We made it

Look, Mr. T., you may THINK you’re not a detractor, but your coverage skews noticeably toward the negative, despite your efforts to appear otherwise. You’re not as bad as some, but you’re definitely more inclined to look at the negative than the positive when it comes to Axanar and more inclined to look at the positive than the negative when it comes to the detractors.

Let’s take a look at your question for Gary and J.G.:

“After all is said about Alec Peters and the public perception that there is a low possibility of Axanar actually being made, why are Mr. Hertzler and Mr. Graham staying with the project? What do they see that we aren’t seeing?”

A person truly “on the fence” would have written his question without the assumptions of what the “public” is perceiving and not assuming that J.G. and Gary are seeing something that “we” aren’t (whether “we” is the detractors or just people in general…either way, it assumes a conclusion has been reached by a group to which you, Mr. Tiggy, belong).

Had you been truly a fence-sitter, T., you would have phrased the question more like this…

“Much has been said about Alec Peters that is negative. And some, perhaps many, of the people who have been watching the Axanar drama unfold believe that there is a low probability of Axanar actually being completed. Why are Mr. Hertzler and Mr. Graham staying with the project? What makes them disagree with those who believe Axanar will never be completed?”

Not wanting to go sentence-by-sentence through every blog, let me simply give one more example of your proclivity toward the negative:

“The message at the end of the FFF blog was that Axanar is rising and for the moment it is true, the bridge has gotten plenty of people’s attention (Jonathan says his blog entry has had nearly 4,000 visits) but don’t forget the public still doesn’t know if the bridge will actually be used for Axanar or not.

“It would be deceitful if they don’t use the bridge after using it as a rallying point for fan support, money and resources for the 30 minute film so Axanar has to be careful in what they do next.”

You’re kinda trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory there, T. And the use of the word “deceitful” is a strong choice. “Purposefully misleading” would have been a term used by a fence-sitter. “Deceitful” would be a word used by someone with an agenda.

And to be honest, Axanar doesn’t need to “be careful” just on your say-so. Whether or not the bridge appears in the final two Axanar fan films depends a great deal on how much can be raised. A shoot on that bridge set could well cost tens of thousands of dollars for lighting, sound equipment, camera rental, additional actors and additional tunics to fill the bridge stations with personnel, make-up artists, electricity, a full production crew, and craft services. One scene could take the better part of a day to film…possibly more, depending on length. If Alec doesn’t raise enough to fund bridge filming, then so be it. There’s nothing deceitful in shooting for the moon and then not landing on it…just ask the folks who flew Apollo 13.

Also, there’s now a time constraint that wasn’t present before (30 minutes). As written, the current script has virtually no bridge scenes in it (although they are still in the full-length script). This is to save on budget AND time. On the other hand, if Alec raises what is needed to film some bridge scenes, there’s no reason there can’t be “Starfleet archival footage” included as extras on the Blu-ray. The fans and donors still get their bridge scenes…just not on YouTube.

Or maybe some other fan filmmaker comes in to shoot those scenes. After all, scenes of space battles during the Four Years War don’t necessarily have to include Sam Travis or Sonya Alexander or even Garth. Or maybe they can include Garth. If some other fan filmmaker wants to crowd-fund a Garth battle and use Alec and the bridge set and some other actors, that’s not Axanar Productions doing that, and Alec would be just an actor…and maybe a script consultant. Heck, I’ve got a bridge scene with Garth that I’m turning into a comic book. Maybe someone else wants to turn it into a fan film (it’ll only run about 8 minutes or so). I already know two fan filmmakers who might be interested.

Anyway, T., the fact remains that, right now, the comments by the detractors on Axamonitor are venomous. They’re celebrating Shawn’s antics, disparaging everything they can, and being cruel and crass and vulgar in doing so. I’m told they’ve even been insulting Alec’s girlfriend Crysstal in vulgar ways. WTF? Why aren’t you covering more of the specific vitriol? Glossing over it minimizes its significance and impact. But then again, a detractor wouldn’t want to call too much attention to the cyber-bullying behavior. A fence-sitter would be more inclined to call it out more than with just the occasional “oh, by the way…” in a blog.

In the meantime, all the Axanar faithful seem to be doing lately is celebrating Axanar. With the exception of my coverage of Shawn’s unforced error (he really did harm the detractors’ credibility “outside of the echo-chamber” in ways he doesn’t want to admit), most Axanar supporters are being quite gracious in victory. Many are even going so far as to applaud Carlos Pedraza not only for walking into the lion’s den but for being a good sport, not causing trouble or blogging negatively (so far; it’s been nearly a week), and for willing to sit in on a panel, chat with me openly about Shawn, and even shake my hand. And yet, that photo of me and Carlos shaking hands was turned into meme of Superman (on Carlos’ side) shaking hands with Lex Luthor (on my side) by Rob Barnetta. Some of the comments posted below:

“Carlos’ face says it all; “Ew! I just touched it, I touched it and it’s slimy, EWWWW!””
“I’d have to go wash my hands afterwards.”
“One nitpick (well, two) You overestimated Lane’s intelligence and underestimated Carlos’ abbbbbsss.”
“I imagine Jonny smells like Cheetos and ointment.”

So while the Axanar faithful go high with comments praising Carlos, the detractors have their typical cruel and crass comments mocking Jonny-boy. Tells you a lot, don’t it? And yet…you tell people almost nothing and imply that “both sides seem to be just as bad.” They’re not. The reaction to the handshake underscores that.

It’s curious that, assuming you are so middle-of-the-road, that I haven’t seen much coverage on your blog of the cesspool that the Axamonitor FB group has become, how folks are leaving in disgust and frustration (like Matt Miller and Joe Diaz) and then are being slammed after leaving, and that the same 15-20 people seem to be the only ones posting anything there anymore. Those are the same people who are likely reading your blog, T., judging by the numbers in your polls.

In other words, the phrase “When Axanar goes high, the detractors go low” doesn’t just apply to the types of comments and actions but also to numbers of supporters. I’m not seeing you cover that aspect, either. To read your blog, one would think there are just as many Axanar supporters as detractors—a true false equivalency—or even, based on the question I quoted at the top, that you think there might even be MORE detractors out there, or at least that the doubts about Axanar ever getting made are somehow the “norm” and the generally-accepted conclusion of the masses. Personally, I don’t see it…and I’ve got thousands of page views over the past week to underscore that statement. How many do you have, T.?

Anyway, in my book, you’re not objective. You just want to think you are.

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