Exploring the world of Star Trek fan films.
The first episode of Project: Potemkin‘s fourth (and final) season–the 8-minute “The Talinar Incident”–has just been posted online…barely two weeks after posting their previous episode! This fan series is beginning to proliferate faster than a tribble!!
Watch “The Talinar Incident” now!
Read PART 1 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.
Read PART 2 of our interview with Project: Potemkin creator RANDY LANDERS.
Going against my better judgment (that’s screaming at me, “Jon, stop typing NOW!”), I’m going to jump head first into the latest controversy surrounding a recent comment claiming that Axanar has “poisoned the well” for all other fan films.
Buckle up, folks!
And just when you thought we were done with pre-hearing filings in the Paramount and CBS copyright lawsuit against AXANAR, in come the Klingons!
In what has to be one of the strangest amicus briefs (a “friend of the court” opinion submitted in a case by a party not directly involved) to ever come across U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner’s desk, Marc Randazza of the Language Creation Society has argued that Paramount and CBS’s claim of ownership of the Klingon language should be dismissed because Klingon is, in fact, NOT copyrightable!
Today’s Hollywood Reporter has a very entertaining write-up of this story which actually contains a link to the filing itself. As far as I’m concerned, this amicus brief is a MUST READ just to enjoy the fact that a serious legal document has been filed in Federal Court that is written partly in KLINGON!
And just to remind everyone, Paramount did produce this hilarious episode of Frasier, “Star Mitzvah,” back in 2002:
Yesterday, Star Trek Continues announced that they were selected as the 2016 WEBBY People’s Voice winner for Online Film and Video – Drama: Long Form or Series. Congratulations to this prominent Star Trek fan series.
The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category — The Webby Award and The Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the Nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the Winners of The Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open Web, The Webby People’s Voice is awarded by the voting public. Each year, The Webby People’s Voice Awards garners millions of votes from all over the world.
The Drama: Long Form or Series category is open to serial content dedicated to dramatic material premiered on the Internet. Entries must consist of one or more episodes over 5 minutes in total to qualify for this category. This year, in addition to Star Trek Continues and three other web series, the category also contained a nomination for NBC’s Heroes Reborn web series, Dark Matters.
The first episode of the TOS-based educational fan series Starship Grissom is now online. This series is written by a group of teachers from Highland East Junior High School in Moore ,Oklahoma and is designed so educators anywhere can download and use it in the classroom.
A complete set of lesson plans and introduction videos, in a variety of subjects, is also released with each episode. All lessons meet Common Core and STEM standards and can be modified for Advanced Placement or Special Education students.
The goal is to provide a complete teaching resource using science fiction to promote interest in science, technology, and education.
Watch Starship Grissom‘s debut episode “Planet L-197” here:
In what is likely the final documentation containing legal arguments to be submitted before the court hearing on May 9, 2016, the attorneys representing Axanar have just filed a Response to Paramount and CBS’s Response to Axanar‘s latest Motion to Dismiss (itself a response to Paramount and CBS’s Amended complaint for copyright infringement).
Although Fan Film Factor is taking a neutral stance regarding this lawsuit, I do have to admit to being fascinated as I read each of these documents. If one can get past all the legal language and case references scattered throughout, what amazed me most was how thoroughly convinced I was each time I read the arguments of one side or the other. Just when I thought, “Oh, man, they’ve nailed it!” I would read the response and think, “Okay, well, that convinced me the other way!”
In other words, I’m glad I’m not the judge on this case! He’ll have to study all the main legal documentation filed in this case so far…
Here is a link to the text of the ORIGINAL lawsuit.
Here is a link to the text of Axanar‘s ORIGINAL response.
Here is a link to the text of the AMENDED lawsuit.
Here is a link to the text of Axanar’s SECOND response.
Here is a link to the analysis of CBS/Paramount’s response to that.
And here is a link to the FINAL response from Axanar.
For a more complete list of media coverage of this story, Axanar has provided this Press Room Page full of links to news reports and editorials regarding the lawsuit.
Watch Star Trek: Intrepid‘s latest episode-“Nemo Me Impune Lacessit“-here!
(The title translates from Latin as “No One Provokes Me with Impunity.”)
Yesterday, fan rumors began furiously flying when two separate fan series websites were suddenly unavailable at the same time! Was this some new offensive by CBS and Paramount to shut down all fan films???
Stand down from red alert, folks. It turns out that nothing so earth-shattering happened. In the case of Axanar‘s website, the glitch appears to have been just that, and the site is back up and running normally.
In the case of Star Trek: New Voyages, the disappearance of their main U.S. website was explained on their international Facebook page:
Continue reading “DON’T PANIC!!! – NEW VOYAGES and AXANAR websites both go offline temporarily”
Watch Starship Deimos’s second vignette–“Aftermath”–here!
Although the Treklanta convention has not yet (as of this posting) updated their website, they have created a video announcing their winners for 2016. This is their second year presenting these awards.
Alec Peters of Star Trek: Axanar, who attended the event in Atlanta, just posted a list of all of the winners in text format (which is faster to read than watching the entire 9-minute video).
In summary, of the 13 categories, Star Trek: Renegade‘s pilot episode/movie won 7 awards, and Star Trek Continues‘ episode “The White Iris” won 5 awards. The only other winner was the just-launched new series Starship Tristan and its debut episode “Moving Day.”
The only fan film/series represented at the con to receive their award in person was Starship Tristan.