Prelude to Axanar leads to Blu ray/DVD release

[GeorgeC]

I'm surprised this film was NEVER mentioned more than once on the boards!

It's been around for many months now...

This is the best fan-produced Star Trek film I have ever seen... Of course, it helped that film veterans produced the film and the actors were actually actors and not just fans cosplaying!

(Yeah, the acting part is pretty much why the Trek and Star Wars fan series stink. As lovely as it is to see that theater-quality CG effects can be produced on home computers it has to be matched up with quality writing AND quality acting...)

This is a Kickstarter project and a quality one at that. Prelude itself is a mini-film lead-in to the 'real thing' which is a fan-funded, Star Trek feature film which should be interesting if they can at least keep the quality level or amp it up a bit.

There's more details about the feature film itself and a link to the project site itself...
http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-tw ... 42315_1230
I'd rather NOT link directly to the film site... get that through the Digital Bits site. As much as I appreciate the Kickstarter thing I don't think the guys running the boards want links to for-profit sites, Amazon.com, and so forth...

This is set in The Original Series universe so it's NOT an Abrams-verse OR Next Generation project. It is solidly original Star Trek despite some of the starship designs incorporating some ST:TMP design motifs.

This is the actual docu-drama film below... I think it's a sweet piece of work!
>This is NOT the feature film project... that's still in pre-production and won't be in theaters for at least another year!<

[Ben]

Very impressive...but doubt this will make it to "theaters" since its a fan flick, non-endorsed or funded by Paramount and not part of their overall plan for Trek.

Still, that's not to say it can't be completed, as long as Paramount endorses it as a fan project and doesn't attempt to weigh down on their copyrights and trademarks.

And fun to see a few sci-fi names in there...even if they're not all Trek vets, it still makes it more "authentic"!

[Randall]

Yeah, no theatrical release for this one. But the producers did work with Paramount Legal to ensure they stayed within the rules for doing this type of project. That means no "Star Trek" in the official title, and they can't say that they are selling copies of the film... just that you can get a copy as a perk for donating to the project. Both Prelude and later Axanar itself will be available for free viewing online. I did contribute to the Axanar Kickstarter, so I will have a Blu-ray coming to me once the final film is completed.

As Bill Hunt mentions, one can still "retroactively" contribute to Prelude in order to get the DVD or Blu-ray, and those funds will go toward making the Axanar feature even better.

[GeorgeC]

I think there's a better chance than you might think that it WILL end up on a big screen somewhere.

The film will, regardless, be made... If there is any really great development coming out of the Internet vis-a-vis movies it's the fact that something like Axanar can and WILL happen if enough people are interested in it.

I know it's NOT the first fan-film of its kind that got produced. There was a Veronica Mars movie way back when which was an earlier Kickstarter project that got into production. The original VM creators were involved but the VM owners were NEVER going to fund the film themselves. That movie has since disappeared under the radar screen since VM was far more cultish than Star Trek has ever been since the early 1970s.

This could lead the way to more things happening that right now would be very improbable to produce under the current studio system which is strangling creativity/new ideas/new spins on things (instead of produced to a strict demographic)... Things like The Spirit which are currently next-to-impossible to produce might actually find a way into being through a funding system like this IF enough people are interested.

It would be a lot more democratic to have films decided by funding this way rather than the whims of a person OR committee who are completely out of touch with the film-going public and die-hard fans.

I wonder if this COULD be a way to revive traditional (hand-drawn) animation in the States and/or Europe as well because we know darn well the major studios (including Disney) gave up on hand-drawn animation. I suspect it's unlikely that hand-drawn animation will ever be back in a major way theatrically but it could get back to having at least one feature made every 3-5 years instead of maybe one every decade-and-a-half with the current mindset in the studio environment.

(In retrospect, it's a minor miracle that Disney held on as long as it did with traditional theatrical animation. It really was the changeover in management in the 1980s that ultimately killed the traditional animation department for a variety of reasons. There was no one single person that killed it off -- it was a number of people -- but they were not there until the 1980s.)

If you had told me 10 years ago that Disney would own Star Wars and Indiana Jones OR that Sony and Marvel Studios would get into a co-production agreement on Spider-Man I would have said that would NEVER happen.

Never say never... I'm reminded that 'improbable' is a MUCH better word to use in everyday language than 'impossible'. If you're going to erase any word from your vocabulary, it should be 'impossible.'

[Randall]

Well, if Axanar hits a big screen, it will have to be as a limited free screening, since the producers are not allowed to sell tickets. Of course, Paramount could decide to authorize something.

[GeorgeC]

Thought it'd be more appropriate to post this here instead of the RIP, Nimoy thread since this talks about the ORIGINAL Star Trek TV series which Axanar ties into...

http://io9.com/5827581/10-things-you-pr ... -star-trek

Nice little primer and reminder of basic Trek stuff... Gotta admit I forgot at least half that list!

(They were dead-right to go with a second pilot for Trek. At least they were impressed by the show enough to give it another chance with the existing sets and costumes. The original pilot has always struck me as a bit stiff and lacked the chemistry that the second one had between Kirk and Spock... The second pilot is one of my favorite Trek episodes, too.)

I, for one, would love it if Trek got back to more of the exploration part that they did so well in the original series and 2.5 seasons of The Next Generation... Axanar still looks good but I'm afraid that Star Wars has pretty much become the template for sci-fi films, like it or not. It just doesn't seem like the exploratory stuff really works out well in motion picture contexts. Afraid to say it but a bunch of the two-hour films come out very boring (2001 a visual masterpiece but utterly difficult to sit through because of the deliberate pacing, sterility of the movie, and sleep-inducing music). TV series formats seem to be better for more exploratory themes and plots.

There HAVE occasionally been films done that actually make people think, that have interesting ideas, decent scripts, and good acting. It's too bad most of that seems to be from at least 20-30 years ago. They did have some good stuff in the 1950s (War of the Worlds, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and The Day the Earth Stood Still). It's amazing how the classics have held up well over the years. I gotta admit I haven't liked ANY of the remakes nearly as well as what made in the 1950s.

[Ben]

2001 isn't just a visual masterpiece: it is a wry, gripping, brilliantly absorbing piece of storytelling that's so multi-layered that I'm still finding much in there many, many viewings later.

[Randall]

As I read George dissing 2001, I thought, "Oh, no, he didn't! That's going to rile Ben!"

I do agree that the exploration theme works better with episodic television, especially considering audience expectations for big budget sci-fi. Star Trek was never really meant to be "epic." While many dismiss Star Trek TMP, it was likely the closest in tone (albeit more sterile) to what Star Trek was on TV.

[GeorgeC]

Sterile doesn't begin to describe ST:TMP... Visually great-looking film but the last thing I wanted to sit through was a 2-hour exercise in the Kolinahr discipline. It's wonderful if you're a fan of the Enterprise and machines in general not so much if the characters and interplay are what you appreciated about Star Trek.

It wasn't until Star Trek: Into Darkness that I could officially say that I've seen another Star Trek feature film that is as bad or worse a film-going experience than ST:TMP was for me (and a lot of other people). One good thing I can say is that the fanfilms are STILL generally many times worse -- because of the acting. Prelude to Axanar is different because it was a fan-film made by professionals... and Axanar was BETTER than ST:TMP IMHO, too.

They forgot the 'human' part of the equation story-wise in ST:TMP.
I've seen all the edits of the film released on home video. NOTHING saved that film... There wasn't enough in any of the added scenes and revisions that made much difference.
I liked Star Trek V BETTER than ST:TMP! At least ST V had the campfire scenes to keep it from being a complete waste...
(I haven't seen all of ST: Insurrection but I have heard from others that it was pretty bad and by far the worst entry in the ST:TNG movies... The other three TNG movies I have seen and do own.)

2001 is NOT the only 'classic' film I didn't care for as a viewing experience. I'm not crazy about Citizen Kane, either... I feel the same about Fantasia, too. They have visual appeal, yes, but they are utterly lacking in the 'human touch.' I have a much easier time forgiving films that have bad special effects in them but have decent acting versus big-budget spectacles where I just cannot connect with the characters or stay in my seat without checking my watch every five minutes. I accept that academically they are considered classic films BUT that doesn't mean I like sitting through them regularly, either, just as it's much easier for me now to accept that not everybody likes Star Trek, Star Wars, animated films, anime, OR superhero films.

[Dacey]

I'm not crazy about Citizen Kane, either...

We're done here.

[Ben]

No...we really are...!

[GeorgeC]

I'm not crazy about Citizen Kane, either...

We're done here.

Uh-uh...

I learned a long time ago to think outside of a textbook DESPITE what my college professors tried to do to me.

There are maybe 2-3 teachers that I've had in my entire life that I thought were actually good! Do you know why?!?!? Because they didn't just encourage me to spit out facts from a book! They wanted people to think and reason for themselves.

How many people NEVER see these films and actually just accept what a textbook or film studies professor tells them?!??!

You know what, I saw Citizen Kane for the first time in a college course over 15 years ago! The prof of that course (who was a filmmaker) didn't care for the film, either, for the same reasons that I don't... It's a well-shot film, no doubt, but it is cold and VERY sterile. I don't know about you but I HATE hospitals and I DO NOT like sitting through clinical-feeling films, either!

It's perfectly okay NOT to like things despite what a stuffed shirt tells you!

You like the film, fine, BUT DON'T IMPLY that other people don't have taste because they don't like it, either.

I'm perfectly okay with people NOT liking The Beatles, Star Wars, Star Trek, or superheroes despite my own preferences.
I get annoyed with that stuff, too, at times, which is why I LIKE parodies...
I even get WHY people don't like Disney films, either. I certainly DO NOT like all the Disney films and that was before things changed at that company.

What I do not care for is hearing that my opinion (or ANYBODY ELSE'S) is dismissed because it does not meet approval with a commission's or ISN'T politically correct.

I am certainly NOT EricJ or some other guy that just spews out stuff without having a clue about what he's talking about. I also DO NOT like to step on other people's toes for the hell of it!


And this is precisely why I have you on IGNORE, too... I just happened to 'un-Ignore' and Display the Post and you showed me something -- NOT good!

Thank you very much for pissing on me with your cute comment!

Gentlemen, I am done here... CANCEL MY ACCOUNT... I am NOT coming back.
Nobody should put up with that attitude!

[Randall]

Geez, he winked as he said it. No need to be a grump, George. Judging by the length of rant, I'm not sure who has the attitude issue. He's just teasing because he knows your opinion goes contrary to usual critical opinion. We all realize that not everyone loves Citizen Kane. I don't love it, but I respect it and do actually quite like it. Of course, I've actually worked in hospitals much of my life...

[Ben]

I never had one person impress upon me that I should "like" Kane.

As with 2001 I discovered them on my own. BBC2 here in the UK used to be a hotbed of fantastic film programming. All the Pal films, 50s sci-fi, dramas, Laurel & Hardy, Popeye...they were all there, every night at 6pm for two hours.

This was my film school, aged around eight through to about 14, and I lapped up everything, from Charlie Chan to Citizen Kane. I knew about Kane long before it really latched on in the last 20 years or so when film magazines started printing up lists in the 80s, thanks to an excellent BBC documentary (sadly not on any of the DVDs) that went into its making. I also lapped up any documentary stuff when I was a kid, and so I watched this too...and it was fascinating. Once you know the behind the scenes way it was made, the rules that were broken, and the sheer invention on getting some impossible shots (by a director who didn't know what the rules were) then you see the film in a while new light.

Likewise with 2001...I saw the film too young, at nine, and didn't get it. Didn't like it. They had a retrospective festival of films made here at Elstree Studios, and I went to see it again. On a big, big, screen. Without any distractions. From a gorgeous print. And I was mesmerised. Again...no scholars or professors telling me it was a "great" film. I just saw it for myself. I came out on my knees after that screening, and went back and saw it again at another revival a few years later. I made my own spoof of it, "1971: A Space Parody" around 1994.

But no-one told me either film was something I should like. And I also don't have a problem with people not liking them...just don't impose *that* opinion on others just as you are asking others not to speak for everyone else.


We won't deactivate your account (over one minor, mild and insignificant comment, let's be honest), especially since you've asked us to do that at least two or three times before and you do eventually come back and are great company again.

So have another rest, and come back again soon.