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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Over a decade ago, one man dealt a blow to Star Trek that the franchise never quite recovered from. No, I’m not talking about Alex Kurtzman, though it’s true that Trek will be recovering from his influence for a good, long time. I’m talking about Alec Peters, the man behind Axanar Productions. Peters’ goal was relatively simple: to raise money from fans to create the biggest, most ambitious Star Trek fan film (Axanar) ever made. However, he used the money he received (over a million dollars) to build a professional studio and make an actual profit from the project. For Paramount, this ended up being the final straw.
For years, the studio had basically looked the other way when it came to Star Trek fan projects, including films. This only seemed fair, as fanzines, fan merch, and especially fan conventions had kept Trek alive during its darkest periods. But Peters was so brazen in his actions that Paramount sued him and later released guidelines that greatly restricted all future fan films. This left a bad taste in the fandom’s mouth, with many calling Peters a grifter. Now, over a decade since he was successfully sued by Paramount, the man behind Axanar is back, trying to make a profit off of Star Trek yet again.
Flying Too Close To The Sun
To Star Trek fans who know, Axanar is a name that still causes shudders of bad memories. Back in 2014, Alec Peters released a short, fan-made film called Prelude to Axanar. It was designed as a mockumentary that covered what was then completely unexplored ground: the years-long war between the Federation and the Klingons. Fans loved Prelude for its high production value and high-quality acting. Soon enough, Peters leveraged the positive reception to launch campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo to fund a much larger Axanar film. This effort was a runaway success, and he ended up raising over $1.4 million dollars.
However, Paramount took issue with Peters raising so much money to create a production studio, hire professional actors, and make an entire movie made using licensed Star Trek characters and designs. They ended up suing Peters, who ultimately settled out of court. Subsequently, Paramount released fan film guidelines that greatly restricted future productions, with an emphasis on never trying to make a profit off their IP. While this left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths, Peters was not deterred: he has continued to plug away at making Axanar fit with these new restrictions, and now, he’s selling USS Geronimo Class blueprints on Backerkit.
Grifting Remains Illogical
“Geronimo Class” is a type of vessel that was originally created for Prelude to Axanar and will presumably feature in the full movie (if Alec Peters ever actually releases it). Will Peters get in trouble for selling these blueprints? That’s for Paramount to decide, but it seems like something of a grey area. On one hand, the blueprints are for an original design; on the other hand, Peters is once again making money off someone else’s IP. That might raise some eyebrows, but it seems less egregious now that everyone and their brother is making money by selling unlicensed Star Trek merch at conventions and on Etsy.
Peters selling these blueprints has stirred up angry feelings in the fandom that go back over a decade. Many are still salty about him trying to make a profit off of Star Trek, resulting in strict Paramount guidelines that limit fan films, keeping creators from making anything quite as ambitious as, say, Star Trek Continues. Others have many different grievances with some of his actions, including allegedly lying to fans and even actors (including Tony Todd) about a project that he used to make money. Ironically, some of his haters are one-time Axanar fans annoyed that, over a decade after raising all that money, we still haven’t seen a finished film.
None of this recent blueprint drama is likely to get Alec Peters into more trouble than he’s already in. Nonetheless, more Axanar drama feels like a kick in the teeth to Star Trek, a franchise whose 60th anniversary feels hollow without any new shows in production. Peters tried to fill a prior gap with a fan film that would have covered a plot later covered by Star Trek: Discovery. Unfortunately, as we stare down a years-long drought in official Trek content, Axanar remains the reason why we can’t have any fan films over 15 minutes or made with professional actors.
Is it any wonder the fandom wants to throw this guy in the brig?
