We Need Larson

kingfish · May 11th, 2003, 07:38 AM

I wish this was joke but it isn't. The main reason why the new production looks so bad is the Sonny Bono law. Without Larson a continuation can't be achieved. If we managed to bring back DeSanto, Larson must be present due to the fact he created the show. He is the key if one studies the new show in detail.

Agelastus · May 11th, 2003, 08:09 AM

I wish that was a joke to - I've expressed my opinion of Larson before with relation to reviving Galactica.

Micheleh · May 11th, 2003, 10:53 AM

I don't think he would have to be present in anything more than a consultational or advisory capacity to satisfy the law, though- let me check.

LucianG · May 11th, 2003, 12:13 PM

Mr. Larson's has a very mixed record. He's done some really good stuff and some real dogs. If it helps get RDM's production grounded and allows a continuation to be reworked from it, I'm all for it. Just give him a check, let him make suggestions, but don't let him run the show. An Executive Producer slot or something similar should fit the bill, prominently displaying his name without giving him real authority over the production. If he's busy on the Knight Rider thing or something similar, he might even appreciate it, since a continuation would further his chances of eventually allowing him to do his own Pegasus spinoff.

JSC1 · May 11th, 2003, 12:50 PM

Does anyone know how to contact Glen Larson?

I myself would admit that I share LucianG's view of Larson. He has dropped the ball a few times, and his record is mixed. But if he's necessary for a continuation project then he has to be on board.

Agelastus · May 11th, 2003, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Micheleh
I don't think he would have to be present in anything more than a consultational or advisory capacity to satisfy the law, though- let me check.

Hmmm, maybe we could persuade the Moore production Cylons to make us an android version to satisfy the law.............................one imagines its' the only reason one could ever have to acknowledge there existence!

OK, if his name's neccessary - pay him the money and get it. Even let him decide on the remake/continuation question. Just make sure its' then done by somebody who's both good and knows the show.

dvo47p · May 11th, 2003, 02:40 PM

A friend of mine that works for Viacom has just moved to 'Sunny Southern California'.

Robert aka Scifiwired on Scifi's bboard, reports that Mr. Walt Disney, as in The Wonderful World of Disney. The creator of yes 'Steamboat Willie' the precursor of MICKEY MOUSE. Is the root of all film copyright evil.

No ‘MOVIE’ character created since 1928, may not be used without permission of the copyright holder. Larsen has a financial stake in Galactica '03. Sonny just ‘gran-fathered’ written & TV stuff I. E. ‘Gone with the Wind’ & BSG.

kingfish · May 11th, 2003, 02:54 PM

Thanks DVO.

Paul

kingfish · May 13th, 2003, 02:58 PM

bump.

michaelfaries · May 13th, 2003, 03:07 PM

To answer this candidly: Let's see how the BG mini-series does... or doesn't do. Some folks are waiting in the wings to see how this pans out.

Mr. Larson is busy right now. Universal has "2 Fast 2 Furious" about to go. Believe it or not, it'll impact the planned production of "Knight Rider: The Movie." (Larson's script is being rewritten, although he retains a Producer credit. I assume he'll still have a scriptwriter credit.)

Where BG is concerned, though: I know for a fact that it's still near and dear to his heart... and his desire to work on. (As of last Friday.)

Michael
:colwar:

kingfish · May 13th, 2003, 03:09 PM

Totally confused.

michaelfaries · May 13th, 2003, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingfish
Totally confused.

How so? Do tell.

Michael
:colwar:

kingfish · May 13th, 2003, 03:17 PM

This is what was said over at Subspace by Capt ChouDi. A possible continuation(New actors-After hand of God)) after the Knight Rider movie was launched. ChouDi isn't there anymore. The common demininator is for anytype of continuation Larson would need to approve of it.

michaelfaries · May 13th, 2003, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kingfish
This is what was said over at Subspace by Capt ChouDi. A possible continuation (New actors-After hand of God)) after the Knight Rider movie was launched.

False: timeline proposed above.

Michael
:colwar:

BST · May 13th, 2003, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Micheleh

I don't think he would have to be present in anything more than a consultational or advisory capacity to satisfy the law, though- let me check.

Good luck, Michele...

I wonder if he would even have to be involved in "a consultation or advisory capacity". Perhaps all that would be needed would be to negotiate appropriate compensation (and acknowledgment of 'original creator', etc).

FYI --

I just spent the past 1/2 hour looking at the Sonny Bono law (Copyright Term Extension Act -- Public Law# 105-298). I should have studied 'Legalese' in school instead of 'Spanish'! I couldn't find any information dealing with using an author's work, with an author's permission. About the only thing I found was that for "works" created prior to 1978, total copyright protection is 95 years. For "works" created on or after January 1, 1978, total copyright protection is 'the lifetime of the author' (or last surviving author, if a collaboration) PLUS 70 years.

(Just a little bit of useless information!!)

BST

dvo47p · May 13th, 2003, 06:51 PM

-- More Knight Rider?

From: http://www.scifiguys.com/newsletters/v6i6.html
David Hasselhoff (Michael Knight) is hoping that it is still cool. The star of the long-canceled "Knight Rider" series told the Sci Fi Wire he's producing both a feature film and possibly a new television series based on it. Rumor has it that Ashton Kutcher (That 70's Show) is up for the lead role. But Hasselhoff isn't just content to produce. The star of "Baywatch" is ready to leave the beach and return to the talking car. "I figure James Bond's about my age, so I could still be Michael Knight.

Quote:

Originally posted by BST I wonder if he would even have to be involved in "a consultation or advisory capacity". Perhaps all that would be needed would be to negotiate appropriate compensation (and acknowledgment of 'original creator', etc). BST

@ www.imdb.com Glen Larsen isn’t mentioned for Knight Rider.

One of The Sonny Bono laws good points.
Superman, the movie with Christopher Reeve was a good reason for 'The Sonny Bono Law'.

Superman creator’s Joe Shuster & Jerry Siegel received ‘peanuts’ money wise from that movie. If not for the 'bad' press attention, they might haven’t one cent from the movie.

AlternityOrange · May 13th, 2003, 08:16 PM

The Superman thing is a totally different animal than Galactica but interesting nonetheless. Jerry Siegal and Joe Schuster created the character and tried for years to get him published. In 1938 they finally suceeded but, as was common practice, sold the character outright National Periodicals (now called DC Comics) They were paid well in comparison to other comic artists during their tenure but by the time of the movie neither had had anything to do with the comic in well over a decade.

The pair sued DC in the 70's claiming they were owed some of the millions that were being made on merchandising, including the movie. This was also a new thing as all work for hire had been considered just that until that point. A settlement was reached in which their names were prominently displayed in every comic or other medium in which Superman appeared. In addition they were each paid a flat sum of $10,000 a year by DC but still had nothing to do with the character or any of its subsequent adaptions. They are both deceased now.

By comparison, Batman creator Bob Kane was hired as a "consultant" to all of the Batman films. He often appeared on talk shows promoting the films which was pretty silly since he hadn't written or drawn the comic in 30 years and had little relationship to the material that was being adapted. It was just a token jesture by the studio to avoid another lawsuit. He is also now deceased

In recent years Jerry Siegel's widow and family have been trying to lay claimn to Superman again. Details of the procedings have been kept under wraps.

The all powerful Disney corporation definitely has a vested interest in maintaining work-for-hire copyrights and has been trying to sway court decisions. In reality, The Walt Disney Corporation only exists today because Walt had been screwed out of the rights to his first cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and was determined to retain ownership of another similar creation, Mickey something...

repcisg · May 13th, 2003, 11:22 PM

The first thing Tom DeSanto did when he was given to go-ahead to do Battlestar Galactica was call Richard, then he called Glen and signed Glen on as Executive consultant. From that point on Richard was out of it.

Now Tom did not have to have Glen 'On Board' just his approval. But it looked better that way.

If you are brave and have absolutly nothing intelegent to do you can try wading throught the Gov Copyright site. The controling section is in chapter 1 item 106A. This modifies the definition of a copyright owners rights related to visual arts. Basicly it says Universal holds the copyright to the series but Glen holds the rights to the visual art the show represents. As such it cannot be modified (distorted - to use the leagal definition) without his permision.

KJ · May 14th, 2003, 09:16 AM

Well said Repcisg.

No wonder alot of people view the hold Hatch Larson disagreements thing as silly.

What if Gene Roddenberry and William Shatner couldn't get along doing a Star Trek revival in the late 1970's? Yeah people know roddenberry did create Star Trek but people recognise and identify with Shatner's Captain Kirk's character onscreen. Then we wouldn't have had 6 original cast movies from 1979 to 1991? no TNG, no TNG movies, no DS9, No voyager, No Enterprise.

Tom DeSanto went to Larson to gain his approval as creator of BG yes, pity the matters of doing a proper revival couldn't have come about with Hatch onboard along side Glen Larson both of them resolving their differences working together on Galactica.

Alot of the problems of the revival stem from ego's of everyone involved creator, cast members, producers, studio heads, executives. To deny this is foolishness.

KJ

kingfish · May 14th, 2003, 09:21 AM

LKJ there was trouble on the set of TOS. Roddenberry however took charge and ordered the fighting to stop.

KJ · May 14th, 2003, 10:15 AM

Yeah the ego thing between Nimoy and Shatner. Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner fought over screen time and as rumor has it on the set. Nimoy was tired of seeing Kirk always with the girl.

Other rumors are the, actress who played Yeoman Rand was sexually harassed by Network execs, thus Rand didn't appear in later episodes. Dispite that, look where Star Trek is now?

BG has yet to revived before we can look at the troubled past and laugh it off.

KJ

Dawg · May 14th, 2003, 10:28 AM

The question I have (to whomever can answer it) is why Battlestar Galactica wasn't dusted off when ST jumped to the big screen and was so successful.

Of course, it wasn't, and because of that we find ourselves in the current situation.

That strikes me as bad management on somebody's part.

I don't know if it's the fault of execs at Universal, if it was Larson's doing that nothing was done with BSG (it strikes me that he didn't follow Gene Roddenberry's example, being up front, visible, and fighting for his vision), if it was personalities that threw up roadblocks, or what, but I think somebody has been screwing up continuously over the last 25 years.

FYI, LKJ, Grace Lee Whitney, the actress who played Yeoman Rand, had a rather well-publisized problem with substance abuse that she finally managed to kick in time to show up in a few of the TOS movies. Whether or not that was a factor in her disappearance in the series, I don't know.

I am
Dawg

kingfish · May 14th, 2003, 10:32 AM

In 93 Larson said it would reappear but it never happened. Trek was originally coming back as a TV series but the idea was scraped when Nimoy didn't want any part of it. Remember the space station that was obliterated by V'GER? The male actor was going to be in the series as a NEW Vulcan science officer.

KJ · May 14th, 2003, 11:54 AM

Yep Star Trek Phase 2!

Rand made good character appearances in the movies, 1,3 and especially 6! LT Kyle made an appearance in "Wrath of Khan" and i didn't work than one out for years? Pretty obscure cameo on the "U.S.S. Reliant".

Quote:

but I think somebody has been screwing up continuously over the last 25 years.

Thats an understatement 25 years a quarter of a century gone?. If Queen Victoria The 1st were still alive, heads would have rolled by now!

KJ

Agelastus · May 14th, 2003, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lord Kingjason
Thats an understatement 25 years a quarter of a century gone?. If Queen Victoria The 1st were still alive, heads would have rolled by now!

Do you mean Elizabeth I.......................................

KJ · May 14th, 2003, 12:13 PM

I stand corrected

KJ

kingfish · May 14th, 2003, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lord Kingjason
Yep Star Trek Phase 2!

Rand made good character appearances in the movies, 1,3 and especially 6! LT Kyle made an appearance in "Wrath of Khan" and i didn't work than one out for years? Pretty obscure cameo on the "U.S.S. Reliant".

Thats an understatement 25 years a quarter of a century gone?. If Queen Victoria The 1st were still alive, heads would have rolled by now!

KJ

Holy crap your right. No wonder he looked familiar but it never dawned on me.

KJ · May 14th, 2003, 01:00 PM

I guess technically you could include Klingon Warrior Kang from Star Trek Voyager into Star Trek 6 the Undiscovered Country. Being he appeared in voyager's season 3's Flashback episode.

Inbetween Captain Sulu's rush to help Kirk and Klingon cruiser ship (not bird of prey) stops Sulu mission to aid Kirk. Kang from "Day of the Dove" episode who even though respect Sulu new rank and says it's well deserved he will kill him if he doesn't turn back now.

Sulu shows his gutso and defeats Kang (not by destroying his ship though?) and outwits him and goes to aid his friends. Smart writing ties this perfectly with Star Trek 6 thus Captain Sulu ship is late when Kirk has been in battle against a "Bird of Prey" that fires when cloaked!

After all that fanboy referencing i need a drink, *sigh*

KJ

Later

:tos:

dvo47p · May 14th, 2003, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AlternityOrange
The Superman thing is a totally different animal than Galactica

In recent years Jerry Siegel's widow and family have been trying to lay claimn to Superman again. Details of the procedings have been kept under wraps.

Mickey something...

The MOUSE @ 1st was called Steamboat Willie

AO I do belive another lawsuit came about because of the high profile movie Superman.

FYI: Did you know that Brando was paid $1,000,000.00 dollars for Superman.........times have changed