself, folks. Take a look at the first effort of a new fan FILM (don’t call it a fan SERIES!) from the Endeavour Production team…

TERRY McINTOSH is officially warned by actor TONY TODD not to use his AXANAR blooper footage!

After yesterday’s blog about the troubling behavior of TERRY McINTOSH, I’d really hoped to get back to fan films today. Yeah, I thought I was out, but Terry pulled me back in. However, this WILL be my last Terry McIntosh blog for the foreseeable future. I don’t want to keep giving him all this attention, even if it is completely negative. But I felt it was necessary to follow-up on yesterday’s blog because of something that happened later on last evening.

Quick recap: Terry McIntosh, who worked with Axanar Productions for years before flying off in a huff has all the footage from Prelude to Axanar…including outtakes. Even though Terry signed a non-disclosure agreement agreeing to keep all Axanar-related materials confidential, he already leaked an early version of the full Axanar script, and now he’s announced plans to release a Prelude to Axanar blooper reel…even though he doesn’t own the footage or have permission to do so.

Terry’s stated intention is to use the blooper reel to embarrass Alec Peters, who apparently worked through numerous bad takes to get his performance as Garth to a point where it would be strong enough to feature in the fan film alongside the professional actors (who obviously didn’t flub their lines as much as Alec did…since he’s not a trained actor).

Terry contacted the other actors (with the exception of the late Richard Hatch and his estate) to ask “permission” to use their blooper footage (failing to mention that he was no longer with Axanar Productions and was doing this “rogue” in an attempt to embarrass Alec Peters). Although Kate Vernon said okay, Gary Graham and J.G. Hertzler said no.

Then Terry said this:

In other words, Terry asked for permission, was not given that permission, and is now considering ignoring this actor’s wishes and using the footage anyway.

What I wrote in yesterday’s blog was NOT pretty. But at least, I thought, this can’t get any worse. There’s no way for Terry to possibly sink any lower.

Man, was I wrong…

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DR. SEUSS/STAR TREK: What happens next? (Part 3)

Feel free to read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t already. This time, we’re going to look at is the state of the Dr. Seuss/Star Trek “mash-up” lawsuit as it stands right now.

Initially , there were three legal complaints filed by the plaintiffs, Dr. Seuss Enterprises:

Copyright infringement
Trademark infringement
Unfair competition

Judge Janis L. Sammartino of the Ninth Circuit Federal Court dismissed the second and third complaints, leaving only the copyright infringement claim as the lawsuit…and that one was “nearly perfectly balanced” based on the “fair use” defense.

But the judge did give the plaintiff a “second chance” to get those two dismissed claims back. She gave them two weeks to file an amended complaint that might change her mind about dismissing trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The plaintiff did, indeed, re-file an Amended Complaint. Not surprisingly, the defendants then filed a new Motion to Dismiss.

The plaintiff wants their two dismissed claims back. The defendant would like to keep those two claims dismissed and, if possible, dismiss the final copyright claim and end the lawsuit completely.

Will either side succeed? Let’s take a closer look…

Continue reading “DR. SEUSS/STAR TREK: What happens next? (Part 3)”

DR. SEUSS/STAR TREK: A “near-perfect balancing” of FAIR USE factors! (Part 2)

Last time, we began looking at the intriguing case of the Dr. Seuss/Star Trek “mash-up” book Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go! by DAVID GERROLD and TY TEMPLETON. Last November, they got sued by Dr. Seuss Enterprises for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. The defense quickly filed a motion to dismiss the case. After a brief extension, the judge issued a ruling last month. (For more details, read yesterday’s blog.)

The motion to dismiss centered around the “mash-up” being protected as “fair use.” And while judges do not usually rule on fair use this early in a case, the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino of the 9th Circuit Federal Court did (again for reasons explained in yesterday’s blog).

So did the fair use defense work or not? What did the judge say???

In short, it’s a tie. She called it a “near-perfect balancing of the factors” of fair use. And what does that mean? Get comfy, folks, ’cause Jonny’s gonna do his best to break this down into layperson’s English for you all…

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DR. SEUSS/STAR TREK “Mash-Up” files new MOTION TO DISMISS! (Part 1)

Last week, I wrote a blog about what is rapidly becoming the second biggest copyright infringement lawsuit involving Star Trek in the last year. But this time it isn’t CBS and Paramount doing the suing, it’s Dr. Seuss Enterprises. And the target isn’t a fan film but rather a “mash-up” book that takes the characters, settings, and concepts of Star Trek and presents them in a style inspired by (the plaintiffs say “slavishly copied from”) the classics of Dr. Seuss.

The authors of the mash-up, entitled Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!, include Star Trek “The Trouble with Tribbles” writer DAVID GERROLD and award-winning comic book artist TY TEMPLETON. Together with their publisher, ComicMix, they were sued last November for both copyright and trademark infringement, along with unfair competition, by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the owners of all the works of Dr. Seuss. This lawsuit is seeking $150,000 in damages per infringement (of which there were multiple instances provided in the filing), for a potential judgment in the MILLIONS! And all of this for a small, grass-roots book project that took in only $30,000 in a Kickstarter last September (pledged money that is now being held by Kickstarter pending the outcome of this case) and has never been published.

(If you’re wondering how the non-publication of a book could cost the copyright owners millions of dollars in damages, well, sit tight. We’ll get to that in part 2.)

Anyway, last month, the judge in the case, the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino of the 9th Circuit Federal Court (yeah, the same court where the Axanar case was filed—but a totally different judge), made a series of significant pre-trial rulings. Among these were the dismissal of the trademark infringement and unfair competition portions of the complaint and declaring that the fair use defense was valid but still “too close to call” (my words, not hers) due to a lack of evidence of financial harm.

Many thought the case was pretty much over, but it wasn’t. So what happens now?

If you’re thinking this is gonna be another one of Jonathan’s long legal blogs, you’re probably right. But I’ll be walking you through it in helpful layperson’s English…and I guarantee you’ll come out of it much better informed. Ready?

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