[White Knight]

I don't approve of the title since I did help with this and I do not consider myself a Axanar Supporters. I support all fan films. I know a lot of you do not care about this or do not believe you can make a different but 45 years ago a write in campaign got Star Trek a 3rd season. Without this 3rd season Star Trek would not have enough episodes for syndication, which means most of us would not even have heard of Star Trek. No conventions (the fans first started these), no movies, no TNG, DS9, Voy, ENT and no STO.

To me these fans are the true fans. Because a group of fans did something that was never done before we have all this Star Trek. They are the reason we have Star Trek today. Now they are trying to save Star Trek again. All you need is to believe you can make a different. Will you help save Star Trek?

Axanar Supporters’ Report Critiques Fan Film Guidelines

History of Star Trek Fan Campaigns

How Star Trek was saved by fans

Top 10 TV Shows Saved by Fans

Star Trek The True Story HD

[Three of Seven]

There's not much I can do other than watch Star Trek, I don't think I could write an episode of anything! Fan films are very hit and miss when it comes to the quality but I don't think it's right to stop people making them, it's not hurting anyone and at the end of the day, it's free publicity even if it's not very good, no one at CBS/Paramount had to pay.

[Stormy]

As I've stated before, fan films for the most part violate Intellectual Property laws. If I were the creator/owner of any intellectual property, I would want that property protected from those who would financially benefit from it themselves, misuse/abuse the property or take actions that devalue my intellectual property. If IP laws are abolished, you will find that all entertainment/art will suffer because no one will want to create something that others simply "steal" and use for themselves.

[Bridger]

I am sorry to say that but Axanar is the reason why fan films are so limited now.

[Isaac Angelos]

I am sorry to say that but Axanar is the reason why fan films are so limited now.

That's honestly just flat out wrong, it isn't the reason why we're limited now. CBS' inability (greed) to even work half way with fan films is the reason why we are limited now, Axanar was the excuse to pull this bs off.

[aceman67]

The axanar production team shot themselves in the foot when they started taking the money they raised for the film and applied it to other for-profit ventures.

The whole situation sucks, but they did it to themselves.

[Bridger]

That's honestly just flat out wrong, it isn't the reason why we're limited now. CBS' inability (greed) to even work half way with fan films is the reason why we are limited now, Axanar was the excuse to pull this bs off.

Before Axanar and their big mouth about making a professional million dollar fan film CBS and Paramount were actual some of the most friendly film companies and fans could do so much but this has changed because of them.

[Adster94]

Whilst I did love everything to do with Axanar, even contributed to the overall campaign, twice... I do blame them for all this trouble. CBS have had the rights to Star Trek for quite some time now, and they never had issues with fan films, until Axanar made it very apparent, that people could make a lot of money from the fans so long as they violated IP laws.

I agree with Bridger that them throwing about the fact they were making all this money and that it was a professional fan film, gave CBS a massive kick in the arse about protecting their property. Axanar showed them, that if more fans with an idea and talent to show off a very basic section of the film, could raise so much money, that it would mean CBS would be out of business, in terms of Star Trek, because they allowed fans to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, in this case millions, for something they won't gain anything from.

Whilst I do hate CBS for setting these guidelines, they are well within their rights to do what they have done and whilst I do wish CBS did a lot more for the 50th Anniversary, it was their call. I just wish Axanar didn't get so much traction in the news and so much money, as it was just painting a bullseye on them with a large sign saying "we are making money off your IP, lol".

That being said, I was always a fan of what Axanar was doing, but I do get the feeling that my money is just going to disappear now...

[AgentZeus]

This. Again.

Do you know what Robert Meyer Burnett, Axanar's director said recently?

“Everyone thinks that because of this [production & lawsuit] we might bring the era of fan films down to a crashing end – we’ve nuked fan films forever”

With a newly released film & a new tv series on the horizon CBS were never going to let a fan made big budget film get made that they had no control over regardless of any guidelines.

Like its been said, they painted a large bullseye on themselves by funding it the way they did, and selling merch (ST derived badges/tunics etc) was never going to go down well.

But like I said the last time you posted about boycotts, petitions etc, if CBS gets completely annoyed by fans there will be a backlash and all fans will suffer. Guess the quote above is probably correct.

[Adster94]

This. Again.

Do you know what Robert Meyer Burnett, Axanar's director said recently?

“Everyone thinks that because of this [production & lawsuit] we might bring the era of fan films down to a crashing end – we’ve nuked fan films forever”

With a newly released film & a new tv series on the horizon CBS were never going to let a fan made big budget film get made that they had no control over regardless of any guidelines.

Like its been said, they painted a large bullseye on themselves by funding it the way they did, and selling merch (ST derived badges/tunics etc) was never going to go down well.

But like I said the last time you posted about boycotts, petitions etc, if CBS gets completely annoyed by fans there will be a backlash and all fans will suffer. Guess the quote above is probably correct.

Whilst this is a very strong reason for it, the amount of money that Axanar raised was above and beyond all other fan productions combined, four fold... this was bound to cause an issue. The new film and series would be a strong reason for this lawsuit, but this fund raising categorically, cannot be blown over as not a key reason for what has happened.

I do support Axanar, and have personally invested money into it, but I do question how they have behaved over this whole ordeal, and yet the amount raised/campaigns they ran, we only 2 campaigns out of a planned 5 or 6...that is a lot of money... if they got roughly the same amount, they would have earnt roughly 5 million dollars, built their own studio, and not to mention they will need a pay cheque for themselves to do all this.

If they do have jobs ontop of what they are doing, fair enough and I am mature enough to admit I was wrong, but that kinda money was never going to go down well...

[JByb04]

I enjoyed the premise of Axanar and what they were trying to do. They were filling a void that CBS / Paramount had failed to fill for a number of years. Unfortunately they raised a lot of money, got a lot of publicity, and got a lot egg on the face of the big two.

CBS and Paramount have the right to protect what is their IP. That is something that can't be disputed whether we like it or not. But instead of punishing the entire fanbase and small time fan filmmakers. They should've simply kept their eye on Axanar and made them the example of what NOT to do.

Their guidelines are a gross overreaction in my opinion. It's done a lot to hurt the fans who have stuck with Star Trek for so long; through the highs and lows of the franchise. I hope in time they will roll back some of these restrictions. Perhaps with a good lobbying effort by the Trek Faithful they can be shown that most fan films aren't out to make a buck. Most of them are done so that we can live our dreams, to be on the bridge, to explore strange new worlds, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.