The LIEF Erikson

The non-judgemental critic

2006-08-03T09:43:00.000+10:00

Now, I make no bones about the fact that I am not a critic.

If you want someone to hand-feed you your opinions about the good, the bad and the ugly in entertainment, go read a critics' blog. Lord knows there is no shortage of them. I'll not fall into the trap of tarring all critics with the same brush and say that they are all a bunch of egocentric negative opinion mongers. I have occassionally read a good review, one that pointed out strong and weak points in performances and plots. They are, sadly, few and far between.

You know what really gets up my nose though? (Isn't that the purpose of owning a blog, so that I can tell you?) It's the self-appointed experts who come out of the woodwork whenever the subject of fan films is mentioned. The kind who laugh at the acting or makeup, the not-exactly pretty actors, the plot, the script, the in-flight food!

Y'know, perhaps they're right? In fact, yes! They're absolutely right - fan film actors are not worth the money they're being paid. No, wait, that's not right - they aren't being paid. In fact it's costing them thousands to do it.

Well, perhaps you the viewer should demand your money back, I mean you didn't pay good money to see ... Uh, no, that doesn't work either, you downloaded it for free, right?

Well, I know that *I* could do better than that! Except ... to tell the truth ... I probably couldn't, besides I'm not exactly the handsomest of dudes myself.

Still, you'd think that people would take more care over their productions ... uh, like seven years in the making for "The Savage Empire"?

But I mean, it's so amateurish isn't it? Which ... I suppose is logical since they are amateurs

yeah, well, we'll all just have to go watch some of the new professional Star Trek which is pouring out of the studios ... *sigh* in my dreams buddy!

The pivotal issue is that they are amateur productions - in many ways it is an extension of amateur theatre. As I said in an earlier Blog ...

I have immense respect for the work that these guys are doing and appreciate it for what it is - artistic self-expression. I tend to watch them to see what they put into it rather than what I can get out of it. For example when I watch James Cawley playing Captain Kirk on New Voyages I don't compare his performance with Shatner, I enjoy it for what it is. I appreciate watching the sheer energy and will power that it needs to put any fan film together. It's not just a pat on the back for their effort though, if you push your "willing sense of disbelief" to a higher level than for a professional work, it is good entertainment!

You can't just walk out of "Film appreciation 101" and start running off all the short-comings of a fan film compared with a professional production. As an overall production they can't compare.

... Will they become a threat to mainstream media - TV and films? Not a chance in their current form. Perhaps if Paramount allow limited licencing, you might get a new crop of small Indy operators but without a way of recouping their expenses they will remain the domain of the fan who likes to act.

There are challenges of resources that a fan film cannot approach on the same level as a professional production. Money can buy the solution for most of the problems that a production has. If you have money, you can buy costumes, props, scenery, you can hire the best talent in writing, acting and directing, you can pay for publicity.

For an amateur production buying your way to production is not an option, you need to use "Plan-B": sweat equity! You make your own costumes, props and scenery, you get writers, actors and directors who will work for free and you create your own publicity. It can be done.

However you have to get past the mentality of, "if it ain't professional it ain't good!" They have work-arounds and short-cuts for most problems, skills that can be learned, talents discovered and excercised. The end result, no matter what the level of quality, will be a reflection of the work and determination of the people involved. By all means watch one - watch all of them! - do so with an open mind and you might be pleasantly surprised. Do us all a favour though - don't watch it if you're going to judge it by professional standards, eh? You'll just be disappointed, write a whiney review and give everybody the pips.

... well you'll give me the pips anyway.

Kirok's View: Copyright

2006-02-07T08:32:00.002+11:00

Professionally produced entertainment is an expensive business, there is no denying it. Paramount have invested a considerable amount of their stockholders money in the Star Trek TV series and movies and as a corporate entity they have a legal and ethical responsibility to strive to return the maximum profit for that investment.

Sometimes we loose sight of the scope of the cash outlay involved, until we read estimates of $3 million per episode for Enterprise! How could it possibly cost so much? The simple fact of the matter is that it takes money to produce quality TV & movie productions, lots and lots of money. Somebody has to pay the salaries of the actors, directors and film crew, pay for the materials to create the sets and maintain the special effects and wardrobe departments, pay the licensing fees, insurance premiums and completion bonds.

Paramount, or to be more precise Viacom which is the parent company, has at different times aggressively defended their copyrights or taken a lenient view towards fan productions.

For example, in 1996, Viacom went on the attack, sending out a wave of cease-and-desist letters to webmasters of Star Trek fan sites which had copyrighted film clips, sounds, or insignias. Under threat of legal action, many Trekkers shut down, leaving behind scanned copies of letters sent by Viacom. Shortly afterwards Paramount, a division of Viacom and owner of all things Star Trek, launched a Web site you had to subscribe to, Star Trek: Continuum, on July 10. It is surmised that this was to prepare the public for their next film, Star Trek: First Contact. A similar crop of C&D's in 1997 seemed to signal that Viacom was targeting sites that "are selling ads, collecting fees, selling illegal merchandise or posting copyrighted materials" according to the then president of Paramount Digital Entertainment David Wertheimer.

Viacom's actions have not been without their detractors though. Willard Uncapher saw it as flawed marketing and a poor appreciation of the realities and possibilities of the internet. In an article in Wired News, Jennifer Granick, a San Francisco criminal lawyer who went on to champion cyber rights, felt that the unofficial sites should be covered by the "fair use'' doctrine in U.S. copyright law. In a 1998 article Howard Besser, an Assoc. Professor at UCLA saw it as an example of "the content industry … exploiting concerns over digitisation and attempting to reshape the law by strengthening protection for copyrightsholders and weakening public rights to access and use material."

The more astute amongst my readers who check sources (always a good idea!) will perhaps have noticed that all this refers to fan fiction. "FanFic" has born the brunt of the debate about balancing the copyright owner's legal rights against the fan's use of that material in their works. This forms a precedent on which the relationship between Viacom and all fan production groups can be built. In legal terms there is no basic difference between someone who uses Viacom copyrighted material, say the design of a phaser, to make a card model of it, use the name in a fan fiction or show it in a fan film. The only difference is a matter of scale. Paramount is not the heartless demon that some paint it to be!

Paramount's official stance seems to be that they have not heard of any fan films when asked, turning Nelson's classic blind eye to the problem. There have only been a few substantiated cases where Viacom has clashed with a fan film. Robbie Amper's first two episodes of "Starship Highlander" are no longer available through legitimate channels because of this and even Star Trek: New Voyages got a C&D once. However you will note that in both cases negotiation and compromise made it possible for the fan groups to continue! Paramount is not the heartless demon that some would paint it as.

There has been no official statement that fan film producers can use to show that they have any legitimate right to use Paramount's copyrights. There has been an unsubstantiated mention of a press release from Viacom regarding fan films earlier this year but this has never been verified. Basically producers have followed a self-imposed code of conduct that has become a defacto standard.

Thou shalt not accept any money in case it is construed as an attempt to make a profit
Thou shalt acknowledge that Viacom holds the copyrights to all things Star Trek.
Thy film should be available for free and not performed in public for profit

The professional media establishment is far more interested in stamping out copyright piracy - the exact copying and distribution of professionally produced films and TV series. Make no bones about it, buying or downloading bootleg movies or TV episodes is theft and it is a major cause of loss of revenue for the studios. It is a multi-million dollar "cottage-industry" and anyone who knowingly supports it is not a Trek fan they're just a damn fool! The simple fact of the matter is that the more profit Paramount make from Trek, the more chance there is that they will make more series and movies.

However what we are talking about here is not video piracy. Fan films are a type of unauthorised "derivative work", they are productions that use Trek designs and lore as a jumping off point or a framework for entirely new and original tales. Fan producers freely acknowledge that the trademarks and copyrights that they mention in their works belong to Paramount and because of this they make no attempt to profit from their work. Currently fan films are walking a tightrope between their oft-stated knowledge and respect for Viacom's status as the copyright owner and their desire to use those copyrighted materials in their films. There is considerable conjecture as to the future of fan movies. Pessimists expect the worst: that Paramount will exercise "the letter of the law" as regards to copyright and serve Cease and Desist orders on all fan productions. Optimists believe that, as long as they continue to play by the rules, there is no reason for Paramount not to continue to tolerate them.

To me, the overriding question when considering Paramounts response and relationship to the growing number of fan productions should be - Is this a legal problem or a commercial problem? I mean, are they compelled by law to take a certain course of action or can they respond in a manner that best suits their commercial needs. To put it bluntly: are the lawyers in charge or are the managers?

Let's view this as an ethical question. What is the purpose of the copyright laws? To assert the rights of ownership by the professional producers - Paramount - over their works: the characters, designs, scripts, music … etc. These rights of ownership usually mean getting a fair monetary return by the producers and distributors for their investment but it can also include the rights of the creators (scriptwriters, composers etc) to be identified as the authors of their work. This protects against plagiarism and assumes that they should have a certain creative control over the use that others might make of their work. The threat of litigation is the force that the law uses to enforce the owner's rights when they are compromised.

Fan film producers have no problem with any of this. They acknowledge the commercial right of ownership that Paramount has and there is no attempt to divert any money away from them. From an artistic standpoint, they not only acknowledge the work of the writers and directors, they venerate them! Remember we are talking about fans here! Where is the need for punitive action here?

An older fan is consumed with nostalgia for the Trek movie era after watching a fan film. He is likely to rent or buy one of the new digitally enhanced DVDs. A profit for Viacom.
A teenage fan sees a machinima made from "ST: Elite Force II", he buys a copy to try out one of the fan-made Mods that are maintaining if not extending the genre's foothold in the gaming world. When the new Star Trek Online game starts he is likely to be one of the first to try it. A profit for the licensee and Viacom.
A kid makes a card model of a phaser and wants the costume to go with it, his Mum might be a good enough seamstress to make one but she is more likely to buy one. A profit for the licensee and Viacom.
Once our kid and his friends get involved on their role-play they want more and better props, they could make them but they are more likely to buy them. A profit for the licensee and Viacom.
If those kids knew that there was a thriving fan film culture out there for them to show any videos that they might make, they are more likely to invest more money in costumes and props. This is exactly what is happening with Star Wars right now! This is exactly what Robert Mueller and his friends on "Star Trek: Mystery Area" are doing.

Look at it the other way around - is a viewer likely to watch a fan film and say: "I don't need to rent or buy any more Star Trek on DVD. This is good enough for me"? I have the greatest respect for fan films and their creators but let's get real about this! Fan films might achieve a "resonance" of the greatness of the original Star Trek TV episodes or movies but they can never be more than an "echo" of the original "chord". Aspects of a fan film can surpass the original. A mainstream production company could probably never take Hidden Frontier's bold stance on gays in Trek and the production values of Exeter and New Voyages are equal to if not better than the original seasons.

The question is: will this situation, continue? Could Viacom be a sleeping giant who might awaken and destroy the fan films? I asked this question of Jack Marshal, at that time an Executive Producer of New Voyages, in an interview for Starfleet International's "Communique" last June.

I suppose they could, but why would they? Believe it or not, Paramount is very aware of it's Trek fanbase and the last thing they want to do is have another web crusade like they did in the 90's where they shut people's websites down and alienated the fans. We've had some preliminary talks with them regarding licensing and before that had been in constant contact with Viacom's legal epartment and know that if we follow the groundwork they've laid for us, we'll be ok. … our success has been a double edged sword. But a danger of getting shut down? I think it's nil as long as we follow the guidelines they've set out for us.

Its the old "Golden Rule" - Respect: You get what you give. You respect Viacom's commercial need to make a profit from their merchandise and intellectual properties and they will respect the fan production groups right to exist. If one side or the other breaks the gentlemen's agreement that exists then they will loose the respect of the other parties, the balance will be lost and we all loose.

~(>!<)~ Notable Fan Films?

2006-02-01T18:34:00.000+11:00

Wikipedia is an internet phenomenon. The idea is that it is an encyclopedia written, not by experts, but by ordinary folk such as you or I. The very name says it all: "What I Know Is". It is meant to be an accumulation of the personal knowledge and experience of a wide range of individuals. It is "peer reviewed" in that the equals of the author judge it for accuracy. Unfortunately, like the horse designed by a committee, it does not always end up looking like our original idea.

Over the past months I've been involved in an attempt to compile an encyclopedic article on the Star Trek fan film scene. My original idea was to make it comprehensive and all inclusive, from the largest and most complex projects to the smallest concept groups. Others have a different idea, that it should be a summary article that includes only the most notable productions. This sounds simple enough, but you are faced with a knotty decision: What do you put in and leave out? What are your criteria for selection?

Even Wikipedia is open to interpretation as regards to what should and should not be allowed in. Wikipedia has seemingly given up on trying to define what it is but has (quite reasonably) an extensive list of things that it is not. On the one hand they say that it is not a paper encyclopedia and thus has no limit to the number or (within reason) size of articles, then on the other hand they make an issue of notability.

I have a definate problem with the idea of using the concept of notability to say what stays and what goes, not least of which is the fact that "notability is not formal policy (and indeed the whole concept of notability is contentious)". What is more, the definition of notability is so subjective that it is virtually impossible for personal bias not to play a part. The only objective, quantifiable criteria that have been suggested are Google hits and IMDB moviemeter ratings, both of which measure popularity rather than notability.

Popularity, even critical acclaim, should not be the only criteria for notability. Read any hundred word summary of Star Trek and the odds are it will mention the fact that it had the first interracial kiss on TV. Yet how many would be able to give you the name of the episode? It is by no means the most popular episode, any number have been given that accolade although I reckon it must be a toss-up between "The Naked Time" and "The Trouble with Tribbles". If we were to choose the most popular by critical acclaim, it would probably have to be "The City At the Edge Of Tomorrow" which was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Even if we accept Google and IMDB as a ratings system (more, much more, on this later), the values you end up with are comparative rather than absolute. I mean how many Google hits makes a production "notable" or a "major project"? To illustrate, the productions which have been culled from the article so far fall into the following broad groupings…

A few entries were for fan films that could not be found mentioned anywhere else on the internet. Anything listed needs to be independently verified otherwise there is a possibility of inaccuracy - accidental or on purpose! [cough:entfan!:cough]
A second group encompasses the "Concept groups" who might only be as far as getting a script together and investigating resources - not seriously in pre-production, even though they may be seriously working towards starting production.
Pre-production groups, which have not started filming yet but are in the process of actively preparing resources for production are constantly described as "vaporware", even though they might be auditioning cast, building props, creating cgi, even filming trailers.
Most contentious of all are the fan film productions which are simply not popular because they are not well known. They might only mentioned on a single web page that has no free download link. This group includes mentions of fan films produced long ago in VHS that are not available in electronic form and might not be available at all now. The very existence of some of them has been doubted because they are not mentioned on the internet. Much as I love my 'net it is not the only repository of knowledge on the planet!

The first group is against Wikipedia rules and I have no problem with their being dropped. The others represent different stages of development of a fan film. In biological terms, it is easy to say when the pupae become the caterpillar, the caterpillar a larvae and the larvae a butterfly. The different stages of a fan film are much harder to define. I have used the following categories…

Concept group - Investigating possibilities but no major commitment of resources or money.
Pre-production - A group that shows an investment by casting, building, learning and testing.
Post production - A group that has started or finished filming and is preparing the raw materials for final presentation.
Fan film - A group that has a finished production available to the public.

I can understand dropping the concept groups from the Wikipedia article. They haven't committed themselves to production yet and it is the production of Trek fan films which is the subject of the article. I might even be able to understand dropping pre-production groups if the size of the article were an issue, however it's not. It has been said that Wikipedia is not a crystal ball, meaning that it should not be used to write about future happenings, in this case productions. This is the one and only concrete claim I can see that can be levelled at pre-production groups that is defensible.

The way I see it, this article is meant to be about fan films of the Trek genre which do not spring fully formed into the world like Venus on the half-shell! They are progressively built works that demand a massive investment of infrastructure and time - anything from months to 6 years! The fanchises that they build up along the way are a work in themselves which can include podcasts, trailers, webcomics, convention appearances and a massive web of inter-relationships, sharing personnel, props and experience.

Fan films are not a commodity like a loaf of bread that you pick up at the shops. They are a major investment of the lifeforces of the hundreds of people involved and to say that they have no place in Wikipedia is to say that Wikipedia is focussed only on commodities and not the social and cultural forces that have created them. Cut out the pre-production groups and you ignore a field of endeavour that is becoming a potent force in the fan world.

In my opinion this represents a departure from the whole principle that Star Trek fan films have been built on - films produced by fans for their own enjoyment and the enjoyment of their friends. Certainly everyone takes pride in their work and tries to create something to the very best of their abilities whether they are in front of the camera or behind it. However there has always been an element of respect on the Trek fan film forums whereby groups are non-competitive and supportive, rather than elitist and exclusive. Perhaps this hearkens back to Roddenberry's principle that Starfleet and the UFP are built on community or group efforts, cooperation rather than confrontation?

Indeed, my initial impulse is to stand toe to toe and argue that this fan film is more worthy of inclusion than that one is. However this leads to an insidious downward spiral because to show that one is better, I have to imply that the other is worse, that there is something lacking in it. I must make a subjective value judgement and if I win my case, although one group wins, another looses. I have chosen not to play this game for I feel that this leads, not to an equitable grouping, but to elitism.

By far the most distasteful aspect of this whole deal for me is the idea that notability is a popularity contest that is graded by using a rating system - Google & IMDB - and anything that is not notable is not worthy of inclusion. When did we start having an entrance exam for inclusion in the Trek fan film community? The next thing we'll be getting will be a scoreboard, grading fan films by their popularity.

For God's sake people, don't do this to us! We've just lost "Star Trek: Enterprise" and all professional Trek production has been put on hold because it didn't rate highly enough. Now you want to do the same thing to fan films? Are you nuts?

Who gives a dead dingoes donger about ratings?

I thought Trek fan films were supposed to be a free expression of our fandom. So you like The Original Series? You want to see more and you have a group of like-minded friends? Go for it! Do it! You will have to search for the talents and develop the skills needed to make a film production - if you believe in your production enough to put your hard-earned cash on the line, I'm assuming you will want to make the effort to make it the best film you can. Beyond that, its nice to get accolades, perhaps you might want to show it at cons or in film festivals, perhaps you might do it again, but are you really worried if it isn't popular? You're doing it for yourself and those who enjoy TOS, if it doesn't come up to scratch on some ratings board outside TOS fans, Google, IMDB or Neillson, should you be bothered?
Mark my words, we're not talking about constructive criticism which is offered to improve your work here, we are talking about a ratings system that is trying to deny your work's existence as a Trek fan film!

Up to now the Trek fan film community has been supportive and non-judgemental. Smaller groups, some not even having their own website at times, have been welcomed onto the forums of the larger, more well established and respected groups - one of the top three of which I might point out is Exeter's "Subspace Forum" which was not deemed as notable as " Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation". Shouldn't Wikipedia reflect that? Isn't an encyclopedia supposed to reflect reality rather than change it? Why would any one want to change it?

I can only give you my opinion based upon what I have seen in my short time as a Trek fan production observer. It is up to you, the Trek fans and film-makers and, to a wider extent, SciFi fans in general to make your own decisions.

If Wikipedia is meant to be a reflection of reality, if it is going to be a true, authoritative work on the subject, it's going to have to report on all productions regardless of size or quality. I'm not suggesting equal mention for all, some need only be a linked name, but their position in the broad scheme of things needs to be acknowledged otherwise readers will get an unbalanced view of the field. When did we start making value judgements about which productions were "notable" enough to be called fan films?

I've got a bad feeling about this.

Contents 2006

2006-01-26T07:57:00.000+11:00

The LIEF Erikson

The fanzine of the House of L'Stok

January,2006 - The Fan Productions issue

The Trek United 2005 Fan Film Campaign
..... ~(>!<)~ Kirok's view: Franchise Fatigue?
..... Andromeda; Constellation; The Continuing Voyage; Dark Armada; Excalibur; Impact 25; Intrepid; Lexington; Mystery Area
..... =(o_0)= Kirok's View: Copyright
..... The Legacy; Unity; Farragut; Highlander; Tales of the Seventh Fleet; Hathaway

Other Fan Film Groups
..... >(~!-)~ Kirok's View: Why watch a fan film anyway?
..... Final Odyssey; Hidden Frontier; Monument; Morning Star; New Voyages; Exeter; The Klingon Watch

Fan Audio Drama Groups
..... >(^V^)< Kirok's View: From Radio Play to Audio Drama
..... Pioneers; The Section 31 Files; Defiant

Fan VR Groups
>(*v*)< Kirok's View: From Animation to Virtual Reality
..... Lego "Brick films" (The Kronos Files, Brick Trek); The Sims (Sim Trek 1, Sabotage); Flash (How You Live, Enterprise Flashed, Endeavour, Stone Trek); Machinima (Borg Wars!, Enterprise! Behind the Scenes); CGI Animation (Valiant, Enterprise Continuation Project)

Fan Game Mods
..... >(o{}o)< Kirok's View: Roll-Your-Own games
..... Half-Life 2 (EF: Total Conversion, Borg Wars); ST: Elite Force (Enterprise!, Enterprise IV - In a Mirror Darkly, Space Station K7, Starbase 11); Unreal Tournament 2004 (TrekUT); Freeware (Final War)

Fan Comics
..... ~(^_^)~ Kirok's View: From pulps to web comics
..... Elite Farce, Enterprise Oddities, Star Trek Animated Series Comics, USS Atlantis

Breaking News!
..... Enterprise Fan Film?; Fan films on Wikipedia; Star Trek Parodies; Fan films on Community TV; Trek United Fan Film Tribute Trailer

Who is Kirok of L'Stok?

2005-12-28T22:18:00.000+11:00

At different times I've been pulled up about the fact that I use a nom de plume on the internet. You have a choice of three answers.

He could be an English-born Australian, a married father of two who has worked on the railways for 27 years and has reached the pinnacle of his career as a technical officer crunching numbers into an unrecognisable pulp on a computer all day!

... or he could be a Klingon abandoned at birth because of major handicaps, raised by Vulcans and used as a human guinea pig for cybernetic implants.

... or he could be a Star Trek fan who likes to write. A member of Starfleet International and correspondence member of a Canadian fan club, he edits two SFI Fanzines, is a moderator of their Writers group and regularly contributes to their Newsletter, Communique. A major contributor to the Trek United Fan Film Campaign, he writes for their Newsletter and contributes articles for their front page as well as for Planet Fandom and yes, I am still struggling to get The LIEF Erikson out as a monthly Fanzine.

OK, I'll 'fess up. I'm all three!

I've been described as a "fan video maker" and I must admit that I held the title of producer of the Trek United Tribute Trailer although I can take little credit for the amazing body of work that it has become - Trek rider, the Director deserves full credit! Without her it would not exist. The closest I have come has been to make two
short "Teasers" for the Trek United campaign on Windows Movie maker. I have aspirations to participating in one or more fan productions in the future, but for the moment I am a comentator rather than a producer!

It all started when my kids were little, I decided to take up something for fun to show them that Dad wasn't really a boring old stiff - I started getting involved with Star Trek. Writing Fan Fic, articles, editing Newsletters and, lately, inflicting my Blogs on an unsuspecting world.

When I was a kid in England years ago, my family was incredibly working class - you could see your life laid ahead of you like train tracks and it was heading into bleak, grey world. I dreamed of doing extraordinary things but the unspoken law was "People like us don't do things like that". "People like us" don't become geologists or helicopter pilots, write books, listen to classical music or go to the theatre. "People like us" work in factories, watch TV, read, listen and watch whatever we are told is popular or trendy.

My kids have shown me that a person can do absolutely anything! By encouraging them to read, write ... create ... I've started to do these things myself.

Did I tell you Kirok loves his kids?

Fan productions: Fair Use or Piracy?

2005-12-23T02:09:00.000+11:00

This Blog is based on my rebuttal of material posted on the history page of the Wikipedia article "Star Trek, other storylines", where a subsection was added entitled "A Questionable future for fan films". This was deleted, reposted, deleted again, had its inaccuracies listed, yada, yadda, yadda! Until eventually the discussion page became bigger than the article!

I was encouraged to add my comments to the history page even though it was getting incredibly large. This did catalyse certain material that I am collating for Decembers edition of The LIEF Erikson. This is a preview ...

To me, the overriding question when considering Viacom's response and relationship to the growing number of fan productions should be - Is this a legal problem or a commercial problem? I mean, are they compelled by law to take a certain course of action or can they respond in a manner that best suits their commercial needs. To put it bluntly: are the lawyers in charge or are the managers?

Let's view this as an ethical question. What is the purpose of the copyright laws? To assert the rights of ownership by the professional producers - Paramount - over their works, the characters, designs, scripts, music … etc. These rights of ownership usually mean getting a fair monetary return by the producers and distributors for their investment but it can also include the rights of the creators (scriptwriters, composers etc) to be identified as the authors of their work. The threat of litigation is the force that the law uses to enforce the owner's rights when they are compromised.

Fan film producers have no problem with any of this.

They acknowledge the copyright ownership of the original Star Trek copyrights
They do not divert revenue from Viacom by accepting money

By being predominantly an "original work of authorship" they are by definition an unauthorised derivative work

They are non-confontationist and admit that they exist by the sufference of the copyright owners.

From an artistic standpoint, they not only acknowledge the work of the writers and directors, they venerate them! Remember we are talking about fans here! I see no need for punitive action.

I would go so far as to say that fan productions are doing the opposite. My contention is that they are maintaining Paramount's revenue by keeping interest alive in the Trek franchise. In fact they are doing even more - they are an active force for increasing Paramount's revenue on the general and the specific level by drawing new fans to the franchise.

If that fails to impress you look at it the other way around. How much profit will Viacom make by taking a Draconian stance and closing fan productions down? certainly Disney does this, but remember Disney is in active production of even its oldest copyrighted characters, Mickey and Donald! Paramount has said they will not have any new professionally produced within the forseeable future so their sole income will come from merchandising their existing productions. Who buys them? The fans and any new fans who might come along.

So explain to me again how closing down fan films on a legality and alienating their only source of revenue is going to deliver a higher profit to their stockholders? I would contend that it makes sound long term commercial sense to encourage fan productions

Why watch a fan movie?

2005-07-27T23:31:00.000+10:00

It's easy for viewers to look at a fan movie and be critical when comparing it to the professional productions.

I like to compare it to amateur theatre. My daughter's in a local production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and she is really excited about it. I've been to some of the rehearsals and the singing is good, I don't know about the acting as yet although they are taking it seriously and working hard on it.

I have to face reality though and say there is no way on Gods green Earth that they will be able to put on a production that will be on the same par as the ones which starred John English or John Farnham. [For our international friends, they are high profile Aussie performers who were in different professional productions of JCS]. So why should I pay good money to see something that I know will not be as good as a professional performance?

I mean besides the fact that Daddie's little girl is in it :P

I suppose different people go for different reasons but I go, knowing that it will be less than perfect, that these will be amateur performances and I judge them on their level. The lead singer might be good for his age and you might think he'd do well professionally, the director might be able to put a slightly different spin to it that you had never thought of. Or the experience might just give you a little resonance, an echo of the heady days when it was on the stage and it was the best thing since sliced bread!

This carries over to Trek fan productions.

I have immense respect for the work that these guys are doing and appreciate it for what it is - artistic self-expression. I tend to watch them to see what they put into it rather than what I can get out of it. For example when I watch James Cawley playing Captain Kirk on New Voyages I don't compare his performance with Shatner, I enjoy it for what it is. I appreciate watching the sheer energy and will power that it needs to put any fan film together. It's not just a pat on the back for their effort though, if you push your "willing sense of disbelief" to a higher level than for a professional work, it is good entertainment!

It's like the old saying goes, those who can act become actors, those who can't become critics.
One of the things that killed ST: Enterprise IMHO was the number of armchair critics who judged, and in many cases pre-judged it.

People who are critical of fan fims should watch one or two then watch an original series episode afterwards. In many ways the only two things that make TOS stand above them are the scripts/plots and the acting, both of which are still a pretty high benchmark to reach. Production-wise, costumes, CGI, sets etc, fan films are right there with them.

Will they become a threat to mainstream media - TV and films? Not a chance in their current form. Perhaps if Paramount allow limited licencing, you might get a new crop of small Indy operators but without a way of recouping their expenses they will remain the domain of the fan who likes to act. Professionals can and will create higher quality productions because they have the money to pay for the best talent in writing, acting, CGI etc.

No. Their biggest impact is in my opinion in the inspiration they are for the next generation of fans. They are saying 'No! You don't have to sit on your duff watching re-runs and waiting for the next season. You can make your own!' It is a role playing game on a grand scale where you pretend you are an actor, a director, a CGI artist or a musician ... And if the end result falls short of professional standards, does it make your enjoyment any less exhilerating?

Trek Fan Productions, July 05

2005-07-19T23:23:00.000+10:00

For more information on fan production news for July 2005 on the LIEF Erikson see ...

Trek Fan Flash, July 05

2005-07-18T00:37:00.000+10:00

Enterprise Flashed
Chad Troftgruben, the Flash artist producing "Enterprise: Flashed" has had to cancel his plan to combine all three parts of his serial Flash movie "Cancelled" due to technical difficulties. This hasn't stopped him from developing his ideas, though.

This month he has released shorts and screenshots of his second special, "Moonves Versus Brazeal" a sequel to his earlier special,"The Leslie Moonves Incident". Tim Brazeal has gratiously consented to supply the voice talent for his own character but to date I believe Chad has been unable to get Mr Moonves to play himself.

This month Chad has also released a promo clip that has a trailer of the episodes and a couple of interviews with the creators.

He's talking about releasing a DVD when he has enough material together. From comments on the TU forum it is good to see he realises that he needs to follow exactly the same constraints as every other Fan Production - he won't be able to sell it - but is hoping either for donations to cover the cost of production or to class it as a parody so that he can legally sell it.

All these Flash movies can be downloaded for free from the Episodes Webpage of the Enterprise Website.

Ok, so it might not be up to the standard of "Xombie" but his talents are developing at an awsome rate. He has a good grasp of script and action - it's fun to watch and it looks surprisingly good considering the rate at which he is punching them out! This could well be the vehicle to rocket Troftgruben to fan fame - and with support and development it could be an avenue for the continuation of Enterprise!

For the latest news and reviews of Enterprise: Flashed keep an eye on his Forum on Trek United for which you need free registration on Trek United - but you're all members of Trek United anyway, aren't you?

You're not?!

Star Trek: Endeavour
As I have pointed out elsewhere, there are semi-professionals that are drawn to create something that they know how to do well as a Trek Fan Production and there are fans who want to do something so strongly that they embark on a long learning curve to make something that will win critical acclaim.

In this, Trek United Australia's Aussie_Trekie is in company with the USS Justice, makers of "Tales of the Seventh Fleet" in that he has felt the need to create a movie so strongly that he is prepared to start from scratch.

He has completed the third episodes and is working on a fourth, although the first is no longer available since it was pointed out that he had subconsciously duplicated the plot from an old TOS episode! Keep up the good work, AT!

Trek Sim Movies, July 05

2005-07-18T00:25:00.000+10:00

So you have live action fan movies like Star Trek: New Voyages and Exeter and fan movies that are live action against virtual reality backgrounds like Star Trek : Final Frontier. The next step is to loose the live action altogether and go into a total virtual reality!

The type of movie that you end up with depends pretty much on the type of computer "VR engine" you use. For example you can make one using the popular game "The Sims". Add some Trek TOS uniforms, an Enterprise that looks like it is made of Lego and a good dose of tongue in cheek humour and you get ...

Sim Trek "Day Exceeding Day"
I thought it was witty. The names, the Kirk impression, the famous McCoy line, the music, even the "cinematography" - it had a real TOS feel about it! My daughter tells me that this is how Sims plays out so don't get too hung up on the uh, expressive body language.
The creator of this, Klingonoprea said ...

I spent my whole spring break making this movie! it includes subtitles and voice overs, all of which were me, because I couldn't get anyone else to do them

What would that be - four weeks? Working by himself, too. Plot, visuals, sound ... you've gotta give the guy his due, he did a reasonable job on all of them and a great job overall.

You have to admit though that group projects end up better since *no one* can be good at everything! Scriptwriting for animation is a specialised form in itself, voice actors can lend a distinctive voice to a character and sound & graphics engineers can be specialists in getting the best out of a production.

This strikes me as the kind of Fan Production that is attainable by an individual. It's meant to be fast paced and spontaneous rather than a subtly scripted drama - they're meant to be fun. I'd like to hear from someone who does them.

Sabotage
Basically a music video with a plot, this Sim movie had more drama and action as Picard and his Sim crew track down a Romulan saboteur. The same exaggerated, expressive gestures work well here sometimes but I nearly choked when Worf did a 'surprised' double take!

Star Trek: The Final War
What could be a new ambitious Sims project has recently surfaced ...

USS Victory We have gotten some disturbing news. It seems that the destruction of the transwarp Hub that the USS Voyager destroyed has only served to inrage the collective minds of the Borg. An Armada in the Delta quadrent has been gathered and the federations only hope to avoid all out war at home rests in the hands of these Delta quadrent allies. In the event that this Armada fails we have been assigned to gain support for this cause. We are to seek help from the klingons, volcans, and romulens. If nothing else this may serve a greater cause and bring a lasting friendship and peace to the war torn region. We have been assigned a state of the art vessel. Our ship is an experimental class designed to fight off any Borg invasion. Well her sheilding and armaments are far from complete one improvement is the use of a new type warp drive that can reach speeds of warp 10 for a very short time and a sustainable warp 9.9. Currently Star fleet is working over time to develope the technology that Voyager brought back and so far research is going slowly but looks promising. We have been told that our ship will be the one they test the new technologies on. Lets only hope for the sake of the federation as we know it that the borg won't be able to adapt to it! Off the record I have heard rumors coming from High ranking officals that they dout that the delta quadrent armada can hold off the borg in the event they launch a full scale invasion. All we can do is hope and pray that between the two armadas we can stop the borg and preserve life as we know it!

Unfortunately when I followed up on the guy's link his new "network" is a shell under construction and there is no mention in his forum of a Trek movie. Worth watching, but I think it's a fizzer.

Know what would really help all these projects? A flamin' spell checker!

Trek VR Movies, July 05

2005-07-17T23:53:00.000+10:00

ST: Unity for WA's Ch 31?
Hot news just off Trek United's Forum is that negotiations are under way for a SciFi night on a West Australian community TV channel that might feature "Star Trek : Unity"! ST: Unity is a maverick, wild card in the Fan Production community at the moment since they sprang from the TU forum a few months ago. I can find little concrete about them other than their website. Evidently it will be a totally Virtual Reality movie but the real McCoy this time, something like "Reboot", "Jimmie Neutron" or the Barbie movies (uh, my daughter watched them and I ... just happened to be in the room at the time!).

We have just received an email from Access 31's program co-ordinator who has informed us that we have a green light to proceed to the next stage of program proposal. This means that the station is interested in our pilot episode and that once it is completed, they will review us further.

A reincarnation of a previously established Trek website, TREKZONE.org, is the broker in negotiations with a West Australian community TV station for a sci-fi program in which ST Unity could take an anchoring part. Access 31's program co-ordinator has given the green light to proceed to the next stage of program proposal. The project is awaiting a response from Paramount Pictures International who they hope will see channel 31 for what it is - free-to-air and not-for-profit.

There is a precedent for showing fan films on community TV in Australia. In May this year a show called "Revenge of the Fanfilm", which was an hour and half of films in their entirety with cast/crew interviews as segues, was aired on "The Short Film Show" on Channel 31 in Melbourne and Adelaide. The program probably didn't hit the copyright wall because it featured a Star Wars spinoff called "Imperial Chopper" and Lucas is on record as being favourable towards SW Fan Films.

TU Australia's Aussie Trekie has found that Brisbane has a similar outfit at their Ch.31 called "The Short Film Distillery". Space Marine, from AusSciFi, did a little research into Ch.31 in Sydney and found that the group that was operating the community TV there lost the broadcast license to a rival group. This group is now trying to get their operation up and running although they only have until the end of October to accomplish this. Links are : http://www.slicetv.org.au/ and http://www.tvs.org.au/

The burning question is - will Paramount see that allowing Fan Films to be shown on non-profit, comunity stations with a small viewer coverage is free advertising for their core franchise! The publicity caused by such a program would reverberate through the mainstream media. People who can't pick up Ch31 will be saying - "Hey, that sounds interesting! How can I get it?"

Trek Audio dramas, July 05

2005-07-17T22:10:00.000+10:00

There's not much happening in the way of new Trek so rather than dwell on the past I'll start posting about what fans are doing to keep the flame alive!

Wouldn't it be great to make your own TV programs or movies, especially if you could write it and perform in it as well? Unfortunately a fan movie is way beyond the resources of most Fan groups. There are other options though.

I have just the thing - an Audio Production, what used to be called a Radio Play. It might sound strange in this modern world where even our music has to be accompanied by a video for it to succeed in the charts, but there's still an interest in them.

In fact when "Star Wars" ran as thirteen half-hour Star Wars radio programs in 1981 on National Public Radio, the response was incredible. They got 50,000 letters and phone calls in a single week, 750,000 listeners per episode and a 40% jump in the overall NPR audience.

In the past, many radio plays have had major cult followings like "The Goon Show" and many have made the successful transition to TV. "The Green Hornet" springs to mind, as does "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" which has even made it to the movie screen this past month!
Star Trek on the other hand has never tried to break into this commercial market. There have though been a few fans produced Star Trek radio plays. The most notable examples are Star Trek: Pioneers and Darker Projects: The Section 31 Files, more on these later.

What is involved in creating an Audio production? The term "audio production" covers a number of sub-types. It’s base form, the audio book, could be something as simple as a narrator, sometimes the author or an actor with a good speaking voice, reading a story with only the simplest of background music and sound effects.

Some audio books have several actors doing the different voices in a story but it is from this point that they start to verge on a full blown audio drama, a radio play. I suppose the name changed because it can be distributed on many different types of media besides radio: Internet Radio, Audio Cassette/CD. MP3, Podcast ... The difference between an audio book and an audio production is that the former uses little narration and instead relies on the script and special effects to tell the story. Go down to your local library, you're bound to find examples of each.

I was lucky enough to find, in our local library, a copy of "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting" by J. Michael Straczynski. Yes, that’s the same J. Michael Straczynski who wrote and produced "Babylon 5". I can't praise this book too much, not just for the depth and quality of the material, but for the breadth as well, covering as it does TV, Movies, Animation, the Stage and (luckily) Radio.

Straczynski points out that writing for radio is both rewarding and demanding in that the success or failure of the production pretty much relies on the story, the script. From a production point of view, it is far more accessible in that you don't have the problems and expense of props, scenery, costume or video special effects. In fact you can forget the whole complex and costly process of video recording & editing.

Star Trek: Pioneers
As I noted earlier, the two main players in Star Trek Audio productions are Star Trek: Pioneers and Darker Projects: The Section 31 Files. With the crash of their server and increasing time lags between projects, ST: Pioneers was for a time cancelled, but has recently been brought back with the help of the Section 31 Files team. The head of Pioneer Audio Productions, Kevin Cho, is optimistic as to the future of Pioneers within the larger framework of Darker Projects.
What is the future for ST: Pioneers? Kevin has confided in me some tantalising hints that, if they come to fruition, could herald a much higher profile for Trek Audio Drama. Once I get clearance to break the story you'll be the first to know!

The Pilot episode of Star Trek: Pioneers, a three parter named "New frontiers", was concluded with the release on April 9th of a crossover to a ST: Section 31 Files episode called "Bold Venture". Written by Kevin Cho and produced by Darker Projects, featuring their cast and crew. Kevin had definite ideas about the closure of the Pioneer storyline …

I really wanted to finish the Pioneers' Pilot episode with something a little different. So I choose the 3rd person view via the Nosferatu. Section 31 Files' Cast and Crew are the best of the best when it comes to Audio Productions, and I was very happy when they accepted the script.

Unfortunately I heard from Kevin the other day to say that as hurricane Dennis passed where he lives, he lost power and his system files became corrupt forcing him to reformat his harddrive and reinstall windows. Evidently everything to do with Pioneers, including the websites, was lost although the cast/crew are helping him put some of the pieces back together!
He's not having much luck recently having been recently, inexplicably, locked out of his website. This means that at the moment there is nowhere to download his fine work! Hopefully he might be able to arrange emergency hosting of the Download files. Fortunately you can still drop by the Pioneer's forum at …
http://members.lycos.co.uk/pioneeraudio/phpBB2/index.php
Whilst others will be faced with greater losses than this over the next week I'm sure, Kevin has my heartfelt sympathy. There is no more horrifying feeling of knowing that months of work has just gone to electron heaven!

Star Trek: The Section 31 Files
Darker Project Audio Works do a number of different Audio drama projects - the Dr. Who series sounds interesting - but of interest to us is their compelling dramatic series "The Section 31 Files". Since September last year they have produced ten episodes in their first season which had it's finale at the end of last month with the release of "Knowledge is Power". To quote Eric L. Busby, the Project Coordinator...

...not only is it the end of our first season, it is also the close for the first segment of the story arc we have developed for The Section 31 Files. It's been quite a ride so far and we here at Darker Projects are just getting warmed up.

The teaser for the season cliff-hanger tells us that ...

Agents from the Tal Shiar plot to attack the Klingon High counsel unless Section 31 can stop them. Meanwhile dark agendas begin to come together that may mean war for the galaxy.

Stay tuned for the exciting continuation of our drama next week!

Trek Fan Movies, July 05

2005-07-13T19:27:00.000+10:00

Star Trek: New Voyages
Last month I was lucky enough to be granted an interview with Jack Marshall executive producer of "Star Trek: New Voyages" for "Communique" the Newsletter of StarFleet International (mailed free to members). These are some highlights ...

Kirok: You are executive producer as well as director which gives you an enormous control over what you are doing - you don't have to answer to anyone else . Your production has three co-creators though - what part have Max Rem and James Cawley played in the creation of ST:NV?
Jack: James' gift is creation - he's built all the sets and costumes. Max has a flare for action and pacing and creates the beautiful effects for the show I'm the visionary. I organize the schedule and oversee all pre and post production as well as the physical directing of the show. I don't think any of us could pull this off without the other. We each have our areas and we each have a vote. It's worked well thus far.

Kirok: No one contends the fact that Viacom/Paramount own Star Trek. Not only do they have copyrights on key words such as Klingon and Tricorder, but it also covers anything that is a significant likeness. It is a complex legal and ethical question that probably has no definitive answer, merely a balance between copyright protection and respect for the fanbase and New Voyages is right there on the knife's edge! Could they be a sleeping giant who might pull the plug on you?
Jack: I suppose they could, but why would they? Believe it or not, Paramount is very aware of it's Trek fanbase and the last thing they want to do is have another web crusade like they did in the 90's where they shut peoples websites down and alienated the fans. We've had some preliminary talks with them regarding licensing and before that had been in constant contact with Viacom's legal department and know that if we follow the groundwork they've laid for us, we'll be ok. There are other fan films out there who have not yet come to the attention of Paramount who are actively collecting money on their websites. Our agreement says we cannot do that. I asked them why others can and their reply was simply - we never heard of them. So our success has been a double edged sword. But a danger of getting shut down? I think it's nil as long as we follow the guidelines they've set out for us.

Kirok: One of the factors that makes it possible for you to film New Voyages is the fact that you don't make a profit. This is reasonable - Viacom can't be expected to allow anyone to make money with their "property". However does this mean that you have to work at a loss? Could you be sponsored? What if Pizza Hut offered to do your on-site catering?
Jack: That's right, we can't make money by selling DVD's, T-Shirts, or anything with the Star Trek name on it. However, we can take donations to pay for the production of the show itself. In theory, someone could have a fund and we could have [them] pay the bills from that fund, like hotels, food, lumber, props, etc.

Kirok: The last I heard, the cost per episode for UPN to make Enterprise was $750,000, just running off to fantasy land for a moment, what could you do with the budget from just one episode?
Jack: I'd think the possibility of seeing a dozen or so New Voyages episodes done professionally would be a distinct possibility.

Expectations are high that we will be seeing great things from "Star Trek: New Voyages"! They will be filming episodes 3 and 4 simultaneously in September, with episode 3 being released early in 2006 and episode 4 in the fall. Jack Trevino & Ethan Calk, both veteran Deep Space Nine writers, are writing episode 3 which will "re-introduce" the characters of Chekov and Sulu.

Episode 4 is being penned by none other than D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana, who, as story editor, could be said to be one of the foremost creative influences on the original series! To cap it off, Walter Koenig, the original Pavel Chekov, will guest star as an older version of the character he created in the original series. I don't know how they're going to do it but if D.C. Fontana is writing it we can look forward to a rare treat!

Episodes 1 and 2 can still be downloaded for free from the internet at http://www.newvoyages.com/.

Further to Jack's comments on copyright and licensing, I found the comments by James Cawley, the flamboyant co-producer and star of New Voyages in an article by CBC about Walter Koenig's appearance in episode four to be most enlightening ...

It's Cawley's belief that Paramount may eventually be convinced to license selected fan films, as it has done with fan fiction in the past. If the studio let him charge users a dollar per download in the future, he says he'd be willing to give Paramount 75 per cent of the money raised

Starship Exeter
Twice in one week a Fan film rated a mention on Trek Today. The first was the release by ExeterStudios has of the first instalment of their second episode. Labeled as the "Teaser/Titles" for their new hour long production - "The Tressaurian Intersection" - it can be downloaded for free from their 'movies' page.

The next portion was scheduled for release on Friday, July 8th, however as the deadline drew closer, ExeterStudio, announced that they were "still working on several effects shots" and they still haven't released it (July 17). The concensus amongst their fans is that they are prepared to wait for the quality work that they have come to expect from this well respected group. It has been a long time between episodes for Starship Exeter. The oldest Trek Fan Film production company, their "Savage Empire" was started way back in 1995 and released in 2002.

Hidden Frontiers
The other Fan Flick news in Trek Today recently was the media attention that the Fan Movie series "Star Trek: Hidden Frontier" has recently garnered because it has a gay male couple as a major plot element.

The two gay characters on Hidden Frontier are Lt. Corey Aster and his Trill boyfriend, ensign Jorian Zen. One of the future storylines will involve Zen being joined with a symbiont who is not gay, leaving Aster to wonder what the new sexual orientation of his lover will be, and whether Zen will even still be interested in him.

You have to be impressed with the sheer volume of material that has come out of this group - they are in their sixth season, having completed five seasons of five episodes per year. Their production values have improved immeasuiably over the years, and now ..., the producer, admits that they "hit there stride with season three".

They are markedly different from both New Voyages and Starship Exeter. Not only is their storyline set in the 24th century, ..., but their production technique is different. Saving time and money, they work their magic with live actors in front of a green screen. They are always ready to grasp new innovations, for example they have even created podcasts of two of their eps.

They will have a delegation at Toronto Trek, July 15-17, so with any luck I might be able to get a mate to ask them some questions.

As regards the gay element in their shows ...

the show's producers cautioned that this storyline only plays a role in six or seven episodes of the 40 that have been produced to date. Other stories deal with a galactic battle involving mysterious energy sources known as "tetrahedrons," while the series also tells classic Trek stories of exploration.

Me, I'll be glad to see gays accepted into the mainstream of Trek canon as long as it is done in a non-confrontational fashion. Frankly it would be an acceptance of modern reality rather than the blind-eye that is turned towards them at the moment ... and that's being realistic, not P.C.

ST:HF continue to keep on track with their gruelling schedule. Following the release of their last episode, "Homeport", they have successfully wrapped up production of episode 4 of their current season: "Beachhead".

At the moment they have a trailer and production shots available of Beachhead for download plus a preview trailer of it and the other two episodes remaining in season 6: "Vigil" and "Her Battle Lanterns Lit". The two-and-a-half minute, high-resolution trailer was released to a cheering audience at Gaylaxicon.

New Voyages - Beyond Survival

2005-06-10T22:07:00.000+10:00

Perhaps the simplest and most common "Fan Production" is Fan fiction. We've done this ourselves with "Magellan's Luck", writing a story that contains avatars of ourselves within the Star Trek universe.

However the peak of creativity would have to be making your own video production, either a TV programme or a movie. For most of us it is only a dream, since it takes great skill, dedication and resources to make a reasonable video. Viewers today expect acting, special effects and production values that are frankly beyond the grasp of non-professionals. That doesn't stop amateurs from trying for, and in many cases achieving, amazing results.

There have been amateur films since the early part of the last century, but it has been the availability of increasingly sophisticated video and editing facilities and the use of the internet as a distribution and advertising medium that has led to the explosion of increasingly professional productions. Perhaps the earliest landmark was Kevin Rubio's "Troops", a Star Wars spin-off, in 1997. In fact Star Wars has dominated the Fan Film medium ever since, perhaps because of the stated leniency shown by George Lucas to those who wanted to emulate his creations without seeking to make money. Gene Roddenbury died in 1991, long before the boom in Fan Movies but I'm pretty sure that he would have encouraged a similar tolerance if he were alive today.

This is not to say that Paramount are hawks when it comes to protecting their copyrights - compare them to Disney, who are renowned for pursuing litigation and even successfully lobbied to change the law to keep the mouse (Mickey) in the house when his copyright expired in 2000! Paramount on the other hand has always taken the tack that fan creativity is a form of free advertising.

Star Trek does have a sizeable foothold in the fan movie arena though with long-standing production companies such as Starship Exeter, whose "Savage Empire" was started way back in 1995 and released in 2002. They have recently released a trailer for their second film "The Tressaurian Intersection" which is due out on July 1st.

Jack Marshall rose to fan fame in 2002 when he used his editing skills to improve the 1989 "ST V: The Final Frontier". Surgically removing "deadwood" from the movie he left a "fan's cut" that caught the attention of aficionados around the country. At the time Marshal, his wife Pearl and a group of friends had just founded Cow Creek Films as a non-profit film company with the goal of partnering arts projects with charitable organizations.

The following year, in between projects, Marshall made the acquaintance of James Cawley, a professional actor, and an Elvis impersonator, who just happened to be the owner of a recreation of the original Enterprise bridge! With Cawley’s props & acting experience and Marshall’s production company all that was needed was a CGI master in the form of Max Rem, visual effects and makeup artist, and the result was the genesis of ‘Star Trek; New Voyages".
They are very much the stars of the Trek fan movie movement at the moment with two episodes produced in January and October of 2004 and another two planned for filming later this year.

There is considerable conjecture as to the future of fan movies. Pessimists expect the worst, that Paramount will close down any production that looks like being more popular than the movies & series they have produced themselves. Optimists believe that, as long as they continue to play by the rules, there is no reason for Paramount not to continue to tolerate them as long as they do not seek to make a profit.

Is there a step beyond survival though? Producing these fan movies is a labour of love at the moment. What you get at the end of the movie is an immense sense of achievement and a big hole in your pocket where a couple of thousand dollars used to be. Could there be some kind of arrangement that could be arrived at between the movie makers and Paramount that could allow the movie to recoup some of it’s costs and Paramount get a return for it’s dormant copyright?

Between June and August last year Mike Carano gained a licence from Viacom for a stage production of "Spock's brain". My daughter tells me that this type of thing is quite common for amateur theatrical companies to pay for a licence for the duration of a production. Would it be possible to use this as a precedent for negotiating a limited/modified theatrical licence for fans to make a movie or mini-series that does not cost them an arm and a leg?

Consider this quote from James Cawley on the CBC.CA Arts & Entertainment website ...

It's Cawley's belief that Paramount may eventually be convinced to license selected fan films, as it has done with fan fiction in the past. If the studio let him charge users a dollar per download in the future, he says he'd be willing to give Paramount 75 per cent of the money raised.

Just imagine what they could do if they could get their costs back!

The Resonance of Trek

2005-06-04T08:36:00.000+10:00

I go to the movies to be entertained. If I want to intellectually stimulated I'll usually turn to a book. I'm rarely the one who chooses the movies we watch on video. Movies that stay with me, like Blade Runner, Spirited Away or The Last Samurai, they strike a chord inside me, like a frequency or a harmony. When you see something of the same genre afterwards it sets off a resonance, an echo - not the same but similar.

The Next Generation had that resonance, sang to a similar tune to the Original Series. However with each succeeding series that special quality that TOS & TNG had was diluted more and more. Deep Space Nine had the trek chord running through counter-points and discords, the Bajorans, the Cardassians, the Dominion war. With Voyager the Trek chord was a faded background like muzak or elevator music only superficially reminding you of the previous harmony.

Enterprise attempted to be something different, at once a precursor and successor to Trek, and by trying to be different lost the tune altogether! It was only in the third season when they put some oomph behind it that it stopped being *like* Trek and approached the real thing. In the last season, - so I'm told, I'll not download it - Mannie Cato found the key. He went back to the established icons (eugenics, Vulcans) and started to explore the gaps between the Canon, he added to the established Trek Mythology with reasoned, credible plots.

Then, just as it was hitting it's stride, they gave it the chop.

The worst thing, as I've said, was the lost potential, the stories that would not get told, the characters who would not be allowed to be fleshed out for us. Dude, I want to know what Archer did in the Romulan War. How could even Manny Cato pull off a whole war where the protagonists did not see each other? And what would that say about the dehumanisation of modern warfare when enemies kill anonymously, at great distances, at the press of a button?

[This Blog should get me taken out and shot by the style police for muddling multiple metaphors! I can't take credit for the conceit of resonance, I first saw this used by Liz Metcalfe]

A Fair Go

2005-05-20T22:50:00.000+10:00

I was recently asked to write something up on why I am supporting Trek United in their fight to get "Enterprise" back into production.

What does the loss of Enterprise mean to me? As some have realisticaly pointed out, the world did not end on May 27th. There were other programmes to watch on TV, there is good SciFi currently in production, for the Trek fan there are re-runs and DVDs. If that is not enough, you could always open a book since Star Trek in print is still alive and well. Why not accept what we are given and make the most of it?

Why not? Because Star Trek fandom is in the enviable position of being an organised voice for the wishes of Science Fiction fans and as a group we have historically shown that we can affect the decisions of the media giants. In short we don't have to take it!

I feel that Viacom and Paramount need to be told that the fans, the people who watch the programs and buy the DVDs, are not happy with the way that the production of "Enterprise" was handled. Right from the beginning "Enterprise" was plagued with a management that didn't seem to want it, dubious Production and Directing decisions, lack of promotion and lethal TV programming.

I could understand if it were a lost cause but we're talking about a Star Trek series with a potentially huge, ready made fanbase. They had to work pretty hard to lose that massive head start. It wasn't a bad concept either. To give Berman his due I think the idea of showing the history of how the Federation developed has great potential. Many didn't like the idea of a prequel to the previous series but to my mind their thinking is too linear. By going back, closer to our own time, I believe the writers gave Star Trek more relevance to the modern world than a Utopian 24th century society whose principles and history are shrouded in mystery.

I want to see Enterprise come back because it didn't deserve the raw deal it got.The show had great potential as was shown when it was handed over to Manny Cato and I think, given intelligent programming and aggressive marketing, the creative team that they had could have delivered some ground-breaking TV.

To add insult to injury Viacom management are now making statements about how "Star Trek needs a break" as if the fault lies with the concept, the genre, rather than their handling of it. What's the odds this will be used as a rationale for grounding all Trek productions - films as well as TV?

What Star Trek needs is a change, not a break. It needs a change of attitude at management level. It needs a change of format, maybe direct to video, three part mini-series or anime ... something different. It needs to realistically challenge the real issues of modern society: gay acceptance, the dangers as well as the advantages of globalisation, the destruction of the environment...

Viacom have it in their power to solve all of the problems that plagued Enterprise! Don't lay the blame Trek! Bring Enterprise back and give it a fair go!

The LIEF Erikson as a Fanzine

2005-05-15T00:33:00.000+10:00

Why would anyone be interested in a Trekie's Blog? Well it's not your normal Blog. You won't find out how I feel this morning, have to wade through teenage angst about how my friends don't understand me or listen to rants about the quality of coffee in Starbucks. So what is in them? ...

The LIEF Press
My Fan Fiction Printing House. Major series include

"Tales of Death and Honour"
"Lima Echo One".

The LIEF Erikson
My editorial Blog. Comment and views, mostly to do with Star Trek and SF&F but rambling across the whole range of my interests as the whim takes me.

Treknology Today
The home of my quarterly articles about Treknology in the modern world and regularly updated posts of new paper models of Trek subjects.

LIEFCon LaunchLog
Keep up to date with this monthly column on the latest launches ... and the latest paper models of the spacecraft that are making the news.

3D Science
A monthly column featuring specific hands-on scientific projects available on the Web, catering to all ages and experience levels.

Sci Station Canada
Science news from and about Canada

Sci Station Aus
Science news and comment from Australia

The Hypothetical LIEF
Philosophy and Logic, Trek-style. Well, what would you do if ...

In keeping with my exploration of the limits of what can be done with a Blog I've added a Mailing List function. Now you need never miss any of my world shattering Blog entries!

OK, meglamania aside, some of my blogs have proven to be quite popular and hopefully useful to Trek fans and the public at large. For example, the "Trek in Paper" posts on Treknology Today are started at the beginning of each month and added to as I find papermodels of Trek subjects. You could follow the Blog by RSS but if I have it correctly it will only register when a new post has against an updated post.

I have created two Yahoo! Groups as Mailing Lists - The Daily LIEF and The Weekly LIEF. Whenever I put something new on one of my Blogs I will post a 1-2 line notice & link on "The Daily LIEF" group which will be sent out to anyone who has subscribed.

Now I will be the first to point out that this will be *way* too much for the casual reader - not even my kids are that interested in everything I have written! Even the Weekly LIEF (which summarises the posts for the week) could end up just being just another In-Box stuffer. With this in mind, I have created "The Monthly LIEF" so that in the first week of each month I will send out a cummulative post summarising my Blog posts for the previous month.

Also at the end of that first week I will have available for download my Fanzine "The LIEF Erikson" which will be an accumulation of the full Blog entries in a printable (pdf) format for those of you who want something to leaf through over your morning coffee.

Taking into consideration privacy concerns, I have set the Group Web Tools so that it is a one way flow from me-to-you. For example Members can download Files/Photos, view Links and calendar or database items and partake in Polls. They can't upload files or photos, create Polls, or add to the database, calendar or links. I've left the Chat function open (although I've never known anyone to use it) but most importantly of all the Members list cannot be viewed by anyone other than the List owner.

A Trek Media centre

2005-04-28T00:42:00.000+10:00

We all have our own visions of what could be done with the idea of Trek United funding it's own Fan productions. Let me share with you one possibility.

Imagine, if you will, that it is Friday night and you fire up the computer to download your weekend's entertainment. You've got your homepage set to "The Federation" and a short Flash intro comes up as you log in. Like just about everything on the main web site it is "vaguely" Trek, it shows its parentage but has evolved beyond it's beginnings.

You have the sound turned on and the SF background music from the Fed. Radio Station reminds you that you need some Podcasts to listen to on the train to work next week. After a quick browse you choose a serialised radio play of The Borg Wars, a couple of Doco's (the latest on the Mars rovers and a retrospective on Apollo), Chase Masterton interviews Tim Brazeel and the latest stand-up comedy from Billie Connelly about Klingons at Wembley stadium.

All of these have been put into the download list in the Bit Torrent window and are followed by something to read from the FanFic list. You pick the latest instalment in the Virtual Next Generation Season 8 plus a week's worth of your favourite comic strip, unfortunately there's nothing new in comic books, but you spot a new Flash movie so that goes in too. Window after window is opened and closed in the Fed. navigation frame which was commissioned from Okuda specially for the website.

OK, down to the serious stuff - a movie for the family tonight. You click on the paid advert on the Fed. frame and choose something from a Pay-per-view site. You get a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you've pushed a bit more commission towards the Fed's then its back to the Fed main page and you browse what is available amongst the FanFlicks. You noticed on the notices that Flash across the bottom of the Fed frame (just above the RSS ticker) that the final results for last month's peer reviewed FanFlick awards are up, so you want to know if your favourite won.

Rats! It missed out by three points! Never mind, they'll still be in next months Fans Choice awards so you'll butter the wife up and see if she'll let you cast two votes. Come on, its only twenty bucks and she enjoyed their last episode as well!

Your daughter is looking daggers at you because she wants to get on the Net to download some more music (another paid link, but she is on a budget!) and upload her latest horror FanFiction. Oops, this reminds you that you wanted to download the latest Science project from the kids website so that you could do it with your son for a school project.

Your wife is getting cranky because dinner will be on the table shortly and "You're still on that damn computer!" so you have to leave it downloading. Tomorrow afternoon you'll have to sneak some time in so that you can upload your contribution to the Fanzine of the Trek Fan Club you are a member of, and update your Blog, and vote in this month's FanFlicks awards and - damn! I still haven't downloaded anything for Saturday night yet!

No worries. There's plenty to choose from and if all else fails …

… I suppose you could turn on the TV.

Sounds good? of course it does! You know, the amazing thing is that virtually all of it could be done right now with the resources on the Web today.

I've called it "The Federation" because the surface level needs to a new creation - just incase the worst case scenario happens and the lawyers persuade paramount to police their copyrights.
The Fed. Radio Station exists now in the form of Radio Starfleet although they don't do Podcasts ... yet!
The Documentary Podcasts could come from Universe Today or many others available from somewhere like ipodder or custom made ones could be made using Easypodcast.com
All of these things would be downloaded by Bit Torrent
The FanFic list could be a TU run affair or you could link to various FanFic sites, such as The Trek Writers Guild or the Starfleet Fiction Archive.
The Virtual Next Generation Season 8 has a draft website up and will be launched within weeks
I'd love to see a comic strip, or on-line comic books, however this hasn't been done ... yet
However there definately is a new Trek Flash movie site out - Enterprise Flashed

The webdesign by Okuda is wishful thinking but not impossible. Paid adverts, especially a link to a Pay-per-view site or a bookseller would bring in easy revenue. Flash notices and an RSS ticker - Please! Give me a hard task! Voting for awards by buying the right to vote awards …

Need I go on? This is a vision that could be accomplished today. All it needs is a backer.

This was posted in substantially the same form on Trek United.

Copyright & Merchandising

2005-04-26T21:28:00.000+10:00

My comrade in arms Keela noted on another forum

"… you still have to remember that all aspects of Star Trek are copyrighted. And the lawyers of Viacom don't mind going after anyone who infringes on their copyright especially if it makes "money" for someone."

With respect to copyright, I'll be the first to admit the idea of Trek United producing it's own works is untested ground. "New Voyages" is arguably the most ambitious fan Movie to date, but it is still a legitimate fan production in that …

It seeks to expand on to the Trek franchise, embellish it, publicise it
It does not seek to make a profit
It will not be released in a media that would put it in competition with Viacom/Paramount

As she so rightly points out, Viacom has the whip-hand here and could easily do a Disney on us and close up the whole She-Bang! I think however, that we have some significant bargaining chips on our side when negotiating with Viacom with regards to copyright …

A) Trek fans have a long history of working with Paramount as an unofficial publicity department, creating fiction, artworks, music. There might be a precedent for established practice. We should build on this. We are not their enemy, we want to help them make money.

B) Viacom/Paramount see their Trek franchise as a capital investment that they want to get the maximum return possible from. Whatever we plan to produce, I would suggest that we find some way of tying it into approved Paramount merchandise so that Paramount and the merchandisers can see that we are making them money. For example …
- A fan funded episode or movie could revolve around a Trek ship, say a Klingon Bird of Prey or Steamrunner Class, which a plastic model company such as AMT could release as a special edition.
- Similarly a fan funded episode or movie could revolve around an existing piece of Trek merchandising, for example a toy. Remember the old cowboy flick "Springfield Rifles"? Why not do a kids orientated, action short that features the phase pistol and communicator set made by Art Asylum. Hmmm … by the way, has anyone thought of making a shooting game for the X-Box or PS2 similar to "Time Crisis" that uses the phase pistol?
- A fan funded movie could be made of one of the Trek video games

C) This last idea of a fan funded movie based on a Trek video game brings to mind the court case between Activision and Viacom when Activision alleged that Viacom/Paramount were in breach of contract by not maintaining/developing the Trek franchise aggressively enough. Stop me if I'm wrong but it would appear that Paramount have a contractual obligation to maintain the media profile of the Trek franchise. If they were to block Trek United from doing that when they were not, I think you would find that the merchandisers would have something to say.

D) It is important NOT to do anything that would place Trek United in opposition to or in competition with Paramount. I doubt if they would appreciate us trying to sell a movie, TV program or DVD that people might watch or buy rather than the Paramount productions. This mainly applies to live-to-air & cable TV as well as direct to DVD.

Basically what I'm trying to show here is that there is a positive spin on copyright as well as a negative side. Trek United can work with the system to show Paramount that their fan base is not just a cash-cow, to be milked for all it can give, but a vibrant community of SciFi fans who see Trek as the focus of their "fan experience".

Sure, Trek fandom is a merchandising demographic, but it is a slice of the market that can only be maintained by constant development. All Trek United wants to do is keep the Trek flame burning, if we can show that by doing this we will be helping Paramount reach their corporate goals of survival and growth, so much the better.

This was posted in substantially the same form on Trek United.

Carpe Diem

2005-04-26T19:29:00.000+10:00

I am in agreement with Tiorn, who in a post to Trek United said " Why put it on hold? … There's no reason why we can't enter into a development phase ... Its just procrastination."

I would assume (and I have only a layman's knowledge of Film) that starting from scratch to having to sign contracts - never mind actually having people on a set, shooting scenes - would take a considerable amount of time.

Call for submissions from small production companies NOW. A winning pitch should take months to put together, if not I would question whether they had done a proper job of it. Even if it only takes two months, surely TU could have made a decision by then if and how they were going to go about it.

Worried you'd get saddled with a hot-shot production company that would fold, taking TU money with it? Insist on a completion bond. These are all things that a professional would know and be able to advise TU on. Tim has the right idea - bring in professionals. In fact get the opinion of a media expert on Trek United's options right from the start.

I built my own house - but only by learning what a builder does, thinking like a builder and acting like a builder. I contracted out the things I knew were critical - electrical, plumbing. Did I get a house equal to a professionally built one? I think so, it certainly has my individual stamp on it. But better? No.

If you were thinking of having surgery you wouldn't take the opinion of people on an internet forum would you?

Talk to the professionals, find out your options then make your decisions.

This was posted in substantially the same form on Trek United

Trek United initiative for fan productions

2005-04-25T02:12:00.000+10:00

The quality and standing of FanFilms is increasing by leaps and bounds, as can be seen by the fact that Walter Koenig will reprise his role as 'Pavel Chekov' in the upcoming fourth episode the online series, STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES which will be written by one of the Original Series creators, D.C. Fontana.

Trek United has just announced the possibility that they might fund their own productions. There's a lot of confusion at the moment, so perhaps I can add to it with a few ideas/comments of my own ...
- If more fan Films are made there is the possibility of a Paramount copyright backlash. I think there should be a standardised agreement with Paramount similar to the Creative Commons idea.
- Shlomi of Vulcan mentioned Internet viewing I would suggest that Trek United take the role of Internet SciFi Channel. Provide the medium for productions in the form of a legitimate Bit Torrent, Peer-2-Peer style, Web Channel.
- OK, so something like that is well within the bounds of reality RIGHT NOW! You could probably even get an existing outfit to set it up or handle it for you. Probably minimal expense.
- To be blunt, I don't believe that Trek United has the expertese to produce Fan Films. It has ideas, energy, commitment and has an organisation set up for communication between fans, media publicity and fund raising. It should do what it does best ...
*** Maintain a forum for Trek Fans to support the entertainment they want.
*** Publicise that entertainment
*** Raise funds to foster that entertainment
- So Trek United raises the money and publicises what for the sake of argument I'll call Fan Films. Who decides who gets the money? Why not have periodic Fan Film Festivals ( like the CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Awards?) having at least two categories - Peer judged and Fan judged
- The Peer judged competition selects a winner using an expert panel chosen from TV/film professionals, SciFi authors, professionals who have worked on Star Trek in the past ...
- the Fan judged competition selects a winner by a popular vote of the fans (fen? I can never be sure)
- The prize? Funding for a full scale production
- While you're at it run Peer and Fan judged competitions for scripts, comics, special effects, Flash productions, radio and stage productions

[pause to draw breath]

- I've talked about Trek but, yes, I think it should be open to others such as Star Wars, etc. However I believe that Trek United has an obligation to maintain Star Trek for it's fans though. Come on, it's called "Trek United" not "SciFi United".
- Should a totally new fictional universe be built? I'm open to new ideas but Im here because I like Trek. Leave it to the Fans to decide ...
*** Call for submissions
*** Put them to a Peer judged and Fan judged competition
*** Fund the winners
- The majority of Fans get what they want
- The Trek community funds works judged the same way as the Hugos which we can assume will be good quality.
- The only ones who might loose out are Paramount unless ...
- Why not offer the completed winners productions to Paramount as Pilot films? They would get a Pilot that they haven't paid for, PLUS free publicity in the target audience (SciFi) and the Fan Film production teams could get a shot at the big time!
- Dare I say that they (Paramount) could turn it into a reality TV mini-series ...

"SciFi Survivor"
"My Film Rules"
"Trek Boot Camp"

Who threw that! OK, I deserved it! (@!*) I said the "R" word.

I think this initiative by Trek United has the potential to change the face of entertainment as we know it. For the better.

This was posted in substantially the same form on Trek United, Starfleet-L and SFI-Writers

Uh, Maybe not.

2005-03-25T10:03:00.000+11:00

Looks like I might have this era (from First Contact to a United Earth) to myself after all. Michael Hinman of SyFyPortal posted on TrekWeb that ...

Erik just messaged me and let me know that 160 years was an incorrect number (obviously), hehehehe!!So, don't let that fuel speculation that is might be a WWIII movie or anything like that. :)Sorry!

This was reposted on TrekUnited with the guess that he meant 60 years before Kirk, but Hinman updated his post on SyFyPortal to say ...

"We're going [roughly 80] years before Kirk ... Erik Jendresen contacted SyFy Portal after the story published to say that he misspoke when giving the 160-year figure in the above story. He said that was not an accurate number."

I don't think we can use this to be too specific about when the next movie will take place. For one thing Jendersen seems (perhaps purposefully?) vague about the date and for another what do we use as a base date? I mean 80 years before when? Before Kirk was born, in which case it would be 2153? Or 80 years before he gained command of the Enterprise in 2264 which would give us a date of 2184?

What happened between 2153 - 2184? This runs from ENT Season 2 and the Xindi arc, The Romulan war (2156 - 2160) and the loss of the USS Essex and Horizon.

The easy answer for the plotline would be the Romulan War but it could have a fertile ground in the foundation and early growth of the Untited Federation of Planets and early interstellar exploration before The Original Series.

Jendresen hints at pre-United Earth movie?

2005-03-24T23:55:00.000+11:00

I see from a heads up on Aus-Scifi.com that "SyFy Portal interviewed Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers), writer of the 11th Star Trek film, who revealed new details about

"I can certainly say that the story concept, the basic idea of this thing, is pretty damn big," ... Jendresen confirmed that the movie would take place more than a century before Captain Kirk, but acknowledged that it would not be an Enterprise spinoff."We're going 160-odd years before Kirk is born. It's an earlier time, and I think it would be really refreshing to feel something in the course of telling this tale, instead of being wowed by special effects ... By the end of this story, everyone isn't fine," Jendresen added. "I can safely say as a storyteller with certain standards... my intention is literally as a writer, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, to go boldly where no one has gone before."

"Aussie Trekkie" did his homework and worked out that, since Kirk was born in 2233 (Startrek.com) then 160 years before would be 2073. This pretty much matched the "reports circulated" hint on SciFiWire that I quoted a couple of months back, that puts the new movie in the era between First Contact and the creation of a United Earth.

Of course you had the inevitable "why go back? ... why not after Nemesis? A DSN movie? The Romulan War?" Ok, so I wouldn't mind seeing a Deep Space Nine movie or a take on the Romulan War - in fact I wouldn't mind seeing Archer and Enterprise in the Romulan War if they could get Manny Cato and his crew to write and produce it. Most couldn't see anything happening in Trek Canon around 2070. Well unless you exclude ...

2063--First warp flight and First ET Contact["ST: First Contact"]
2067--The Friendship One probe is launched from Earth. ["Friendship One"]
2067--The Terra Nova colonization expedition departs Earth. ["Terra Nova"]
2079--Earth is still going through the Post Nuclear Horror. ["Encounter at Farpoint"]
2103--Colonies on Mars declare their independence. ["The 37s"/"Court-Martial"]
2113--The New United Nations becomes the Terran world government. ["ST: First Contact"]

Fifty years from Anarchy to Utopia: someone should write a story about that. Oh, right, I already am. (~!^)

Whenever the movie is set, Jenderson seems to be committed to making it a story worth telling, something with grit and bite and, perhaps most revolutionary of all, without a happy ending for all. Could we dare to hope for some cutting edge Science Fiction? Something that has a bit more relevance to the modern world?

Star Trek in Australia

2005-03-10T01:10:00.000+11:00

What’s the difference between a Trekkie (Aussies never talk about Trekkers) and any other Science Fiction fan?

There have been books written and movies made about the fan phenomena that Star Trek caused in mainstream western society. We who are old enough to remember the first run of the Original Series have seen the fans of the TV and movie “franchise’ (as the media moguls like to call it these days) change from young alternative lifestyle rebels into young adults who dreamt of ethics and order in their future and finally into parents of children for whom Star Trek was a safe and entertaining alternative to the gutter trash dished up in the name of reality.

Perhaps one difference is that Trekkies have a habit of grouping together into monolithic clubs. STARFLEET International has the singular honour of being listed in the Guiness Book of Records as being the largest fan run organisation in the world. It’s also been around just about the longest as well – 30 years this year!

Those twin characteristics of size and age can be a sign of instability though. When an organization gets too big it can loose contact with it’s origins, it’s purpose. Age, can be a sign of conservatism, of a lack of change and a sure fire target for the young to label you as outdated and no longer relevant.

It might come as a surprise to some to realize that until recently, Sydney, Australia had a star trek club, a chapter of SFI that was 25 years old. Unfortunately the club seems to have adjourned for the last time, with it’s senior members not renewing their memberships in SFI and the club - the USS Southern Cross – no longer showing in the SFI “Vessel registry” as an active chapter.

Why they folded I don’t know. I suspect it was a combination of member attrition and no recruiting programme, the usual death knell for trek fan clubs. The unfortunate thing is that it leaves Australia without a viable, recognized Trek Fan organization. Perhaps the time will come for a new chapter in the future, but for now it is probably best to simply dim the running lights in respect as another old Reliant class is decommissioned.

Personally I think Trek fan clubs will enjoy a revival with the probable demise of the current series, “ST: Enterprise”. From my contacts in the States, I have heard that the quality of this final season is outstanding! I expect to see a cottage industry of Fan Fiction and other Fan productions such as movies, catering to those who want to keep the magic alive.

The value to being part of a large Fan organization is that there is strength in numbers. There are things that a club can do that an individual can’t. What is more the nature of SFI as it stands is open and relaxed enough that it has a place for fans of all sub-genres: Star Wars, Farscape, lord of the Rings … what it boils down to that membership of SFI can be seen as the base, the foundation, the cornerstone of a club whose options are limitless.

Copyright & Downloading

2005-02-24T20:06:00.000+11:00

I've been busy over the past week and just got the chance to catch up on some of my mailing lists. One of them had an extended discussion thread on the legality and ethics of downloading episodes of Star Trek from the Internet. It was quite an eye-opener, not so much as to the law, logic and ethics of downloading but as to the attitudes of Star Trek fans (er... fen). With some notable exceptions the posts were simply trying to justify what they wanted to do.

Many point out the difference in price and value between Star Trek DVD boxed sets and, say, Star Gate season sets. So I love Giraffes too. I'd never buy one though when I can go to the zoo and see one any time I want! You don't think the DVD is good value? Rent it. One poster took his fellows to task regarding the effect that circumventing copyright by downloading would do, a most pertinent point although he didn't press it strongly enough.

At the moment, believe it or not, the owners of the Star Trek copyrights, Paramount et al, are very Fan friendly and do not press to try to "protect" their rights. It's not just the thousands of fan fiction stories on the Net nor the Fan Movies (I know of at least three although their names escape me and I am work away from my files). It could mean them coming down on the Fan Clubs and all the component chapters using Trek Logos and LCARS Fonts or the websites with screencaps of episodes and movies. Even the large and growing number of free paper models of trek ships and props available on the internet.

Think it won't happen? Ever wondered why you don't see many Disney Fan sites? Disney are renowned for being savage about protecting their copyright. Want to compare? Set your search engine on "Disney copyright" (try "Eldred" as well) and then search on "Star Trek Copyright". All you will find on the latter are the copyright riders we put on the bottom of our Fan works.

Copyright and Intellectual property rights are an incredibly complex problem that needs a balanced understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all parties. The creators of the works (the actors & designers) and the commercial risk-takers (the producers & distributors) need to show a return for their work and investments. On the other hand the consumers (the public) and those who would take the artistic work a step further - the fan fiction writers, amateur actors and producers and model makers - simply want to enjoy "the fan experience".

I think Star Trek fans who start actively attacking the legal rights of the copyright owners - no matter how much they think they can justify their actions – could cause Paramount to counter-attack. At the moment they allow fans pretty free reign but if they see that their bread-and-butter income producing properties are being devalued, well, what would you do?