According to this donor, there’s a lot of good reasons to like Axanar

Star Trek is a cultural force that appeals to all ages, and that’s certainly something that Axanar seems to be tapping in to, forging a fan group that ranges from those who’ve only seen the reboot films in cinemas, to those who grew up watching The Original Series. Here, one true Trek veteran talks about what’s brought him into the Axanar donor family.

“I’m a relatively old, age 70, Star Trek fan who stumbled on Axanar a while ago, saw the Prelude, fell in love with the concept and found myself donating to the second fundraiser.

I’m not the kind to go to Cons etc, but I really enjoy well-made Star Trek. A lot of the fan episodes focus on TOS and quite frankly the TOS universe and rebooting Trek is not very exciting to me although I wind up watching some of it.

But the idea of picking a new era and doing a movie which is true to Gene Roddenberry’s original vision caught my attention. Prelude gave me a sense that we would see a film where there was a lot of action but much more than a mere shoot-em-up, phasers-blasting, movie.

The best Trek of course has a lot of action and a tight plot but also has strong relationships and very quotable one-liners which highlight something important. I know that many disagree but I found that strongly in DS9, which also had a long-term story arc where the characters were not always what they seemed, and could even change over time. That’s beyond the scope of one movie but the basic plot concept hints at a story arc, which I appreciate.

When the initial Vulcan scene was released, I of course watched it with great interest. Others have commented on small details but to me the scene rang true from a plot and from an emotional perspective. It seemed very believable to me.

Adding to this was the request by Robert Meyer Burnett for feedback. This stands out as unique in my experience. Anyone who can do that gets a standing ovation from me, expressing my great appreciation. The feedback plus his comments increased my appreciation for the scene and the backstory behind the scene. Knowing why something was done the way it was done really helps me appreciate the result much more.

Adding to that is the approachability of all those working on Axanar. Some might just want us to cough up money and not bother them. But the people here are botherable, perhaps too much so. They remind me of JMS during the Babylon 5 series, who made himself available, time permitting. Such engagement reduces the ‘us and them’ sense and increases the ‘we’re all involved with something great’ sense.

I very, very rarely give crowdfunding money to any project. But I could not resist based on my sense of who the Axanar staff really is, what they’re trying to do and what they’ve done so far. Since I loved the Soval quote so much, I wound up giving more than I intended because I just have to have that T-shirt!”

 – Jerry Carlin