TMC
04-23-2016, 04:34 AM
http://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-fan-fiction-451320
Star Trek, the venerable sci-fi franchise that turns 50 this year, has long been known for the dedication of its fans. After the show was canceled the following year, fan conventions kept the Trek dream alive, screening rare clips and “blooper reels” which, in that pre-VCR, pre-YouTube era, allowed them to explore the frontiers of their favorite show. Fans at those conventions also shared fan fiction: mostly mimeographed stories that created new adventures for the characters that left TV two years shy of completing their “five year mission.” Over time, fan fiction evolved and became a multimedia genre, and even as Star Trek was revived and developed as a major media property encompassing a dozen motion pictures and hundreds of TV episodes, fan-produced films became a mainstay of YouTube and other video sites. Today’s fan films, like written fan fiction, occupy a legal gray zone.
Star Trek, the venerable sci-fi franchise that turns 50 this year, has long been known for the dedication of its fans. After the show was canceled the following year, fan conventions kept the Trek dream alive, screening rare clips and “blooper reels” which, in that pre-VCR, pre-YouTube era, allowed them to explore the frontiers of their favorite show. Fans at those conventions also shared fan fiction: mostly mimeographed stories that created new adventures for the characters that left TV two years shy of completing their “five year mission.” Over time, fan fiction evolved and became a multimedia genre, and even as Star Trek was revived and developed as a major media property encompassing a dozen motion pictures and hundreds of TV episodes, fan-produced films became a mainstay of YouTube and other video sites. Today’s fan films, like written fan fiction, occupy a legal gray zone.