Thoughts on "Go Beyond" night—and all it conjured up

Doyle Zhang, modern Trek fan: From
Shanghai, China, fan since ST 09 but now
loves all Prime Trek, won trivia, knew Dr. Trek!

It's been a week since Paramount's Star Trek Beyond Fan Night at the lot. A lot of friends and their news sites covered it pretty thoroughly in word and pictures (see vid links below), and the second, "that's more like it" trailer has been pretty well dissected. (That Other Story from the night has blown up, hot and cold, too.) But here's a few of my personal thoughts...and some pics...

The bottom line is this: If Paramount needed to catapult a catch-up offense in this game of promotion and expectations and "buzz" with a hail-mary pass on a hurry-up offense ... this was a huge score. Both in terms of the event, and of course the movie—not just a trailer, but two full scenes of exclusive footage for the 500 or so fans on hand—and a pass for two to the outdoor-IMAX world premiere at Comic-Con San Diego on July 20, plus a studio street naming for Leonard Nimoy in which his family, the Beyond notables, and all fans on hand took part in a toast and mass photo. How do you top that for feel-good?

Zach Quinto leads castmates, JJ, Justin, Adam Savage,
Nimoy family, and 500 fans in a toast to Leonard—
and the unveiling of a namesake street (right) in front of 
old Desilu Stages 9-10—today's Paramount 31-32

500 fans on Stage 31, to start—and a few of them were actually not streaming or live-tweeting for social media.

It was even crowd-managed well—mostly. I mean, we'd wondered what was gonna fill up four hours; some were even wondering aloud if we'd get a draft look at the whole film.

The last 100+ of this line (left) never got in

Holding the event on Stages 31 and 32—or, in old Desilu terms, Stages 9 and 10, storied home to TOS itself—was a master stroke. But there was a major downside, unbeknownst to those inside: Some 100+ ticketed fans who were in line on time were not allowed in over fire marshal capacity concerns—an overreach probably based on the fact that the normal amount of no-shows an event planner counts on does not apply to rabid Trekfans hungry for a local event in Hollywoodland. But plenty of them were pissed—and were promised at least their own world premiere pass for Comic-Con. We'll follow up and see.

Chris, Zach and Karl in Q&A with fans

This was also, I realized as Friday had drawn near, the first big feel-good Trek hoopla on the Paramount lot in a decade—that's a generation, in employee years. I heard there was a lot of excitement and buzz on the lot, where almost no one goes back to the 90s/Aughts era of constant licensing summits and affiliate station confabs in the cause of Star Trek promo and biz.

I have to admit I was a bit distracted: So many friends from the LA fan, media and fan media worlds were here—from  my "+1", longtime fan propmaker and The Con of Wrath associate producer/donor Rusty Harrell to the @Trekkie Girls from the UK (at left, with longtime Paramount secueity guard Steve D.). And then of course with my own ticket giveaway winners, there was a lot of hosting to do.

But I also was on the lookout for strangers—if any Trek fan can be called that. Over the past year, even with this third alt-verse movie's ups and downs getting off the launchpad, I've  had a gut feeling that film in new hands might actually find its Trek roots and vibe in a way that will have a broader old-fan appeal. I've also become very focused on getting out of my own bubble, my own Internet bubble, and meeting up with those fans who are solely more recent JJ-era fans, or those who embrace the alt-verse with no grumbling.
 
That's why I loved doing a piece for Star Trek Magazine on fan reactions: I was determined to talk with fans I didn't already know! And boy, did I: from China and Malaysia and all over the US, as it turns out, were three that night. In fact, one young lady won the stunt version of Jaylah's staff from STB as the only one in the room with her hand up (besides me, apparently) for my buddy Scott Mantz' (at left, apparently in the Andorian Sector) and his trivia on Edith Keeler's social work house—and it turns out Doyle Zhang (at very top)  had flown in from Shanghai for the event (and was a big Dr. Trek fan, to boot!?).... so again, an amazing night. Look for comments from her and five other fans I spoke with (that's me working, at far right!)  in the Titan Star Trek Beyond movie special issue coming in mere weeks!

So, I yeah—I did miss out on any real hobnobbing with Stars and Names. My head was into hosting and working, as I pointed out the next day in that actual snapshot.

The otherwise nondescript teleprompter on the back wall

But if the hard-cores had a highlight, though, it had to be the Interweb meltdown following impromptu but carefully worded "announcement" by producer JJ Abrams and especially director Justin Lin, coming from that bootstrap celebration of fan passion, that the CBS/Paramount Axanar lawsuit would soon "go away". Their careful wording left lots of wiggle room for interpretation as to final details, but it's obvious they are two guys who'd like the air to be as cleared as possible when their bright shiny movie opens. I made it a point to look over at that moment to see the back-wall teleprompter — and it sure looked  frozen to me, though others have sworn the lawsuit question was indeed scripted in the scroll.

In any case, a lot in the past week has already been thrown back into flux again on this one. We'll see—but that story nearly hijacked the sole focus that Paramount surely wanted this night to have on the Interwebs and TV channels still standing. I'd far rather focus on the new series... and now, even, this new movie.

Chris Pine mingles & poses with fans a bit

Finally... 
Because it all amounted to a pretty happy crowd by night's end, no matter the fandom roots or outlook, as far as I could tell. As my gut had hoped and a recent longform piece on Justin Lin reveals, the new flick's director is an old Trek fanboy from way back—and coupled with his fixer mentality and ability to work fast and furious under fire, the STB scenes we saw hit all the right notes and, in the end, just felt right.

How many news outlets reported on CBS star Stephen
Colbert's special message to the crowd, spoken as a Trek fan?

No, not a secret clue—just still handy in the studio sign shop

1000 of these special numbered TMP homage posters
were printed for the gift swag bag.

How many newbies didn't catch John & Bjo Trimble?

When I first saw ST09 and especially STID, my brain's inner thoughts first turned to "what will I say publicly?" so as to put an honest, upbeat public face on this new paradigm format I was still a bit queasy about—and knowing many fans would look to me for a reaction.

But no such worry here. Maybe it's just serendipity that with Bryan Fuller's bunch of new CBS Trek episodes in the works and apparently Prime-set (no confirmed word yet, though), I could just mentally relax about this feature film—no pressure at being the sole rep of Gene's canon filmic universe any longer, no matter its fate.


Maybe so. But it's moot now: The trailer, the behind-the-scenes reels...and especially the 12-minute-plus piece we were privy to I'm sure you've read about elsewhere by now, keyed by a wonderfully right-on Urban/Pine-McCoy/Kirk moment of reflection... Well, I no longer had to wonder what I'd say about it publicly.

My gut instantly said, "Now this movie I want to see."

And I didn't seem to be alone.

Here's that trailer again ... 




...and a recap of the night from Paramount (sans any Axanar moments) ...
.



...and a full one-camer view of the Q&A, plus Scott's trivia:





New fan, bored fan, or just curious how much Trek you don't even know you don't know? Check out PORTAL 47—the monthly 8-point backstage pass based on my 20+ years of memories, archives and crew contacts from the front row of Trekland....live and online, right to your center seat no matter where it is!  Like a mini-con all year long—taking you where no savvy fan has gone before.

Last day "To Boldly Indiegogo" for Continues—and it will

Today— ending at midnight Pacific time— is the last day you can jump into the "To Boldy Indiegogo" crowdfunder campaign for my beloved Star Trek Continues, where *I* jumped in as Dr. McCoy twice and remain aboard as creative consultant.

If you have not done so thus far, I wish you'd make that leap—especially if you jumped into either of the bang-up "Kirkstarter" drives before ... because you loved the bang-up quality and love of the amazing, Star Trek Continues stories, and their recreated look and feel. Five times now, on time and on budget—right?

And now a final day all-levels donor's bonus is just out.Oh, and did you know: the Webby-winning Continues is now a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 non-profit filed with the IRS—so, for Americans at least, you can even take you donation as a tax deduction!

But, hey, I know what's up: Unless you've been living under a fake styrofoam rock the past few months, you know the fan-film world has been thrown into a tizzy over the Axanar lawsuit and the ripples from it. And then the whole future of Trek fan films seems uncertain, as the studio Trek "fallow time" finally ends and we get an exciting canon series back in episodic form next winter—which is the positive future where a lot of my Trekland focus is going.
 
But in the here and now today, no matter what, let me just assure you this:  Your faith, as well as your much appreciated cash, will not be in vain in Star Trek Continues if you check aboard this Indiegogo campaign. You have my word on that. And Captain Vic's—check his update video on the Indiegogo page at "13 Days Ago." (Today's offer supersedes the bonus mentoned.)

The announced plan was for STC to end after 13 episodes anyway, with a original "finale" that leads into the situation seen at the beginning of The Motion Picture. The crowdfunding strategy was to go big on a goal after the two prior conservative targets of $100K, and thus make a longer haul over time with less crowdfunding. (My local NPR station, knowing even supportive listeners are weary of the on-air fundraisers, did the same thing with a larger goal to cover the entire election season without interruption.)

But to hedge the risk, STC made the switch to Indiegogo—where, unlike the goal-or-bust structure of Kickstarter, you keep whatever you raise. On the other side of the coin, Kickstarter is supposedly more of a comfort for risk-averse donors, of course—but here we thought that with STC's track record of transparency it would be a moot point.

But as you notice: the campaign and its next episodes are going ahead. So if you've been hesitant about helping out this time, let me just say this:

I am as excited about Star Trek Continues as I was when I first recorded this back in 2013, from Sickbay— or any of the other vidchats with STC regulars, crew and guests I've done so far. Many of which I've still not posted!

There's lots more good Star Trek Continues background stuff coming here—just as with the main STC series, where Ep. 6 and 7 that were crowdfunder-supported last year will be out online over Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays: "Come Not Between the Dragons" and "The Winds of Change."

Thanks for listening. Here's the link one more time.
Now, I just need to crowd-fund a few round-trip airfares to Toronto...

CBS/Paramount v Axanar? Some broad thoughts

So, everyone has been buzzing about the joint CBS/Paramount lawsuit filed Dec. 29 against Alec Peters and the "Axanar Works" "fan film" crowdfunded movie. There's been no similar action made against any other fan film that we have heard of—not Star Trek Continues, Farragut, Renegades or New Voyages/Phase II, at least. All of whom, and several more, I've been happy to help promote in the name of a passion fix for fans over this decade-long fallow time for pro Trek—ever since the "gray area" for them to exist as no-income projects was hashed out by New Voyages back in 2004.

But no, this legal action is specific. 

I'm not going to wade into the mushrooming detail points or the back-and-forth here—that's been all over the Interwebs and, five days on, cooler heads are starting to prevail...at least in public comments and posts. Still, there are issues: Some point to the lawsuit as the answer to a threat perceived by the corporate rightsholders re: the scope or quality of Axanar as crossing the line (at least as has been promised)—but the legal issues, if that broad, would point to shutting down everyone. Some guess this is merely the first salvo against the biggest budget of fan films, and that either the owners enforce their property or they lose it—no middle ground. I hope there's no later, broader action—but, as I have always suspected, this is definitely not a typical mass Cease & Desist or broad-brush campaign (this legal action with outside attorneys is reportedly a second step from the owners after sending Axanar an earlier C&D, despite some direct contact). This is a step up: We've already seen the post-"Viacom divorce" split franchise parents actually act together for once in the lawsuit filing, making the "series or movie?" question moot on this. We'll just have to see where this goes.

I hope it goes quickly.... but as corporations, CBS and Paramount will be notoriously slow to offer any more details that would amount to "fighting it in the press"—although there have been follow-up statements. So we are going to be reduced to reading between the lines, and retconning for past clues and quotes, and a mostly one-sided "he said/they didn't" ... so far. The Intertubes were pretty hot the first day... and there are obviously a *ton* of Axanar donors and supporters out there who are not taking kindly to the action. But I have to know this is not 1996, and the big boxes are not blind to that blowback and the potential impact on fandom—and mainstream PR buzz— with a film and series enroute (especially the latter). Thus, the stakes go higher.  There were quick catcalls against big bad CBS, and hoots over the modern nature of franchise ownership vs. fans served after 50 years ... but within a couple days even some online observers started to look at both sides: the immediate hashtag #IStandWithAxanar has now been met with #IStandWithCBS a couple days later... and a host of memes that do not see the production as a martyr, in part in reaction to varied takes on Axanar's public business plan online. And beyond all that, don't make the mistake of thinking that all the world—even all fandom—hangs out on Facebook and blogs 24/7.


As observers, it's also a time to be mindful of who's words we are reading: Who are legitimate journalists versus wannabe bloggers on this, as the "media reports" come out. But it sure has gotten fandom talking—even the mainstream and trade media. And as my buddy John Champion has Facebooked after New Year's Day:  "Congratulations to the 87% of people I follow who have all become experts in the intricacies of federal copyright law in the last four days!"


There's a maxim I learned real early in Hollywood and the Trek business for whenever you try to push the envelope: Just don't do anything to make anyone say "no." A second would be: Don't make anyone ask their lawyer. The fan films exist at all due to the tangle of the legal "divorce" agreements, Paramount and CBS as Hollywood union/guild signatories, etc. … and yet simultaneously their acknowledged obvious value in the pop-culture conversation, especially in a fallow, non-series time. (FREE PROMO! How many tentpole-wannabes would kill for that?)

This is the last way anyone wanted to kick off the big 50th Trek anniversary year, with a movie and streaming series both on the way for summer and then spring—no matter what you may think of them now, sight unseen. So let's hope this gets settled quickly, quietly, and with as little damage to either fandom creativity or the corporate brand as possible.

I've said for a long time that the coming of new Trek weekly adventures, especially, may be what takes a lot of the air out of the fan-film balloon of the last decade, just from the lack of newly diverted attention and dollars among the masses—without "CBS & Para" having done a thing. It's just human nature... even by fans.

I do know one thing. That filing and the frou-frou sure put me behind on my writing during the mid-holiday "dead week."

And you can bet this will be a deep-dive topic at our Portal 47 Ask Dr. Trek Roundtable in January!