Ask the Space Command Team About All Things Sci-Fi

Marc Zicree, Doug Drexler, David Raiklen, and Neil Johnson are the guys behind the fastest funded film project ever on Kickstarter, Space Command. The project will feature a number of Star Trek vets behind the camera and a number of Trek actors are also involved, including Armin Shimerman, George Takei, Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo. The team has graciously agreed to take some time from trying to make a crowd-funded movie, building spaceships, and exploring alien worlds to answer your questions. Ask as many as you like but please confine your questions to one per post.

What is it about?

[Manip]

I've seen your kick starter page and even the video but you fail to mention: What is the overarching plot of "Space Command?"

Opinion on the State of Sci-Fi in Film?

[eldavojohn]

To each of you, what is your opinion on the current state of science fiction in today's films? Obviously, there's been an increase in all film categories with more movies coming out but what do you like and dislike about films in this era? Care to comment the remake of Total Recall? Or 3D in blockbusters like Avatar?

Hollywood accounting

[vlm]

Comment on how "hollywood accounting" and "kickstarter accounting" interact with each other, if at all.

Why are there wings in space?

[Tim12s]

Hi,

Why are there wings in space? Surely we should have ships without wings and we should have a LOT more robotic mining & self replicating mining factories!

Thanks,
-Tim

PS. From a humanity inspiration perspective the self replicating mining factories just make sense. Mine it, melt it, print it = new space ship; new factory.

Release plans?

[vlm]

it will actually allow us to MAKE the first of our four initial SPACE COMMAND films

So you've got the bills paid... that means you release to a torrent site and make profit off tee shirt sales or signed movie posters or ?

If you're not willing to CC license, then how much more would the kickstarter have to be to CC license?

Is product placement in the financial picture as per above (like they happen to use ipads as tablets, or whatever they use as a computer interface boots up with a Apple logo?)

How do you sustain it?

[mattr]

What is your sustainable funding and distribution model, and do you see any potential interaction with commercial spaceflight endeavors?

Writing intentions

[jollyreaper]

Looks very promising. Interested to see what comes of it.

Short question: How will you keep this show from ending in suck?

Longer version of question: see here [cracked.com]. The Lifespan of a TV Show.

Good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Wasted stories start out good but then get stretched out to the point that the writer simply loses interest and is phoning it in. Television suffers from this disproportionately because network execs are selling viewer eyeballs to advertisers and don't really give a damn what goes between the commercial breaks. They'll keep a show going until it's no longer profitable and cancel it. Hence you get what's depicted in the Cracked post above. I can think of a lot of shows that started out strong, ended terribly, and don't hold up for a rewatch.

Do you have a plan? Something better than the Cylons because they said they had a plan and most certainly didn't.

Re:Why are there wings in space?

[camperdave]

It's based on the principle of a lever. To maneuver in space, to turn a craft on its axis, it is easier to place smaller engines far away from the center of mass. Consider the Babylon 5 Star Fury, or the X-Wing fighter, or even the nose thrusters on the vipers in the recent Battlestar Galactica. Now, if you have a craft that is going to be doing "interface operations", ie working both in space and in the atmosphere, then having wings makes sense. While in atmo, the wings act like wings. While in space, they act like pontoons to hold the maneuvering thrusters.

Video game?

[Hatta]

Will there be a video game?

Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

Of all the things that have to be done to make a good movie (Script, acting, cinematography...), when it comes to Science Fiction, probably the most important is creating a consistent universe. How did you go about trying to do that - did you consciously set down an write a "Bible" or did you just wing it?

Will it follow recent trends?

[hort_wort]

I've noticed that scifi shows these days tends to come in two categories: those that make fun of themselves to be funny and those that try to be realistic by being dark and miserable. Will Space Command conform to these recent trends? Or will we finally see a return to a plot that doesn't toy with the viewers emotions?

Re:Will it follow recent trends?

[Grishnakh]

I'd like to see a show that's a lot like Star Trek: TNG, showing a future where humans have a healthy, strong society, everyone does what they're supposed to most of the time, people aren't all a bunch of greedy selfish fucks, and they spend their time exploring the unknown and making contact with interesting civilizations.

Yes, I know it's completely unrealistic and totally contrary to human nature, and that "Hunger Games" is far more realistic, but it's fun to watch and fantasize about instead of everything being dark and miserable all the time.

Could fans support their favourite shows?

[AmiMoJo]

In your case you put together a proposal for a film and found the funding for it, but do you think this sort of technique could be used to fund existing franchises that are in danger of being cancelled? Personally I would love to have been able to fund another series or movie of Stargate Universe. Would it be best for the fans to start such an effort, or should it come from the producers of the show? It might be a hard sell if the fans were just asking for another series without any hint of what it might contain, which could only come from the producers.

What Science Fiction or Fantasy are you reading?

[Cragen]

Is reading SFF is a factor in the SFF Movie Industry producers such as yourselves? If so, what Science Fiction or Fantasy are you reading right now? Or What has been, so far, your favorite SFF book? And (Or) who is your favorite SFF author? Thanks for the great memories of watching your stuff the first time.