Anyone Looking Forward to Star Trek: Axanar?

Star Trek film 'Axanar' eyes production in Atlanta this October

These are the two fifteen minute episodes right? They aren’t allowed to make that two hour movie anymore.

I think they got grandfathered in.

No, his grace is exactly right. JJ said they would be grandfathered in, but they weren't. Because copyright gives suits and paper pushers control over creative work, not the creators.

I believe you, but why does Harlan Ellison have control over COTEOF?

He only has negative control over it. He can't do with it what he likes, he can just prevent other creations from happening. He was able to publish his original script, but only because it was rejected, and he can't go and film it or allow other derivatives of it or anything like that. And even Ellison only has his freedoms because he is famously litigious; if you don't want to spend half of your life in court, and instead keep on creating stuff, you get even less.

Que? Harlan ain't doing shit these days except decomposing.

There! See what copyright did to him?

Ok, so I should have said HAD his freedoms.

So Paramount/ CBS owns the story?

It's a very complicated case. Ellison did a number of unusual things with this script: He copyrighted the first version once Roddenberry said he wanted it changed, and he later took legal action to force the studio to correctly identify that he did NOT write the filmed script on his own. If anyone would go to court about who owns the story, they'd have to draw a line between the stories of those two versions. However, in terms of creative control, yes, the compan(ies) that own TOS now can do new derivatives from the episode (several happened in the novels), and Ellison's heirs cannot.

The final TNG episode "All Good Things" cribbed heavily from the script that Harlan wrote for the first Star Trek movie (which was rejected after Harlan called a studio exec an idiot).

So basically it’s a bunch of Hollywood BS?

I actually think the episode, as filmed, was better than Ellison's original script.

Didn't the original City on the Edge of Forever script have the "Guardians" of Forever as a couple of huge (10 feet tall) aliens rather than the arch we're familiar with?

Of course I do think that the original ending of "City" where Kirk hesitates in stopping McCoy and Spock steps in and does it would've been a major mistake. As someone said, if Kirk had done that fans would never have accepted him in the future as the main driver of events in the series. Though Ellison's explanation was a good one. He said there are some times that no matter how right it is to do something you just say "the hell with it".

But I thought it was immensely poignant that Kirk stepped in and allowed the one woman he probably ever truly loved to die because he knew it was the right thing. The grief on Kirks face at that moment is moving beyond all belief.

Yes. I agree. I also like what Roddenberry said once in some interview, roughly as follows: "Ellison says he rewrote the script a dozen times. But you have to know what he means by that. We get a script that says, '6,000 extras storm the castle.', and we tell him that we can't afford 6,000 extras. So he hands in a new script that says, '5,000 extras storm the castle.' And that will be his rewrite."

I completely agree. Ellison thought he needed to distribute the conflict between two roles, Spock and Kirk. Instead we get the whole conflict acted out by one actor, and Shatner, despite everything, delivers excellently here as he actually did quite often. It's a perfect example of a writer's or auteur's solution versus an actor's solution; Ellison didn't trust the actors, Roddenberry (and/or his team) did.

I'm talking about this even though City is NOT one of my favorite episodes though I will freely acknowledge it is a good one. My big problem is that Kirk seems to fall in love with Edith Keeler strictly at the speed of plot. As I think someone in Sci Fi Universe said "Kirk hears her give a short speech about atomic power and traveling to the stars and suddenly Kirks in love." This despite the fact that Kirk has full knowledge that if successful he and Spock will not be staying in the 1930s. Thus Kirk allowing himself to fall in love with Keeler is not only unfair to himself but its also grossly unfair to Edith as well.

That said the episode if full of great moments. Spock's "stone knives and bearskins" comment. Spock stealing the tools the man was using to fix watches. And brain damaged McCoy examining the drunk who found him. "Small, good cranial development. Probably human ancestry".

Some have said that Kirk's actions regarding Raina Kopek in "Requiem for Methuselah" seem artificial and contrived and wondered if Flint used something to "force" Kirks emotional attachment to her in his effort to stimulate her emotions (for his own purposes). As it does seem rather unlikely that Spock would use his Vulcan mental powers to help Kirk "forget" her without his consent or even bothering to ask him if it was a completely natural emotional attachment.

Latest trailer...

New trailer.

Looks better than Discovery.

I like how everyone on the Youtube page is like "This is how Star Trek's meant to be!" and I'm thinking "a 1.25 trailer of things we've seen a thousand times? Okay, whatever percolates your coffee."

Let's see, a prequel to TOS that looks and feels like it belongs in that timeline and carries on Gene Roddenberry's vision vs a prequel to TOS that looks nothing of the sort and has next to none of the spirit of Star Trek and basically shits on the lore every chance it gets. Yeah, I'm going to say Axanar is a better fit for Star Trek than Discovery or Picard.

It's clearly your opinion, and that's fine, but I just found it funny that people do that based on a trailer, like they were able to jerk off in that 1.25, unlike Star Trek CBS shows that make you wait until the denouement.

A lot of people are still pissed that CBS basically killed the fan films because the Axanar guys were making a fan film that got a lot of attention right as DSC was in development. They've waited a long time for this and it's finally seeing the light of day. It looks aesthetically closer to TOS than DSC so I can see why people would be exited for this.

What they want is what Star Trek looked like 30-50 years ago, but with better special effects (except the updated TOS episodes which made some of them angry) and more pewpew. That's okay, but that doesn't automatically make it better than what CBS produces, and quite frankly Axanar took a lot of people and was rightfully sued by CBS for the blatant as fuck attempt to use said IP for their own monetary gain. Now, I'm not one to give more than a few minor shits about IP (I think if you come up with something you have a right to make a living off of it, but once you get to a certain point outside of that it's time to public domain the fucker), but going up against a major franchise and selling fucking coffee with it while telling the franchise owner that your product is far superior is just begging to be brought down a peg or twelve.

Also, fuck Alec Peters. That egotistical shit heel treats people like garbage.

Saw this on my YouTube home page.

Yeah.... no.

This is just Peters putting on a show of progress to keep bilking folk. His revenue stream has almost completely dried up since the settlement with CBS, despite his repeated violations of same.

AND the former co-producers have banded together to make a documentary about what a fucking loon he is.

I saw that too. I didn’t watch the video, but from what I hear, they’re going to do two fifteen minute videos. That falls in line with CBS fan film rules. It’s a real shame because I was looking forward to the whole movie. Thanks a lot CBS for ruining fan films.