To make something clear, Alec Peters got J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin on his side so that Paramount would drop their lawsuit against his motion picture and then Peters went back for more. And now there are rules in place for do's and don't's when it comes to making Star Trek fan films.
I agree with many of The Mary Sue's points (or, more specifically, Teresa Jusino who wrote the article). She's hit the nail on the head in recognition of some of the wiser aspects of the guidelines Paramount has laid forth.
What she missed was this tidbit:
The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content. The content of the fan production cannot violate any individual’s right of privacy.
So to be clear, what that means is that there can't be any more of this:
 |
| Klingon Blood Wine |
 |
| Romulan Ale |
 |
| Ketracel White |
 |
| Harmful activity |
 |
| I said NO harmful activity, Kirk! |
 |
| Criminal activity of any kind... |
 |
| I mean, I guess we didn't see him do these things... |
 |
| Or Nudity. She makes it into every single post, I swear... |
But most terrifying about this clause are the more subjective terms they use. Obscenity and any material that is offensive.
 |
| There are a lot of people who find this offensive. |
 |
| Violence, however, is acceptable almost everywhere. |
Star Trek has always been about pushing the limits in the pursuit of expanding our collective understanding of the IDIC. (That's Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination for those of you who are new to the Star Trek scene). In order to push those limits you've got to break a few eggs.
 |
| Like the delicate subject of mind rape as a metaphor for sexual assault. |
Now, I don't disagree with the sentiment of this rule. I don't think Star Trek is best suited to a host of foul-mouthed nudists who feast on the entrails of their victims after eviscerating them on screen. However, there is a risk of preventing fans from using Star Trek to truly explore some of the aspects of the established universe by enforcing these guidelines.
I also chafe at the time restriction. Not that there is a time restriction, but rather at what it is. Under 15 minutes for an episode, and only 2 episodes for any particular story (no seasons or longer arcs are permitted). This means that between your two episodes you can only make half of an episode of Star Trek.
For 750+ episodes of Star Trek, every single episode has been an hour long. Fans get half of that.
It's clear that CBS/Paramount in no way desire you to make an episode of "Star Trek." And, with guys like Alec Peters representing the fandom's filmmaking industry, I can see why they feel that way.
Teresa Jusino does touch on something hugely important, though, and I want to emphasize it here. Sometimes the people who helped make Star Trek are fans of the show themselves. Guys like Tim Russ have been contributing to fan films for years and turning out some truly awesome work (they fund it, too). They just like Star Trek! But now they can't share that love in their own particular way and that's unjust. I don't like the idea that these folks can't make their own Star Trek fan films anymore.
 |
| Hell, even Walter Koenig does fan films! |
(On that note, if you've never seen Star Trek: Renegades, I can't recommend it enough! It's good Trek.)
For all my opinion is worth, I hope things get brighter for Star Trek fans in the future. I remember receiving a cease and desist letter from Paramount six years ago over a shirt I created on zazzle.com just for myself and my mother that had Star Trek zombies on it. They're pretty serious about their franchise. Sorry I don't have my own shirt press, Paramount. I'll keep it in my head next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment