PieMan70

Although to add to the confusion Valeris was originally going to be Savvik but (At least according to Shatner's memoires, this was blocked by Roddenbery who was already upset at the Federation being less than nice and said it was no way to treat a "Beloved Character" a shame as I reckon it would have worked better as Savvik. Also, in a lot of the tie-in novels it is stated that Savvik is half Romulan but I don't know if it was ever stated on screen.

I just caught an episode of Thunder in Paradise on one of the obscure channels near the top of the programme guide. I withdraw my nomination of this show. Good gods, Hulk Hogan in speedos. I claw at my eyes but the image remains.

Really? How? Why? I mean about 10 episodes and then joke is over is fine, but 44? It was basically Knight Rider without the car and everyone watched Knight Rider for the car. I presume the creators later pitched a series where Rex Smith solved crimes without a tricked out motorbike.

Season 3 has (To my memory) a few good episodes, and its share of the worst. And yes, for the stupidity of Spock's Brain (And I've watched it recently, it is really really stupid) Turnabout intruder is just awful. Fortunately you can pretend that, after showing that episode everyone was sent away for 10 years to think about what they did.

First, Full transparency, I did donate to Axanar. Don't reckon I'll see the finished product but that's the risks with Kickstarter. Good and informative special. I will partially disagree with Mr Mockery, in that Axanar ruined it because they got greedy. While they had some costumes from prelude all the sets were virtual. For the actual Axanar they were looking to do a full movie with actual sets, a bigger cast etc. In many ways one of the issues was that Alec also did play nice with CBS for a good while. He had a contact who he ran everything past. How connected this contact actually was or, as is Alec's wont, how he "interpreted" what he heard is a different matter. They did make a number of mistakes which drew too much attention. First, to make Axanar the second kickstarter wasn't just to kit out a warehouse as a soundstage & build sets, it was to set up a production company, potentially to make more corowdfunded films. I kind of see this as their biggest mistake. If I rented a warehouse to make a fan film, with the understanding that is all it is for is for me to play dress up star trek (As the guy who does continues has done) then Paramount/CBS would be fine. I call that "Pie Man Productions" And all of a sudden a rival studio is making trek. I also thought this may be coming as Alec was very vocal on how he was making an "Independent Film" rather than a fan film. For starters it earned him few friends in the fan film community, but again, punting his script to anyone who would read it and crowing about how "This is the trek people want" just when a new series is starting was always a bad idea. Alec also reacts badly to criticism and does have a habit of trying to skim money off. It is Worth looking up some of the issues surrounding his Propworx auctions, Basically he insisted all auction purchases were distributed through another company which it turned out he owned. There was one opinion that while paying actors, set builders etc would have been fine he was budgeting some money to pay himself which is basically profiting. The thing is, Paramount/CBS could have easily brought in rules that either limited axanar specifically or allowed most others to keep going. And when the suit hit there was a split of people saying "He's ruined it for everyone" and "Ha ha, not so smart now eh?" Indeed many expected the rules to basically be "No Axanarz" and were quite shocked when the rules went this far which does give the impression of wanting to severely limit any fan productions. The fact that people like Tommy Craft who was pretty much the opposite of Axanar doing much of the work himself, were warned off further productions seems to cement this. As was said on the cast, many of the rules are reasonable. For full rules I'll link here http://www.startrek.com/fan-films Rule 1 I'm not keen on. Seems unnecessarily harsh and arguably is the rule that will hit series like Phase 2 and Continues hardest. Rule 2 - (Can't call it Star Trek: Whatever) Perfectly Reasonable Rule 3 - (Must be origninal content not re-making existing stuff) Perfectly Reasonable, although does that cover characters? i.e. Can you still do Continues/Phase 2 with kirk, Spock et al? Rule 4 - (Only use official uniforms etc) Bit greedy, To be honest it would have been more honest to say "Pay us 5% of any kickstarter and be done with it. Rule 5 - Not really keen on this. I agree those in charge can't make any money but in many ways Axanar using full union people and paying full rates eased a fear that big studios might use fan prouctions as a way to undercut union workers and drive down wages. Effectively this is saying not only can you not pay an actor but you can't hire a joiner to build the set. I see the argument of ex-trek actors playing their old characters adds a veneer of officialdom, but I personally have never heard "Gods and men has Uhura in it, it must be official" Rule 6 - (No advertising or merch) Mostly reasonable. Axanar did make money for the production selling models, T-Shirts etc and I can see that annoying execs as even if the money just goes towards production they may see it as competing with their merchandise. Of course as was mentioned it basically means bootleggers get this money rather than the creators or CBS. I don;t like the 50k limit on crowdfunding but it is actually the most effective way to limit things like hiring actors. I would have prefered a higher figure, and perhaps more rules on what the 50k relates to. i.e. if you want to make a series then a set figure per episode or season, a different figure for a feature but in the end you can get 50k off of crowdfunding, presumably if I went to continues after a lottery win and said "Here's 500k in a large bag, go make trek" that is ok. Rule 7 - Family Friendly - Mostly reasonable, aside from what was brought up in the cast, that particularly TOS has loads of drinking, it does stop people making very violent trek. I would have prefered "Within the spirit" or something but can see the value of being clear. Of course, it is quite funny that you can make a porn version of trek under the cover of parody but can't have someone having a pint in a fan film. Rule 8 -10 Disclaimers, registering characters & claiming endorsement - All fine. So 7/10 rules are ok. and of the 3 that aren't I only really object to 1 and 5. It is just that 1 and 5 are biggies. I don't think Axanar alerted the powers that be suddenly realised fan films existed with Axanar, I just think it gave them the best excuse to clean house. Like I said, the time limiting seems to be a way to kill all fan series and with the other rules really wouldn't be required if the purpose of the excercise was merely to shut down Axanar and make sure another axanar doesn't happen. But that's just my opinion man.

And I thought Thunder in paradise couldn't be out-90sed. It has a guy with the last name Roquefort. The jokes write themsleves. Baywatch has much to answer for. Speaking of Baywatch there is this

I've just bought Elite: Dangerous. Not actually played it yet, Foolish family getting in the way of my dream of being a space delivery boy (As in a delivery boy in space, not someone delivering space)

I'm just glad the book will go on. I may obviously be eating these words but by all reports Agent Carter is really rather good

From what I've seen The Middleman - Ida, or The Middleman, Or Dubby, Or Noser, basically everyone, even the mobster gorilla. Life on Mars - Gene Hunt Street Hawk - The Bike, same as if it was Airwolf it would be Airwolf and in Knight Rider it would be KITT (or Devon)

not on many systems, but my Steam id is pie_man70

While I'm sure you have the Year of cheese planned out an it by no known standards actually conforms to the Twice as Bright part of the title, there is late 90s Baywatch Meets Knight Rider with a boat and Hulk Hogan "Thunder in Paradise" Also could be known as "Patrick McNee needs a Conservatory"

Yay street hawk, if nothing else the Theme tune is ace. Also we are now in my childhood.

Same for me, wheather streaming, downloading or through my podcast thing (Can't say on iTunes since I get that through my works phone and they don't allow bad language)

What, the series looses its charm when they add a fat admiral and one of the worst Robots ever on TV? Surely not.

Just caught up. Great stuff, will try and watch along where possible. Good to hear you're going to have an "Evil Computer" stat, as a suggestion you could also add the "Evil computer mistaken for a god" and "Evil computer talked to death by Kirk" Good work so far guys.

A friend of mine has it and he basically says it is the contents of many long boxes in my loft on his tablet. It is pretty comprehensive as well from what I hear.

Cheers, enjoying the pdcast but suffering through gaping holes in my DVD collection, although am very tempted to pick up Ultraviolet now, just to see the awesomeness that is Pierce. Will definitley join for The Prisoner though, love that show.

A few ideas, although many may argue about the "Twice as Bright" element in some of my suggestions. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy UFO Space: Above and Beyond Defying Gravity Now and Again Odessey 5 G vs E Crusade (Not sure if that may tread on teh toes of another podcast) (I may be cursed when picking shows to get behind)