Breaking news!!! Magistrate Judge rules in AXANAR’s favor regarding discovery!

Axaanr splash image2I don’t usually get breaking news as it happens, but Judge Magistrate Charles Eick just ruled on the Axanar defense team’s motion to have the court compel discovery (force the studios to deliver documents they were refusing to produce for the defense to look over before trial).

I was in court myself observing this morning, and I hadn’t expected the judge to rule so quickly.  But Judge Eick understood that, with only 12 days left until the close of the discovery period, the clock was ticking.

His ruling JUST came out, and I don’t even have the full text yet.  All I have is this summary:

On or before October 28, 2016, Plaintiffs shall…

  1. serve supplemental responses without objection, and produce all documents responsive to, the following requests (except documents withheld under claim of attorney-client privilege): 14, 35, 36, 37 (limited to the works allegedly infringed and also limited to documents (which may be summary documents) sufficient to show revenues and profitability), 17 (limited to 2009 to the present), 18 (limited to 2009 to the present), 21, 25 and 29;
  2. serve supplemental answers without objection to Interrogatories Nos. 8 and 9
  3. produce for deposition a witness or witnesses prepared to testify as to Deposition Testimony Subject No. 28;
  4. serve a privilege log identifying with particularity all documents withheld under claim of attorney- client privilege; and
  5. to the extent not otherwise ordered herein, fulfill all discovery-related promises previously made by Plaintiffs to Defendants.

In short, Axanar got pretty much everything they wanted and the studios are going to have a VERY busy week ahead.

Now, I’m going to need a couple of days to parse this all out and translate it from legalese into lay-person’s English.  So please be patient.  (During that time, I’ve also Jayden’s karate class, soccer practice, a friend’s birthday, a soccer game, and a birthday party for one of Jayden’s classmates.  And so this is why I don’t blog professionally.)

But short summary: big win for Axanar during the discovery phase.  The actual trial is completely separate, but for right now, the defense is going to have a very happy weekend.

THE FEDERATION FILES premieres its debut episode “His Name Is Mudd”!

his-name-is-muddIf there were ever a game of “Where’s Waldo” using the credits of Star Trek fan films, Glen L. Wolfe would surely be Waldo.  If you visit Glen’s IMDb page, you’ll see him having participated in a dozen different fan films and series stretching back to 2013: Star Trek: Renegades, Horizon, Deception, Secret Voyage, Ambush, Equinox, Temporal Anomaly, and multiple episodes of New Voyages and Continues.  He’s worked on fan films as an actor, producer, cameraman, electrician, and art designer.

And now Glen can add writer and director to that list, having finally been the show-runner on a fan film of his own.  “His Name Is Mudd” serves as the debut release of the new THE FEDERATION FILES, which is produced in conjunction with Starfleet Studios in Iowa.  Their Facebook page talks about the new series:

The Federation Files is an opened look at the Memory Alpha database. The concept is to allow filmmakers a location to make their films available to the fans. Scripts will span the entire Star Trek Universe. Each episode can be free standing, therefore a new cast could be featured every time.

Following the Outer Limits and Twilight Zone format, the fan can view any episode in any order as they do not build on each other.

In this way, the new series will conform to the guidelines in not featuring continuing stories about the same characters.

federation-filesThis debut episode features a veritable “who’s who” of Star Trek fan film actors and crew.  Michael L. King of Starship Valiant makes a cameo appearance as Commander Bishop (his character from that series).  Cat Roberts, who appeared in Star Trek Continues‘ “Fairest of Them All” and later played Janice Rand in multiple episodes of The Red Shirt Diaries, plays Rand again, this time on the USS Constitution.  Robert Withrow reprises his character of Admiral Witrow from multiple episodes of New Voyages.  David Whitney of Starfleet Studios in Iowa, the show-runner of the nearly-completed Trek fan film Raven, plays a perfectly unscrupulous Harry Mudd.  And even more actors and production crew from these series and others appear throughout the credits.

federation-files-crew-photo
Glen L. Wolfe sits in the command chair surrounded by the cast and crew of “His Name Is Mudd.”

This 47-minute fan production was filmed at various locations, including at Starfleet Studios in Iowa; down at Starbase Studios in Oklahoma on their bridge, transporter, and sickbays sets; and even up in Ticonderoga, New York at James Cawley’s Retro Studios using the briefing room set.  If there is such a thing as a “family” of fan filmmakers (and I truly believe there is) this production was indeed a family affair.

You can watch “His Name Is Mudd” by clicking here.

 

AURORA finally completes its second episode, “MUDD IN YOUR I”, after three years!

auroraFans of this innovative amateur Trek series have been waiting a long time for this!  STAR TREK: AURORA began way back in 2006, using 3D animation to tell the story of two colorful and intriguing merchant woman trying to make a living on the fringes of Federation space.  It was Star Trek and it wasn’t Star Trek–all at the same time–and it was fantastic!  Creator Tim Vining worked for years, with his computer spending countless hours rendering out one frame at a time of footage.  Posting the first episode in multiple parts as each was completed, the final act was released to fans in 2011…six years after the series first debuted.

But Tim wasn’t finished yet.  In September of 2013, he released the first part of his second episode, “Mudd in Your I.”  Needless to say, a familiar and unscrupulous character from Star Trek lore had a role to play in the story.  Last December, the fourth of five parts was released, bringing the total length to 27 minutes.  And now, in October of 2016–three years after the first part debuted–“Mudd in Your I” is finally complete, clocking in at a full 38 minutes long!  (Fortunately, newer computers render CGI frames faster.)

Unfortunately, the new fan film guidelines affected this series in two ways.  The first was minor–Star Trek: Aurora became simply Aurora (complying with the moratorium on using the words “Star Trek” in a fan film’s title and instead including a subtitle saying “A Star Trek Fan Film” underneath).  The second was more problematic: no ongoing series.  Tim Vining addressed this on his website:

As many fans know, recent guidelines from CBS/Paramount, the owners of Star Trek’s copyright, have placed new restrictions on fan films, in particular regarding the use of recurring original characters in fan films, so the future for Kara and T’Ling is a bit cloudy at the moment. What is not in doubt is our commitment to creating animated stories for people to enjoy and share, so whether that involves Kara and T’Ling, or some new characters or even some “new world,” be watching for further adventures from our little team!

Aurora is absolutely worth your time to watch–both episodes, if you can.  Click here to view “Mudd in Your I”.

And if you’d like to learn more about this series (and get a link to episode one), FAN FILM FACTOR has a great feature on the history of Aurora.

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

starship-antyllusGeorge 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)

Axaanr splash image2Yesterday, 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)

Axaanr splash imageDid 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

12Late 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)

Axaanr splash image2I’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)…

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 2)”

AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 1)

Axaanr splash imageIt’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!

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery phase heats up! (Part 1)”