Axanar: The Gathering Storm

[Rogue 9]

I honestly hadn't expected to actually see anything out of this project again.

[Crazedwraith]

... and "It was removed following a copyright removal request by Paramount Pictures Corporation and CBS Studios Inc"

Whoops. Didn't like the crack about the lawsuit maybe?

[B5B7]

I watched this three days ago on youtube. Had some familiar faces - Patricia Tallman (B5 Lyta Alexander), Tony Amendola (Stargate SG1 Bra'tac), Richard Hatch (original BSG). It was quite interesting.

[Rogue 9]

... and "It was removed following a copyright removal request by Paramount Pictures Corporation and CBS Studios Inc"

Whoops. Didn't like the crack about the lawsuit maybe?

Yeah, and doing that is a violation of their settlement agreement with Axanar, which permits them to make two sequels and specifies neither party will take action against the other aside from filing for arbitration. They have it up for download on their website.

[Crazedwraith]

Interesting because wiki says Axanar had already breached that agreement and been sued for it in 2022.

Tvtropes (but not wiki so I have no source) says that no further crowdfunding was supposed to happen but it clearly is they said "for the documentary" but one of the goals was to film another scene from the 90 minute Axanar.

Neither site seems to have much about the new episode though.

[Rogue 9]

I see TVTropes has implemented a paywall. How disappointing. Similarly, the wiki is short on details and the sources are also paywalled.

For those who didn't see it first, the new episode is a documentary style thing continuing Prelude to Axanar rather than an attempt at doing the feature-style film originally planned.

[Crazedwraith]

Huh. Tvtropes isn't paywalled afaik and i spend way too much time on it. There's a pay for no ads thing and there's been a thing were you have to verify your email after some recent spam/account hijackings but it should be viewable it's a wiki.

Anyway the paragraph there on the agreement and everything says:

Prelude to Axanar was intended as a prelude to a full-length feature, Star Trek: Axanar, which raised about $638,000 on Kickstarter, partly thanks to George Takei publicly expressing interest in the film. Besides the above-mentioned returnees, the film is set to cast Garrett Wang (Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager) as a Klingon cruiser commander. However, statements in a December 2015 financial report to Peters' backers that he had been paying himself and several others a five-figure salary from the donations, and his plans to establish an unrelated movie studio, prompted CBS to file a lawsuit three days later for copyright and trademark infringement. Tony Todd also tweeted that he had left the project several months prior to that. Ultimately, in January 2017 it was announced that the suit was settled and production would continue, but in accordance with the new rules Paramount put in place for fan films during the lawsuit (seemingly as a response to Alec Peters' arguments that CBS hadn't provided sufficient guidance on what was acceptable), it would be reduced in length to two 15-minute parts with no further public crowdfunding, and no Star Trek alum is allowed to participate outside of the original talent that worked in Prelude if they wish to return. The entire saga from beginning to end is chronicled at AxaMonitor.com.

Like paramount clearly aren't saints (considering who owns them and what they are doing to the franchise cancelling everything) but i don't think Axanar are either. That's the risk of fan works you are pretty much at the mercy of the copyright holder's generosity. Even fair use and not making profit is legally a grey area and if there's even the hint of making profit, you've got even less of a defence. (Tangentially, why fanfic writers doing commissions or with patreons slightly weirds me out)

But its out there I hope anyone who's interested enjoys it.