Fans Attempting to Pay for Enterprise

An anonymous reader writes "What started of as a suggestion to pay for season 5 of Enterprise has actully snowballed into a project that no one has ever attempted before, that of getting fans to pay for the production costs of a tv series. It has brought on board a raft of people including lawyers. I wonder if the quoted $50 to $80 million is reachable." I gotta say that Enterprise has been better this season, but I feel like it's still only mediocre. Battlestar Galactica might be the best SciFi airing right now. And I woulda chipped in for more Firefly in a heartbeat.

We can save money

[Anonymous Coward]

By taping in my basement and wearing our homemade costumes! Live long and prosper.

Currency

[Lev13than]

The main stumbling block, of course, is securing a suitable source of gold-pressed latinum.

Re:Proposal doesn't go far enough

[snorklewacker]

How much extra would it cost to fire Berman?

gotta quote Shatner here...

[holden caufield]

GET A LIFE!

Paying for Enterprise

[renderhead]

I thought about paying for Enterprise, but in the end I decided to download Fedora Core for free.

*ducks*

Never going to happen

[EvilGoodGuy]

There is no way both fans have that kind of money.

Re:Never?

[Rude Turnip]

Hell, isn't this just the business model for HBO/Showtime/Skinemax and PBS?

Re:Sad! Man this is Sad!

[Steffan]

Good god people, what's this world coming too? Way to let "The Man" know how much of our soles he ownes!

"The Man" does not own any parts of my shoes.

Re:We can save money

[FesterDaFelcher]

By taping in my basement and wearing our homemade costumes! Live long and prosper.

You mean your Mom's Basement.

Re:Never going to happen

[triumphDriver]

That is not true!!! They save a lot of money not having Girl friends and living in their parents basement.

Re:IPO or Bonds to take it to syndication

[richdun]

The biggest problem with that show was that they skipped the second and third spin-offs and went straight to the "stranded a bagillion miles away from home with a younger, hipper crew" one.

It may seem alright now, but just wait until they start the "hundreds of years earlier but we have better technology than the first guys" one. Billy the Kid and Abraham Lincoln making contact with the aliens that take over your body back in the 1800s just won't work. Everyone knows it was Q that brought those aliens around.

Re:They expect to raise 50-80 Million?

[RangerRick98]

Some trekkies are obsesive and they they'd donate their soap and shampoo money for this.

This assumes that they had any money budgetted for soap and shampoo in the first place.

Re:Misapproriated Funds

[nizo]

...some of the individual X-Prize teams operated off money gained from ordinary commercial ventures.

I wonder how much money could have been raised from a bunch of "save your favorite show" websites scamming money from various rabid fans? Scamming money for a good cause is legal right???

Fans pay for Enterprise

[Scott7477]

It could be done for a lot less than $80 million if fans were willing to accept some changes in the production methods of the show. Here are my ideas:

1. Use a prosumer type videocams to record shows instead of network grade production equipment.
2. Don't use the studio sets to produce the show; build a set on somebody's property elsewhere.
3. Don't use the actors; go to a theatre school and find some actors. You don't need Mr. Quantum Leap to be the captain. In the theatre business, plays are produced over and over with different actors all the time.
4. I'm sure a bunch of slashdotters could scrounge up some CRT's and write some graphics to simulate the computer technology shown on the ship.
5. Use scripts written by fans instead of the schlock that Berman et al have been putting out.

Of course none of this will happen because of the hammerlock on the copyrights that Roddenberry's estate has. I think that is part of the problem with the franchise; Roddenberry's will constrains the types of plots that can be used in these shows.

Just my two cents...

Obviously Gene Rodenberry's message got to you

[Infonaut]

Fuck'em. I would rather give my cash to Star Trek than anymore ungrateful third world bastards.

I think your comment neatly summarizes the Star Trek ethos pretty well.

Or not.

Re:Obviously Gene Rodenberry's message got to you

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the Prime Directive to me.

Re:Who owns it? Who approves scripts?

[Tenebrious1]

If I was paying for an entire run of a TV series, I'd at least want to read the scripts. Get a bunch of Star Trek fans involved with a script approval process and you'll have a riot.

No, *I* get the cameo walk on role...

Re:Production Costs Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

[Monkelectric]

Unless they can kidnap Scott Bakula and the rest of the cast and build sets in their basements,

OH oh! and we should have a secret word to call scott by so when we need another fan we'll know ... say "Broktune"?

(10 points if you get it)

Re:Proposal doesn't go far enough

[The_REAL_DZA]

How much extra would it cost to fire Berman?

Out of a cannon? At $5/ticket it'd be PURE PROFIT, BABY!!

heyyy... maybe we've finally discovered what the "???" part of "The Plan" might actually be!!

1. Take over production of Enterprise
2. FIRE BERMAN OUT OF A CANNON (SELL TICKETS)
3. Profit!!!

Re:Sad! Man this is Sad!

[lsmeg]

I watched the show a few times and it was just plain bad. The Captain is just a female version of Kirk.

I can't tell if you're confusing Enterprise with Voyager, or if you're making a subtle comment about Archer. :)

Re:Misapproriated Funds

[tomhudson]

I've got a better idea, from a group you CAN'T MISS [tt] with:

Brothers and sisters, I need $200 million dollars to help us all get closer to the Lord.

That's right. Baby Jesus wants us to build our own space ship. In these end days, we must be independent of government space programs that are hiding the truth and the proof about the second coming.

Remember, these days are the end of time, the apocalypse is coming - we must act with all urgency, as the Lord would have us do. So, give, give until it hurts, because no sacrifice is too great, when you compare it with helping us get to see the true heavens.

When the day of judgement comes, brothers and sisters, and you know it's coming, you can see the signs of the times on your televisions, and in your newspapers, and on your radio, all the smut and sex and perversions that are now becoming law, and that the sinners think is normal and good and wholesome, you know ... you KNOW that it is time to act.

Do you want to stand before the Lord and say "forgive me Lord, it was more important to give to relief funds run by heathens, philistines and non-believers, than it was to do YOUR WILL?"

Or will you be able to look on Jesus' face as he says "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

So, let us sing praises to the Lord and make that donation NOW, because you never know, the Lord judges the quick and the dead, and your days are numbered. Hallelujah,, Amen!

It worked for L. Ron Hubbard, it can work for you too.

Re:Proposal doesn't go far enough

[hal2814]

I agree, mailing DVDs to one or two people would be far cheaper than a commercial-free distribution.

Bill Gates

[Shinaku]

What if Bill Gates payed? I'm pretty sure he'd do it if Enterprise ran Windows XP - and it'd give the slashdotters a laugh when it BSODed right in the middle of a battle :P

!!!!Remake the Original Star Trek!!!!!

[DrPlutoMadre]

If you can do it for BattleStar, why not? Now let's see, who could we cast as Kirk....

Here's how they can finance the new season.

[mabu]

Attach a dynamo to Gene Roddenberry's corpse and play the first few seasons of Enterprise at his gravesite. Sell the electricity generated from his spinning corpse to the power companies and it should be more than enough to finance several more seasons of the show.

Re:They expect to raise 50-80 Million?

[Anonymous Coward]

What would they spend their money on then? A date? I don't think so...

Re:Proposal doesn't go far enough

[istewart]

I'd laugh if this now becomes incorporated into the Slashdot meme. That is to say, every future "Plan" post, no matter what the subject, somehow features firing Rick Berman out of a cannon and selling tickets. It'd serve him right. I mean, look how quickly the "old people in Korea" thing caught on.

Hm, I'd better get started propagating.

Re:Sad! Man this is Sad!

[Rinikusu]

Wrong Show.. Voyager had a female captain, Enterprise has Scott Bakula. But that's besides the point.

The original series had KIRK. Kirk cannot be compared to any other captain in the ST universe because Kirk's Prime Directive was to seek and and find new alien civilizations and determine if "all the parts fit", if you know what I mean.

Kirk was THE MAN. Kirk GOT LAID. Kirk had his priorities straight. Kirk was the pimp-daddy of all pimp daddies.

The rest are just pussies by comparison.

Re:Proposal doesn't go far enough

[kypper]

Plan:
1) Incorporate '???' profit into running gag on Slashdot similar to 'all your base' and 'in soviet Russia'
2) Bitch about Microsoft
3) Promote Linux
4) Fire Berman from a cannon for $5
6) Profit!

Holy shit, it works!