"World Enough and Time" stays on the ballot

10:44 am February 28th, 2008




			KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life - "World Enough and Time" stays on the ballot ramblings from a mad fedora'd writer

kradical


	"World Enough and Time" stays on the ballot
	SFWA has investigated, and decided to let the script for the Star Trek: New Voyages fan film "World Enough and Time" stay on the Nebula Ballot for Best Script. What I have learned from this is that SFWA blithely put the words "professionally produced" in the guidelines for Best Script without having a clear notion of what that means exactly -- and the discussions that have burst out on the subject on this LJ, on pnh's LJ, on SFF.net, in the SFWA community, and every-damn-where else indicate that no else has a clear notion of it, either. As far as I'm concerned, the ballot issue's closed. The only thing I want to add is that in my original post on the subject, I was lamenting the fact that tie-ins have hardly ever been able to sniff the prelminary ballot, yet a fan film has made the final. This wasn't me saying SFWA is a bad organization because of that, it was simply lamenting the state of affairs -- and yeah, me whining a little. But I intend to see what I can do to address the disparity through action rather than Internet whining (radical, I know....). Personally, I think that CBS/Paramount's "tacit approval" is a dubious criterion to base this on, and seeing an organization that supposedly values the protection of copyright and trademark use that is disheartening. On the other hand, if CBS/Paramount can't be arsed to protect it, it's hardly SFWA's job to do so. So whatever. It's done. My intention, however, since I started this mess, is to sit down and watch, in succession, "Blink," Children of Men, The Prestige, V for Vendetta, and "World Enough and Time" and review them on this LJ. Since SFWA has deemed that they be measured against each other, that's just what I'm gonna do -- in March some time, once I'm past Ghostwriting Project #1. (I have Children of Men on the DVR, V for Vendetta and "Blink" on DVD, and I will have "WEaT" on DVD soon thanks to one of the scriptwriters. I just have to track down The Presitge. Edited to add: Now have The Prestige on the DVR, too.) Current Mood: busy Current Music: "Gervais" by Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

26 comments or Please comment


	Comments

	From: jeff_morris	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

As if anything is going to top "Blink"....

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well, obviously.....

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	From: girasole	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I will be very interested to see your response to The Prestige. I found it so confusing -- and so disturbing -- that I actually had to leave the room when the rest of the family was watching it from Netflix. IIRC, no one much liked it, but at least they got through it. This was all really irritating because I truly adore Christian Bale.

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From: celticboy	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The book is a little better. I was given this as a birthday present about a year before I saw the film.

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	From: abigailb	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)

My problem with New Voyages is just my simple belief that casting yourself as Kirk is Not Cool. Don't do it, kids.

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From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

What? You don't like James T. Presley (or is it Elvis Kirk)?

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From: celticboy	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I've seen all of these except WEaT, and have them all, except WEaT on DVD/download, and to my mind, Blink is probably the best of the lot.

I won't taint your viewing of them with my own opinion though (unless you really want to know)

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	From: jslinder	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Okay, its not Blink (which would get my vote), but as compared to what has passed for recent Star Trek televised scripting (Enterprise, Voyager), WeAT as a SCRIPT was pretty decent. The plot made sense and I actually got into the characters a little (more so than I ever did on Voyager). In my opinion, it does rise a little above the level of a 'fan film'.

I'm not addressing the eligibility directly, other than to say that if something is vaguely constrained, one should generally err on the side of permissiveness in such matters, and it seems that is the case for this year. The 'loophole' can be addressed for next year.

Keith, since you probably know, in general, how do sales on an average tie-in novel compare with sales of the average (not Neil Gaiman or similar) stand alone SF novel? I ask this as it could either provide ammunition or a damn hard point to overcome in terms of getting tie-in novels on the ballot in some form. (Personally, I thought the nebula's should have more specific categories, then a general 'best in show' category)

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	From: deltagrl	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Good luck! Sounds like you've got a good plan. :)

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	From: steve_roby	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:38 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Haven't seen World Enough and Time yet, or The Prestige, but both are on my list of things to see eventually. V for Vendetta was much better than I expected. Blink is great fun. But Children of Men is just a hell of a movie. I got so caught up in the story that it wasn't until we watched the special features on the filming of some of the sequences that I realized just how complex and difficult they must have been to film. The cast is great, the movie does a good job of giving you some of the background info in the background of shots (newspaper pages, photos, etc), the soundtrack is amazingly diverse but appropriate. My initial reaction was that it was a great movie but too depressing to see again; now I find I want to buy the DVD and watch it again. And I really should read the novel, too.

Blink was a really good episode of a really good series. Children of Men was a science fiction movie for grown-ups, the kind we don't get very often. Either one would be a good choice, but I think I'd give Children of Men the edge.

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	From: rkbwrites	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

If it helps, the presitge is on Starz Channel probably for the next few months, they show it widescreen either when it's on Starz or Starz Cinema. Haven't read the book but the movie was good, better than the illusionist imho.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:56 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ooh, thanks! I've set the DVR for an airing next week....

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	From: rkbwrites	Date: February 28th, 2008 05:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Forgot to mention, since you do have Starz, check Starz EOD, any movies on Starzs should be on EOD and if you have HD it should be in HD EOD as well. :)

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	From: infinitydog	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:41 pm (UTC)		(Link)

My preference would be for The Prestige, which I've watched several times. It's narratively complex, morally ambiguous, and intriguing both as a mystery and as SF. I'm fairly certain Kara and I own it on DVD; I'll check when I get home tonight.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Thanks to

rkbwrites's heads-up, I've got it programmed to record on the DVR, but if that doesn't work for whatever reason, I may take you up on that....

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	From: kvaadk	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I have spent way too much time writing and then deleting comments about this situation. I'll just leave it with stating that I am generally very pleased with my decision to leave the SFWA.

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	From: thatwasjen	Date: February 28th, 2008 04:51 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well, I can’t wait for your reviews.

I adored "Blink," Children of Men, and The Prestige—and I just can’t imagine trying to decide which is superior to the others. (I was underwhelmed by V for Vendetta. And I don't care to make the effort to see "World Enough and Time.")

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	From: radegund_lj	Date: February 28th, 2008 05:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I don't know if this shines any light on the "tacit approval" bit, but I noticed this on the New Voyages website: "Consulting Producer - Eugene Roddenberry, Jr."
http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/cast_crew.html

That seems like something more than just turning a blind eye to the project, but I am not sure what it really means.

Also listed:
Consulting Producer - D. C. (Dorothy) Fontana
Consulting Producer - David Gerrold

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 05:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

None of those people have any ownership claim to the Star Trek property whatsoever, and none of them work for CBS/Paramount, so it has nothing to do with CBS/Paramount's "tacit approval."

Edited at 2008-02-28 05:17 pm (UTC)

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	From: surakofb5	Date: February 28th, 2008 06:00 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Wait. The same Paramount that sent Cease & Desist letters shutting down all the Star Trek fan websites is now tacitly supporting a fan film?

I'm missing something.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 06:31 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Not quite.

1) It's not quite "the same Paramount." First of all, none of those people are in charge there anymore, especially given that Paramount has since been swallowed by the eye and is now part of the CBS megalith (just as Universal is now part of the NBC megalith). That's why when Paramount and Warner Bros. merged their networks, it became the CW rather than the PW.

2) They were going after fan web sites that were displaying pictures and videoclips without permission. This was, remember, in the pre-YouTube days, and there was a real concern about those clips appearing on the Internet violating Paramount's performance contracts with the WGA, DGA, and SAG.

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From: sorek	Date: February 28th, 2008 07:38 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I'm not a writer, nor do I play one on tv, but to me, the nomination criteria should use the same reasoning you use to say you've never written fan fiction.

You got PAID to write your stories. People had to make a conscious decision to BUY your stories. As you've previously said you have to cater to a much broader audience than fan fiction.

Having said all that I haven't seen WEaT. I downloaded the first couple minutes of the "pilot" New Voyages episode, and turned it off after a couple of minutes. As good as the set was, the acting prevented the willing suspension of disbelief.

Blink will probably win anyway, although on some level I resent the episode. Yes it was an incredibly emotional episode, but it had plot holes larger than the TARDIS interior. Also, by focusing on non regular characters, you don't have to deal with any emotional issues in next week's episode.

I think of it as a better version of "Love & Monsters"

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	From: kradical	Date: February 28th, 2008 08:02 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Actually, I have written fanfic. But I know what you mean. *grin*

And "Blink" gave us "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff." Does the rest of the episode even matter??????? *chortle*

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From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 28th, 2008 08:16 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Of course the rest of the episode matters. It introduced fob watch disguised Romana... =p

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	From: scarlettina	Date: March 8th, 2008 04:56 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Re: Your intention to watch all the films with nominated scripts: Have I missed your reviews. I'm really curious to see your thoughts about The Prestige.

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