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By CARLOS PEDRAZA | OCTOBER 9, 2019 | 11 MIN. READ
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But first, submitted with restrained comment: A Field Guide to Avoid Backing Bad Crowdfunding Projects, featured in Gizmodo. The article offers "warning signs and red flags to help you tell the difference between a viable proposition and something that's likely to crash and burn."
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1. Fact Check: Peters Continues Effort to Downplay Breach in CBS Settlement
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CBS CAN'T SUE In a live behind-the-scenes video shot during Axanar's first shoot October 4-6, producer Alec Peters addresses viewers' questions about the Notice of Breach he received from lawyers for CBS and Paramount Pictures.
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How many Mudds? AxaMonitor fact-checks Axanar producer Alec Peters' efforts to downplay the seriousness of the Notice of Breach we first reported last week that it received from attorneys for CBS and Paramount Pictures.
 Spin doesn't stop questions. The weekend shoot for Axanar, the first of five, was supposed to be #AxanarTriumphant, if you listen to chief apologist Jonathan Lane. But our report didn't stave off questions from supporters concerned CBS plans to take further legal steps against the production. We already fact-checked Peters' first statement but he's continuing to reassure supporters with what may be inaccurate information.
Reassuring statements? We fact-check Peters' more recent assertions in his videos and blog. Our ratings are based on our scale named after Star Trek rogue Harcourt Fenton Mudd (learn more about our rating system).
- "CBS can't sue Axanar." That's the title of Peters' October 8 blog, in which he excoriates "haters and ignorant bloggers" for saying CBS intends to sue Axanar again. Peters says the 2017 settlement instead mandates binding arbitration for resolving any alleged breach. Our call:
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 One Mudd — Some omissions and exaggerations, but no outright falsehoods (“mostly true”) Despite a misstep in a weekend video in which Peters described the resolution method as mediation instead of arbitration (there's a difference), he is correct that another lawsuit over Axanar is prohibited by the settlement, something confirmed by our own reporting.
Straw man. Peters shades that truth, however, by setting up a straw man ("haters and ignorant bloggers") for him to attack. That tactic is a logical fallacy giving the impression he's refuting opponents' arguments, though they never actually presented those arguments in the first place.
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- Arbitration process. Peters goes on to describe the settlement's four-step process for resolving disputes, with a written notice of breach, 10 days for the other party to fix the problem, then moving to arbitration if the breach isn't cured to the first party's satisfaction. At arbitration, they would have to prove the breach and associated damages, to be ruled on by an arbitrator. Our call:
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 Spock's Science Insignia — The truth, as far we can confirm it.
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- No arbitration in six prior breaches. Peters claims that in the past three and a half years, CBS has sent six notices of breach. "Sometimes, we see their point and we change something," he says, but he also says he's rejected other claims and CBS has "never gone to arbitration." Our call:
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Two Mudds — Misleading with legalistic language, significant omission and exaggeration (“half true”) Apart from the obvious factual error (it's only been two and a half years since the settlement), Peters' story has changed. Over the weekend he claimed eight other instances of breach notices; now it's six (we were able to confirm the smaller number is more likely the case).
Previous breaches. Without knowing the substance of the prior breaches, it's not possible to be reassured by Peters citing they've never gone to arbitration. As they say on Wall Street, past performance is not Indicative of future results. Unless Peters releases those prior breach notices, we can't know how serious they were and how they compare with this latest notice's complaint Peters is raising money publicly, something prohibited by the settlement.
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- CBS doesn’t want war. Peters believes CBS doesn't want "another war with its fans" after settling the Axanar lawsuit. Continuing to pursue Axanar, he predicts, will only sour the network's relationship with "huge numbers of fans" who prefer Axanar to Star Trek: Discovery. Our call:
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Three Mudds — Significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions (“mostly false”) Peters' claim is utter supposition; he offers no real evidence, and what context he tries to offer instead is significantly misleading. He again tried to portray the lawsuit as a war against Star Trek fans, when it was only really legal action against one fan — Peters — whom a judge found had profited from his infringement of CBS' Star Trek property.
Preferred over Discovery. Peters appears to believe his own hype about how well loved Axanar is. While it certainly has adherents, Peters offers zero evidence to back up his claim of "huge numbers of fans" preferring Axanar over Discovery. Meanwhile, CBS can point to growing subscriptions to its All Access streaming platform as hard evidence of new Trek's finding a large and receptive audience.
Heard this before. Peters made a similar bet in September 2015 when, just weeks after both private and public warnings from CBS, he scoffed at the idea CBS would sue him, saying, "CBS isn't going to do anything. Because Axanar is 1.5 million views on YouTube. Look at the comments. … In a way, our success is now our best defense."
Three months later, Peters was served papers in a copyright infringement lawsuit, in which his fair use defense was gutted by a judge, he was found to have personally profited from $1.2 million raised by Axanar and he had been ordered to submit his disputed financial records.
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2. First Axanar Shoot Complete But the Task of Raising Money to Pay for it is Only Just Beginning
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Original image/Axanar YouTube channel
‘PRIVATE’ APPEAL Alec Peters makes a video pitch from the bridge of the Ares to raise the first $50,000 of a planned five-stage $200,000 private (but controversially sort of public) crowdfunding campaign.
Multimedia fundraiser. The first Axanar shoot in Lawrenceville, Ga., was as much a fundraising event as it was a film shoot. Live video streams (plagued by technical difficulties) framed the film production activities, behind-the-scenes shooting and audio drama recording scheduled over the weekend.
Online fundraiser. Meanwhile, Axanar began its so-called private fundraiser with the Ares Digital portal it uses to deliver perks to its previous donors as the front end for what Peters calls a "white label Kickstarter" to allow new donors to give him their money. Under the CBS settlement, Peters is prohibited from using public crowdfunding to raise the $200,000 he says he needs to make the two Axanar short films.
- Needs new donors. Though Peters made initial email outreach to the 15,000 people in its donor database, he needs new donors. In his permitted but limited crowdfunding efforts (an Indiegogo to 'save' the California studio he subsequently lost, and an ongoing Patreon effort to pay the rent for the warehouse he currently calls Ares Studios; neither met its goal) since the 2017 settlement, he's hasn't been able to get more than about 300 donors to give him more than $25,000.
- Truly private? The crowdfunding platform Peters uses may be privately run on his own server but he's also made it easily accessible to the public from the Axanar website, with a URL anyone who's not him can easily share far and wide. He may be depending on exactly that kind of viral effort to attract new donors, thereby circumventing the public appeal he himself isn't allowed to make.
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Image/Ares Digital
'JUST LIKE KICKSTARTER' In its first few days, Axanar's October Shoot Fundraiser has raised $9,432 — less than a fifth of its goal. The campaign is the first of five aimed at raising a total of $200,000.
Why this matters: In his promotional materials Peters calls the Ares Digital platform's e-commerce plug-in "just like Kickstarter," which is a public crowdfunding platform, with individual, public URLs for each project and requiring creation of an online account. In these aspects, Peters "private" platform is exactly the same. Will CBS consider the campaign a truly private effort in line with the settlement?
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3. In Angry Texts, Peters Welches on Repaying Loan Owed to Former Trusted PR Director Mike Bawden
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Canceling settlement. In a series of angry, profanity-laced texts, Axanar producer Alec Peters signals he won't repay his once-closest counselor and former PR director, Mike Bawden the $18,000 he still owes on a $30,000 loan whose repayment's nearly three years late.
- Accusation. Peters accused Bawden of releasing a copy of the Notice of Breach that Peters received October 1 from CBS attorneys alleging he has violated his settlement of the Star Trek-Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit. Peters texted: "You released that letter? FUCK YOU. You are totally without honor."
- Sources. For the record, AxaMonitor had multiple sources confirming the letter; Bawden didn't release it to us. That didn't keep Peters from making this unfounded accusation to Bawden: "Carlos and his boys THREATENED [Peters' girlfriend] CRYSSTAL WITH GUN VIOLENCE. FUCK YOU."
- Helping Rob Burnett. Peters also blamed Bawden of helping former Axanar director Robert Meyer Burnett resist Peters' ill-conceived legal effort to intimidate Burnett into paying back a $30,000 loan for which Peters was never able to produce any documentation.
- Pending litigation. Peters has reportedly wired part of what he owes Bawden, about $12,000, to Bawden's attorney. However, he still faces a suit filed by Bawden months ago for the entire amount. Bawden says he plans to pursue that action to get a judgment against Peters for the remaining balance.
Why this matters: Bawden's is just one of many pending legal actions at which Peters is currently at the center. Despite his constant bluster, none of those cases is going particularly well for him.
- Nevada and California. His opponent in a Nevada lawsuit, Tiana Armstrong, is pulling a clever legal maneuver literally buying out his claims against her there right out from under him. And his Georgia lawsuit against Burnett fizzled because Georgia was never the correct venue for that suit. Despite threats to re-file in California, that hasn't happened.
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4. Ground & Pound Rises from Peters' Coffee Ashes
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Photo/Ground and Pound Coffee
SOFT OPENING Today is the 'soft opening' for Ground & Pound Coffee, a new shop opened by the disaffected former partners in Alec Peters' now-dead Federal Coffee in the same retail space.
New coffeehouse. This morning, a new coffee shop opens in the space that was to have been the re-opening of Alec Peters' failed Federal Coffee House in Alpharetta, Ga. The owners are his former business partners, former Propworx and Axanar employee Curtis Short and Hollywood stuntwoman Sophia Crawford.
Why this matters: As we reported last week, Ground & Pound is Short's and Crawford's effort to make something of the legal and financial shambles left in Peters' wake after he soured his relationship with Hansa Coffee, the supplier of the Federal's coffee equipment and product.
- Successful entrepreneur? Peters often crows about his allegedly successful business history as a means of making the case for Axanar donors to feel their money is safe with him. The Federal is merely the latest in a string of ill-fated ventures for Peters.
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Short Takes: Hertzler's history rewritten at Axanar shoot
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REVISIONIST HISTORY In another instance of Axanar editing out facts that paint it in a bad light, this clip was edited out from the "official" livestream of Axanar Lite's behind-the-scenes footage. Actor J.G. Hertzler complains of his treatment during the weekend heat wave. Animation added by Shawn O'Halloran.
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#ArcherVsTribbles io9's headline says it all: "Oh My God, the next Star Trek: Short Treks is Basically an Episode of Archer with Tribbles." The latest Short Trek, "The Trouble with Edward," stars H. Jon Benjamin, the voice of Archer in the irascible cartoon series, with an appearance by the ever-popular Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike. It premieres tomorrow on CBS All Access in the United States. An international release date remains pending.
#KidsToday! Finally some more details on the planned teen-oriented Star Trek series for Nickelodeon! Not due until 2021, the series is about a bunch of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet vessel and chart a course for adventure across the galaxy. Producer Heather Kadin says in io9 the series won't be dumbed down for kids.
#Disney+forMinus If you missed D23's super-low price for the upcoming Disney+ streaming platform, you can still save a bunch of money if you're willing to pay for three years all ahead of its November 12 debut, bringing the monthly equivalent fee to less than $5. The DIS website has details.
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Find Us on Super Geeks
Join AxaMonitor editor Carlos Pedraza every week on the Super Geeks live podcast in the Real Super Geeks Facebook group every Friday at 10 p.m. PDT/1 a.m. EDT. Super Geeks is hosted by George Silsby.
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