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#21 s8film40

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 07:17 AM

I agree Vic Mignogna is very much going to do what he feels is the right thing under the rules. That being said he and a few others are taking the wait and see approach. The more I think about this the more I think it may really just be a legal maneuver for the Axanar case. It now gives them something to point to and say this is what we define a fan film as. There's obviously still a lot of changes coming. I agree I don't like the way Alec Peters handled his production, but I like the way CBS/Paramount is handling this even less.

 

Ultimately these guidelines won't stop fan productions but just create ongoing headaches for CBS/Paramount. They're going to have to come up with a better solution if they want to have control over what fans produce.



#22 s8film40

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Posted 24 June 2016 - 11:30 AM

This was a pretty good article.

http://www.forcesofg...ed-fanbase.html



#23 Daysleeper

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 01:46 AM

Here is what Vic Mignogna has to say about the fan reaction: "While we are grateful for and humbled by fan support, helping fan productions will not come in the form of anger and threats of boycott toward CBS. Those that are calling on the fans for any such actions do not represent the ideals of Star Trek, nor the best interests of Trek fan films in general. If you insist on spreading negativity about CBS, do it elsewhere. It is not welcome here and I've asked that any such posts be deleted immediately.

The last thing any of us would ever want would be for the owners of Star Trek to say, "Why are we spending so much time, effort and money on this? Let's just wipe the whole thing clean off the map and be done with it. It's not worth all this trouble."

 

The quote is taken from a post they made on their facebook page: https://www.facebook...rTrekContinues/



#24 Alex

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 01:55 AM

I have been mostly indeffirent on this issue up until now. I did feel that Axanar crossed or at least came close to crossing lines of what was reasonable. These quidelines are absolutely ridiculous.

As far as I'm concerned, Axanar definitely crossed the lines of being reasonable, but these "guidelines" are extremely constraining and flat–out ridiculous when taken as a whole. Some of them make sense, *e.g. 4, 7, 8, and 10,) and some of them make partial sense, (e.g. parts of 3, and parts of 6's non–commercial requirements,) while others make almost no sense, and seem like arbitrary attempts to stick it to the Axanar production crew. (e.g. Not having "Star Trek" in the name, but having "A Star Trek Fan Film" in plain text, not allowing professional actors to appear in a fan film, etc.) I'm completely fine with a limit on fundraising, and the limit provided is very generous, but these guidelines don't appear to have been created in good faith by CBS Inc. and Paramount Pictures, and don't seem like they actually garnered the input of a good portion of the people who have been producing fan films, given that things like DVD/Blu–Ray copies have frequently been part of the fundraising effort for fan–films, and a rather significant aspect of what gets people to donate to them.

 

They could have easily said no fan films at all, but they didn't.

Axanar pushed it to far, and with Trek returning to TV soon, it isn't surprising that they don't want people to be confused by fan films that could be mistaken for official Trek. Don't forget that the general public is pretty ignorant as to what is official and what isn't. Especially when a lot of fan films have the actors reprising their old roles again.

True, they could have easily said no fan films at all, but they'd have basically shot themselves in the foot like they did around the time ENT entered production when they tried to distance themselves from the fans before. I completely agree that Axanar went too far, but Trek viewers aren't the complete morons that CBS Inc. is basically trying to paint them as with these guidelines. I've yet to see a Star Trek fan that wouldn't type a title into Google if they weren't sure if it was official or not and be able to find the answer in about five seconds. Additionally, if CBS were targeting the general public, they wouldn't be shoving their new series onto a no–name subscription streaming service that could still very well fail, and would instead be sticking it on "America's Most–Watched Network™" where far more people would be likely to see it. If fans are confusing fan films with official work, that says more about the quality (or lack thereof) of recent officially released material than it does about the quality of Trek's fan–films. If anything, it suggests that CBS should be hiring people who've been producing fan films that are good enough to be confused with official material and not trying to prevent further fan–films like them from being created.

 

Personally I think Star Trek Continues should be the model of the upper end of what's acceptable. I would also like to see them take the productions that rise to the top like STC and distribute them through their channels and help fund them. They could have a whole Star Trek fan film section on their new CBS app. There's definitely potential for them to turn this into a positive rather than a negative.

This would be something I could get behind; take the best fan–films and either offer them in a semi–official capacity after they've risen to the top, or hire away some of their creative talent for official work on Trek–related projects, but do something that's seen as a positive instead of a negative. Before these guidelines were released, Trek fanfilms were effectively the gold standard of what fan films should look like; if you'd asked me why Trek fan films were better than any other franchises fan–films, I'd have told you that it was because CBS and Paramount had been generous enough to give their fans a very big sandbox to play in, and had allowed for full–fledged episodic productions at the high–end and traditional shorts at the low–end. Trek's fan–films typically varied in length, style, budget, and just about everything in–between, which made them diverse and incredibly unique. You had things like Renegades, Continues, and New Voyages, all of which were episodic, and then you also had more traditional shorts that were typical fan–film fare. What these guidelines do is basically kill off any of the more interesting fan–films that were able to break out beyond a traditional short film format.

 

As for the 15–minute limit, the problem with it is that it's incredibly restrictive, and basically makes every fan–film look the same, which is why most franchises have fan films that are painful to watch while Trek had some really amazing gems available. And yes, I'm aware that it can technically be a two–part 30 minute fan–film, but that presents a whole additional set of issues. (Can both parts be shot simultaneously and split into two 15 minute parts just for distribution?) The scale of Trek's fan–films was impressive, and now it's going to be far less so, specifically because everything has to come in at under 30 minutes maximum, which prevents us from having the amazing episodic fan–films that we've had up until this point. Additionally, you're only allowed two parts and those can total up to 30 minutes, so even if you have a great idea that would only need 24 minutes, but would make sense as a three–act "play" split into roughly eight–minute parts, you can't release it as such because it would be three parts instead of two. While you could still chop it in half and release it as a two–part fan–film, an abrupt arbitrary stop in the middle of act two would be cringe–inducing, and completely ruin the pacing. I completely agree that some guidelines are needed, but what was released yesterday is flat–out insane. I'd even be fine with CBS saying "no fanfilms from -insert specific portion of the timeline here- because they would compete with our upcoming show," but what they're doing is far more restrictive than that, and not in a way that's going to generate any real creativity.

 

I wouldn't call guidelines that essentially shut down every major fan film production reasonable. I will agree there are some very reasonable points though. I think with a few modifications these could be good. Limiting productions to 15 minutes seems fairly arbitrary and really curtails the ability to have a good well thought out story on the other hand I think limiting fundraising to $50k seems a very generous guideline. I do think there's potential with these but they need some work. Until that happens I just have no interest in supporting Star Trek. CBS most certainly does have something to lose though, the more times they go to court over this the more opportunity there is for things to fall out of their copyright and into public domain. I don't think anyone really want to see that happen.

I'm pretty much in agreement with you s8film40, these guidelines are just too heavy–handed in their current form, despite having potential. I don't like the arbitrary 15 minute limit, but I agree with you that $50,000 is a very generous fundraising guideline. As much as I hate Alec Peters for going way over the limit with Axanar, I don't like CBS's reaction being to basically go after their fans, especially given that Paramount tried to be excessively litigious when ENT was first released, and it only further angered the fans who were already unhappy with the official production of the time. Going after fan films now is just going to piss off the people CBS needs to have encouraging everybody else to drop $6 bucks a month on CBS All–Access, and not going to do them any favors in the long run if it costs them viewers as well as potential lawsuit losses. Peters may be a dick, but all CBS has to do is go after a fan filmmaker whose much more sympathetic and the entire fanbase that would normally have their back will be at their throat instead, and that's not good for anyone involved. I don't like them effectively killing episodic Trek fan–films, especially when it would be so much better if they could figure out a way for those films to continue being made while they (CBS) managed to make some sort of small profit off of them.



#25 Alteran195

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 07:51 AM

So do the people saying they're going to boycott Star Trek realize what that'll do? Let's just imagine that there are enough fans that boycott for it to actually matter. There aren't, but lets imagine.

What happens if Beyond tanks? People who don't like the new movies for one reason or another may think that's a good thing. But they aren't going to go back to making Prime Trek movies, they aren't going to change these guidelines, they will stop making movies again.

What happens if the new series doesn't bring in the numbers needed? They don't change the fan film guidelines, they cancel the series and stop making Star Trek tv shows again.

Is that really what you want?

The studios aren't to blame here. They've been perfectly fine with fan films for a long time now, and it was only when Alec Pters and Axanar pretty much forced them to make guidelines, even asked for it, that they did something.

#26 s8film40

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 08:53 AM

So do the people saying they're going to boycott Star Trek realize what that'll do? Let's just imagine that there are enough fans that boycott for it to actually matter. There aren't, but lets imagine.

What happens if Beyond tanks? People who don't like the new movies for one reason or another may think that's a good thing. But they aren't going to go back to making Prime Trek movies, they aren't going to change these guidelines, they will stop making movies again.

What happens if the new series doesn't bring in the numbers needed? They don't change the fan film guidelines, they cancel the series and stop making Star Trek tv shows again.

Is that really what you want?

The studios aren't to blame here. They've been perfectly fine with fan films for a long time now, and it was only when Alec Pters and Axanar pretty much forced them to make guidelines, even asked for it, that they did something.

Boycotting Star Trek itself isn't going to make a change. The fan outrage in general does however create a lot of bad PR for the studio. The Axanar lawsuite initially really backfired on them in this way and that's now happening again. The talk and the trending topics right now should be about the new movie and the new series, but instead they are all about this situation.

 

What this really comes down to is the fans want to see stories from different areas of Star Trek, CBS and Paramount have absolutely no intention of producing for example continuing TOS episodes, so the fans understanding this have chosen just to make it themselves. This is really just about fans trying to enjoy the things they like about the franchise that aren't mainstream enough to warrant a mega budget show or movie. Kind of like when a character isn't popular enough for DST to make a figure and we as fans make customs, or in some cases band together to put multiple peoples skills into one figure to produce multiple copies for everyone to share in. The studio is now essentially saying we're not going to make what you want and you can't make what you want your self. It comes off as extremely petty for a large studio to deny fans to create something for themselves that they have no intention of offering.

 

Ultimately I really hope the studio sees that dictating exactly what the fans can and cannot do beyond a reasonable degree in their personal enjoyment of the franchise is extremely bad for the fan community and changes this. Star Wars seems to have really embraced their fan community and it's really paid off for them, they actually put fan created content in the new movie. If this truly is how CBS/Paramount plan to treat the Star Trek fans on an ongoing basis and this isn't just a temporary thing to deal with Axanar than I will continue to boycott everything Star Trek, it's not so much about making a point it just kills my interest in investing in anything new they create. Personally if they do go this route I really don't care if Star Trek dies, because it wouldn't really be real Star Trek anyway coming from people with attitudes like this.



#27 Alteran195

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 10:18 AM

Here is what Vic from Continues has to say.
From Vic: "While we are grateful for and humbled by fan support, helping fan productions will not come in the form of anger and threats of boycott toward CBS. Those that are calling on the fans for any such actions do not represent the ideals of Star Trek, nor the best interests of Trek fan films in general. If you insist on spreading negativity about CBS, do it elsewhere. It is not welcome here and I've asked that any such posts be deleted immediately.
The last thing any of us would ever want would be for the owners of Star Trek to say, "Why are we spending so much time, effort and money on this? Let's just wipe the whole thing clean off the map and be done with it. It's not worth all this trouble."
A CBS representative will be on "Engage" the official Star Trek podcast on June 29. At that time, hopefully many questions will be answered, so let's wait and see before jumping to conclusions. If you wish to ask a question, you can do so on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook...StarTrekPodcast
Thanks again for your love & support of Star Trek Continues!

#28 s8film40

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 10:53 AM

I think this is at least a petition we can all get behind.

https://www.change.o...medium=copylink



#29 Sybeck1

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 01:02 PM

Signed

#30 Alteran195

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 05:24 PM

Renegades has removed all Star Trek elements from its fan film. This honestly makes it more exciting to me since the first part was a pretty crappy Star Trek film, but could work pretty well on its own.

http://www.bleedingc...new-guidelines/

#31 Alex

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Posted 25 June 2016 - 06:58 PM

Boycotting Star Trek itself isn't going to make a change. The fan outrage in general does however create a lot of bad PR for the studio. The Axanar lawsuite initially really backfired on them in this way and that's now happening again. The talk and the trending topics right now should be about the new movie and the new series, but instead they are all about this situation.

I think this sums things up rather nicely. Boycotting Star Trek and CBS as a whole isn't going to accomplish anything, but assuming enough people actually did it, (and worse, that it succeeded,) I can tell you exactly what would happen: CBS would shelve the series again for another decade at the very least and probably shelve the movies as well, which might happen with or without fan outrage depending on what happens at Paramount and whether or not Beyond follows the pattern of most sequels to reboots this year that have largely tanked anyway. (It's entirely possible that Beyond will be great and just get screwed by anti–reboot and anti–sequel sentiment in general the way that Allegiant and TMNT did.)
 
Having said that, the fan outrage in general is exactly what the studio doesn't need. The Axanar lawsuit backfired royally and should have happened long before a new series was announced, or been held off until next year after it was released when people wouldn't have had their eyes on it. S8film40 raises an important point that we should be focused on the new series and Beyond, and not on this continued distraction caused by CBS not being able to quell fan outrage in a reasonable manner.
 

What this really comes down to is the fans want to see stories from different areas of Star Trek, CBS and Paramount have absolutely no intention of producing for example continuing TOS episodes, so the fans understanding this have chosen just to make it themselves. This is really just about fans trying to enjoy the things they like about the franchise that aren't mainstream enough to warrant a mega budget show or movie. Kind of like when a character isn't popular enough for DST to make a figure and we as fans make customs, or in some cases band together to put multiple peoples skills into one figure to produce multiple copies for everyone to share in. The studio is now essentially saying we're not going to make what you want and you can't make what you want your self. It comes off as extremely petty for a large studio to deny fans to create something for themselves that they have no intention of offering.

This is exactly what I take issue with; it's not like the new series is going to be a "Raygun Gothic" TOS–esque continuation of TOS that would compete with said new series. I would be entirely fine with guidelines that said "we're focusing on -insert era here- officially, so no fanfilms from that era are permitted," but going after something that doesn't even come close to interfering with the official new material comes off, to quote s8film40, as "extremely petty." (I really tried to avoid using that exact wording myself last night, but I'll admit that the same thought crossed my mind.) I don't even think it would be too unreasonable to say that you can't set your fan–film on the Enterprise or recast the original crew, because while that wouldn't save New Voyages or Continues in their previous form, it would allow for fans to expand the TOS timeline in a way that CBS obviously never would have the support to do. Likewise, if they're never going to touch the 24th century again, I see no reason why fan films couldn't expand to that timeline as well to fill in a similar gap. It's a matter of meeting demand that the studio will never meet themselves.
 

Ultimately I really hope the studio sees that dictating exactly what the fans can and cannot do beyond a reasonable degree in their personal enjoyment of the franchise is extremely bad for the fan community and changes this. Star Wars seems to have really embraced their fan community and it's really paid off for them, they actually put fan created content in the new movie. If this truly is how CBS/Paramount plan to treat the Star Trek fans on an ongoing basis and this isn't just a temporary thing to deal with Axanar than I will continue to boycott everything Star Trek, it's not so much about making a point it just kills my interest in investing in anything new they create. Personally if they do go this route I really don't care if Star Trek dies, because it wouldn't really be real Star Trek anyway coming from people with attitudes like this.

 Star Wars has embraced their fan community, and prior to this, it seemed like Star Trek had as well. If this is just to stick it to Axanar, I can understand it, but if this is supposed to be permanent, it's going to have a long–term negative backlash that only does more harm than good. I have no intention of boycotting CBS's official material, (keep it in the Prime Universe and I'll at the very least watch the All–Access series unless the service is so bad that episodes cut out in the middle and prevent me from actually doing so,) but if they continue going after the fanbase, it's going to make it harder for me to continue supporting the people behind the show as a whole. I might not like some of what J.J. Abrams did to the Kelvin Timeline, but I like Abrams as a person, and I like that he sees fans of a franchise as a strength rather than a weakness.
 

Renegades has removed all Star Trek elements from its fan film. This honestly makes it more exciting to me since the first part was a pretty crappy Star Trek film, but could work pretty well on its own.

http://www.bleedingc...new-guidelines/

This honestly sounds kind of exciting, if only for the fact that it seems like it could be the start of an interesting new sci–fi series with the elements of Trek removed. My only concern is that CBS will just sue them for being derivative even though they've removed any elements of Trek, just hoping to use a lawsuit as a way to weed out potential competition. (This happens more often than people probably realize.) With the Trek elements gone Renegades can now basically turn itself into a standalone sci–fi series that can turn a profit, and I could see CBS trying (and ultimately failing) to prevent that. I know I'm glossing over this as the issue that it is, but the real side effect is that CBS basically just created competition that didn't exist before with these new guidelines by forcing Renegades to remove its Star Trek elements and move on from being a fan–film.

 

What really concerns me about CBS being so litigious lately is that whenever the studio gets that way, it's usually a bad omen for the quality of upcoming material. The studio got litigious in the run up to ENT, and the series didn't exactly do so well. They weren't litigious back in 2009 and even if you're not fond of the Kelvin Timeline, you can't argue that they had a success on their hands. So my question is what does this mean for Beyond and the upcoming series? Is CBS afraid that their official work isn't up to par, and that they need to clear out anything that might be, or are they just trying to go after Axanar and causing a lot of collatoral damage along the way? Neither possibility seems very optimistic.

 

I also think part of this might have to do with everything that's happening over at Paramount Pictures. Before Anton Yelchin's untimely passing I would have said that we'd probably see the entire cast reunited for one more film at the least if Beyond does well. Now that any future Kelvin Timeline film has to either recast or write out Checkov, it's a lot more likely that if Beyond does moderately but not insanely well, the studio just might not decide to follow up on the Kelvin Timeline since they don't have a large portion of the cast under contract for an additional film. (This wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if not for the issues Paramount is having as a whole.) It's also possible that changes at Paramount surrounding ownership could create a legal nightmare for additional films, and that the next film could be very different from the previous three, and changes like that can cause a studio to get a little nutty when they're not sure what direction they'll be taking.



#32 s8film40

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Posted 27 June 2016 - 08:08 AM

The Renegades thing is very interesting. Copyright usually centers around names and specifics not story, so I really think CBS would have a hard time suing them. The Irony is now they can actually turn a profit. 

 

http://renegades.sho...oduction-media/



#33 Alex

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Posted 27 June 2016 - 08:38 PM

I agree with you on the Renegades thing; the fact that they can now actually turn a profit by freeing themselves of Trek seems like an ironic sort of backfiring of the new guidelines, and one that I'm sure CBS executives are none–to–thrilled with. As for copyright it can center around names and specifics, (usually based on how they're used in conjunction with each other, which is basically what CBS was trying to use against Axanar,) but it's more likely to affect story if you can prove that your story is similar enough to the one you're claiming is an infringing work. Actually, names are more likely to be affected by trademark, although it's not uncommon for a lawsuit to claim infringemnet of copyright and trademark on any given work, as was also the case with Axanar. While the two are related, they actually are different things and they have different requirements in order for a work to be infringing on them. (For example, you can have a "Captain Kirk" of the "Space Cruiser Endeavor" and not infringe anyone's copyright, but you very well might infringe CBS's trademark on "Captain Kirk," which they very likely have kept filed and renewed for the past 50 years.)

 

With Renegades now being a totally standalone production, I'll admit that I'm interested in what they ultimately come up with, and just might have to try and donate to them to continue telling a new sci–fi story.



#34 Alteran195

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Posted 27 June 2016 - 08:59 PM

Kovok

I don't know why, but I find changing Tuvok to Kovok rather amusing.

I'm curious what the new design they will come up with to replace the Starfleet ship from the first part. The actual renegades ship, the name of which I can't remember, should be fine I'd imagine since it doesn't look very Star Trek.

#35 Gothneo

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Posted 04 July 2016 - 01:31 PM

I've been kinda following this all on the periphery... 

 

When Cawley 1st started making the Phase II stuff I wondered where it might be going. Ultimately I'd say the fans pushed it too far and the response by CBS, while warranted ( it is their property) might be missing the bigger picture.

 

Many of the previous cast members are clearly Fans and enjoy just being involved in anything to do with the franchise. This has been very obvious based on their commentary at conventions and elsewhere, so the rule that professional actors can't engage is really too bad IMO.

 

Its obvious from the reaction of Rengades, that "Inspired by" fan fiction will probably be the solution... and thats too bad because CBS could have encouraged former cast members to contribute to promote the brand... which is like free money for CBS.

 

I say this because while I've enjoyed many of the fan films... they in no way replace my desire for high quality new productions... in fact it just kept the franchise fresh in my mind and built the desire for more CBS product.



#36 Alex

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Posted 08 July 2016 - 12:10 AM

I honestly wouldn't say that the fans pushed it too far so much as I'd say that one fan pushed it too far and now we're all suffering thanks to his stupidity. I had no problem raking Alec Peters over the coals, but I do have a problem with how CBS went about doing it. If they'd waited until Axanar was released, it would have been very easy to go after Peters since he wouldn't be able to hide behind the "you haven't seen it yet" excuse, and CBS would have a much easier case to make. Additionally, it wouldn't come off as a petty cash–grab, because the lawsuit would have occurred after the new show had been released rather than before it, and while there are statutes of limitation for filing copyright infringement lawsuits, they're pretty generous, and CBS could have filed the thing after Beyond had left theaters and public consciousness, and after the new series had premiered without anyone even blinking an eye. Filing the suit when they did was horrible from a public relations standpoint, and really just alienated people they shouldn't be alienating. Had they just let Peters completely alienate himself from any sympathy, this would have gone a lot more smoothly for CBS. Hell, they could have just ignored the film and sued him for that Axanar coffee that used Trek trade dress and nobody would have batted an eye.

 

I remember when Cawley first started making the Phase II stuff too and figured if there was a time when CBS or Paramount (I believe they still held all of the rights back then,) was going to step in and stop more ambitious fan–films, that would have been it. When they let it go ahead, and let Continues and Renegades enter production, they pretty much made it clear that they were fine with that sort of production at the time, and I was personally grateful for that because it pushed fan films where they hadn't gone before. (Yes, I went there.) Instead of the same basic shorts being produced over an over again on the same shoestring budget, we had fanfilms that were raising the bar and basically the gold standard for what a fan film could and should be. I liked this, I liked that actors from the series occasionally cameoed, and I liked that Trek had more ambitious fan films than a lot of the other franchises out there. I feel like what Peters was doing was something different though; he wasn't just making a fan film or a fan series, he was making a fan film and basically saying he was going to be "more official" than CBS's stuff, and while I expect a bit of bluster about how awesome a persons film is from any given filmmaker, the "more official" comment was really Peters thumbing his nose at CBS. I would be fine with him saying "more professional," since that could be quantitfied, and might even have been a reason to hire Peters, but "more official" is just being a jerk and biting the hand that feeds you. I would have been fine if Peters had come out, said "yeah, we turned a profit, we weren't supposed to, we're sorry, and we're willing to donate all ill–gotten gains to a charity of CBS's choosing," but that obviously didn't happen. Peters broke the previous set of guidelines of "don't turn a profit" and everyone else wound up paying for it. (As stated above I have no problem with going after Peters, I have a problem with how CBS went about doing so though.)

 

"Guidelines" that effectively "core" three of the most popular ongoing fan–films don't really seem fair or written in good faith to me though. While CBS is obviously free to impose whatever restrictions they want to on fan–films, what they've come up with just feels like it was done to really go after Peters more than anyone else, and not because New Voyages, Continues, or Renegades were even remotely posing something that could be construed as a "threat" to official material. While I'm glad to see official Trek returning, I do think these guidelines are excessive, and I'm also kind of glad that they've come back to bite CBS in the rear for not creating them in good faith. Renegades has removed any references to Trek, and in so doing, can now turn a profit as an independent, standlone sci–fi series. In effect, CBS has just created new competition whether they wanted too or not, and while I'm always in favor of more sci–fi, it shouldn't come as a result of the corporate equivalent of "I'm taking my ball and going home." While I think what Peters was doing definitely went too far, I don't think New Voyages and Continues should be forced to end when they were complying with CBS's requests and weren't hurting their bottom line. If anything, they'd filling the void that only having a 13 episode season of official Trek would have left, and would have effectively been picking up CBS's slack. I'm not with the people who think they should boycott Trek over this, but I'm also not going to be too upset if Renegades winds up posing some real competition the way Babylon 5 did for DS9 back in the day as a result of CBS's corporate temper–tantrum. I really think that New Voyages and Continues should have been the blueprint for what was acceptable at the high end, possibly with a separate set of guidelines for shorts more in line with what we actually got, rather than just wiping out anymore of the high–end fan films. I'd like to side entirely with CBS, but they're making it incredibly hard for me to do so with their current guidelines.



#37 s8film40

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Posted 19 July 2016 - 07:33 PM

Star Trek Continues just announced the premier of their episode 7. Hopefully this means that they are going to be allowed to continue regardless of the guidelines.

#38 Alex

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Posted 25 July 2016 - 03:56 PM

Renegades has met its IndieGoGo funding goal, (currently sitting at 104%) for post–production VFX work on The Requiem, and per its changes, is now known as Renegades: The Series, and also has a trailer showing rough VFX work from the updated material on an independent budget. It sounds like they're in it for the long haul, which is something that I'm quite grateful for.

 

S8film40, I'm guessing Continues might have been given some sort of pass; I believe Les Moonves stated that the guidelines don't retroactively apply to works that were created before said guidelines were developed, so if episode 7 was almost complete, they might have been able to slide in without breaking the rules. Then again, given the backlash over losing three really popular fan–films, it's also possible that CBS gave them a pass per fan demand knowing full well that waiving the guidelines was smarter than dealing with more fallout.



#39 s8film40

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Posted 25 July 2016 - 05:31 PM

Renegades has met its IndieGoGo funding goal, (currently sitting at 104%) for postproduction VFX work on The Requiem, and per its changes, is now known as Renegades: The Series, and also has a trailer showing rough VFX work from the updated material on an independent budget. It sounds like they're in it for the long haul, which is something that I'm quite grateful for.
 
S8film40, I'm guessing Continues might have been given some sort of pass; I believe Les Moonves stated that the guidelines don't retroactively apply to works that were created before said guidelines were developed, so if episode 7 was almost complete, they might have been able to slide in without breaking the rules. Then again, given the backlash over losing three really popular fanfilms, it's also possible that CBS gave them a pass per fan demand knowing full well that waiving the guidelines was smarter than dealing with more fallout.

Yeah they said they're waiting on clarification but are optimistic they will be able to complete their series. I guess even though most of us are perceiving these as hard rules it's important to remember they're guidelines and there's still a whole lot of gray area (hopefully).

#40 Alex

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Posted 28 July 2016 - 01:52 AM

S8film40, I kind of figured that was the case; hopefully CBS will clarify things soon for Continues. They would honestly be wise to give them a pass, if only to avoid any further blowback from a fanbase that had a rather negative response to the new official ship, (albeit in a very rough form,) and that's already unhappy with the new fanfilm guidelines. Given how Vic pretty much went to bat for CBS to calm down some of the most angry fans, it would be nice for them to return the favor, avoid any more unnecessary controversy, and to show that they've heard the fans reaction to the new fanfilm guidelines and aren't going to cause Continues to come to an abrupt end. If they do that and really overhaul their new ship design, any negative opinion of CBS would likely be severely minimized by January, which is really good for all of us.






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