August 25 2019
Is Star Trek a gold mine?
Yes it is and the funny part is that CBS and Paramount are not the only ones getting the gold.
Over the last couple of months we’ve all seen people ask for money for fan productions, we’ve seen people ask for fans to pay their way to Star Trek Las Vegas, we’ve seen requests to cover people’s shortfalls of cash and we’ve seen people ask for money to save homes and conventions.
Axanar is the most successful bunch of them all because everything they ask for fans to either partially or fully pay for is done.
Need a water pump? Done
Need money for dog rescue? Done
Need a fan film to be majority paid for by you? Done
Need a fan film studio to be majority paid for by you? Done
Those who work on Axanar have that ability to get what they want time and time again without failure.
The water pump fundraising was helped by ‘Axanar Swag’ and so was the Dog Rescue stuff, Interlude was helped by big donors promising to donate a large amount if enough little donors donated and they did and Ares Studios promises videos and patches.
If Interlude did not get four big donors (or four donations from four people or less) they would be down to $11,000 and perhaps even further as they received at least a thousand dollars more than hoped for.
You can even buy Axanar art to raise money for Interlude and people are happy to pay for it.
What makes them so successful? Is it that regular donors hate CBS so much that they will spend anything to see that an alternative to official Star Trek is made?
Does Alec Peters and company have some sort of special charisma?
Outside of Axanar, fans are being asked to help a man save his home and his convention, this is one of the tough ones, our desire to help a fellow human being is tempered by the thought of the possibility of being asked for more financial assistance in the future.
I am not certain that there is a right or wrong answer, it is alright to render aid and it is alright to decline based on uncertainty that it will be a never ending cycle of requests for help, do what you feel is right.
Until next time, be good to each other.
Mentioning Trekkie Mentions 
I agree with you that it’s simply a personal call on whether to respond to appeals from other Trek fans for financial help or not. I think the majority of us who do so from time to time use relatively modest amounts, so if the attempt to help goes awry, the monetary loss is modest. Who knows? Maybe the offered assistance will help.
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People like putting their money to good use and if you give somebody money to get out of a financial hole and then that person wants to go ahead and risk jumping back into the hole, you’d be a little annoyed because you gave them the money so they stay out of the hole and nothing else.
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I don’t believe Alec Peters has an ounce of charisma. That said, Axanar has a special appeal to a certain kind of fan who doesn’t like the Kelvin movies or Discovery. For them there is a cult-like aspect to their support of Axanar, and they respond to appeals to money like any follower of a televangelist would.
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An interesting hypothesis. This view would give Mr Peters confidence (I think) that the core Axanar fans will find a way to fund the 4 sections of the Axanar shorts when many of us on the outside have been skeptical that a fan venture these days can raise a 6 figure sum (Full disclosure: I was way wrong about Mr Lane’s prospects for Interlude; he has done quite well).
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It was a big ask for $19,500 but Interlude has something going for it to make the task easier and that was the Prelude to Axanar.
Prelude is the gift that keeps on giving and it’s done wonders for Axanar, Interlude and Ares Studios.
Here’s something to think about, if Jonathan Lane unveiled a plan for a fan film that has no trace from people to story to sets of Prelude to Axanar or Axanar in it, would it have made close to $19,500?
One thing is for certain and that is when Prelude is made, people will say it is better than Discovery no matter how it turns out.
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